Expanding market sees rapid rise of the outdoor gear industry
With improving living standards and a growing awareness of leisure travel, more and more people are willing to spend on outdoor equipment. Gear such as windbreakers, tents, trekking poles, and fleece pants—once specialized equipment for outdoor sports—has now "entered ordinary households." A wave of enthusiasm for outdoor activities is quietly emerging, and market demand has risen sharply. The outdoor industry has become one of the most promising consumer sectors, with a proliferation of outdoor gear brands and a thriving overall landscape.
According to relevant data, China’s outdoor industry retail sales totaled 60 million RMB in 2000. By 2011, this figure had reached 11 billion RMB, with a compound annual growth rate of 61%—far outpacing the economic growth rate of the same period. The domestic outdoor industry is currently in a phase of rapid development, with vast market potential. Various outdoor gear brands have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, presenting a flourishing scene.
For outdoor enthusiasts looking to turn their passion into a career, joining a reputable brand is undoubtedly a shortcut to catching this "wealth express." However, many also face choices regarding brand selection and business models. If there were a "zero-risk" outdoor investment and entrepreneurship project, it would certainly be worth serious consideration.
Liehu Outdoor: A Warm Current in the “Economic Cold Snap”
Born in Dongguan in southern China and rooted in the world’s manufacturing hub, Liehu Outdoor Products Co., Ltd. is a company dedicated to enhancing the quality and experience of outdoor living. It operates the Liehu Outdoor Club and Liehu Travel Agency, and is a subsidiary of LianDong Group. As one of the first major outdoor enterprises in China to engage in outdoor gear and build a strong brand, it boasts solid financial backing and ranks among the top in the industry in terms of overall strength.
Liehu’s clients include well-known enterprises such as Vanke Real Estate, Microsoft China, China Mobile, China Unicom, China National Petroleum Corporation, China Southern Power Grid, Sun Yat-sen University, and SouFun.com. At the same time, the company places great emphasis on reputation and brand promotion. In 2012 alone, it partnered with multiple media outlets to organize several large-scale outdoor events, including the influential "Nandu 10th Anniversary Hiking Event in Dongguan," the "Blue Ribbon" male care large-scale charity parade, the "30km Hiking Around Songshan Lake," and the "Guangzhou Zengcheng 10km Caring Big Hike"—activities that attracted thousands of outdoor enthusiasts to participate and follow.
As a leading domestic outdoor gear enterprise, Liehu Outdoor has promising growth prospects ahead.
It is reported that Liehu Outdoor will soon officially launch a "zero-risk" entrepreneurship program, inviting those interested in joining the outdoor sports industry to participate.
Progressive cooperation model: Support every step of the way
According to Liu Qiang, head of Liehu Outdoor, aspiring entrepreneurs have several options if they wish to join the Liehu Outdoor business. One option is to join the outdoor sports networking platform (http://www.liehucn.com). Liehu provides the online platform, full technical support, and maintenance, and helps establish a city branch in the entrepreneur’s location. In the first year of cooperation, the city distributor only needs to initiate and successfully carry out 18 events via the local branch on the Liehu Outdoor official website (http://www.liehucn.com). All profits from these events go to the distributor. Regional distributors can also receive a share of the sales revenue from outdoor products sold on Liehu’s Tmall flagship store in their area. The city distributor is only required to provide some online and offline promotion, while tasks such as product preparation and delivery are handled entirely by headquarters. To protect the interests of entrepreneurs, Liehu Outdoor also promises that there will be only one distributor per city during the contract period, ensuring exclusivity as the city’s master agent.
Secondly, during operations, city master agents may decide whether to open a physical Liehu flagship store based on local market conditions and their own capabilities. Those who choose to open a store—with the necessary conditions and confidence—will benefit from lower wholesale discounts and can engage in distribution and stocking within the region, with all profits still going to the distributor. Liehu will provide full support, including store image design and construction plans.
Liu Qiang stated that in terms of returns, in the early stages of entrepreneurship, guided by the principle of supporting entrepreneurs every step of the way, Liehu Outdoor headquarters will offer maximum support to help entrepreneurs succeed. This includes favorable profit distribution, extensive resource integration (via the official website platform, integrating classic routes and resources from each distributor’s region, enabling cross-referral of customers between regions to achieve multiple purchases from a single client), thereby truly realizing a large platform, large network, large integration, large returns, and allowing participants to start a "zero-risk" business.
Interested readers can visit the following link for more details. Official website: http://www.liehucn.com