Ten years ago, branded sneakers such as Nike and Adidas, priced at several thousand yuan per pair, were somewhat a symbol of one’s status and position. In recent years, however, these once-prestigious high-end sports brands have significantly lowered their prices, shifting their consumer base from a niche market to the general public. Once premium products costing thousands of yuan, they have now dropped to prices within reach of ordinary consumers, around several hundred yuan. This huge gap reflects the “decline” of high-end sports brands that have been forced to transform due to market challenges.
Many customers have been lost
Since being “dragged along as a ‘hiker’ by someone last year,” 46-year-old Li Yang (a pseudonym) has switched his go-to work attire to several light gray or dark green windbreakers. “And it’s not just me,” said this section-level civil servant on the 5th. He noticed that outdoor sports gear has quietly become trendy in his workplace, a rather dull office building. More and more colleagues, even supervisors, are now seen dressed in “windbreakers of various colors paired with hiking boots.”
This observation has been corroborated by Si Aijuan, deputy general manager of Zibo Liqueila Outdoor Equipment Mall. According to Si, the main group of customers buying outdoor gear from her store has gradually shifted from the initial wave of “hikers” a few years ago to “a significant proportion of government officials, university teachers, and business executives.”
An anonymous person in charge of an outdoor sports club revealed that even some local officials of high rank are fans of high-end outdoor brands. He disclosed that his club currently offers “high-end tours to places like Germany and Nepal” tailored for “high-spending” premium clients, “and there are quite a few sign-ups.”
“In recent years, the number of group purchases from government agencies, banks, and other institutions has been increasing year by year,” said a salesperson for the well-known outdoor sports brand NorthFace at a major store in the city center. She added that the brand’s sales have maintained an annual growth rate of around 40% in recent years. “Customers are over 30 years old, have a certain purchasing power, and plenty of free time.”
“Arc’teryx now offers several product lines that can be worn even after sports, aside from its professional gear,” said the brand’s agent during a promotional event held at the end of November last year. The brand’s counters in malls are now promoting windbreakers and hiking boots to non-professional customers.
Other sportswear brands are thriving in the market, which clearly poses a challenge to former giants like Nike and Adidas. To seize market share and attract more consumers, these once-dominant sports brands have only one path forward: lower their prices and make their products “accessible to ordinary people.” Therefore, in the mid-to-high-end outdoor sports market, market segmentation and transformation have become real challenges for Nike, Adidas, and others.
Nike and Adidas undergo subtle transformation
The trend of outdoor sports brands refining their focus on the “mid-to-high-end market” has also driven some changes in the market strategies of traditional high-end brands like Nike and Adidas. “When we introduced the first Nike store in Zibo in 2003, our main target customers were middle-aged consumers around 30 years old,” recalled Wang Juan, a sports brand agent in Zibo, on the 4th. At that time, “the store’s main color scheme was relatively monotonous.”
However, since 2008, Wang said, the brand positioning of Nike and Adidas has gradually shifted toward teenagers. Young people, represented by high school students aged 17–18, have now become one of the main consumer groups for Nike and Adidas in the Zibo market.
Between 11:28 a.m. and 11:48 a.m. on the 5th, our newspaper also monitored foot traffic at the Nike counter at the aforementioned large store — categorized by the company as an A-tier store with top sales performance. Monitoring data showed that during those 20 minutes, 32 customers visited, 27 of whom appeared to be students, while the remaining five older customers took a quick look and promptly left.
In fact, the purchasing power of these young people seems to rival that of high-income individuals who “prefer the outdoors over sports.” “Before the start of each school term, backpacks priced at a few hundred yuan sell especially well.”
According to data provided by Wang, the sales of Nike and Adidas stores operated by her company — dozens of locations — have grown nearly a hundredfold from 2003 to the present.
However, what worries Wang Juan somewhat is that the sports apparel market in Zibo is “basically saturated.” Meanwhile, operators of outdoor sports brands are looking forward to the arrival of a “sunrise industry.”
Many customers have been lost
Since being “dragged along as a ‘hiker’ by someone last year,” 46-year-old Li Yang (a pseudonym) has switched his go-to work attire to several light gray or dark green windbreakers. “And it’s not just me,” said this section-level civil servant on the 5th. He noticed that outdoor sports gear has quietly become trendy in his workplace, a rather dull office building. More and more colleagues, even supervisors, are now seen dressed in “windbreakers of various colors paired with hiking boots.”
This observation has been corroborated by Si Aijuan, deputy general manager of Zibo Liqueila Outdoor Equipment Mall. According to Si, the main group of customers buying outdoor gear from her store has gradually shifted from the initial wave of “hikers” a few years ago to “a significant proportion of government officials, university teachers, and business executives.”
An anonymous person in charge of an outdoor sports club revealed that even some local officials of high rank are fans of high-end outdoor brands. He disclosed that his club currently offers “high-end tours to places like Germany and Nepal” tailored for “high-spending” premium clients, “and there are quite a few sign-ups.”
“In recent years, the number of group purchases from government agencies, banks, and other institutions has been increasing year by year,” said a salesperson for the well-known outdoor sports brand NorthFace at a major store in the city center. She added that the brand’s sales have maintained an annual growth rate of around 40% in recent years. “Customers are over 30 years old, have a certain purchasing power, and plenty of free time.”
“Arc’teryx now offers several product lines that can be worn even after sports, aside from its professional gear,” said the brand’s agent during a promotional event held at the end of November last year. The brand’s counters in malls are now promoting windbreakers and hiking boots to non-professional customers.
Other sportswear brands are thriving in the market, which clearly poses a challenge to former giants like Nike and Adidas. To seize market share and attract more consumers, these once-dominant sports brands have only one path forward: lower their prices and make their products “accessible to ordinary people.” Therefore, in the mid-to-high-end outdoor sports market, market segmentation and transformation have become real challenges for Nike, Adidas, and others.
Nike and Adidas undergo subtle transformation
The trend of outdoor sports brands refining their focus on the “mid-to-high-end market” has also driven some changes in the market strategies of traditional high-end brands like Nike and Adidas. “When we introduced the first Nike store in Zibo in 2003, our main target customers were middle-aged consumers around 30 years old,” recalled Wang Juan, a sports brand agent in Zibo, on the 4th. At that time, “the store’s main color scheme was relatively monotonous.”
However, since 2008, Wang said, the brand positioning of Nike and Adidas has gradually shifted toward teenagers. Young people, represented by high school students aged 17–18, have now become one of the main consumer groups for Nike and Adidas in the Zibo market.
Between 11:28 a.m. and 11:48 a.m. on the 5th, our newspaper also monitored foot traffic at the Nike counter at the aforementioned large store — categorized by the company as an A-tier store with top sales performance. Monitoring data showed that during those 20 minutes, 32 customers visited, 27 of whom appeared to be students, while the remaining five older customers took a quick look and promptly left.
In fact, the purchasing power of these young people seems to rival that of high-income individuals who “prefer the outdoors over sports.” “Before the start of each school term, backpacks priced at a few hundred yuan sell especially well.”
According to data provided by Wang, the sales of Nike and Adidas stores operated by her company — dozens of locations — have grown nearly a hundredfold from 2003 to the present.
However, what worries Wang Juan somewhat is that the sports apparel market in Zibo is “basically saturated.” Meanwhile, operators of outdoor sports brands are looking forward to the arrival of a “sunrise industry.”