There is a domestic sports brand that has sponsored the China Olympic Games 16 years in a row. From a small family workshop in Jinjiang, Fujian Province to a global sports brand giant, it has now surpassed Li Ning and become a rival of Nike and Adi.
Anta, a domestic sports brand accompanying the rise of the Olympic Games, is the official partner of the top events of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
In the Winter Olympics 15, Anta has built the competition equipment for 12 teams from China, and it is the sports brand that supports China's national team with the most equipment.
How did Anta achieve its present position step by step? This is worth talking about.
1980, phil knight, the founder of Nike, took his employees to Shanghai to talk about the cooperation with China track and field team with the imagination of "1 100 million people, 2 billion feet" in China market. During this trip to China, they confirmed two things: signing the China track and field team and looking for five foundries.
Nike's early producers were mainly in Japan, but with the rising production cost, Nike turned its attention to the coastal areas of China where the production cost was lower.
During this period, Jinjiang, Fujian Province, relying on the unique advantages of the local hometown of overseas Chinese, began to produce the first batch of shoe-making enterprises in the form of "family joint production" and "manual workshops" to produce products of overseas sports brands on a OEM basis.
Ding, the founder of Anta, is one of the entrepreneurs. He used to be a soldier, and after he retired, he went home to do small business, and he had rich experience in crisscrossing.
198 1 year, Ding sold everything that could be exchanged for money, such as grain and livestock, and with loans from relatives and friends, he raised 60,000 yuan and set up a shoe factory in partnership with a dozen villagers.
1987, Ding Shizhong, 17 years old, graduated from junior high school. He decided to travel abroad and go to Beijing alone with 10 thousand yuan and 600 pairs of hometown shoes sponsored by his father.
In Beijing, his shoes were of good quality, and the product repurchase rate was high, so he quickly established himself in Beijing. Dante Shizhong found that the price of these brand shoes was several times higher than his own, which inspired Ding Shizhong to establish his own brand.
Four years after drifting in the North, 199 1 year, he returned to his hometown with the 200,000 he earned and persuaded his father to build his own brand. Taking this opportunity, my father and his early partners went it alone, and together with his son, * * *, founded the brand "Anta", which means "start a business with peace of mind and be down to earth".
When Anta was building its own brand, the later Jinjiang shoes, such as Xtep, 36 1, Jordan, Peak, Delphi and Hongxing Hongxing Erke, were mainly OEM for "foreign brands", and Anta began to produce its own brand, supplemented by OEM for others.
At that time, the development direction of domestic sports brands was basically the same as that of Li Ning, because Li Ning was already a well-known sports brand in China. As early as 1990, Li Ning became a sponsor of the Asian Games and won the torch relay of the Asian Games for 2 million yuan.
The later development paths of these Jinjiang shoe factories were greatly inspired by Li Ning, who once regarded Li Ning as a transcendental goal.
1994, Anta (Fujian) Footwear Company was formally established. Ding left the company to his children to take care of, and gradually retired from management to concentrate on charity.
During the period of 1997, the Southeast Asian financial crisis broke out and many shoe factories in Jinjiang closed down, but by this time, Anta had already opened 2000 franchise stores all over the country. Anta stands out among many Jinjiang shoe enterprises.
1999, when the annual profit was 4 million, Anta took out 800,000 yuan to sign a contract with Kong.
In 2000, Kong won the Olympic Games in Sydney, and Anta advertised on CCTV Sports Channel. Kong Huiling wore sneakers designed by Anta, with the slogan "I choose, I like" written on it.
With strong marketing and the endorsement of Olympic champions, Anta became a well-known national brand, and its turnover soared from 20 million to 200 million that year.
Nike sponsored China track and field team from 1984. During the Olympic Games periods of 1988 and 1992, international sports brands such as Nike, Adi and Mizuno became professional equipment sponsors of many national sports teams under the guidance of the State Sports General Administration.
1992 during the Barcelona Olympic games, almost all the professional equipment of China athletes was sponsored by these international sports brands.
Although China's sports manufacturers have gradually accumulated experience and capital in the process of OEM for foreign brands, they have also begun to focus on shaping their own brand value and go deep into the field of professional sports equipment.
However, the national team's acceptance of China brand products is very low, and everyone is used to those international brands, for fear that changing domestic brands will affect their performance.
In 2000, Nike set up an NBA star sneaker lab to customize a pair of sneakers for players. It has been tested in the laboratory for thousands of times, and this kind of experimental data accumulation is not available in China sports manufacturers.
Helpless, China brand can only sponsor the winning clothes and dresses of China sports delegation.
In 2005, Anta put forward the slogan of "Never Stop", and invested heavily to set up a scientific research team and an "Anta Sports Science Laboratory" to set up corresponding research teams for different sports, becoming the first national enterprise technology center in the domestic sports field.
After that, Anta cooperated with top domestic scientific research institutes and experts for a long time and accumulated its own patent barriers. For example, establish five global design centers in China, the United States, Japanese, Korean and Italian countries; Cooperate with universities or research institutions such as Tsinghua University and China National Institute of Standardization.
In 2007, Anta was listed in Hong Kong, and the company changed from a family business to a listed company. At that time, the financing exceeded 3.5 billion, creating the most sporting goods at that time. With the improvement of product strength, Anta began to try to sponsor more actively.
Ding Shizhong heroically sponsored CBA, and hosted CBA's Star Competition and Rookie Competition, so as to gain more opportunities for brand exposure.
In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Ding Shizhong wanted to take the opportunity to sponsor the Olympic Games, but at that time, with deep pockets, the sponsorship continued. Adidas became the sponsor of the China delegation in the 2008 Olympic Games with a bid price of 60-80 million US dollars, and booked the cooperation opportunity of 12 in advance with 5 million US dollars.
Ding Shizhong really can't swallow this tone. He gritted his teeth and stamped his feet and decided to compete with Adidas for sponsorship. It is rumored that he invested 600 million RMB and won the package sponsorship of the 2009-20 12 Olympic Games, becoming the highest-level "strategic partner" of the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC).
At that time, Anta invested so much at one time that even the Olympic Committee doubted Anta's strength.
In 20 12, Anta renewed its sponsorship and became a "sportswear partner" in the Rio Olympic Games cycle. Ding Shizhong said: "After sponsoring the Chinese Olympic Committee, we stood at the commanding height of the sporting goods industry in China."
From 2009 to 20 16, after Anta cooperated with the Chinese Olympic Committee, Anta's revenue increased by more than 120%, and its net profit rose from 1255438+0 billion yuan to 2.386 billion yuan.
In 20 17, Anta signed an official partner of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, closely binding its sports attributes with the Olympic IP.
Nowadays, with the exposure and promotion of the Olympic Games, Anta has become a world-class brand. Award-winning clothes with different themes designed by Anta have been on the podium together with 1 12 Olympic champions. Ding Shizhong's strategy and determination to host the Olympic Games have been proved correct by time.
Just in response to a netizen's words: I am not afraid of Nike, I am not afraid of Adi, and I am afraid that Anta will bring the national flag.
For sports brands in China, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 20 12 inventory crisis are two important turning points.
200 1, Beijing's successful Olympic bid, domestic sports brands use the Olympic bonus to expand production and open stores to occupy the market. After the end of the 2008 Olympic Games, the number of stores of six domestic sports brands, such as Li Ning and Anta, exceeded 5,000, which set off a nationwide sports craze.
Because these enterprises were still positioned as "wholesalers of sporting goods" at that time, they thought that the sales task was completed after the wholesale. They don't know the situation of retail terminals. At ordinary times, the warehouse-to-sales ratio is 3-5 times, and it is as high as 10 times under the impact of the upsurge.
In 2009, Li Ning, the first domestic brand, surpassed Adidas in the China market, reaching 8.4 billion yuan, but it began to decline all the way after 20 1 1 and didn't turn a profit until 20 15. It was during this period that Anta surpassed Li Ning.
In 20 12, Anta's revenue and net profit also declined for the first time since its listing. Ding Shizhong took the opportunity to transform the company's positioning from brand wholesale to brand retail, and also consulted Belle, Daphne and other enterprises on the experience of retail reform.
In fact, before this, Ding Shizhong had the heart of reform. He was an agent of Adidas from 2007 to 2009. In fact, he has learned the methods of scientific management of brands and channels by international brands.
Through informatization, Ding Shizhong has realized the information unification and synchronization of most specialty stores in the country, unified the retail standards to all stores in the country, and traveled around the prefecture-level cities with senior executives to promote retail sales and understand various problems of users.
20 12 and 20 13, Anta transformed its retail business. In 20 14, the net profit was1700 million yuan, while in Xtep and 36 1 degree, the net profit was only about 400 million, and Li Ning lost 78 1 10,000. In 2008, Anta's revenue was 69% of that of Li Ning, and 20 16 years was 1.6 times that of Li Ning.
The successful transformation has made Anta not worry about survival, but seek development. Multi-brand strategy is the key choice for Anta to embark on the international track.
In 2009, the Italian veteran Philo struggled in the China market. Anta took this opportunity to accept Feile's business in China from Belle, and spent HK$ 600 million to acquire all the rights and interests of Feile in China, positioning itself as a fashion movement.
Ding Shizhong didn't make a high-profile announcement about the acquisition of Phila's China business. For a long time, a large number of consumers did not know the relationship between Philo and Anta. Feile operates independently, adopts a fully direct retail model, and it takes three years to recover all the stores from the dealers.
From the acquisition of Philae in 2009 to the middle of 20 19, Philae's revenue was 6.54 billion yuan, accounting for 44% of the group's contribution, and Anta's main brand contributed 5 1%, which shows the importance of Philae's single brand to Anta.
Perhaps Ding Shizhong himself didn't expect that this brand was revitalized in his own hands, which also opened the road to high-end sports brands for Anta.
Philae's acquisition attempt made Ding Shizhong soar on the road of buy buy, successively acquiring Japanese high-end brand DESCENTE, Korean outdoor sports brand KOLON, and even spending 36 billion yuan to acquire Amafen Sports in Finland. Its ancestor, Hermes, known as the outdoor brand, is also the level of Hermes.
Ding Shizhong said: "With the brand operation ability of China Company, the possibility of making an Archaeopteryx or Wilson within 30 years is almost zero, and through acquisition, with the potential space in the China market, it is possible to complete a complete transformation."
It is these high-end brands that make Anta surpass Li Ning and approach the sales of Nike Group and Adidas Group in China, and Anta has become an international group.
Write at the end:
Strengthening acquisition is a shortcut, but how far this road can go depends on the leaders of enterprises. Among the domestic sports brands, Li Ning chose to be a strong main brand, and Anta chose to develop a multi-brand strategy through acquisition.
One to the left, the other to the right. I hope they can find a way to make domestic brands bigger and stronger, so that they can have confidence and strength.