▌ xtep: professional sports, multi-brand, channel sink
Looking at xtep's latest move in the past two years, its multi-brand and international strategy is now very clear.
Step in March of this year, it said in a statement, the company is a wholly owned subsidiary Xtep Holdco Wolverine wholly owned subsidiaries and joint venture partners have a number of joint venture agreement, aimed at the common operating outdoor sports brand Merrell mai le and running shoes brand Saucony st Connie brand shoes, clothing and accessories in the greater China development, marketing and wholesale business.
Xtep Holdco and its joint-venture partners each paid about 155 million yuan in initial agreed capital to the joint venture, according to the announcement.Uber directors believe that the joint venture will help the company upgrade into a multi-brand portfolio group catering to an increasingly mature Chinese consumer group.
From k-swiss to saint Connie and myler, xtep will directly target high-end professional sports brands, continuing its consistent professional sports strategy.
As early as 2007, xtep began to focus on the professional running market and began to sponsor marathon, becoming the earliest sports brand to sponsor marathon in China.In 2010, xtep put forward the slogan of "love running, love xtep".Since then, marathon events have been rising rapidly in China. Since 2015, the number of various marathon events in China has increased rapidly, from 134 in 2015 to 1,102 in 2017, mainly due to the increase in the number of events in second and third-tier cities.
This makes uber a direct beneficiary of the marathon dividend, with 95 per cent of its more than 6,000 retail stores in non-first-tier cities.Xtep has established six xtep running clubs in China, with more than 123,000 members.As a result, analysts at guangfa securities said the increase in marathon events in non-first-tier cities will boost sales of xtep's running shoes.
Although xtep used to be a little low-key in the domestic sports brands, but thanks to the steady product and channel strategy, the group's performance showed a positive upward trend.Results for the fiscal first quarter ended march showed uber Posting low double-digit same-store sales growth, including more than 20 percent growth in retail sales through online and offline channels.The group said the growth was mainly affected by promotional activities during the lunar New Year period, when the turnover period of retail inventory was about four months.
Step last year, total revenue surged 24.8% year-on-year to 6.383 billion yuan, the second half of the income growth of 30.4%, a speeding up in the first half year-on-year growth of 18.1%, net profit rose 60.9% year-on-year to 656 million yuan, this step is also published the first full year results after transformation, beautiful beautiful performance caused wide attention, in addition, the retail sales recorded 12.2 billion xtep last year, established as one of the top three domestic sports goods brand in the domestic and the status of one of the top five global sporting goods brand.
'in the past three years, xtep has shifted its brand positioning from a fashion sports brand to a sports brand, focused on the professional running market, and shifted from wholesale to retail.
Ding shuibo, chairman and chief executive officer of xtep international holdings, said that xtep has developed into a brand management company with a clear brand image and a focus on professional running, which has successfully transformed xtep into the preferred brand for Chinese runners.The brand will continue to pursue a two-pronged strategy, actively expanding its business in the Asian market on the one hand, and expanding xtep from a single brand company to a multi-brand portfolio group on the other hand in the next stage of development.
Obviously, in addition to the three brands mentioned above, xtep will also look at more domestic and foreign sports brands, especially those in the fields of outdoor sports, water sports and ice sports.In an earlier interview, Mr. Ding said Chinese companies now have an opportunity to negotiate better prices for potential targets.Many international brands have very strong brand DNA and histories, but overall economic conditions and consumer sentiment in some markets, such as Europe, may no longer support their strong growth.
However, according to the analysis of huolen.com, xtep has no previous experience in merger and acquisition, so multi-brand operation will be a long-term transformation process. However, if energy is scattered and resources cannot be effectively integrated, the original market of xtep may be affected, and the fast acquisition of multiple brands may even become a drag on performance.