▌ anta: brand, internationalization, sponsored events
With the transformation and expansion of xtep, li ning and anta, the competitive advantages and layout differences of the three major sports brands begin to emerge.With years of accumulated channels sinking and competition funding resources, as well as the recent sensational international acquisitions within and outside the industry, anta has shown strong international ambitions.
According to anta sports' recently released first quarter 2019 operating performance, anta's retail sales of branded products increased by 10% to 20% year-on-year, while retail sales of FILA and other branded products increased by 65% to 70%.
Thanks to the strategy of "single focus, multi-brand and omni-channel", the group also delivered its best report card since its listing 11 years ago last year. Its revenue, operating profit and profit attributable to shareholders have all reached record highs and maintained double-digit growth for five consecutive years.For the full year of 2018, group sales surged 44.4 percent year-on-year to 24.1 billion yuan, net profit rose 32.9 percent year-on-year to 4.03 billion yuan, gross profit rose 3.2 percentage points to 52.6 percent, and operating profit rose 42.9 percent year-on-year to 5.7 billion yuan.
By the end of 2018, anta group has a total of 12,188 stores, with shopping malls accounting for more than 30% and first-tier and second-tier cities accounting for more than 40%. This means that anta has a relatively balanced channel and sinking channel in first-tier cities, and stores in lower-tier cities have a solid foundation.Most of the brands acquired by the group are positioned in the middle and high-end consumer market. Anta, the main brand, mainly expands in third-tier and fourth-tier cities. FILA is targeted at first-tier and second-tier cities, while Descente is more high-end.
Since the end of last year, anta's acquisition of international Sports giant Amer Sports has become one of the most high-profile acquisitions in China in 2018, pushing the company into a new phase of multi-brand internationalization.Ding shizhong, chairman and chief executive of anta, also said it was the "most important decision" he had made in his 27-year career.
A consortium of investors including anta, fangyuan capital, AnameredInvestments and tencent is reported to have bought the parent company of outdoor Sports brand archaeopteryx, yamafin Sports, for about 4.66 billion euros.The offer, which closed on March 29, said anta will acquire about 98.11 percent of Amer Sports' total shares and voting rights and will be delisted from the Helsinki stock exchange.At present, the new board of directors of yamafen sports has been formally established, and ding shizhong has been announced as the chairman of the board of directors.
Ding shizhong said earlier that the brand value of yamafen sports is hard to measure with money, and it is not built by money in the short term. What the group values is the growth space of its brands in the Chinese market.Zheng also said the biggest effect of the acquisition is to let anta go further on the road of multi-brand, no matter how many brands are acquired, the positioning of anta's main brand will not change.
The reason why anta has the strength to "swallow" the top brand in the industry is because of the brand's deep cultivation in the domestic sports market in the past 10 years, among which, the brand's investment in sports event sponsorship contributes a lot.
Anta's revenue in 2006 was $1.25 billion, nearly double 2005's, according to its pre-ipo prospectus.Net profit tripled to 147 million yuan from 2005.Ten years after going public, anta's operating income reached 13.35 billion yuan in 2016, with the growth rate reaching 20% for the third consecutive year and the net profit increasing by 16.9% to 2.39 billion yuan.The turning point was sponsorship of the Olympics in China.
Since 2009, anta has twice reached strategic cooperation agreements with the Chinese Olympic committee, and has become the sports apparel partner of the Chinese Olympic committee from 2009 to 2016, providing champion equipment for Chinese teams to participate in major international competitions.In 2014, anta further expanded its sports resources and officially signed a contract with the gymnastics management center of the general administration of sport of China to carry out comprehensive strategic cooperation.Since 2014, anta has become the official marketing partner of NBA and NBA licensee. It has successively signed several NBA stars, including Thompson, and entered the global sports endorsement battlefield.
In addition to tournament sponsorship, anta also made the right move by pursuing a multi-brand strategy.Anta realize there will be a new turning point, China's sports industry is too single brand structure will be eliminated by the market rapidly, and began to practice since 2009 multi-brand operation strategy, successively acquire Italian senior sports leisure brand FILA, a veteran British city walked briskly shoes brand Sprandi outdoor clothing brand Descente, South Korea, Japan function brand Kolon Sport.
Among them, acquire FILA proved is one of the most successful strategic moves, the whole of last year growth of 80% or more, has become the group's largest growth engine performance, more milan fashion week debut in 2018, the future goal is within three years sales into the 10 billion club, from sports newly upgraded to a domestic high-end market in the first three brands.Zheng jie, executive director of the group and President of anta's brand, even said it would have been difficult for anta to make the decision to buy yamafen sports without FILA.
Lai shixian, chief financial officer of anta, said that the substantial increase in the group's performance last year was mainly due to the stable growth of anta's main brands and the rapid growth of other brands including FILA, among which the Japanese sports brand Descente had a growth rate of 200% due to its low base.
Notably, itochu has replaced the brand's founder faction to take over as the Japanese trading house giant enters the end of its "hostile takeover" of Descente last year.Anta, in turn, is close to itochu, having earlier publicly backed itochu's bid and plans to replace itochu's board of directors.
In 2016, anta set up a joint venture company in China with Descente and itochu.Mr. Ding and his relatives own 7% of Descente, the second-largest shareholder after itochu.The capture of control itochu, anta will also be a major positive.
Now, anta group through acquisition for different brand positioning, market segment, on the one hand, fill the empty space in the market, on the other hand to absorb mature brand behind the experience and professional technology and outdoor sports brand, initially formed the public professional sport, high-end fashion movement, professional outdoor sports three niche brand matrix.
But because yamafen's brands are small in China, anta's need for synergies poses a challenge to its ability to digest and manage them.