Domestic shoe companies need to be cautious about the rising tide of outdoor markets

In recent years, with the constant warming of the outdoor sports market, more and more domestic and foreign outdoor brands are rushing to take hold of the Chinese outdoor market. The wise Quanzhou shoes and apparel companies also "sniffed" this business opportunity, Tianlun days, Leden, Mulinsen outdoor, or create their own outdoor brands, or agents of international famous brands, set off a large number of "outdoor wind".

The recent sporting goods giant Adidas will lead its newly developed series of products into the US outdoor market, including footwear, apparel and accessories, including the TERREX outdoor cross-country shoes that were unveiled in Europe in 2009. According to insiders, in order to help its outdoor products enter the US market, Adidas has already designated three agents in key US regions: BPAssociates in the Midwest, Helaman Group in the Rocky Mountains, and Frontier Group Sales in the northwest.

Compared with the market capacity of sports shoes of 600 billion, the outdoor shoe market is less than one-tenth, but it is better to be the leader of the small market instead of the tail of the bigger market. The current domestic retail price of sports shoes is about 200-300 yuan, while outdoor walking shoes with comparable production costs can sell for about 400 yuan. In terms of production equipment and production processes, there is little difference between outdoor shoes and sports shoes, but in terms of profit, outdoor is better than exercise. Perhaps because of this, Del Hui, Jinjiang Fuxin, Fujian Leden and other shoe companies have begun testing the outdoor shoe market.

"Single shot" is difficult to develop

In Jinjiang, there are two types of enterprises that are currently transforming into outdoor ones. One is the transformation from foreign trade. They have always been engaged in the production of outdoor sports equipment and have rich experience in professional outdoor products; the other is the local sports and leisure. Extending to outdoor areas may not know enough about the outdoor industry. Both of these are completely different for outdoor product development and processing capabilities.

Without a group of mature R&D teams and management talents, companies should not follow suit to develop professional outdoor products. Professional outdoor sportsmen are more demanding on the technical strength of shoes and clothing. They not only need to be lightweight, suitable for sports, but also have outdoor waterproof, breathable, moisture wicking, deodorant, anti-ultraviolet and other functions, if the functionality is not achieved. To outdoor sports equipment requirements, products not only face poor sales, the brand may also collapse.

Business pockets to "drum"

At present, many companies diversify into the outdoor market. Jinjiang outdoor is now taking the popular market route, that is, the concept of pan-outdoors, and the popular route needs a lot of funds to promote brand and channel construction in advance. In this way, at least 30 million yuan will be invested in the first year, and channels and brands will have to be supported in the second year. The funding needs are very large. However, no additional investment will be required in the second year. Without a certain amount of financial strength, it is impossible to play casually.

It is understood that Jinjiang shoe company launched an outdoor brand last year, the initial investment is very successful, channels in 20 provinces and cities across the country to roll out an instant, but this year due to lack of funds, resulting in product development can not follow up, agents can not sell goods , Enterprises are in trouble.

Hand in hand with international big brands to achieve win-win

"Lack of technical support, blindly follow-up production has led to a sluggish sales of many corporate products." An industry source introduced. On the one hand, outdoor shoes and clothing are very demanding on the function of fabrics such as moisture wicking, waterproofing and antifouling, and require upstream companies to provide powerful support; on the other hand, in the research and development, currently engaged in outdoor sports functional shoes and fabrics There are not many companies in production, and the shackles of new materials and production processes have become a major bottleneck in the development of outdoor products.

“In the absence of an industrial chain, companies should consider cooperating with international outdoor sports giants instead of considering their own brands.” The relevant person in charge of the Quanzhou Footwear Chamber of Commerce stated that compared with their own brands, alliances with international brands could quickly open up the market. At the same time, it is more secure in terms of brand appeal and product features. In recent years, top international outdoor brands such as Colombia and Ozark have rushed to the domestic market, which also gave the opportunity for shoe and clothing companies to cooperate with international outdoor brands.

In the outdoor market, outdoor shoes account for about 30%. Current domestic and outdoor footwear are generally divided into hiking shoes, walking shoes, beach shoes, upstream shoes, etc., while more foreign categories, as well as golf shoes, sailing shoes, wild Boots, field engineering shoes, fashion outdoor shoes and so on. Many people think that a single shoe is not enough to form a sales scale, so either come to a clothing, shoes, backpack, or equipment category, or a self-sale and processing, it is not. American outdoor brand CAT single shoes annual sales of more than 400 million US dollars, Merrell, Timberland and other outdoor brands are also mainly shoes, with annual sales of hundreds of millions of dollars above, Crocs, Deckers is also a shoe company, Crocs annual sales of 700 million In U.S. dollars, Deckers had 1.3 billion annual sales. The number of categories is not the key to sales, sales depends on the popularity of the product.