How Can Sports Brands Catch Consumers In The Long Run?

With the constant escalation of consumption, consumers are paying more attention to the design and aesthetic sense of clothing when choosing sports apparel. Sports apparel with fashionable elements is becoming more and more popular. According to the China Commercial Daily reporter, under the influence of sports fashion, many sports fashion brands are very brilliant. But it should be noted that the sports fashion brand should cultivate the loyalty of consumers, so as not to change the trend of fashion to affect the development of brand.

Sports and fashion market

By 2020, the global sports market value will reach 229 billion pounds, according to the data from the prospective industry research institute.

Matt Powell Powell, vice president and senior industry consultant at NPD group, a US market research firm, said that the trend of sports and fashion is strong now, and consumers are more inclined to buy sports and fashion products. (Matt) CNBC, a consumer news and business channel, believes that sportswear style is in fashion. Bright and patterned sportswear is the darling of people's wardrobe. This phenomenon will not disappear in a short time.

According to the reporter's understanding, the purchasing power of young consumers has become the main reason for the rapid development of sports fashion clothes. Young consumers pursue the individuality and comfort of clothing, so they are especially interested in products with both fashionable and athletic characteristics. It is worth noting that young female consumers are focused on sports fashion brands. For them, the style, color and design style of sportswear are very important. In order to meet the needs of female consumers, sports fashion brands pay more attention to the trend of the season and incorporate fashion elements into dress design.

When sports and fashion trends swept across the globe, the domestic sports and fashion market also accelerated. The 2018-2024 year analysis of China's leisure apparel industry market depth analysis and investment forecast report released by Chi Yan research shows that in 2017, China's sports fashion sales volume has reached 52 billion 6 million yuan, an increase of 8.50% over the same period last year, and sales of sports fashion footwear reached 63 billion 628 million yuan, up 14.30% over the same period last year.

It is worth noting that China's related policies have also promoted the development of sports and fashion industry. For example, "the State Council on accelerating the development of sports industry to promote sports consumption" put forward that the future development goal is: by 2025, we will basically establish a sports industry system with reasonable layout, perfect functions and complete categories, sports products and services are more abundant, market mechanism is constantly improving, consumer demand is becoming more and more vigorous, the driving effect of other industries has been significantly improved, and the total scale of sports industry is more than 5 trillion yuan, which has become an important force to promote the sustainable development of the economy and society.

Sports and fashion brands are doing well.

With the trend of sports and fashion sweeping, many sports brands have seized opportunities and improved their performance. For example, the German sports fashion brand Puma (Puma) released the 2019 quarter fiscal year second quarter earnings report, led by the North American market and the Asia Pacific market, global sales grew 16.9% to 1 billion 227 million euros, operating profit grew 39% to 80 million 300 thousand euros, two key data were higher than analysts expected. The German brand reached 2 billion 546 million euros in the first half of this year, an increase of 16.8% compared with the same period last year, and its net profit increased to 144 million euros.

Puma chief executive Bjorn Goulden (Bjorn Gulden) said that the Chinese market maintained a high growth rate and is expected to overtake the US in the next five years. Driven by China's performance, the Asia Pacific market grew by 23% to 315 million euros in the second quarter.

Matt Powell believes that because American culture is more and more comfortable and leisure, Puma, the main athlete, has the potential to further expand its performance.

American underwear and sportswear group HanesBrands Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "HBI") sports fashion brand champion (Champion) in the 2019 quarter of fiscal year second sales rose 50%, becoming the main driving force for the growth of HBI performance. HBI chief executive Gerald Evans (Gerald Evans) appreciated the outstanding performance of the champion and believed that the future performance of the brand is expected to exceed group expectations.

VF, the footwear and apparel manufacturer of the United States, has a global net sales growth of 20% over the first quarter of fiscal 2020 in the first quarter of fiscal year 20%, becoming the engine of VF's performance. Due to strong growth in the first quarter, VF has raised its full year forecast for fiscal year 2020, with net sales expected to grow by about 6% to $11 billion 800 million over the same period.

The performance of Fila, the sports brand of Anta, has also maintained a high growth. Although Anta did not disclose the specific performance data of Felix, at the end of last year, the 100 year old Italy brand already had 1652 stores, with annual sales exceeding 10 billion yuan.

Sports fashion brand Skech (Skechers) sales in the second quarter of fiscal 2019 reached US $1 billion 259 million, an increase of 10.9% over the same period last year, with net income reaching US $75 million and net profit up 66% over the same period. In the view of Chen Weili, CEO of Asia Pacific, Cage, China's young consumers have strong purchasing power and strong demand for sports and leisure wear. In order to occupy the young consumer market, Skech promotes publicity through entertainment programs and street dance competitions.

How to maintain brand loyalty?

Under the fashion of sports and fashion, sports fashion brands have been developing rapidly and better. But an expert who declined to be named by the China Clothing Association told reporters that although the fashion trend is prevailing, the brand loyalty of consumers is in a downward trend. In addition to sports scenes, young consumers in other scenarios have lower requirements on the sports function of sports shoes, and fashion sense and uniqueness are the commodity characteristics they are pursuing. So it is very difficult to have a sports fashion brand. He said.

Robert Passikoff, the founder and chief executive of BrandKeys, a famous brand research firm in the US, also says that it is hard for brands to resonate with consumers who are changing in demand now. Robert Pasikov Consumer loyalty to the retail industry has changed greatly in recent years, especially in the traditional fields such as sportswear brand.

According to the reporter, brand loyalty represents the recognition of consumers' leading position in the brand. It is formed by consumers buying and using the brand over and over again, and having certain trust, emotional support and even emotional dependence on the brand. Customers with high brand loyalty are less sensitive to price. They are willing to pay high price for high quality. They can recognize the value of a brand and regard it as a friend and partner, and are willing to contribute to the brand.

Some research reports also show that the brand loyalty of consumers has been reduced. According to the China consumer insight released by Accenture, a management consulting firm, although Chinese urban consumers have strong brand awareness, they are also very willing to constantly try new brands, new products and give comments. According to statistics, 69% of Chinese urban consumers are willing to try different brands in purchasing behavior.

In addition, the Chinese consumer insight shows that with the change of population structure, the acceleration of urbanization and the popularity of digital lifestyle, Chinese consumers' consumption psychology and consumption habits have undergone tremendous changes, and enterprises will face greater challenges.

Skech, vice president of China market and store development, Zhang Ruiyan, said young people are willing to try new things. In view of the low loyalty of consumers, Skech will continue to invest in the long term, deepen youth culture, read young people's ideas, choose the right way to get rid of estrangement, and further dialogue with young people.

The above experts told reporters that in the case of lower brand loyalty, the brand needs to enhance the recognition degree of the product, and combine the corresponding marketing and marketing behavior, so that consumers can fully feel the brand value and idea conveyed by the brand, which is conducive to enhancing brand loyalty.