According to Adidas AG executives, the company’s goal is to surpass Nike Inc. in the Chinese market before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The company has already accelerated the speed of opening stores and signed an Olympic sponsorship agreement for Reebok. The acquisition of the company (Reebok) is also showing results. A Nike China spokesperson declined to comment, but said that Nike has been far ahead of its nearest competitor and the gap continues to widen.
According to Adidas AG executives, the company’s goal is to surpass Nike Inc. in the Chinese market before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The company has already accelerated the speed of opening stores and signed an Olympic sponsorship agreement for Reebok. The acquisition of the company (Reebok) is also showing results.
Herbert Hainer, chief executive of Adidas, said on Thursday that in the next two years, the company plans to expand in China by an average of 1.5 new stores each day, so that it will reach 2,500 Adidas before 2010. The number of brand stores has doubled.
Hainer said in an interview with officials of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games that he believes Adidas will become the leader in the Chinese market in the next two years. Adidas is a partner of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Haina has long believed that as the company’s fastest-growing major market, China’s goal for the company to achieve its goal of becoming the boss of the global sportswear industry is crucial. Adidas currently lags behind Nike both globally and in the Chinese market.
Adidas’ $3.8 billion acquisition of Reebok’s actions is seen by analysts as one of its ways to expand its market share in the United States, which is also important for the company’s China development plan.
Yao Ming, the basketball star, is the representative of Reebok. Hainer said that this means that during the Olympics, Yao Ming will wear Reebok shoes to participate in the competition, although the Chinese basketball team's clothing sponsor is Nike. He said that Yao Ming is crucial to the expansion of Reebok’s market share in the Chinese market.
Heiner said that the annual sales of adidas brand products in the Chinese market will reach 1 billion euros (1,280 million US dollars) by 2010, which does not include Reebok sales in China.
Adidas’ global market sales followed closely behind Nike. After the acquisition of Reebok, the company's global sales in 2005 were 11.8 billion US dollars, while Nike was 13.7 billion US dollars. Nike said the company’s sales in China in 2005 were close to US$600 million. Adidas did not publish data on sales in the Chinese market, but Zou Marketing Inc., a Chinese sports goods marketing company, estimates that last year Adidas’ sales in the Chinese market was approximately $385 million.
A Nike China spokesperson declined to comment, but said that Mark Parker, Nike’s chief executive, stated in a recent statement that in the past two years, the company’s sales in the Chinese market have more than doubled, and the brand has tracked The research report also shows that Nike has far ahead of its nearest competitors, and the gap continues to widen.
The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing is very critical to the two companies’ plans to occupy the Chinese market. The way the two companies entered the Chinese market can also be seen in their marketing strategies.
Adidas has spent huge sums of money to sign up as a partner of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. According to industry estimates, the company paid a record $80 million, and for this reason the company will have the opportunity to display Adidas logo when all athletes are on the podium. Adidas declined to comment on the amount paid.
Nike is proud of its own alternative image. The company and all kinds of sports teams in China have signed sponsorship agreements. The members of these sports teams will wear sportswear printed with Nike logos, including basketball teams, track and field teams, and swimming teams. According to a sports reporter, the Chinese team is likely to receive a gold medal in these projects.
This means that audiences, especially Chinese consumers, will see a large number of Chinese athletes wearing Nike sportswear to win the game. The Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang wearing the Nike sportswear at the 2004 Olympics first shot across the finish line was repeatedly broadcast on Chinese TV stations.
Adidas only sponsored a few sports teams, including the Chinese football team, which is generally not optimistic about the outside world.
Terry Rhoads, general manager of Former Rui, said that there are many Chinese athletes competing in the medal contest. If they won't wear Adidas sportswear when they won a lot of medals, it would be the company's failure. Winning athletes will wear clothes with Adidas logos on the podium, but the sponsor's exposure rate also depends on how often the screen shots are played by the media.
Hainer of adidas asserted that the company as an Olympic sponsor will receive high exposure. At the same time, he also stated that you cannot have everything, because everything has to pay a price.
He pointed out that as an official sponsor, Adidas' strategy in this World Cup is a success. He said that the company’s sales during the World Cup exceeded 1.2 billion euros.
Adidas also plans to expedite the opening of the Reebok store in the Chinese market and plans to open 200 to 250 stores each year, bringing the number of Chinese Reebok brand stores to 1,500 to 2,000. Reebok currently has 50 stores in China.