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China becomes major consumer in sportswear market

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-03 10:33

BEIJING -- Chen Chen, a 22-year-old girl in a pair of Nike sneakers and a baseball cap of the same brand, walked out of the Xuanwumen Subway Station in Beijing on August 2, the last Saturday before the 2008 Olympics.

Many young people on the city's street are dressed in casual sports wear this summer ahead of the Olympics.

Chinese 110m hurdler Liu Xiang (R) and soccer star Ronaldinho Gaucho pose for a sportswear commercial in Beijing, August 8, 2007. [sina.com]

"Among the 28 students in my class at college, only five did not have Nike or Adidas shoes," Chen said.

China produces 65 percent of the world's sports supplies. But many brand names began to pay more attention to China not only because it is a manufacturing center of sports supplies, but also because it has become one of the major consumers.

"Chinese people have more money to spend than before and more people developed habits of doing sports. So many of them became consumers of sports supplies, " said Xu Yang, Director of the brand management center of Anta Company, a domestic brand name of sports wear.

The China Education and Sports Supplies Association (CESSA) predicted that the Beijing Olympics will further promote Chinese people's consumption of sports supplies. It estimated that the sales volume of sports supplies in China will reach 80 billion yuan ($11.4 billion dollars) in 2008. China will become the second largest market for sports supplies only next to the United States.

International brand names, such as Nike and Adidas, are trying to expand their market from Beijing and Shanghai to smaller and less populous cities. Meanwhile, domestic brand names including Lining, Anta, Tebu, Kangwei and 361 degrees are trying to expand their markets from small, middle-sized cities to big ones.

Nike has the largest share of Chinese sport supply market.

"The company's annual sales volume in China has exceeded one billion U.S. dollars. This goal was realized faster than we expected," said Nike brand president Charlie Denson. "Beijing Olympics is a perfect opportunity for us to consolidate our leading position in Chinese market."

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