In 2000, Anta took the top spot in China's sporting goods market with sales of 300 million yuan,

second only to Nike. The rise of Anta is the rise of "Made in Jinjiang".

Since the beginning of the year, CCTV sports channel advertisements have suddenly become lively. The most eye-catching one

is a bunch of sports shoe advertisements. Kong Linghui, Wang Nan, Cai Zhenhua, and Li Yongbo took turns to appear. As the image spokespersons of brand sports shoes, they appeared frequently with every A-League or other events. body screen.

Most people don’t know that these cars are named “Anta”, “Xtep”, “361 Degrees”, “Guirenniao”, “Jinlaike”, “Xidelong”, “Buick” and so on. Sports shoes, in fact, have a unique brand - "Made in Jinjiang".

Group Breakthrough

“These shoes are almost all produced in Jinjiang, and there are at least 20 brands currently appearing on TV.” Jinjiang Enterprise Bureau Market Zhuang Mingjin, deputy director of the Development Center, is quite proud.

Sports shoes are the largest pillar industry in Jinjiang, Fujian. In Jinjiang, known as the "Sports Shoe Capital of China", there are shoe factories and shoe material stores almost everywhere. There is the largest shoe material street in the country, where you can buy any of the most popular sports shoe materials without leaving the street. In Jinjiang, the number of shoe factories of various sizes has reached about

about 3,000, and there are at least 100 companies with assets of more than 10 million. If you stop a Jinjiang man on the street, Everyone may have a "shoe story" with you.

Ten years ago, people in Jinjiang were almost blank in making sports shoes.

In Putian City, Fujian Province, which is dozens of kilometers away, it was a major shoe production area in Fujian Province at that time. Nike

Nike's OEM processing plant was located there, while Jinjiang At that time, we mainly processed some "labor protection shoes".

Later, Nike canceled its processing plant in Putian City. The withdrawal gave Jinjiang an excellent opportunity to start a business.

Using the resulting large number of skilled workers, Jinjiang Shoes Industry Rapidly expanded and developed. In the early 1990s, when China's sports shoe market experienced a huge initial demand, Jinjiang shoes once experienced a situation where the supply of products exceeded the demand.

“What was produced was what was sold at that time,” said Zhuang Mingjin. “Almost all shoemaking companies in Jinjiang were family-owned businesses.

This can easily play a role in helping and guiding many companies. Complete your own primitive accumulation at this stage."

However, excessive market demand also brings negative effects. Excessive pursuit of output and family-style production

have caused many Jinjiang shoes to have problems after being worn for only a few days. Jinjiang shoes were once complained by consumers across the country as "weekly shoes" ". In the mid-1990s, Jinjiang people finally tasted the consequences of excessive market credibility. Of course, bad shoes can no longer be sold, and even good shoes can no longer be sold.

Jinjiang Shoes, whose reputation in the domestic market has plummeted, has to turn its attention to foreign markets

Jinjiang has natural advantages in developing export sales of shoes. This is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese. According to statistics from relevant departments, the local population is about 1 million, while the number of overseas Chinese in Jinjiang all over the world has reached 3 million. . Under the influence of this favorable factor, Jinjiang shoes with price advantages began to be exported to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South America, North Africa and other places.

“Last year, Quanzhou (the shoe-producing area is mainly in Jinjiang) exported about 400 million pairs, earning about 2 billion US dollars in foreign exchange.” said Lin Pingyuan, secretary-general of the Quanzhou Shoe Chamber of Commerce. .

However, the good times did not last long.

In 2001, with the weakening of the U.S. market

and the implementation of the tax assessment system in the Eastern European market, Jinjiang's shoe exports dropped sharply. "Last year, 80% of Quanzhou's

shoes were exported, but this year it can no longer be done. People have started anti-dumping. We have to re-examine the mainland

market." Lin Pingyuan said.

From domestic sales to exports, and then from exports to domestic sales, Jinjiang shoe industry is forced to go through market cycles.

Brand Building Competition

Sanxing Group is one of the largest shoe companies in Quanzhou. Since its establishment in 1987, most of its products

have been exported. . As a result, Sanxing not only completed sufficient capital accumulation, but also accumulated rich production experience in the process of custom-branded products for famous brands such as Nike.

However, working for others means that the income is meager. Huang Haiqing, the group's deputy general manager in charge of export sales,

feels deeply about this.

“We depend on other people’s faces,” Huang Haiqing said. “Not long ago, a brand ranked fifth in the American sports shoe market came to discuss processing matters. The processing fee for each pair of shoes is only 5 US dollars, but these products can be sold for 50 US dollars in the U.S. market," Huang admitted. Even if the brand itself is the same product, it cannot sell it at a good price. This makes the fledgling Sanxing Group feel suffocated. Since the end of last year, Sanxing has been determined to seek breakthroughs and formulated a grand plan to build its own brand.

If the obstruction of exports is the trigger for the collective transformation of Jinjiang Shoe Industry, the awakening of brand awareness

is obviously the fundamental reason for Jinjiang Shoe Industry to launch a brand-building competition.

In March this year, after some careful deliberation, Sanxing Group decided to spend 5 million to hire Nicholas Tse

as its image spokesperson. In June, this advertisement began to be launched.

"Brother manufacturers all do this. We feel that celebrity spokespersons are indeed needed. The key is that they must be in line with

our own product positioning." Huang Haiqing revealed that he chose Nicholas Tse because of his Avant-garde and youthful, and this is in line with Sanxing's requirements. In order to package the "Xtep" sports shoes endorsed by Nicholas Tse, Sanxing's advertising expenses this year are expected to reach 20 million. "We have never invested so heavily," said Huang Haiqing

, "but our strategy is to hire the best if we don't want to, and hire the best if we want!" In fact, this is almost all

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The same views are shared by Jinjiang enterprises involved in brand building.

To achieve this goal, hiring spokespersons is a key battle in this battle between stars and brands. After Anta invited Kong Linghui, Jinlaike immediately invited Wang Nan to join, while Xidelong simply asked Cai Zhenhua, the coach of the pair of champions, to come out. Buick (Fujian) Shoes Co., Ltd., which has the same name and trademark as the famous car brand Buick but has nothing to do with it, spent 5 million to invite all members of the Chinese badminton team, including Li Yongbo, as spokespersons. The budget will also reach 20 million yuan. "If you include Delhui, Mingle, Hongxing Erke and other brands, the overall investment will exceed 100 million!" Zhuang Mingjin did a rough calculation. "The current craze is the result of Anta's brand effect." Ding Zhizhong, general manager of Anta (Fujian) Shoes Co., Ltd., told reporters. In Jinjiang, Anta is the most popular brand among locals. This company, founded in 1991, was different from its brother manufacturers in that it focused on domestic sales from the beginning. Locals recalled that Anta was not very good in the early days. It was not until 1999 that it unexpectedly hired world table tennis champion Kong Linghui, the first person to use the image spokesperson to establish the brand banner of Jinjiang shoes, and everything fundamentally changed. . Now, when Li Ning Sporting Goods Company became the leader of China's sporting goods industry in 2000 with sales of 7.6 billion yuan, Anta miraculously ranked second to Nike (sales of 400 million yuan) with sales of 300 million yuan. after.

As a company with a single product, sports shoes, Anta's success has indeed brought great shock to this market - especially Jinjiang Shoe Industry. People suddenly realized that Anta, a Chinese brand that was born and raised around them, could become so close to Nike overnight. But before, this neighboring company, which was only separated by a wall, had remained unknown—this was enough reason for dozens of companies in Jinjiang to catch up at the same time. Their current common thinking is to use Anta's successful trajectory to predict their own future. The opportunity comes from Nike. It is undeniable that in this brand-building movement, there are indeed many opportunists, and some companies even do not have the strength to create brands. However, when facing an initial and huge market, these may not be possible. important. “According to a survey by SATRA (British Footwear Industry Technical Inspection Agency), the per capita annual sales volume of sports shoes in the United States is 4 pairs, while in China it is 0·8 pairs. China is one of the most potential sports shoe consumer markets after the United States. "Zhang Wei, general manager of Weimin Deng Yaping (Quanzhou) Shoes Co., Ltd., obviously understands this better, "With the successful bid for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the gradually heating up national sports craze will further expand the sports shoe market. need". Obviously, expectations for the future market and the lack of mainstream brands of mid- to low-end sports shoes in the current market are important reasons for these companies to be willing to invest heavily. Ye Shuangquan, vice president of Anta Shoes, believes that China's sports shoe market is currently divided into three major categories: the first category is high-end brands led by Nike; the second category is mid-range brands led by Li Ning; and the third category is Newly emerging mass brands headed by Anta. In the United States, the per capita ownership of Nike is almost 1.5 pairs. Due to its high price, Nike has always been a symbol of high-end brands - especially in China. Therefore, when the consumption capacity of most Chinese people for sports shoes is only between 100 yuan and 300 yuan, in order to maintain the brand image, Nike, which is at the "top of the pyramid", basically stays away from competition, thus basically giving up the mid-to-low-end market. But this is obviously not the best choice for Nike. In 2000, Nike's global sales have hovered around US$9 billion for three consecutive years. Although its share of the U.S. sports shoe market remains at a relatively high 42%, domestic footwear sales in the United States fell in the most recent quarter. increased by 15%, while old rival Reebok achieved a growth of 3.4%. In China, Nike's sales situation is also unsatisfactory. Li Ning, which focuses on the mid-to-high-end market, has become its biggest rival. Last year, although Nike also tried to enter the mid-to-low-end market of more than 100 yuan, due to the lack of clear and firm ideas, the promotion of new products was inconsistent and did not achieve the expected results. Professionals believe that Nike's rigid thinking is the main reason for its current troubles. "Nike placed too much emphasis on new technologies such as shock-absorbing shoes, thus losing share in the mid-price market." Neville, president and CEO of U.S. Football Sports, commented. For Jinjiang enterprises, this is obviously an excellent opportunity to expand. Due to long-term OEM processing, Jinjiang region itself already has sufficient resource advantages and the ability to organize research and development and acquire technology. Since there is no absolutely dominant brand in the current mid- to low-end market, if Jinjiang Shoes Industry can grow rapidly in the brand market, it will definitely have the opportunity to become a market leader. "The core problem currently plaguing Jinjiang's sports shoe industry is not technology, but management." Ding Zhizhong said. The long-term family business model has resulted in a lack of advanced management concepts and management talents here. If you want to find new breakthroughs in branding, you must first resolve the gap in management concepts. "This is determined by the current status of the industry," said Jiang Jing, who is responsible for the general distribution of Pepsi fashion shoes in China. "This industry will need three to five years of repeated precipitation to mature."