How Can Under Armour Climb To The Throne Of The American Market?

"In the future, we will take the lead in all important markets all over the world." It is none other than Under Armour who is the founder and President of the Under Armour. In an interview with reporters, the 43 year old founder clearly stated that China will become the next battleground of UA. What is the name of the sports brand that is popular among all the stars? What is the reputation of such an obscure enterprise to boast of such Haikou? Few people know that UA, who started in Baltimore, USA, picked Adidas up last year for $1 billion 200 million, and became the brand of the US sports market share of second. In the face of China's market, can UA continue its dark horse road?

When UA speeds up the layout of China's market, what people most like to mention is that UA has exceeded Adidas's sales volume in the US market at a rapid pace. In the industry view, differentiated product positioning and effective marketing measures are the two secrets of UA's North American market.

Insiders say tights and professionalism have become the lever for UA to pry the market. When UA launched its first sport tights, there were no such products in the market. At that time, Nike and Adidas, the sports industry giants, did not attach importance to the market, and had no relevant professional products. The introduction of UA tights has left the sports brand giants far behind in the high performance tights market with a 70% share. Over the past three years, its sales and profits have increased by 78% and 100% respectively.

"From September this year, we will open 30 stores in China in the next 6 weeks." This is Kevin Plank's latest plan for UA in the Chinese market this year. And this kind of shop speed can be described quickly in any sports enterprise. At present, UA has 78 stores in China, which is the result of UA's efforts since 2011.

In the first 8 months of last year, UA's sales increased by 20% to $1 billion 200 million, the first time to surpass Adidas ($1 billion 100 million sales, down 23% from the same period last year), making it the second most popular brand in the US. Although the sales figures of US $1 billion 200 million can not compete with the US $8 billion 900 million in the same period of the same period, UA's share price growth in the past three years is two times that of Nike. The brilliant result has made UA a dark horse in the industry in the past three years. But all along, this enterprise is highly dependent on the US market, and the pace of overseas expansion is particularly slow.

But this year seems different. In the two quarter of this year, the company's total revenue rose 28.5%, from $609 million 700 thousand to $783 million 600 thousand. Strong results prompted UA to raise its annual revenue forecast and set the three quarter target: to focus on Asian regional development. China is the most concentrated development target.

This is not thunder and heavy rain. In the past, there were two generations of war boots in China, and then the second largest flagship store in the world, second only to the United States, in Shanghai. It is understood that before the brand shops are mainly located in the northern Guangzhou and other first tier cities, but in the past one or two years, UA has also made a deep layout in the two or three line cities, and shops in Chengdu, Yinchuan and Ji'nan can be seen in UA.

After inquiring about the price of UA product's official website, reporters found that compared with similar products on the market, the price of UA products is relatively high. Take its star product compression clothing as an example, a UA man strong telescopic short sleeve T-shirt cost 229 yuan on its official website, while the price of similar products launched by Nike is 199 yuan. The price difference of long sleeved tights is even more obvious. The UA men's long sleeved T-shirt is priced at 349 yuan, while the Nike product of the same type sells for only 249 yuan. In addition, UA launched the superhero tights series this year, with a price of up to 599 yuan. In this regard, Zhang Qing believes that a higher price may make UA in the short term can not be. Chinese Market Widely recognized, "the price of UA is higher in the current mass market, and the high-end product itself is the threshold". Another industry also said that in the absence of outstanding features, the price is relatively high, so that UA become more consumers to buy products under curiosity, or to satisfy the trend of the product, but it is difficult to obtain consumer loyalty.

In addition, a senior sports industry official who declined to be named told reporters that the Chinese market would not be as easy for UA as the North American market. He believed that Nike and Adidas had a fairly mature market share in China, and that it would be difficult for the emerging brands to shake in the near future. Plus, Chinese consumers have a longer time to accept new brands than European and American countries. Therefore, UA wants to win Adidas in China again when it is second hard. "The development of the specialized sports equipment market in China, such as Decathlon sports supermarket, Skins, McDavid and so on, is not very optimistic. Influenced by the shortage of China's working hours system and sports venues, the enthusiasm of Chinese consumers in professional sports equipment purchases is much less than that of foreign countries." The sports industry said.

Besides, UA They were also good at sponsoring the stadium and finding the endorsement of big players. In August last year, UA tried to dig up the Nike with a high price of 320 million US dollars, competing for the new NBA MVP of Durant, which brought pressure to Nike while causing widespread concern in the society.

In September of this year, UA and the 2014-2015 season NBA regular season MVP, super basketball superstar Stephen Currie completed the contract renewal, then Currie came to the Chinese market with UA to stand for it.

Even though it entered China in 2011, even China is very experienced. Sports equipment Consumers also have limited knowledge of UA. After visiting two large UA stores in Beijing, reporters also found that compared with Nike and Adidas, UA had relatively few customers. The key Road Sports Consulting Co., Ltd., CEO Zhang Qing, told reporters in an interview that at present, UA's recognition in the Chinese market is relatively low, which is closely related to the poor commercial promotion of the brand. "UA is still relying on word of mouth and Internet to spread, and has not taken a large area of publicity in China." Can ambitious UA be accepted by Chinese consumers and create the myth of success in the North American market?

Zhang Qingye believes that at present, China's sports equipment market is dominated by Nike, Adidas, Lining, Anta, PEAK and other second camps, and the rest of the brand is in the third camp lacking professionalism. In the future, this pattern will change. Although it is difficult for the Chinese market to attack Nike and Adidas two giants, UA still has sufficient advantages and Lining, XTEP and other local brands are at a premium. "This brand has the strength of science and technology and unique value proposition. It may be difficult to shake the existing pattern of the Chinese market for a time, but the advantage of backwardness should not be underestimated."