ANTA has brought out the super "top student" Descente, and the global strategic layout is win-win step by step

In the past two days, the national cold wave "bungee jumping" has cooled down, and the main one is caught off guard.

This sudden wind first blew a high-priced down jacket of 7,000 yuan.

Finally, the "white opium" that burns money every year and becomes addicted every year - skiing.

Unlike Citywalk, where you can enter the middle class by buying double salomones, skiing can be said to be learned once you learn it and pay for life:

Coach fees, transportation expenses, accommodation expenses, equipment, snow tickets, cameras... Every step to the slopes is built with money.

At the beginning of this year's snow season, some people have already spent more than 100,000 yuan on skiing.

And this most expensive outdoor sport has also successfully pushed a brand to the "top stream" this year:

After 8 years of entering the Chinese market, Descente's revenue exceeded 5 billion yuan for the first time this year, directly breaking the historical record.

These three arrows, which were not known to many people in the past, have suddenly become the new objects of young people queuing.

In 2019, Descente lost 160 million yuan in the Japanese market at that time, and life was extremely difficult.

And in China, this time-honored Japanese brand finally relied on a Chinese macho man to earn back face.

"Bai Fumei" in the field of skiing:

Golden jersey, won five gold medals

Descente, in fact, is the "white rich beauty" in the ski field.

Counting the tastes of Descente's spokespersons in China, they are basically recognized as top men:

Wu Yanzu, Chen Weiting, Peng Yuyan... In short, whoever looks at it is confused.

But back in Japan, Descente is a long-established brand that has been alive and well for 87 years.

In 1935, the Japanese Ishinomoto founded the men's clothing store of the same name in Osaka, which was the predecessor of Descente. For nearly 20 years since then, the store has actually been positioned as sports + pan-menswear.

In the 50s of the last century, the Japanese economy gradually woke up from the post-war slump, and skiing became popular.

Seeing this development trend, Ishimoto invited Japan's first professional skier, Kazuyoshi Nishimura, to serve as a brand consultant and began to develop professional ski equipment.

THE WORD DESCENTE COMES FROM FRENCH AND MEANS DOWNHILL SKIING IN ALPINE SKIING.

The three downward arrows in the brand logo represent the three basic techniques of downhill, downhill and downhill.

Design and technology are two of the strengths of Japanese companies.

In the early days of Descente's development, it was clear that top athletes were the best customers, and they could provide the most useful feedback.

Therefore, Descente is not an Internet celebrity brand, but a fabric maniac.

For example, in 1970, Descente passed the wind tunnel test and launched the first three-dimensional cut downhill ski suit.

Two years later, Sapporo, Japan, hosted its first Winter Olympics, and by reducing wind resistance, Descente's ski suit improved the championship by 2 seconds!

In particular, in 1980, Descente provided competition uniforms for the U.S. speed skating team, helping Eric Hayden win the "five crowns" of speed skating at the 1980 Winter Olympics, and Descente became famous.

At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the U.S. men's basketball team wore Descente jerseys, and at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the U.S. national cycling team wore Descente jerseys.

The ski circle is obsessed with Descente, but also because Descente keeps coming up with some "ghost ideas".

For example, the first winter coat with its own heating system in human history was made by Descente and Panasonic together.

The rechargeable cotton clothing that has been popular in the past two years, after connecting the power bank, can adjust the temperature, which is undoubtedly a cool X weapon in the ski resort.

Descente uses professional ski suits and unique fabric technology, inspired by dolphins in the sea.

Once the dolphin begins to swim at high speed, the entire skin surface can be undulating according to the turbulence of the water, becoming consistent with the shape of the water waves, which reduces the frictional resistance of the water by 90%.

Keiji Tsubouchi, the head of development at Descente at the time, revealed, "We found that when moving at high speeds, the uneven design reduces air resistance more than a smooth surface."

Descente's technology was based on this biological trait, and it was applied to the alpine skiing suit, and the dolphin skin was born.

From a huge loss of 160 million to a huge profit of 5 billion:

Changing one's life against the sky, it is the driving force behind it

Don't look at Descente's products as "scholars", but the ability to make money is indeed "scum".

In fact, as early as 1992, Descente entered China, opened a company in Beijing, and then opened Shanghai Descente Trading Company in 2002.

However, at that time, Descente had been tepid, and it was not until 2016 that Anta and Descente cooperated to establish a joint venture company, and Descente, which was "taken over", slowly entered the consumption vision of the domestic public.

In 2016, ANTA began to operate Descente China independently.

Three years later, the most magical event happened: Descente lost a lot of money in the Japanese market, but under the operation of Anta, it made a profit in China, selling nearly one billion yuan.

Over the past five years, Descente has gradually become a new revenue growth point for ANTA Group.

Since being acquired by Anta in 2016, Descente (China) has opened 195 stores.

Turning "scumbags" into "top students", how did Anta find a sense of existence for Descente?

Let's talk about Anta itself, the reason why it has the strength to "swallow" the industry's top brands is because Anta understands the Chinese market enough.

Especially in terms of investment in sponsorship of sports events, Anta is willing to spend money, and it has also achieved results.

In 2006, Anta's revenue was 1.25 billion yuan, and ten years after its listing, Anta's operating income in 2016 reached 13.35 billion yuan, and the turning point was its sponsorship of the Chinese Olympic Games.

Since 2009, ANTA has entered into two strategic cooperation agreements with the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) and has become the sportswear partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee from 2009 to 2016, providing championship equipment for Chinese teams to participate in major international competitions.

And if you look closely, you will find that Descente's fire in China is also closely tied to the event.

At the Beijing Winter Olympics, Descente provided uniforms for members of 14 national teams from six countries.

While other people's press conferences were held at high-end show venues, Anta parachuted Descente into the Genting Snow Resort in Zhangjiakou, one of the competition venues of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

It was opened in General Altay Mountain in Xinjiang and became a Xiaohongshu ski check-in place.

Descente creates snowboard suits for the Chinese national snowboard halfpipe team, and snowboard suits for the Chinese national alpine ski team...

These operations, I have to admit, are indeed very Anta.

Anta is actually the best product manager in China

A few years ago, there was little room for Chinese brands in the eyes of the middle class, let alone Anta.

Therefore, if they want to get the middle class, Chinese brands are riveting enough to do high-end, so that they accidentally "use too much force": Zhong Xuegao's 160 yuan ice cream, Hua Xizi 79's eyebrow pencil, and DR diamond rings that sell true love...

Before the rollover, although the quality of the products of these brands has its own disputes, their determination to squeeze into the high-end circle must be true.

Zhong Xuegao, the founder of Zhong Xuegao, scolded netizens, "The cost is 40 yuan, which is this price, do you like to buy it or not." ”

Li Jiaqi scolded netizens, "It's very difficult to make domestic products, sometimes find your own reasons, whether your salary has risen or not over the years, and whether you have worked hard." ”

In the end, these brands have not managed to win the middle class, but also lost the masses.

But while Anta is looked down upon by its peers, what it is doing is the most sober-minded thing:

Take a look at the favorite brands of the middle class, Arc'teryx, which is owned by ANTA, Salomon, which is owned by ANTA, and Descente, which is still owned by ANTA.

Anta knows where its shortcomings are, and it knows where its strengths are.

Blindly selling at a high price when the brand power is insufficient will only backfire, and the multi-brand strategy is the best way to remove the stereotype of the low-end of Jinjiang in the past.

A few years ago, many people ridiculed that Anta seemed to prefer to be someone else's father everywhere rather than making shoes.

But after a few years, you will find that Anta is indeed a "competent father" and a top "product manager".

In 2009, Anta bought the Chinese business of the Italian brand FILA from Hong Kong's Belle International, which has only 50 stores in China and is still saddled with a loss of 32.18 million.

In the first half of this year, FILA's revenue has reached 12.23 billion yuan.

Arc'teryx, a once extremely niche outdoor brand, quickly opened 150 stores in China in just 3 years, and quietly mixed next to LV and Rolex.

In the first half of this year, ANTA Sports' revenue has reached 29.65 billion yuan, directly surpassing Nike China and more than Li Ning and Adidas China combined.

Before the purchase of Descente, the ski brands of domestic local brands were basically concentrated in the middle and low end due to the limitations of design capabilities and intellectual property rights.

So most of these brands are destined to go to ski resorts and provide low-cost rental equipment.

And Descente is compared with these brands as a "king fights bronze game":

On the one hand, its own excellent products just make up for the gap in China's ski equipment market, which started late in the ice and snow economy, and on the other hand, Anta can also fill its own territory.

As a result, in less than four years, Descente has really become a new revenue growth point for Anta Group.

In the 2023 semi-annual report, Anta said that FILA will increase the layout of elite sports such as tennis, golf, skiing, and outdoor sports.

It seems that Anta has long been confident in the middle class.

Anta, once a "rural Chinese boy", won half of the high-end ski brands in one fell swoop.

Conclusion:

Since childhood, we have learned the "law of wooden barrels", which says that how much water a bucket can hold depends not on the longest plank, but on the shortest plank.

Therefore, people must develop in a balanced way and make up for their shortcomings in order to achieve success.

But sometimes whether you live well or not is not about how much water you can hold, but whether you can find that longboard.

Now, also a "money-throwing maniac", Adidas has become a discount nail for outlets, and Anta has taken the position of the leader of Chinese sports brands.

The last program of ANTA's annual annual meeting is the founder Ding Shizhong leading everyone to sing "Love to Fight to Win", "Three points are destined, seven points depend on hard work, love and hard work will win".

What is it for?

Ding Shizhong clearly knows that if he relies on a single brand, Anta, he will not be able to surpass Nike and Adidas. But when Anta implements a multi-brand strategy, it may create more possibilities.

For outdoor enthusiasts, you get what you pay for your equipment, and every extra penny counts, and for the middle class, high-end is by no means easy to fool with price increases.

These professional brands understand performance better, while Anta understands the Chinese market better.

Everyone has shortcomings, but as long as you recognize the longboard that can defeat the enemy with one move, it is enough.

The picture comes from the Internet, please contact to delete the infringement