Anta Sports described itself a few days ago as the first Chinese group to fully recover from the glut in inventories that affected the Chinese sports market for several years, after a sales increase of 22.4 percent to nearly 4,122 million yuan renminbi (€501.28m-$670.24m) for the first half of this year. The rise was attributed to distinctive products that offered value-for-money under the Anta brand, as well as significant growth in other parts of the business, such as the kids range, the Fila brand and online sales.
The group behind Anta, which has become the largest Chinese sports brand, saw its gross profit margin climb by a full 4.0 percentage points to 45.1 percent and its operating profit margin increase by 2.0 percent to 23.9 percent. Anta's profit attributable to shareholders advanced by 28.3 percent to RMB 802.8 million (€97.63m-$130.54m).
The improvement chiefly comes from Anta's pro-active efforts to streamline its distribution structure, to formulate more accurate development plans and to more closely watch its retail performance, as most other leading brands have been doing in China for the last two or three years. They have been providing more detailed order guidance to retailers and optimizing the flexibility of replenishment, which helped to reduce left-over inventories. The group has also been encouraging retailers to switch to the latest format of Anta stores and to install Olympic corners and Grand Basketball Corners at key stores. The number of stores for the Anta brand stood at 7,701 at the end of the six months, down slightly from 7,757 at the end of last year, while the number of Kids sportswear stores increased from 881 to 987.
Anta reinforced its positioning as a Chinese sports brand through its partnership with the Chinese Olympic Committee, which allowed it to provide Anta Champion Dragon outfits for the Chinese Sports Delegation at the Sochi Olympics. This was accompanied by a comprehensive marketing campaign, on television as well as social media platforms such as WeChat and Weibo.
At the same time the company has been investing in athletes endorsing Anta, which helps to underline its identity as a sports brand. It has been leveraging existing resources, particularly in the basketball, running and cross-training categories, as well as adding more resources.
When it comes to basketball, Anta has teamed up with Chandler Parsons, a rising NBA player. The brand is already endorsed by basketball players such as Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo and Luis Scola, among others. Its “Basketball is priceless” strategy is meant to enable more people to play basketball, with footwear prices of only RMB 399 (€48.53-$64.88) that are positioned as “national basketball shoes.”
Fast-growing enthusiasm for running in China has encouraged Anta to promote its latest running products with an interactive media campaign. Its involvement in running is also underlined by its sponsorship of the Olympic Day Run, which Anta has been supporting for the sixth consecutive year. It was integrated with online marketing through the nationwide Olympic Day Run charity campaign.
Meanwhile, the Anta group has also been investing in the Fila brand, raising the number of stores from 416 at the end of last year to 441 at the end of June in China, Hong Kong and Macao. A high-profile presentation was held in Shanghai in February to launch the Anna Sui by Fila range as well as the latest Fila spring range. It was announced on this occasion that the famous South Korean actor Lee Min Ho has agreed to become a Fila ambassador.
The rise in online sales came after enhancements of Anta's own online flagship store, moving from a clearance channel to a full-fledged online store adding new business and promoting the brand. For this purpose, the group has improved the Anta website's interface as well as logistics and customer service. It has also developed a range of exclusive online products.
The group said it would continue to develop in the same strategic direction. It expects the number of Anta stores to remain roughly stable at between 7,700 and 7,800 stores by the end of the year, while the number of Kids stores should increase further to reach between 1,000 and 1,100 stores. The number of Fila stores should also rise to between 450 and 500 stores.
