Nike officially launched the yoga market to challenge Lululemon

Recently, Nike officially announced at the investor conference that it will officially launch the "pant studios" in the sports trousers monopoly area in its 5,000 stores next month, officially launching the yoga market.

As the sportswear industry becomes more and more subdivided, yoga has become a new entry point for brands to attract consumers. The Canadian brand Lululemon, which is mainly engaged in yoga sports equipment, faces increasingly fierce market competition.

Recently, Nike officially announced at the investor conference that it will officially launch the "pant studios" in the sports trousers monopoly area in its 5,000 stores next month, officially launching the yoga market. Nike management has said that as sports equipment becomes more popular, tight-fitting sweatpants will become new jeans. In addition, Nike will also launch sports bra products to challenge the yoga equipment leader Lululemon.

Nike brand president Trevor Edwards revealed that in the Nike sportswear with annual sales of 7 billion US dollars, more and more women are participating in physical exercise, and their women's sports and leisure apparel business has grown faster than men's wear. Some analysts pointed out that Nike's latest action will pose a threat to Lululemon, which has only 421 stores in North America.

As of press time, Lululemon refused to respond to Nike's move.

Lululemon was founded in 1998 by the founder Chip Wilson in Vancouver, British Columbia, specializing in yoga apparel. With the help of precise market positioning and the promotion of healthy living concepts, Lululemon has emerged from many sportswear brands in just a few years and has become the sportswear brand of choice for young women in North America.

Chip Wilson is an ambitious entrepreneurial expert and marketing genius. Unlike Nike and adidas, who have invested heavily in sports star endorsements, he has chosen to work with yoga instructors or fitness instructors around the world to invite them by offering free clothing for one year. Brand ambassador.

With this innovative promotion model and sponsoring community yoga classes, Lululemon quickly accumulated a large number of fans and built a reputation for quality. At present, Lululemon has positioned itself as a top-selling sportswear brand and is planning to spend a portion of its health and fitness expenses and decided to have a long-term presence in this field.

Founder Chip Wilson is an ambitious entrepreneurial expert and marketing genius. The collaborative promotion model with the yoga instructor and the operation of the sponsored community yoga course have quickly accumulated a huge fan of lululemon.

“We just caught up with the sports and leisure trend when we entered the market, but this is not our ultimate goal.” Ken Lee, senior vice president of Lululemon Asia Pacific, said in an interview with Jingri Media, “What we want is in this market. Long standing firm." From the first physical store in 2000 to the listing, Lululemon only took 7 years. In the past 6 months, Lululemon's share price has increased by 25% to 62 US dollars per share. The current market value is about It is $8.4 billion.

Some people in the industry believe that Lululemon has won the slogan of sports and leisure in a timely manner, and has gradually become a monopolist in the yoga market by creating a healthy lifestyle instead of simply selling products to gain pricing power.

ThinkEquity Partners data shows that Lululemon's "iron powder" will cost $92 to buy a pair of sports pants. Nike's sweatpants cost about $60, and Under Armour's products cost just $70. Some analysts pointed out that at present, many people in China are willing to pay for a LV or GUCCI bag, but in Canada and the United States, girls are more willing to use their money to buy a Lululemon pants.

In the face of Nike, Under Armour and other peers, the advantage of Lululemon, which has a relatively low wholesale business, is that it can realize the product in a very short period of time. Its DSO (days sales outstanding) is 2.38 days, which is much higher than that of Under Armour. 32.85 days with Nike's 38.1 days.

At the same time, Amazon, which has frequently launched its fashion market this year, plans to take a share in the sports market. According to sources quoted by Bloomberg, Amazon has been in contact with Lululemon's iconic Luno fabric supplier Eclat Textile Co. since August this year, or will launch its own sportswear brand. If the news is true, Lululemon’s monopoly in the field of yoga will be threatened.

It is worth noting that although Lululemon has dozens of patents, most of these patents are related to design, not fabrics, so Lululemon cannot use intellectual property to defend against Amazon's invasion. Canaccord Genuity Corp. analyst Camilo Lyon said that after the launch of the Amazon sports brand, if the quality is the same as Lululemon, Lululemon will lose some of its original consumer groups.

However, Lululemon is constantly reforming itself. In the second quarter of the brand's earnings report, Lululemon no longer called itself a “yoga inspired athletic apparel”, but instead became a “healthy lifestyle inspired athletic”. Apparel)".

According to Laurent Potdevin, the brand will customize different products and activities according to the local market and community. A total of 2,500 brand ambassadors composed of yoga instructors and fitness instructors around the world will also keep abreast of the target consumers' needs and provide timely feedback to the brand. Lululemon is also aware of the importance of fashion and will pay more attention to fashion on a practical basis.

In the second fiscal quarter ended Aug. 31, Lululemon sales rose 13% year-on-year to $581 million, but net profit fell 10% year-on-year to $48.7 million, while same-store sales rose 7%. CEO Laurent Potdevin said that the increase in sales reflects the fact that the group's reform measures have gradually taken effect, and consumers are beginning to re-interest in Lululemon.

During the period, the Group's sales in Asia surged by 70%, mainly due to the 175% increase in sales of Lululemon's flagship store in Alibaba. The group plans to add 12 stores in Asia this year. In view of the growth trend of Lululemon, the Group expects annual sales this year to reach 2.5 billion to 2.6 billion US dollars.

At the same time that the leisure sports style in North America has gradually ebbed, China's sportswear industry has developed rapidly in the past three or four years, causing many high-end sports brands to pay attention. For Lululemon, the Chinese market is also crucial.

At the end of last year, Lululemon officially entered the Chinese mainland, not only to set up a flagship store in Tmall, but also opened three brand stores in Beijing and Shanghai. According to brand CEO Laurent Potdevin, Lululemon’s online sales in China this year have increased by 350%, boosted by Tmall’s flagship store.

The picture shows a store in Lululemon in Shanghai.

In order to increase the brand's consumer stickiness in China, Lululemon launched the “Heartshow China” yoga tour in China this year, which was held in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Beijing. The activity is centered on “practice”, and every time a city gets the active participation of consumers, it also creates a slightly boring yoga camp to create a hot party of thousands of people.

In June of this year, Lululemon launched the first global brand event “This Is Yoga” in 19 years. Seven grassroots practitioners told seven real stories to match the offline event “Heart Exhibition China”.

On the product side, Lululemon, which has always been a benchmark female consumer, sees menswear products as a new growth point. “Men's clothing is our least known secret,” Laurent Potdevin expects Lululemon men's wear to achieve annual sales of $1 billion in three years. .

In addition, Lululemon, which focuses on experiential marketing with almost no advertising, also released product advertisements for male consumers for the first time. In this group of "Strength to be" themed promotion, Lululemon invited surfers Mark Healey, boycott violent propagator Ibn Ali Miller, and the first Puerto Rican boxer Orlando who participated in the Olympics and participated in the Olympics. Men such as Cruz participated in the filming to emphasize and enrich the brand.

Compared with the brand's female image, which is more entrenched in the North American market, the Chinese market will become a major battleground for the Lululemon menswear business. Some people in the industry pointed out that China, which has just begun to rise in sports and leisure awareness, is, to a certain extent, a future for Lululemon.

It is reported that after feeling the strong flow of Tmall flagship store, Lululemon will explore new retail with Alibaba to better broaden the brand international market. It is expected that Lululemon online retail business and annual sales in North America will be promoted by the Chinese market. The amount is expected to reach $1 billion by 2020, and the brand's overall annual sales will reach $4 billion.

Some analysts pointed out that despite the changes of the times, the development of the sports industry is still similar, and the survival of the fittest. The winners 20 years ago were Nike, adidas and other all-around brands. Nowadays, the sports market is more and more subdivided. Lululemon, which sells lifestyle, is the leader in the vertical field of yoga, or will usher in a new turn.

Editor in charge: Wang Zhen