Skiing has become one of the most trendy outdoor sports in China in recent years. Not only has the development of the ski industry entered a fast lane, but the consumption of ski equipment has also continued to increase, attracting many domestic and foreign brands to accelerate their deployment in the Chinese market.

As a cutting-edge brand, can domestic ski equipment companies catch up with international professional brands, and where is the future growth space?

　　consumption observation

　　3000 yuan is the starting point for entry equipment

　　Snowboard enthusiast Bai Kuan (pseudonym) bought a new Nitro snowboard this year for about 4,400 yuan.

His existing set of ski equipment costs more than 20,000 yuan, and he renews the equipment every two to three years, spending more than 15,000 yuan.

But in Bai Kuan's view, compared with real ski enthusiasts, his investment in skiing is nothing at all. "Some snowboarders change several snowboards in one snow season."

　　According to data from the Jingdong platform, the number of self-operated orders for the "Double 11" ski category last year increased by 23 times year-on-year; data from the Tmall platform shows that during the double 11 in 2021, the sales of ski products will increase by 120% year-on-year, and women's ski wear, parent-child ski products bestseller.

There are more than 30,000 pieces of notes on skiing equipment on Xiaohongshu, and the content mainly involves skiing equipment sharing for novice Xiaobai and enthusiasts, snowboard equipment strategies, and ski suit purchase strategies.

　　A set of ski equipment mainly includes clothing accessories such as ski suits, quick-drying clothes, ski socks, gloves, etc., safety equipment such as snow goggles, helmets, and protective gear, and large hardware equipment such as snowboards, bindings, and snowshoes.

At present, the brands that can be selected on the market include low-priced brands such as Decathlon, professional sports brands such as Archaeopteryx and Desante, professional ski sports brands such as Burton and Nitro, and luxury brands such as LV, as well as domestic sports brands and cutting-edge brands. Ski brands such as Nanen, Vector, etc.

　　From the price of e-commerce platforms, the prices of snow goggles, helmets, snow suits, and snowboards range from a few hundred yuan to tens of thousands of yuan.

For example, the Burton Tmall flagship store shows that the price of its adult ski suits ranges from 1,698 yuan to 6,498 yuan, and the price of adult skis ranges from 3,498 yuan to 6,098 yuan.

However, on the Taobao platform, a limited-edition wild snowboard from Burton was listed for nearly 40,000 yuan.

　　Bai Kuan said that most experiential skiers start by renting equipment, and the general ski resort package includes the rental equipment fee; or buy a complete set of low-priced ski equipment from Decathlon, about 3,000 yuan.

"But for ski enthusiasts, once they are fascinated by skiing, they will pursue more professional brands." He also pointed out that different playing methods correspond to different equipment, such as the snowboards used in Beijing ski resorts and those used in Xinjiang skiing. The snowboards used in wild snow are very different, and different snowboards need to be matched with different snowshoes and bindings.

　　Brand layout

　　New players of domestic products may overtake in corners

　　The popularity of ski equipment market consumption has driven the rapid growth of the market size.

According to the data of the "2021-2027 China Ski Equipment Industry Market Development Model and Strategic Consulting Research Report" released by Zhiyan Consulting, in 2014, the market size of my country's ski equipment industry was 3.22 billion yuan. By 2020, this scale has expanded to 12.69 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of over 25%.

The ski market has also been driven, and many new players have entered the game one after another.

According to the company's data, as of November 2021, there were nearly 6,700 ski-related companies in my country.

　　Tmall New Life research found that ice and snow consumption has become an opportunity for new domestic brands to overtake on curves.

Among them, Vector, an original skiwear brand from a foundry, was established in 2016 and has stood out in recent years. It was once squeezed into the "Top Ten Gen Z Favorite Ice and Snow Brands" together with Nanen, another domestic cutting-edge ski brand.

Backed by the Cold Mountain Group, which has a 16-year history of skiing, Goski launched the national trendy veneer brand Goski originals in November last year.

　　The capital market has also seen the blue ocean market of China's ice and snow.

In April 2020, Hillhouse Capital established a joint venture with the American snowboard brand Burton; Aoxue Culture, established in 2014, launched the two major ski brands "Zero Summer" and "Nobaday" from the media, and successively in 2021. Completed two financings.

　　At the same time, pan-sports brands such as Anta and Li Ning have not missed the consumer market of ski equipment.

In addition to competing for new ski series products, Anta also successively obtained the operation rights of Descente in China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau) in 2016, and acquired Amer Sports in 2018, which owns Swedish skiing. Brand peak performance.

In addition, Sanfu Outdoor, Pathfinder, Bosideng and other brands have also entered the game.

　　International high-end ski sports brands are not far behind.

Tmall data shows that at present, the platform has invited more than 50 international brand agents and offline brands to settle in, and launched many new products.

In 2021, nearly 100 major fashion brands, including Prada, will sell ski sports equipment on Tmall Luxury Products, including clothing, helmets, snowboards, etc.

　　According to Yang Dajun, the founder of Sustainable Fashion China SFC, international brands entering China's ice and snow market are mainly interested in the Winter Olympics, an important promotion platform.

From the perspective of the global ski sports market, China's ice and snow market has a lot of room for development in the future, and this is also a point that many international brands take a fancy to.

　　future trends

　　It is difficult to break out in the short term, and emerging brands still need time

　　At present, the consumer market of ski equipment is in a "scuffle" between domestic and foreign brands.

Bai Kuan believes that although the discussion and attention on domestic ski equipment brands in the snow circle has increased in recent years, the choice of mid-to-high-end products is still dominated by foreign brands.

　　The Yien research report once pointed out that the ski market in my country is dominated by experiential skiers, and most of the online high-selling ski equipment brands are domestic brands.

This is related to consumers' preference for purchasing basic ski accessories online and purchasing hard-core equipment offline.

　　Domestic consumers currently have high recognition and great demand for imported mid-to-high-end ski equipment.

However, the "White Paper on China's Ski Industry" released by the mob Research Institute pointed out that the Chinese ski equipment market has long been occupied by foreign brands, and domestic brands are still in the early stages of development.

For a long time, my country's ski equipment enterprises have been mainly OEM and agents, and there are problems such as low profits in the production process and limited development of their own brands.

　　Yang Dajun believes that the professional ski equipment market has high barriers to entry, and many domestic companies have few advantages in ski suit fabric technology, anti-freeze and warm technology, etc.

Bai Kuan also pointed out that the high cost of fabrics has also become one of the constraints for many domestic ski equipment companies to enter the mid-to-high-end market.

　　As a high-end and niche ski sports market, Yang Dayun said that he is not optimistic about the development of domestic professional ski sports brands.

He believes that the development of enterprises that specialize in outdoor sports will not be very good, such as the north face, Columbia and other internationally renowned outdoor sports brands are actually taking the line of daily life or outdoor activities instead of professional equipment.

In China, the outdoor sports crowd seems to be a huge demand market, but in fact the market demand is very small.

Many outdoor sports brands that have developed well abroad have expanded into urban sports in order to survive after entering the Chinese market.

In addition, the niche, professional and high-end nature of the ski equipment market requires enterprises to have patience, technology and persistence. It is not realistic to break out in a short period of time and obtain huge profits in the market, unless you are doing life sports or non-professional sports products. The direction is also the future growth space of domestic professional ski equipment enterprises that Yang Dayun is optimistic about.

　　Yang Dayun also pointed out that due to factors such as the Winter Olympics, there are more and more groups in China who like skiing, especially with the rise of young Chinese skiers, which will grow in the next ten years, and skiing in the Chinese market is growing. From a niche trend to a mass trend, this will be a growth market that any brand cannot ignore.

　　Bai Kuan is more optimistic about the domestic new ski equipment brands. He believes that the domestic new ski equipment brands have just begun to build, and the team, technology, production lines, distribution channels, etc. need to be established slowly, the brand culture also needs to slowly settle, and high-end fabrics also need Invest in R&D, and it all takes time.

　　Written in this edition / Wang Zhenzhen, Shell Finance reporter of Beijing News