Winter Olympics bring fire domestic ski brand
Our reporter Wang Yichen
With the approaching of the Beijing Winter Olympics and the Winter Paralympics, Chinese ski sports brands are blowing heat waves around the world.
AliExpress, a cross-border e-commerce platform owned by Alibaba, recently released data showing that in the fourth quarter of 2021, overseas sales of Chinese ski equipment increased by more than 60% year-on-year.
In 2021, consumers in 100 countries and regions around the world will buy Chinese ski equipment on AliExpress.
Chinese ski products are favored by overseas markets, and the fundamental reason is the improvement of China's manufacturing level.
"At first, I thought that the products I bought at such an affordable price would be very general, but after receiving the package, I found that it is made of high-tech materials, light and strong." Elena, a girl living in Moscow, shared on AliExpress What it's like to buy and use a ski helmet made in China.
Due to the late development of modern ice and snow sports in my country and the low penetration rate, there have been few independent brands of ski equipment in my country for a long time, and the market is mainly occupied by foreign brands.
With the realization of the goal of "driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports", the situation in which the ice and snow industry is dominated by foreign brands is quietly changing.
The "2020 China Ski Industry White Paper" shows that from 2020 to 2021, the number of domestic skiers has reached 20.76 million. The development of the domestic market has driven the branding of domestic ski products, and Chinese brands have begun to enter overseas markets.
As early as a few years ago, the team of the domestic brand Kubozhe found that although domestic ski sports product brands are still at a relatively elementary level, most of the world's excellent brands of ski equipment come from the Chinese supply chain.
In 2021, Kubo who masters the advantages of the supply chain will use AliExpress to sell products to more than 100 countries and regions around the world.
"There is no shortage of domestic ski equipment, except for its own brand. Only with a brand, can 'going overseas' compete with imported brands and have pricing power." said Deng Tao, general manager of Kupozhe.
After seeing the news of the successful bid for the Beijing Winter Olympics, VECTOR founder Liu Yushan was keenly aware of the business opportunity.
In 2016, she quit her foreign job and returned to the motherland to create the VECTOR brand.
Compared with the equipment of entry-level enthusiasts, VECTOR has higher technological content and a friendly price. It has been welcomed by leisure ski enthusiasts around the world as soon as it is launched.
On the AliExpress platform, sales in overseas markets have increased by more than 150% for three consecutive years.
In 2019, nine departments including the State Sports General Administration and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the Action Plan for the Development of the Ice and Snow Equipment Industry (2019-2022), proposing to cultivate a group of internationally competitive enterprises and well-known brands.
All regions are actively building a ski industry chain system, enabling enterprises to develop rapidly in all directions.
According to the company's data, there are currently nearly 6,700 ski-related companies in my country.
From January to November 2021, a total of 1,206 related companies were added, a year-on-year increase of 61%.
On January 1, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) came into effect, and cross-border e-commerce is ushering in a new historical opportunity.
"The development of cross-border e-commerce infrastructure has reshaped the spatial distance of the global market; the countdown to the Winter Olympics has entered, and this year will be the best time for domestic ski sports brands to debut overseas." Many ski equipment merchants said.