The Lunar New Year is less than two weeks away, but the consumer market is already heating up. Among them, the single products and gift boxes related to the "dragon" have become an important marketing selling point of the sports shoes and clothing New Year market. Recently, when I visited the market, I noticed that whether it is Nike, Skecher, or Sauconey, Tim Boran, the sales staff of the major brands said that compared with the previous year's Spring market, the number of categories or single products involved in the Dragon Year limit is more, and the sales of products with dragon elements are better. Archaeopteryx, Timberland and other brands said that some of the limited models of the Year of the Dragon have been sold out or out of stock.

Behind the limited market of the Year of the Dragon, the brand is targeting the rapid growth of China's sports shoes and clothing market. Euromonitor data show that it is expected that the market size of China's sports shoes and clothing will reach 559.3 billion yuan in 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.7%. By the Chinese people's unique emotion for the dragon, the sports shoes and clothing industry has opened a new round of competition at the beginning of the New Year, competing creativity, technology, design, etc., is not the focus of competition.

The Year of the Dragon limited hardshell jacket is difficult to find a second-hand market price nearly doubled

The Year of the Dragon limited storm jacket has become the focus of attention in the sneaker wear market this year, and it has become popular on major social platforms. Among them, Archaeopteryx launched the Year of the Dragon limited, including men's and women's ALPHA SV hardshell jacket and men's quick-drying half-sleeve.

It is worth noting that on the day of sale, Archaeopteryx Dragon Year limited hardshell jacket was snapped up. In the second-hand trading platform, this commodity has been up to 15,000 yuan, much higher than the 8,200 yuan pricing, there are a large number of overseas purchasing agents from overseas after the transfer to the domestic, sold to domestic consumers at a premium.

So, let consumers grab the head of the storm jacket what is different? Archaeopteryx staff told the author that in addition to the color and pattern, the material and function used are completely consistent with the ordinary model. Behind the difficulty of obtaining a product, in addition to the consumption heat, or related to the sale of too little.

A sales person at a Suzubird store in Beijing said that although the brand said that online and offline sales were unified, the goods were sold out, but this product has never been in its store. As far as he knows, even the large stores in Beijing and Shanghai, the number of arrivals in a single store on the day of sale does not exceed 10 pieces.

In fact, behind the popularity of Archaeopteryx is not unrelated to the operation after Anta took over. The former distributor of Archaeopteryx, Sanfu outdoor staff told the author that after Anta took over the Archaeopteryx brand in 2019, it not only began to gradually control the price, reduce and cancel discounts, but also paid more attention to marketing.

At present, the market has a different mood for the Year of the dragon storm jacket, some consumers flock to buy at a premium of thousands of dollars, and some consumers believe that it is anta's hype marketing. For the specific sale situation and impact strategy of the Year of the Dragon limited model, the author contacted Anta, as of press time, the other party has not replied.

The Chinese market has become a brand must compete for the emerging subdivision circuit to break through the key

In addition to the Opteryx, including Nike and its AJ, Desant, Skecher, Adidas, Fila, Tim Boran, New Balance, Soconi, 361 degrees, special step, Li Ning and other sports shoes clothing brands have also aimed at the Year of the dragon limited market, in the New Year's Eve launched footwear and accessories and other products, the store display is "New Year" full, all kinds of dragon elements can not meet. "This year has been particularly lively." Domestic sports shoes and clothing brand insiders said.

In fact, it is customary for sports shoes and clothing brands to launch zodiac limited models, but compared with previous years, the market competition this year is extremely fierce. A number of sports shoe clothing brand staff said that the "dragon" has special attributes for the Chinese people, although the brand will launch the zodiac limited model every year, but the dragon market products are richer and sales are better.

Nike told the author that Nike launched in the Year of the Dragon limited models including men, women and children, covering street dance, basketball, running and other sports and lifestyle footwear category, involving various scenes of sports life, some products also special use of embroidery.

According to Skechers, there are more limited styles this year, but they are expected to be out of stock during the Spring Festival. Timberland, for its part, said that some consumers went to the counter to find the Year of the Dragon limited shoes and boots, and some hot models have been out of stock in some sizes. 361 degrees said that in addition to working with designer Lawrence Xu on the New Year limited series of clothing "Everything is DA", but also launched a special matrix series of hot shoes in the Year of the Dragon.

The author noticed that after the price reduction and inventory removal, in order to increase sales in the unusually fierce market to seize the market, some brands also launched discounts for the Year of the Dragon limited products. Among them, Nike on the line of 2 pieces of 10% discount, 3 pieces of 8.5% discount activities, Adidas will discount to a single 8.5% discount, full 2688 yuan can also get limited dragon Year gift box.

At the same time, as the sports market continues to heat up, more and more brands have begun to pay attention to the Chinese market and seize the market with the New Year limit. Taylormade, for example, launched its first gift box for the Year of the Dragon this year, with various products printed with dragon images. Although Lululemon did not launch a limited product for the Year of the Dragon, it invited Michelle Yeoh and eight dancers to shoot a New Year short film.

Behind the Year of the Dragon market is the rapid growth of China's sports shoes and clothing market. Euromonitor data show that in 2023, the market size of the domestic sports shoes industry reached 385.8 billion yuan, and it is expected that the market size of China's sports shoes and clothing will reach 559.3 billion yuan in 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.7%. From the horizontal comparison of sub-industries, the growth rate of sports shoes in the sub-industries of the clothing industry in the past five years is ranked first.

At present, with the end of the epidemic, the prosperity of the sports shoes and clothing industry continues to rise and the inventory is reduced, and the revenue of many leading brands in the Chinese market has returned to growth in China. According to Nike's first fiscal quarter results as of August 31, 2023, the Greater China region generated $1.74 billion in revenue, accounting for 13.45% of the total revenue, and achieved double-digit growth for two consecutive quarters. Adidas, Puma, Lululemon2023 in the third quarter of greater China revenue rose, respectively, 870 million euros, 430 million euros, 267 million US dollars, an increase of 6%, 4.6% and 53%.

However, although the industry has maintained growth, the industry competition has become extremely fierce due to factors such as inventory overhang. In the view of the industry, in the context of the prominence of the brand Matthew effect, industry differentiation or continued to intensify. With the outdoor and other niche sports received more attention, as well as the change of consumption concepts, more and more domestic brands began to emerge in the market, how to seize the needs of consumers in the domestic market with the help of products and brand concepts has become the key to brand competition.