Li Ning's first acquisition in 8 years! Billion to introduce American brand DANSKIN, bet women's sportswear market

In the United States, almost every dancing girl has a Danskin tutu.

In 1882, the two brothers Joel and Benson Goodman founded the Danskin brand in New York, USA. The dance existed in the brand's genes from the very beginning. Then they derived from the dance costumes yoga, comprehensive training and other sub-categories.
In the development of more than a hundred years, Danskin had long occupied the top position in the consumption of women's leotards in the United States, and also encountered the dilemma of bankruptcy on the verge of bankruptcy. In 2007, Danskin was acquired by world-renowned management company Iconix, from the United States to Japan and Europe.

Now, this century-old U.S. is going to land in China. On October 18, 2016, Li Ning Company and Ikonnis Company entered into a cooperation to exclusively operate Danskin's businesses in mainland China and Macau. On November 18, Li Ning himself and Willie Burkhardt, President of Ikones International Business Signed on the contract. According to Lazy Bear Sports, the contract price of both parties is about 100 million yuan.

American time-honored brand and Chinese national brand

Ikonics recently appeared in the public's field of vision and may have been in the news of M&M's acquisition of Umbrella some time ago. That's right, Umbrella is also a brand of ICON. This US brand management company, founded in 1992, currently holds more than 30 clothing and home brands. Finding partners around the world and licensing their brands is a universal way for them to run their brands.

In 2008, Ikonnis entered China. Xu Peifeng was the first employee of the company in China. Before that, he worked for the prestigious accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers M&A Department and ABN AMRO Investment Banking Department.

Today, as Managing Director of Ikones China, he has spent more than eight years in the Chinese brand and licensing field. Xu Peifeng is very clear, what kind of brand is suitable for what kind of company.

â–² Dance, yoga and general training are Danskin's main product types.

“Every brand has its own unique attributes and it needs to find a matching company to do it,” Xu Peifeng said on Lazy Bear Sports. In his considerations, two factors are the most important: the brand must be consistent with the strategic needs of the authorized company; the partner company must have certain strength, and at the same time have an understanding of the brand, and be able to meet the current status of the company and the status quo in China. Development Plan.

“The Li Ning Group is a company that we think is very suitable.” Xu Peifeng identified Li Ning after contacting a number of companies with acquisition intentions.

At the beginning of 2016, the financial report of Li Ning Group showed that the group turned losses in 2015 and achieved profit for the first time since 2011, with the revenue of 7.8 billion yuan being ranked second in the local sports brand. In 2016, Li Ning has the ability and desire to break through innovation.
Li Ning, who is perhaps a gymnast, was attracted by Danskin's style of blending dance, yoga and fitness. Perhaps Danskin’s global revenue of nearly US$1 billion in 2015 was very bright. When Xu Peifeng showed the brand of ICONs When Li Ning, Li Ning’s chairman, was picked, he picked Danskin at a glance.

The meeting between Xu Peifeng and Li Ning in September 2015 opened the process of negotiation between the two parties. During the meeting, Xu Peifeng, together with Li Ning himself, and Yang Haiwei, vice president of Li Ning, came to the Danskin overseas market for extensive inspections.

“When I and Li Ning visited the shops in overseas markets, I was surprised that such a big company, chairman or celebrity, looked at a commodity carefully when they looked at it.” Xu Peifeng recalled the scene of the inspection, “from the design To the fabric, to the technological content, he looked over and over again for a product."

In the first half of 2016, the two sides basically established cooperation and formally signed a contract on October 18.

â–² Li Ning and Xu Peifeng, Managing Director of Ikones China, signed the contract.

A sportswear store like Avatar

The signing of the contract in October this year is not an end for both parties. It is the beginning.

In the cooperation between the two parties, Ikonis is mainly responsible for the brand's value-building and marketing, specifically looking for spokespersons, brand image creation, social media and other work. Li Ning is mainly responsible for the management level and establishes an operating team for Danskin. The team then carries out brand positioning, product design, supply chain, product production, and sales.

The American brand Li Ning has received in order to receive this long-distance Danskin has specially recruited Yan Zhigang, who is the “General Manager of the Danskin Brand Division”. He had previously worked at Nike for a long time and was responsible for the Italian brand Fila's business in China at ANTA. Yan Zhigang is very familiar with grafting foreign brands to the Chinese market.

Yan Zhigang expressed to the lazy bear sports, “Danskin will not deliberately imitate who in China, Danskin has its own unique DNA, of course, will also combine the actual needs of Chinese consumers.”

His core position for China's Danskin is "fashion fitness" - using ballet as DNA, while paying attention to yoga and comprehensive training of clothing; not only can it meet the functional needs of fitness people, but also have a beautiful appearance, enabling women to wear clothes for shopping or socializing.

â–² Ballet has always existed in Danskin's DNA.

In Yan Zhigang’s vision, the future Danskin shop is like this: Danskin’s direct stores are located in high-end shopping malls in Shanghai or Beijing, neighbors are Lululemon and Adidas clover.

Danskin's window and entrance, ballet skirts and dance shoes show the origin of brand and dance. Walking into a store with an area of ​​about 120 square meters, the decoration style and decorating props will make people brighten up. "Entering the shop seems to enter Avatar." This is Yan Zhigang's expectations.

In addition to the ballet, there are more yoga and fitness clothing on the shelf, and even men's clothing, children's clothing and accessories will be available in the future. Each piece of clothing has a functional and stylish look and has its own name. However, the price of clothes is not low, a T-shirt may be priced up and down 500 yuan. After the consumer purchases the product, the clerk will use the cartons and lace straps to hold the product.

In Danskin's future stores, there is also a small space for consumers to experience, such as yoga masters will appear here to open experience classes, there are some activities to show the ballet culture.

This Danskin outlet, which combines shopping and experience, is the main form of business for the brand in the future. In Yan Zhigang's timetable, Danskin will open its first store in the middle to late 2017, and will open 5 or 6 stores in Shanghai and Beijing throughout the year.

“We do not want to hurry to conduct business because we must meet the international standards of international brands and ensure a first-rate brand experience for Chinese female consumers.” Yan Zhigang explained that the brand's development speed is relatively stable. “The first impression determines your direction.”

Women's sportswear, the next battleground

In recent days, foreign sports brands frequently “married into” China. Sloth Bear Sports reported that U.S. and U.S. shares reached 400 million yuan to acquire Umbro, the British brand, and Birds acquired AND1. Earlier, ANTA acquired the Italian brand Fila, and Li Ning bought Lotto and Aigle.

However, Danskin's cooperation is not the same as the above brands. Unlike Umbrella and AND1, which exist in many people's memories of youth, although in the international market, especially in the United States and Japan, the market has a high reputation, Danskin in China is still a relatively unfamiliar brand. It had not been in China before. Any official sales record. Consumer awareness, reputation, and loyalty for the brand still need to be cultivated for some time.

In this regard, Xu Peifeng introduced that Ikonis is mainly engaged in the promotion of linkage and promotion in global and domestic markets. Through social media, offline activities, and search for spokespersons, etc.

In addition, Danskin's products focus on the female market and are more vertical and subdivided than other brands. To a certain extent, it is an important puzzle for Li Ning to explore product diversification and fashion.

â–² Li Ning recently began exploring the female sports market.

In 2014, Li Ning launched Li Ning's "Model From Seoul" (Seoul Studio) series of products, and Li Ning teamed up with South Korean star Zheng Xiujia Jessica to design and launch Li Ning "Since Sika" series sportswear; in 2015, Li Ning introduced Li Ning Spring Series. And LNG series products.

Li Ning, whose performance has rebounded and returned to the classic Slogan, wants to go further in the field of women's sportswear. This idea is also consistent with the current trend of the sportswear market.

Nike predicts in 2016 that by 2020, Nike’s female product sales will double in 2015. Brands such as Lululemon, which focuses on women's yoga and fitness wear, are bringing together women consumers through gyms, yoga studios, and social networks.

At present, the proportion of women's sports products in major brands is not high, and there is ample room for reinforcement. A large part of Li Ning’s revenue comes from running shoes and basketball. Yan Zhigang introduced that the proportion of female products in Li Ning's bulk is about one third. In 2015, Nike’s sales of women’s products accounted for 22% of the total sales of 25.8 billion US dollars.

At this time, acting as a brand that focuses on the female market, it seems to be a good choice. In the press release signed this time, Li Ning himself has the same position: "The women's sports apparel market has great potential for development, and the agency Danskin brand has important significance in Li Ning's brand strategy."

Yan Zhigang also stated that Danskin's development is inseparable from Li Ning's resources: first is Li Ning's marketing resources, including penetration in sports circles, fashion, and entertainment; second is Li Ning's strong supply chain, which guarantees Danskin through the supply chain of partners. The quality of the product.

However, in the fast-growing Chinese market, Danskin seems not to be too slow. In the similarly priced products, it faces competition from Adidas Stella McCartney, who also walks in sports, leisure and design styles, and Lululemon, a Canadian brand that will officially enter China.

In addition, some domestic original sports brands, such as Particle Fever, Maia Active, and Balance School, which were previously reported by Sloth Bear Sports, are also cutting the market with high quality and personalized sales.

Danskin and Li Ning need to be fully prepared to face challenges in the face of the women's sportswear market.

Article content and pictures transferred from lazy bear sports

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