Peak: A Latecomer To The International Market

Sequoia Capital was introduced in August and became the official partner of NBA in November. In the two stages of capital and market, peak completed the performance of Hong Kong listing. "Listing is in progress, almost into the silent period. "The deputy general manager of peak group Xu Zhihua disclosed. Xu Zhihua, the eldest son of Xu Jingnan, founder, chairman and general manager of peak group, is regarded as the leader of peak group today. In 1988, when peak was founded, Xu Zhihua was only 11 years old. Now, Xu Zhihua will lead the new journey. For the pioneer of China's professional sports brand, this should be regarded as "late" harvest. But the anticipation is still enthusiastic. The local government has already listed it in the "reserve pool of listed resources", and the market expects that peak group will become the third largest sporting goods manufacturer in China after Li Ning and Anta. In 1988, when Xu Jingnan, the father of Xu Zhihua, started his business, he only had a simple dream of "OEM". The man from Jinjiang, who was born in Jinjiang, once invested in more than 10 enterprises, such as slipper factory, wooden box factory and machine brick factory. In the end, the local booming sneaker business attracted him. Xu Jingnan aims at Nike's shoe factory in Quanzhou, hoping to "do their matching processing.". However, after Xu Jingnan built the factory, Nike's Quanzhou factory was canceled. Xu Jingnan had to make his own brand of shoes. And the leaving of Nike also left a lot of "legacy" to peak. "Our factory was ready to provide support for Nike when it was founded. After the factory of Nike was cancelled, 80% of its technicians and workers came to our company. "Xu Zhihua said. "In terms of production and manufacturing, we started from a high starting point. In the whole of Jinjiang, when many enterprises are still manual workshops, we are already assembly line operation. "We start with the factory of Nike". In Xu Zhihua's opinion, this is the reason why peak can reach a peak in the early stage. "Peak gives consumers the impression that the quality is very good and the cost performance is very high. "In the 1990s, with its manufacturing advantages, peak became a leading basketball shoe manufacturing enterprise in China. Of course, "in this process, we are going through two lines at the same time, one is OEM, the other is private brand, but the proportion of private brand is gradually increasing.". Up to 2006, peak's OEM business was only about 2%, which was "almost negligible". But in the late 1990s, peak entered a "flat valley period" and slowed down its growth. "The Asian financial crisis and macroeconomic adjustment are external causes. There are also some problems in the brain drain and shareholder disputes within enterprises. "Xu Zhihua said. But for this company which is famous for its "excellent manufacturing capacity", the lack of channel capacity is the biggest bottleneck. "Since 1998, in the sporting goods industry, the whole channel has shifted from" mainly shopping malls "to" exclusive stores ". However, we have always been a channel of" shopping malls ". At that time, Xu Zhicheng did not adjust the whole channel. "Since then, in the era when China's sporting goods industry has started as a whole and all the leading players have risen together, peak has had to immerse itself in adjusting its channels. "By the year 2000, the original channels have been straightened out", "in 2001, we started to build exclusive stores", and "breakthrough" will have to wait until after 2003. At that time, "peak actually had 1000 or 2000 outlets, but they were scattered and small, and they were not exclusive products of peak.". "After 2003, we began to strongly integrate exclusive stores, unify the image, and do not allow exclusive stores to sell other people's things. "Xu Zhihua said. And one advantage is, "at that time, our clothing products were up, and the categories were relatively complete, which was enough to support the expansion of exclusive stores. "After 2003," including rectification and new additions, our exclusive stores have increased by about 1000 a year. ". It has 3500 exclusive outlets in China today. And, "it turned out to be a small store, then a big one. From the production point of view, one big store is worth a dozen or twenty small stores, "and then," we will open stores in some more prosperous commercial streets. ". In the difficult period of "adjustment", Xu Zhihua, who graduated from the school of electronic information of Sichuan University, returned to peak in 2001. The year before, his younger brother Xu Zhida dropped out of school when he was a freshman and founded peak's clothing department. In peak, Xu Zhihua started from "running stores". For the fledgling brothers, the first two or three years was an apprenticeship. But at this time, the external market has undergone great changes. "In 2001, a large number of domestic brands broke out in Jinjiang. "In Xu Zhihua's opinion," on the one hand, it is because of the effect of bidding for the Olympic Games; on the other hand, Jinjiang merchants are highly imitative and capable of imitation. ". As a result, "a lot of people were flocking together, which was called the" card making campaign. ". At the same time, Jinjiang reached the peak of more than 40 brands on CCTV. This is certainly not good news for peak. "The whole industry is in a state of disorder. Although peak is an old sports brand, because we are in that area, many consumers put us together with those small brands in Jinjiang. "We're drowned. "In 2001, peak lost its first mover advantage: channel integration has not yet been completed, and brand breakthrough is imminent. The two successors "started a second venture.". However, until 2005, "professional basketball and brand internationalization, these two strategies let us successfully achieve differentiation", after that, peak "achieved breakthrough". "Specialization" is the continuation of tradition. We have been focusing on the field of basketball in 2001, and we have accumulated a lot in the field of basketball. Xu Zhihua said, "at present, in China's basketball market, our share is the first.". And "brand internationalization" is a bit of a heresy. Although the main market is in China, peak has shifted its focus of brand marketing from domestic to international since 2004: from "becoming a supplier of special equipment for men's basketball teams in Greece and Uzbekistan" to "signing up for Batir, a rocket player", until recently it has become an "official partner of NBA". Xu Zhihua is the main promoter of peak's "brand internationalization". At the beginning of 2005, peak's board of directors adopted the draft of "internationalization strategic plan". "I'm a newborn calf, not afraid of tigers. A lot of people think it's far away and difficult. But if you do, it's nothing. "Xu Zhihua said. As a result, "you will find that there are a lot more factors to choose and the way to deploy them." this strategy has given us a great success. "Kill two birds with one stone!" Xu Zhihua described the effect of peak's "brand internationalization": creating an international image and driving sales in both domestic and international markets. "But our exports are growing faster than our domestic exports. "According to customs data, the export volume of peak from 2002 to 2005 was US $2.76 million, US $5.22 million, US $9.22 million and US $14.97 million respectively. In the first 11 months of 2006, its export volume was 18.49 million US dollars. In that year, the ratio of domestic and international sales of peak was 7:3, and the annual sales volume was about 500 million yuan. In 2007, peak's annual sales "should exceed 1 billion.". And peak has invested a lot. In 2006, peak's brand investment was about 80 million yuan. In 2007, this figure will be "about 200 million yuan". From 2001 to 2005, Xu Zhihua called it the "spring and autumn era" of Chinese sports brands. After 2005, only those enterprises that successfully broke through the encirclement, "that is, the five or six big brands", entered the "Warring States era". As a big brand in the international market. "Brand internationalization is only the first step," Xu said. "A truly internationalized enterprise should be internationalized in terms of brand, market, capital, even human resources and organizational framework. "Going public will bring new impetus to the internationalization of the company. Xu Zhihua said that the funds raised from the listing will be "mainly used for brand investment, channel construction, and some upstream and downstream integration of the same industry.".