The Winter Olympics bring fire to domestic ski brands

Ski enthusiasts ride the "magic carpet" at the Huize Dacaoshan International Ski Resort in Qujing, Yunnan.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hu Chao

With the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games approaching, Chinese ski sports brands are blowing up a heat wave around the world. Alibaba's cross-border e-commerce platform AliExpress recently released data showing that in the fourth quarter of 2021, overseas sales of Chinese ski products increased by more than 60% year-on-year. In 2021, consumers in 100 countries and regions around the world purchased 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 product would be very average at such an affordable price, but after receiving the package, I found that it used high-tech materials and was light and strong." Elena, a girl living in Moscow, shared her feelings about buying and using a Chinese-made ski helmet on AliExpress.

Due to the late development of modern ice and snow sports in China and the low penetration rate, for a long time, there are few independent brands of ski equipment in China, 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 also quietly changing. According to the "2020 China Ski Industry White Paper", from 2020 to 2021, the number of domestic skiers has reached 20.76 million, and the development of the domestic market has led to the branding of domestic ski products, and Chinese brands have begun to enter overseas markets.

As early as a few years ago, the domestic brand Cool Breaker team found that although domestic ski sports product brands are still at a relatively primary level, most of the ski equipment of the world's excellent brands comes from the Chinese supply chain. In 2021, the cool breakers who grasp the advantages of the supply chain will use AliExpress to export their products to more than 100 countries and regions around the world. "There is no shortage of domestic ski equipment, there is a lack of its own brand." Only by owning a brand, can 'going to sea' compete with imported brands and have pricing power. Cool Breaker General Manager Deng Tao said.

After seeing the news of the successful bid for the Beijing Winter Olympics, VECTOR founder Liu Yushan was keenly aware of the business opportunities. In 2016, she quit her job abroad and returned to her homeland to establish the VECTOR brand. Compared with the equipment of entry enthusiasts, VECTOR has a higher technology content, coupled with a friendly price, and has been welcomed by leisure ski enthusiasts around the world as soon as it is listed. Sales in overseas markets increased by more than 150% for three consecutive years on the AliExpress platform.

In 2019, the State General Administration of Sport, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other nine departments jointly issued the "Ice and Snow Equipment Industry Development Action Plan (2019-2022)" to cultivate a number of internationally competitive enterprises and well-known brands.

All localities actively build a ski industry chain system to empower enterprises to develop rapidly in all directions. According to enterprise investigation data, there are currently nearly 6700 ski-related enterprises in China. From January to November 2021, a total of 1,206 related enterprises were added, an increase of 61% year-on-year.

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, this year will be the best time for domestic ski brands to debut overseas." Many ski suppliers said.

Source: Economic Daily