The 2024 Summer Olympics in France are in full swing, and even if they are thousands of kilometers apart, domestic audiences are feeling the heat. Won the table tennis mixed doubles championship, the badminton mixed doubles championship, and the tennis women's singles championship...... Every time a Chinese athlete stands on the podium, he has received widespread attention.
With the advancement of the Olympic schedule and the enhancement of people's awareness of healthy life in recent years, the popularity of sports consumption continues to rise. At the time when China's advantageous "three small balls" are competing in Paris, domestic consumers also express their love for sports with real money.
Pinduoduo data shows that in the past week, the search volume of table tennis-related keywords has achieved triple-digit growth, and domestic brands such as Li Ning and Pisces have achieved outstanding sales results; The sales of many badminton brands in the past 7 days have increased by 3 times year-on-year, in addition to badminton and rackets, shoes, clothing, and bags have also risen gratifyingly; The tennis event, which won the Olympic women's singles championship for the first time, set off a wave of "novice entry", and the transaction volume of some stores on the day of Zheng Qinwen's victory increased by 300% compared with the day before.
▲The Olympic effect is superimposed on the enhancement of the awareness of healthy life of the Chinese people, and the sports consumption market has been detonated. Photo by Ran Zhenghong
At the same time, the consumption of the "three balls" is also hot. Since July, volleyball-related consumption on the Pinduoduo platform has grown by more than 60% year-on-year, and ball equipment and sports equipment such as basketball and football have become the highlight of growth. Combined with summer consumption, in July, the year-on-year increase in billiards sales on the platform exceeded three digits, and the sales of yoga mats increased by nearly three percent month-on-month, followed by rally bands and dumbbells.
The detonation of sports consumption not only highlights the continuous release of the Olympic effect, but also the result of the "hard work" of China's manufacturing. In this Olympic Games, not only the Chinese delegation worked hard, but also "Made in China" did its best to escort the event. From sports equipment to sports equipment, "Made in China" can be seen everywhere.
In order to allow more "Made in China" to enter thousands of households and realize the "two-way rush" between consumers and high-quality manufacturing, Pinduoduo has helped more people get professional event-level sports at affordable prices by tilting tens of billions of subsidies and creating special pages for activities. The integration of sports events and e-commerce can produce greater economic and social effects, which is not only conducive to promoting national fitness, but also promoting "Made in China" to further open up the market and enhance its influence.
The consumption of "three small balls" is hot
The Olympic Games, the world's largest and most concerned sports event, are continuously releasing the driving effect of national sports enthusiasm and sports consumption potential, and the most prominent performance is the "three small balls" - tennis, table tennis and badminton.
In the early morning of August 4, Chinese athlete Zheng Qinwen won the women's singles gold medal in the tennis event of this Olympic Games, achieving a historic breakthrough for the Chinese team in the Olympic Games.
According to Zhang Jianda, the head of Tianlong tennis e-commerce, who has supplied tennis balls for the Hangzhou Asian Games and Asian Para Games, on the day Zheng Qinwen won the championship, the traffic of the brand's official flagship store of Pinduoduo increased by more than 200% month-on-day, and the transaction volume increased by 300% month-on-day.
Tianlong is a brand engaged in the research and development, design, production and marketing of tennis and supporting sporting goods, with a history of more than 30 years. It has been operating on the Pinduoduo platform for five years, mainly selling various types of tennis balls and tennis rackets. After Zheng Qinwen won the championship, the brand's 4-piece game ball was loved by consumers because of its good bouncing performance, and its daily sales increased by more than 300% month-on-month.
Zhang Jianda also observed that the same racket used by Zheng Qinwen in the competition was sold out on the e-commerce platform in one day, "Our store has different types of tennis balls such as beginner, advanced, and competition, which are widely loved by tennis fans of different levels." Zheng Qinwen won the championship, which brought tennis into the field of vision of more people and drove the consumption of tennis equipment and sports peripherals. Most of the new consumers in recent years are beginners, mainly buying basic training balls. ”
Table tennis, known as China's "national sport", is also one of the most watched events in this Olympic Games. On the evening of July 30, in the final of the table tennis mixed doubles event, as the North Korean team wiped the net with a pull ball, Chinese athletes Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha successfully won the gold medal. This is not only the first table tennis gold medal in this Olympic Games, but also the first mixed doubles Olympic gold medal won by the Chinese table tennis team. For a while, the cheers in the South Paris Arena were deafening, and the hot search topics on social networks detonated one after another.
▲In the past week, the search volume of keywords such as "table tennis racket", "table tennis table" and "table tennis souvenir" on the Pinduoduo platform has increased by more than three digits month-on-month. Photo by Ran Zhenghong
While the table tennis event is fiercely promoted, table tennis-related products have also become popular e-commerce. Pinduoduo data shows that in the past week, the search volume of "hexagonal table tennis racket" brought by Sweden's Moregard has soared by more than 60 times compared with the previous week, and the search volume of keywords such as "table tennis racket", "table tennis table" and "table tennis souvenir" has exceeded three digits month-on-month. Among them, the average daily sales of table tennis products under the Li Ning brand increased by about 6 times compared with before the game.
Badminton, China's traditional advantageous sport, has also attracted much attention in this Olympic Games, which has also driven the rapid growth of consumption of badminton sports products. On the Pinduoduo platform, the sales of the three major brands of Li Ning, VICTOR and Yonex have all increased by 3 times year-on-year in the past week. In addition to badminton and rackets, sports equipment such as shoes and clothing, bags and other sports equipment have also achieved eye-catching results, and sales have achieved a year-on-year increase of 5-6 times.
Building ping-pong is no less than building missiles
In the "three small balls", China not only has the top level of competition, but also has advanced and sophisticated manufacturing technology. Behind the rest assured purchase of consumers is the strength support of "Made in China".
Taking the "national ball" as an example, the balls used in the table tennis events of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games are exclusively provided by Guangzhou Pisces Sporting Goods Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Pisces Sports"). It also has its own name - "PAR40+", where "PAR" is the international abbreviation code for Paris, and "40+" means that the ball is larger and higher quality than ordinary 38mm diameter table tennis balls.
Under normal circumstances, the quality of a table tennis ball should be measured from five dimensions: weight, center of gravity, roundness, hardness, and elasticity. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) distinguishes balls by star ratings, with the highest level being three stars, which requires a weight tolerance of less than 0.1 grams, a roundness tolerance of less than 0.24 mm, and a hardness tolerance of less than 0.15 mm.
According to Du Yinhuan, a senior engineer of the Pisces Sports Research Institute, the Pisces PAR40+ table tennis ball has further upgraded the manufacturing process on the basis of the ITTF standard, reducing the weight tolerance to 0.015 grams, the roundness tolerance to 0.04 mm, the hardness tolerance to only 0.03 mm, and the accuracy to one hundredth of a millimeter. This means that athletes can use table tennis balls with a more uniform appearance, better rotation, more suitable elasticity and a more stable flight trajectory.
▲In the factory in Conghua, Guangzhou, table tennis balls are lining up for the elasticity test. Photo by Ran Zhenghong
In addition to innovating manufacturing technology, the quality inspection of international top event balls should not be sloppy. Since the PAR40+ table tennis ball adopts the inner seam manufacturing technology of "one-time hemisphere molding", the quality varies from ball to ball, even after precision injection molding on a standardized assembly line.
In the Conghua factory in Guangzhou, more than a dozen self-developed equipment are running in an orderly manner, and tens of thousands of table tennis balls are queuing up for inspection every day. After a set of screening processes such as weighing, center of gravity, roundness, hardness and elasticity, table tennis with qualified indicators can be called "Pisces PAR40+ Three Planets" for international competitions.
"We have specially set up 15 testing procedures for the balls used in the Paris Olympics, including 3 times for roundness, 5 times for center of gravity, 3 times for hardness, 1 time for weight, 2 times for internal and external surface, and 1 time for elasticity." Du Yinhuan said.
Taking table tennis center of gravity detection as an example, a total of seven machines are responsible for the detection process, including three horizontal balls, three vertical balls, and one arbitrary ball, and each table tennis ball needs to go through a total of three center of gravity tests in three directions to determine its stability. The more uniform the surface, the more stable the running trajectory, the smaller the horizontal offset range of the starting and ending points, and the better the quality. Only 15 tests of "three-star" table tennis can finally appear on the Olympic stage.
▲The table tennis ball slides out from any to the ball machine and is tested for the stability of the center of gravity. Photo by Ran Zhenghong
"On average, for every 100 balls, only 3-5 meet the criteria for use in Olympic table tennis." Du Yinhuan revealed that it takes about two months for an official ball to be made from raw materials to finished products, and it takes at least half a year to count the preliminary research and development tests. "A small ping-pong ball with the spirit of a technician building a missile."
Competition-level table tennis annual sales "1200 kilometers"
In addition to table tennis, Pisces Sports also provided a suspension card, a scoreboard, and a table tennis referee table with "black technology" for this year's Olympic Games.
It is understood that the referee's table tennis table, which made its debut at the Olympic Games, has a built-in "ball server", as long as the table tennis ball is thrown from the goal port on the table, and the ball will fly out of the ball in front of the referee's table and accurately fall in front of the athlete. The whole process takes only 1-2 seconds, which can effectively increase the pace of the game and reduce the interference of the ball to the players.
Not only that, there are also table tennis tables, sports mats, referee chairs, football liners and a number of "Made in China" are escorting the Olympic Games, which not only improves the service quality of the event, brings a new viewing experience to the audience, but also shows the excellent scientific and technological strength of "Made in China".
In order to let "Made in China" go to the world and enter thousands of households at the same time, Pinduoduo continues to strengthen cooperation with source production enterprises, and accelerates the exposure of high-quality and low-cost products by tilting tens of billions of subsidies and creating special pages for activities, so as to help consumers and "Made in China" go both ways.
On July 26, the Paris Olympic Games opened, and domestic sports consumption heated up rapidly. Pinduoduo launched a special session for sports and outdoor merchants for the first time, and joined forces with nearly 100 sports brands such as Li Ning, Anta, Peak, 361°, Hongxing Erke, Xtep, etc., to launch shoes, clothing and sports equipment related to sports such as table tennis, badminton, tennis, basketball, volleyball, football, cycling, track and field, etc., and give consumers consumption concessions of 200 minus 30 and 400 minus 60. On the first day of the event, nearly 100 live broadcast rooms on the platform were launched at the same time, recommending high-quality and cost-effective sports products for consumers, and sales increased by an average of 300% within 24 hours.
The PAR40+ Samsung commemorative ball, which can be both gifted and collectible, has become the brand's six recent new models. According to Liu Zhou, marketing director of Pisces Sports, this product is supported by Pinduoduo's official subsidies, "and currently sells an average of 2,000-3,000 boxes per day on the platform." Our factories are ramping up capacity to meet the growing consumer demand."
▲At present, Pisces PAR40+ Samsung commemorative balls are sold in Pinduoduo with an average of 2,000-3,000 boxes per day. Photo by Deng Hao
With the Olympic effect and the blessing of e-commerce platforms, Pisces Sports expects to sell more than 30 million table tennis balls this year. If you arrange the balls one by one, the length is about 1,200 kilometers, which is almost the distance from Beijing to Shanghai. Among them, 30% of the sales came from event services, and the remaining 70% were contributed by ordinary consumers.
"Since cooperating with Pinduoduo in 2021, the platform has given precise support from store positioning to category operation, and sales have also grown rapidly." According to Liu Zhou, the brand now focuses on the theme of national fitness, and hopes to work with e-commerce platforms to develop sports products that are closer to the needs of the people while serving international competitions, "It is expected that the online sales of Pinduoduo platform will account for more than 50% this year."
When more and more high-quality sports equipment and equipment enter thousands of households by e-commerce express, this not only opens up the incremental market for high-quality merchants, but also provides practical assistance for more sports enthusiasts, and promotes the accelerated popularization of national fitness.