The first snow season after the Beijing Winter Olympic Games is coming, and the ski brands have been in full swing to accelerate the layout, and the market competition is imminent. Among them, foreign brands attach importance to channels, focusing on high-end business circles and hotel channels; Domestic brands focus on products, focus on cost-effective fashion products, and introduce all season clothing. However, the ski market is dominated by one-time experience. In addition to efforts on channels and products, how can brands improve the repurchase rate? Industry insiders believe that in terms of marketing, it is feasible to strengthen the perfection of after-sales service and the marketing of ski training.
Foreign brands focus on high-end channels
Foreign ski brands attach importance to channel construction, focusing on high-end business districts. It is reported that many brand stores have accelerated to settle in high-end business districts in first tier cities and new first tier cities. Recently, Burton city concept store was located in Guangzhou Tianhuan Square. In September this year, Burton's flagship store was settled in Beijing Yintai Center. At present, Burton's stores have been opened in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu and other cities.
In the same month, the stores of Descente and Bogner also opened one after another. Among them, Di Sant opened the world's second DKL global experience center at CITIC Pacific Plaza in Shanghai. The brand introduced to the reporter of China Business Daily that this experience center is a flagship retail store. On the second floor of the store, there is an indoor skiing experience space jointly built with SNOW51, as well as the exclusive space of the "Activist Club" of Di Sant, where the brand will regularly hold fitness courses.
Bogner opened a boutique in Taikoo Lane on the front beach of Shanghai. It is reported that the site selection requirement of Bogner is that the shopping center must have a relatively complete brand portfolio of high-end consumer goods. The brand has requirements for store location, area and neighbors, and hopes to match at the customer level.
Ma Limin, head of skiing product line of a sports brand, told the reporter of China Business Daily that from the distribution of stores, foreign skiing brands even paid more attention to southern cities than to northern cities, because many southern cities, such as Shanghai, Chengdu, Wuhan, Suzhou, and Nanjing, had strong consumption power. In addition, the enthusiasm of southerners for skiing was beyond imagination.
In addition to occupying high-end business circles, foreign ski brands also cooperate with hotels in different industries to further deepen the high-end brand image. For example, during the National Day holiday this year, the original Qingshan Inn in Songhua Lake Resort was renovated as Zhanyun Salomon Hotel. The public area and guest rooms of the hotel are equipped with products of the ski brand Salomon, and the hotel attendants also wear Salomon clothes.
Arc'teryx opened an Archaeopteryx Mountain Classroom Shangri La Member Center in Songzan Shangri La Linka Hotel. Xu Yang, General Manager of Archaeopteryx Greater China, believes that brand positioning guides the location of brand stores to a certain extent, and where to open a store also defines a brand in turn. Although the area of this store is not large, many people think that it has the most archaeopteryx temperament, and some people even come to clock in specially.
Ma Limin believes that although such stores are far away from the core business circle of the city, the combination of hotels and ski brands can enable consumers to enjoy more perfect services in appropriate scenarios. In such a scenario, consumers do not have the sense of urgency of shopping like shopping malls, but naturally have a sense of belonging and identity to the brand, stimulate consumers' desire to clock in and share, and expand brand influence.
High cost performance products of domestic brands
Compared with foreign ski brands, domestic brands focus more on the product side, and launch the "dual brand" strategy of medium and high-end brands and mass brands to meet the needs of young beginners, focusing on cost-effective products.
It is reported that Aoxue Culture Communication (Beijing) Co., Ltd. has two skiing brands, "Zero Summer" and "Nobaday". Zero Summer is aimed at beginners of skiing, and the product price ranges from 100 yuan to 3000 yuan; Nobaday hopes to attract more skiing enthusiasts, and the product price is between 200 yuan and 5000 yuan.
Beijing Snow Owl Technology Co., Ltd. owns two ski brands, "The WHIP" and "Overide Halo". The former focuses on high-end skis with a price of more than 10000 yuan, and is positioned as high-end consumer goods; The latter is positioned as "sports technology+trend". Its main products include ski clothes and other equipment, and the product price ranges from 200 yuan to 7000 yuan.
In addition, in addition to the high-end ski goods retail brand "Lengshan", Beijing Natural Power Technology Trade Development Co., Ltd. also launched the original ski brand "GOSKI Originals" for the mass market, which is mainly engaged in snowboarding products with prices ranging from 200 yuan to 2500 yuan.
Several ski brand managers told the reporter of China Business Daily that the whole ski equipment market is now in a "scramble period", and the participation of young people makes domestic brands focus on strategic adjustment. "The first time consumers go to the ski resort, most of them rent equipment. They don't want to spend too much money. They will buy equipment only after they are determined to be interested in it. The high price of foreign ski brands has persuaded these young beginners to quit. Their goal is to have high cost performance, and take into account the appearance and functionality of ski equipment."
"Domestic brands are more experienced in the current market situation. They adapt to the consumption habits of the above people by introducing cost-effective products, and these brands can also enjoy the dividends brought by the ski market outbreak." An industry analyst told the China Business Daily reporter.
Wu Dawei, an expert in the retail industry, analyzed the reporter of China Business Daily that in the dual brand strategy, middle and high-end brands do not necessarily assume the role of profit, but rather "occupy a place" in the high-end market. "Compared with those foreign ski brands that have been around for hundreds of years, domestic ski brands still lack time accumulation at the cultural level, and do not have much advantage in high-end market. It is difficult to gain the recognition of high-end people in a short time, but it can prepare for the outbreak of high-end market in the future. The mass brand undertakes the task of obtaining traffic, lowering the consumption threshold, occupying the young consumer market and making profits. "
In addition to launching the dual brand strategy, domestic brands also carry out seasonal product sales. Wang Zichen, the head of the domestic ski brand JUMPSKI, said to the reporter of China Business Daily that skiing is a sport with seasonal restrictions, and domestic skiing is also a primary market. Facing the ski off-season, it is difficult for brands that only do skiing products to survive.
In response to the above situation, domestic brands have launched all seasonal products, such as Nobaday's skateboarding, surfing, camping and other popular sports equipment in spring and summer. Overide Halo said to the reporter of China Business Daily that in the future, long sleeve, short sleeve and other categories of clothing will be launched, and the products will expand from skiing to all kinds of outdoor life scenes.
GOSKI Originals promotes the development of accessories such as ski clothes and ski protectors. It is worth noting that the brand is also preparing to launch "spring snow products". Its manager said that this category can meet the needs of indoor skiing and is also a special use scenario in the Chinese ski market. Foreign brands pay little attention to this. In addition, the salesperson of GOSKI Originals told the reporter that the brand has recently launched waterproof retro baseball suits, which combine the waterproof fabric of ski suits with the style of baseball suits, allowing consumers to switch freely between skiing scenes and daily sports scenes.
Wang Zichen believes that for domestic brands, there is still a hard battle to fight in the future. "With the increase of ski lovers, foreign brands' professional products can better meet their advanced needs. Domestic brands should strengthen research and development to maintain their professional tone in skiing."
How can niche brands improve product repurchase rate
"At present, the common challenge facing domestic and foreign ski brands is the low repurchase rate." Wu Dawei said that China's ski industry is still in its infancy. Skiing is still a minority sport, and the market has not been really cultivated. Skiers are mainly one-time experience skiers.
So, in addition to focusing on products and channels, how can brands improve the repurchase rate? The reporter of China Business Daily found that in terms of marketing, many brands have made great efforts in the after-sales service of products, such as the Guangzhou Station of Amer Sports Skiing Service Center, which opened in July this year. In addition to selling the equipment of its Archaeopteryx, Salomon and other brands, the center also provides maintenance services such as waxing and blade trimming, as well as ski rental and exclusive rest areas. The Nobaday side also said recently that it will launch the Nobaday Care service system, which also includes snow gear rental, maintenance and other services.
Nico, the head of Chinese marketing of a foreign ski brand, told the China Business Daily that his brand also provides ski mail, ski resort tickets and hotel reservation services. "The marketing of ski brands in this area is very internal," he said frankly, the brand hopes that by providing one-stop services, consumers can feel the professionalism of the brand from the ski preparation stage to the end of skiing, and in this process, improve the stickiness of the brand and strengthen the recognition of the brand.
In addition to product after-sales service, there are brands starting from ski training. Nico revealed that many ski brands cooperate with ski resorts and coaches to create a team of ski coaches dedicated to the brand. The specific way of cooperation is that the equipment of the ski instructor is provided by the brand. If the ski instructor successfully introduces the students to buy products, there will be another reward mechanism. This way can enhance the enthusiasm of ski instructors to promote the brand and increase the exposure of the brand. "Ski coaches play the role of KOL, and their opinions will influence consumer decisions."
It is worth noting that ski brands also attach great importance to the training of young people. Liu Changqing, the head of a ski resort, introduced to the reporter of China Business Daily that teenagers have gradually become one of the main customers of ski resorts. After the "double reduction" policy, the number of teenagers coming to ski has increased significantly, and the proportion can reach about 35%.
Wang Zichen said that they have reached cooperation with two ski resorts in winter ski camps for young people. The winter camps include enlightenment camps, advanced camps and elite camps. The ski resorts are responsible for the site costs, the employment costs of safety assessors and life instructors; The brand is responsible for equipment rental and ski instructor fees.
"We will carefully count the situation of each young student, such as gender, height, weight, shoe size, technical level, etc. We will also adjust the ski equipment according to the student's situation, including the length of the ski, the tightness of the fixator, so as to reduce the safety risks of the students." Prince Chen said frankly that if the students have physical injuries in skiing, not only can not cultivate their skiing interest, It is not conducive to transforming the experiencer into an enthusiast, nor is it possible to increase the repurchase rate. "So we have done a very fine job in ski training services. At present, the results are good. More and more parents bring their children to buy products again, and have gradually developed some consumption habits."
Several managers of ski brands told reporters that skiing is still a minority sport in China. In addition to considering products and channels, relevant brands should also work together to help improve relevant supporting facilities and consumers' ski habits based on the Chinese market. "It is a long process to improve the repurchase rate, and the payback period may be long, which tests the patience of brands." (Reporter Jie Yuxing)
