‘FUJIAN TIGERS' BECOME SNEAKER POWERHOUSES

By Matthew Forney 2010-03-22

A small and little-known city in eastern China's Fujian province makes three claims to fame: it boasts the country's earliest seafaring vessels, a large Islamic temple – and an odd cluster of sneaker companies.

At least 10 firms in Quanzhou city make athletic shoes, and four have listed on overseas stock markets. Known collectively as the “Fujian Tigers”, these brands started out stitching together shoes for the likes of Nike and Adidas, then found success under their own names by selling into lower-tier cities.

Their sudden emergence sets a crucial piece of received wisdom on its ear: it is no longer true that reliable retail sales of branded products can be generated only in China's top cities.

Foremost among the Fujian Tigers is Peak Sport Products, a family-run company that now ranks among China's best-known sportswear brands. The company listed in Hong Kong in September 2009 and now has a market capitalisation of US$1.4 bn on the back of regular annual revenue increases of 60 per cent or more. Peak's turnover is likely to exceed US$500m sometime in 2011.

Such eye-popping growth comes at a time when most leading foreign brands are struggling, and Adidas is suffering double-digit declines. Peak's story underscores both the growing importance of China's consumer class and the emergence of competitive domestic brands.

The key to understanding Peak's rise to a sneaker powerhouse can be found by looking where its shoes are not available. Visitors to China's biggest cities – Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou – will likely search in vain for a Peak outlet.

Peak is instead expanding fast into second-tier cities and below, all the way down to county towns – markets where the China's biggest athletic shoe sellers, Nike and Adidas, fear to tread.

Like a guerrilla strategist, Peak has abandoned China's large cities to its powerful foreign competitors and instead occupies territory exclusively in the hinterland, where incomes have crossed a critical threshold. People in these once-impoverished places can now pay for holidays, home-video systems and branded shoes – and they want them.

Peak now has more than 6,000 retail outlets and is opening another three every day. Nike and Adidas, by comparison, each have about 3,500 stores in China.

Peak's goal is to gain first-mover advantage by opening the maiden athletic-footwear store in major shopping districts across China. Most homegrown brands share this strategy and are growing at a similar clip.

Peak's most mature local competitors are Li Ning and Anta. There is also growing competition from Dongxiang, which owns the China licence to the Italian sportswear line, Kappa. Based on phenomenal growth, its market capitalisation is higher than Li Ning's even though Li Ning boasts higher margins and twice the market share.

Most observers think the lower-tier markets will be saturated within five years. Such congestion will lead to a shakeout, with the strongest and best-organised companies winning. By then, Peak and friends are betting they will be read

福建省有座鲜为人知的小城市因拥有三件事物而闻名：中国最古老的海船、一座大型清真寺——以及一批奇特的运动鞋企业。

泉州市至少有10家企业生产运动鞋，其中4家已在海外上市。它们从为耐克(Nike)和阿迪达斯(Adidas)等品牌代工起步，继而在二、三线城市销售自有品牌的运动鞋并获得成功——它们被统称为“福建虎”(Fujian Tigers)。

它们的突然崛起，打破了一条公认的重要原则：在中国，品牌商品只有在一线城市才有可靠销路。这条原则现已不再适用。

“福建虎”中首屈一指的一家企业是匹克体育用品有限公司(Peak Sport Products)，这家家族企业如今已跻身中国最知名运动鞋品牌之列。该公司去年9月在香港上市，目前市值为14亿美元，每年经常性收入增幅在60%或 以上，销售额有望在2011年的某个时候突破5亿美元。

在该公司取得如此惊人增长的时候，主要外国品牌却大多都处境艰难，其中阿迪达斯的销售额出现两位数下降。匹克的故事突显出两点，一是中国消费者阶层的重要性日益上升，二是一批有竞争力的国内品牌已崭露头角。

若想知道匹克是如何发展为一家实力强大的运动鞋企业的，关键是看什么地方买不到匹克鞋。在北京、上海和广州等大城市，你很可能找不到一家匹克店。

相反，匹克正在二、三线城市乃至县城快速扩张。在这些市场，中国最大的运动鞋企业以及耐克和阿迪达斯等都不敢涉足。

匹克就像在打游击战，把大城市让给实力强大的外国竞争对手，转而专门占领内陆市场——那里的居民收入已经突破一个重要关口。这些昔日贫困地区的人们，如今有财力去度假、购买家庭音像系统和品牌鞋——而且他们也进行这类消费的意愿。

匹克目前拥有6000多家零售店，并且正以每天新开3家店面的速度扩张。相比之下，耐克和阿迪达斯在中国各拥有大约3500家店面。

匹克的目标是通过在全国各地的主要商业区率先开设运动鞋店，来获得先发优势。其它国内品牌也大多采取这一战略，并以相近的速度高速扩张。

在匹克的本土竞争对手中，最为成熟的当数李宁(Li Ning)和安踏(Anta)。来自中国动向(China Dongxiang)的竞争也越来越激烈，该公司拥有意大利运动品牌Kappa在中国的产品销售许可权。凭借非凡的增长，中国动向目前的市值高于李宁，尽 管李宁拥有更高的利润率，且市场份额是前者的两倍。

多数观察人士认为，二、三线城市市场将在5年内达到饱和。这将引发大洗牌，实力最强、结构最合理的企业将会胜出。匹克等企业相信，届时它们将做好准备、进军北京和上海这些最顶级的市场。

匹克今后不太可能转向生产品质最好、性能最佳的鞋子。匹克首席执行官许志华表示，能成为一个平价品牌已经很不错了。他问道：“你还想怎样？是生产最尖端科技的产品，还是打造利润最大的企业？我们愿作制鞋业中的丰田(Toyota)。”

本文作者是独立调查公司Fathom China总裁，该公司的业务是对中国企业和高管展开尽职调查

译者/杨远