China: Adidas on Track for Sales of Eur1bn by 2010
Global sports brand Adidas is on track to generate sales of EUR1bn (US$1.23bn) in China by 2010, just-style has learned, as it continues to build on the momentum generated by this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing.
Wolfgang Bentheimer, managing director of Adidas Greater China, told just-style the brand's huge investment on the Games' sponsorship and advertising campaign - rumoured to have been EUR200m (US$251m) - have finally given it market leadership in China.
"We have been working for the last 12-18 months on this. We closed the gap, we have finally got it," says Bentheimer.
Though Adidas has been in China since 1997, it has always trailed arch-rival Nike in market share.
Now the German brand holds 22-23% of the premium sportswear category, with Nike following 1-2% behind, claims Bentheimer.
Consumer retail spend is still growing in China but recent figures show that the economy has started to see a real slowdown.
That could hurt consumer demand though Bentheimer says Adidas has not seen any impact so far.
"We have to watch this. But we think that the Chinese government will shift towards promoting domestic consumption and put policies in place to make it easier for the Chinese to spend more.
"Overall retail sales were still up 23% in China in September and haven't slowed down."
Global sports brand Adidas is on track to generate sales of EUR1bn (US$1.23bn) in China by 2010, just-style has learned, as it continues to build on the momentum generated by this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing.
Wolfgang Bentheimer, managing director of Adidas Greater China, told just-style the brand's huge investment on the Games' sponsorship and advertising campaign - rumoured to have been EUR200m (US$251m) - have finally given it market leadership in China.
"We have been working for the last 12-18 months on this. We closed the gap, we have finally got it," says Bentheimer.
Though Adidas has been in China since 1997, it has always trailed arch-rival Nike in market share.
Now the German brand holds 22-23% of the premium sportswear category, with Nike following 1-2% behind, claims Bentheimer.
Consumer retail spend is still growing in China but recent figures show that the economy has started to see a real slowdown.
That could hurt consumer demand though Bentheimer says Adidas has not seen any impact so far.
"We have to watch this. But we think that the Chinese government will shift towards promoting domestic consumption and put policies in place to make it easier for the Chinese to spend more.
"Overall retail sales were still up 23% in China in September and haven't slowed down."
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