Nike's right move in China

Nike did not perform successfully in the Chinese market for some time last year. Their product couldn't sell and some analysts even said it would lose its market dominance to Adidas.

However, since that period, Nike has been trying to make things return to normal. Chief executive officer, Mark Park was confident that they could get better, because according to him, doing business in China is not a one-hundred-meter dash, but a marathon that needs persistence.

Equipped with that strategy, Nike indeed made some progress already. Nike's latest financial report shows that up to November 30 this year, Nike's revenue in Great China region increased by 21%, that their orders from December 2014 through April 2015 increased by 11%, among which the Great China Region increased 13%.

How did Nike achieve this? They mainly relied on two opportunities--women customer market and good marketing.

Products for female customers have seen a rise in demand. With women playing a more and more important role, Nike developed special apps, renews selected products series regularly, and provides nearly ten different training schedules for female customers in Nike+ fitness clubs.

In the end of November, Nike opened a special female product shop in iAPM shopping mall in Shanghai, which is the second of its kind in the world after Los Angeles. The shop offers training courses apart from sports products such as apparels and shoes for women. 

According to Global Retail Vice President and General Manager Heidi O'neill, they have always paid much attention to the Great China region, and the newly opened Nike female experiencing shop proved once again the commitment to the Great China region and female customers.

Apart from investments in the female product market, marketing is what Nike did to drive its product sales in China. They aim to make exercising a part of daily life.

Nike advertized its brands in China by using many major events in 2014, such as the Brazil World Cup and FIBA World Cup. During FIBA World Cup, their 12th generation of basketball shoes which is named after James LeBron increased sales largely. They organized the first online basketball reality show inChina, where they invited NBA stars such as James LeBron, Kobe Bryant, Chinese coach Fei Wang, Chinese basketball star Yi Jianlian, and a Taiwan film star.

Communication Director of Nike Great China, Xiangyan Huang, said that they had been aiming to make exercising a core value.

CEO of Key Sports, Qing Zhang, thinks that Nike's success in the latter half of this year is because that they have used three opportunities, i.e. the popularity of running in China, the emerging female exercising trend, and Chinese middle class.

"Nike has entered a new era. The product structure, functional designs, and the process of promotion and customer engaging...through these elements Nike has started to make changes to some people, to make exercising a part of their life." Zhang said.

Nevertheless, Nike still should be prepared for challenges in the Chinese market. For the first three quarters, Nike's opponent Adidas also gained 10% increase on its sales and 13% increase for the fourth quarter. As Chinese clients demand better products as time passes, the competitive level will continue to increase.