Adidas plans to open new stores in China

Posted Jul 3rd 2008 5:50PM by Eliza Popescu
Filed under: Forecasts, Consumer Experience, Competitive Strategy, NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE), Economic Data

If you love Adidas' clothing and footwear then I have some good news for you. Adidas is eying to open about 2,300 new stores in China by 2010, lifting its total number to 6,300. The company's decision came as a result of strong demand from China even in times when we might expect to see some downturns.

Frederic Seiller, a vice president in charge of retail operations for Greater China, stated that the the global economic slowdown had no impact on Adidas's sales in China. In addition, the company is optimistic about its further gains, and forecast a nice demand from the local sportswear market. From this point of view, total sales in China are expected to come to 1 billion euros by 2010.

As well as getting growth in revenue, by opening its biggest store in the world in central Beijing Adidas aims to beat rival Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE). Back in 2007, China became Nike's second-largest market, and its Chinese sales reached $1 billion in 2008.

For competitor Nike though the current situation is not quite rosy. The sportswear giant has been facing tough concerns related to declining growth in the U.S. which resulted in a drop in shares of 9.8% to $59.50 a share, the lowest level in almost seven years.

The current market conditions made China an important key for both sportswear titans due to declines in markets like the U.S. On the other side of the coin, the Olympics are expected to give a boost to China's sportswear market in 2009. So the competition regarding sales will become even stronger.

As for me, I'm just curious to see which brand people prefer most.

Eliza Popescu is a financial writer for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

Tags: Adidas, China, Nike, NKE, sportswear

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-07-2008 @ 8:59AM

yan said...

adidas seems too expensive for most of Chinese!

7-04-2008 @ 2:25PM

speculator said...

China is a great place to do business and put your money. The US could have another decade where stocks go nowhere. Everyone likes to talk about stock for the long run, but between 1966-1981 they went nowhere. Sometimes they go down for long periods.
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