Adidas Sprint "Road To 2015"

Gao Jiali's workload and commitment pressure are not difficult to measure. When he was promoted to head of Greater China in 2010, he put forward a "2015 development" strategy. The goal is very clear. He wants Adidas to become a sports brand No.1 in Greater China by the end of 2015.

At that time, the situation faced by Adidas in China was that there was a certain gap not only with the rival Nike, but also once overtaken by the local brand Lining, losing second seats in the Chinese market.

This year is the last year of the "2015 strategy" and is the key period of sprint.

In March 5th, Adidas released its annual report in fiscal year 2014, showing that the annual sales in Greater China were 1 billion 811 million euros, up 10% over the same period last year.

This is also Adidas's fifth consecutive year of revenue growth in Greater China.

According to the Euromonitor market survey, Adidas and Nike share the same market share in the Chinese market.

"We have been close to Nike, and our brand has never been so strong."

Gao Jiali said.

Such results show that Adidas's reform in the Chinese market in the past 4 years has indeed achieved remarkable results.

These reforms include: enriching commodity categories, marching into "emerging markets" in small and medium-sized cities, dividing retail shops, continuing to expand sports series and promoting the success of sports leisure series NEO.

The plan has been launched so far.

2000 new stores have been opened, mostly concentrated in small and medium-sized cities.

Adidas, which still focuses on the wholesale business mode, pays more attention to the selling out rate and carries out closer cooperation and assistance to distributors when carrying out the channel reform.

In order to enhance the brand experience, Adidas has made great efforts in fragmented retail stores. So far, over 80 retail outlets have been operating in the country, such as interactive stores Adidas Homecourt, city flagship stores, basketball, footwear and women's stores.

Only four new retail outlets were launched in 2014.

These new stores allow Adidas's brand to go deeper in a more fragmented market.

In addition, a lot of visible.

It also boosted the influence of Adidas's classic sports series and NEO brand.

Whereas

Overall, the answer from the Greater China region is still very bright.

Although sales of Adidas in Europe, emerging markets and Latin America also increased by two digits in the fourth quarter, another key market in North America was underperforming, not only behind Nike, but also by Under Armour to catch up with third of US sports brands.

In 2014, North American market sales fell by 6% compared to the same period last year.

In addition, Adidas's two big investments in recent years, the golf brand Taylor and the Russian market, are far less than expected.

Coincidentally, Adidas announced in February 19th this year that the company is looking for the successor of current CEO Herbert Haina.

Earlier in January 23rd, Adidas also announced that it had sold the brand Rockport, which had never seen improvement, at a low price of $280 million, which was acquired by Adidas in 2006.

There are signs that speculation is the decision made by Adidas in the wake of its decline in performance and investor dissatisfaction.

Gao Jiali declined to comment.

Herbert joined the company in 2001 and became the longest serving CEO in Adidas history.

After the announcement, Herbert said in his internal open letter that he will create a good start for the new strategic planning within the remaining time of his office, so as to ensure that the company's performance will continue to grow in 2015 and the next time, while doing a good job of the replacement of company executives.