The sale of outdoor gear in the highly competitive Chinese market has shifted dramatically since 2005 from outdoor specialty retailers to general merchandisers, reports MarketResearchReports.biz.
The market research company said its research shows the number of “market stores” carrying outdoor gear expanded to 7,716 from 2007 to 2013 and now outnumber “professional outdoor” stores three to one. Expressed another way, 73.9 percent of the stores selling outdoor gear are market stores.
Outdoor stores have lost significant market share during the period to other channels, including e-commerce, which built their share of outdoor gear sales to 19.7 percent in 2013, up from 3.5 percent in 2007.
At present, almost all global outdoor brands have entered China and their growth rates are decelerating, while domestic Chinese brands continue to proliferate.
As of the end of 2013, there were 891 outdoor brands in China, including 458 domestic brands such as Toread, Kolumb, Camel, Kroceus under Shanghai Challenge Sports Products Co., Ltd., Jihua Outdoors under Jihua Group, Anemaqen under Sanfo Outdoors and Shehe. Columbia Sportswear, VF Corp., Jarden Corp., Lafuma Group and Black Diamond Inc. are named as top foreign players in the market.
MarketResearchReports.bix estimates total retail sales by China’s outdoor gear industry registered a CAGR of 42.9 percent from 2005 through 2013, and reached RMB 18.05 billion in 2013, up 24.3 percent from 2012.
