Li Ning Company Limited said order volume for its second quarter were flat on a year-on-year basis. Both the average retail selling price and order volume for apparel posted low-single digit percentage declines; whereas for footwear products, the average retail selling price grew mid-single digit percentage and order volume recorded high-single digit percentage increases. Looking at the consolidated figures, future order value of the first half 2012 grew at low-single digit percentage year on year.
Zhang Zhi Yong, CEO of the Group, commented, “Although the order value of this Trade Fair did not sustain the growth momentum seen in the Trade Fair of the first quarter, we believe that these results are within our expectations as we are still in the middle of repositioning our products. Also, during the last month, we did not see significant improvements at the retail level compared with the third quarter. We envisage the competitive landscape of the sporting goods industry to remain challenging next year, and the pressure to lower inventory levels continues to be high. As such, the Group maintains its prudent attitude. During this Trade Fair, the Group proactively enacted measures to manage expectations of the distributors, and guide their way to adjust their order mixes. “
“In the past two to three years, apparel products had grown faster than other product categories within the LI-NING brand product mix. However, we consider it necessary to change this situation as footwear products more strongly resonate the essence of sports and instill greater resilience to stabilizing business growth for the Group. We have been adding momentum to our footwear business through innovative product designs, proficient application of the our technology platform, and promotion of 'product family' concepts. During the past two Trade Fairs, footwear products exhibited a recovery in growth as a result of our efforts, with both prices and order volumes returning to reasonable levels. We are pleased with these outcomes. We plan to continue to boost the percentage of sales contributed by the footwear products category in the future.” Zhang continued.
