interface news reporter | Huang Shan
interface news editor | Lou Qinqin
Burton, the "originator" of snowboarding, has expanded its categories. The first step is to start with "mountain series" functional clothing.
burton recently launched its first ak457 spring and summer series in the Chinese market, including functional men's jackets, men's trousers, quick-drying short sleeves, fisherman hats and other items made of three-layer waterproof and breathable fabrics. This is the first attempt of the Burton AK457 series outside of the winter snow season.
This series focuses on outdoor exploration scenes in the mountains and wilderness. At the same time, the design also takes into account urban outdoor scenes. For example, the men's suspender pants have detachable suspenders and trouser legs, which are suitable for switching between different scenes.
burton ak457 spring and summer series
It is worth noting that the burton ak457 series entered the market in 2017, and was the first sub-series of the brand exclusively for the Japanese market. Burton commissioned Hiroshi Fujiwara, the originator of Japanese fashion apparel, to lead the design of this series. It uses high-tech and functional fabrics to produce ski clothing and equipment, taking into account simple and refined design aesthetics.
Now the ak457 series has also been brought into the Chinese market by Burton. However, taking into account the different consumption and purchasing habits of the local market, the ak457 series has also evolved accordingly. It can be seen that Burton is trying to provide more options for the outdoor sports market and does not want to be limited to winter scenes and a single track for skiing.
burton's main line of products has also recently launched new spring products suitable for various scenes such as mountains and outdoors, including men's and women's waterproof jackets, unisex functional jackets, short-sleeved and unisex hooded decorative collars, etc., priced from 498 to 2998 yuan.
Compared with the main line, burton ak457's spring and summer series focuses on the high-end market. Its spring and summer series items range from men's jackets of 4998 yuan, detachable overalls of 4398 yuan to quick-drying short-sleeves of 698 yuan.
's expansion from "snow-based" to "mountain-based" scenes is a relatively easy move for Burton, and its original consumer groups are easier to convert. Because whether it is skiing or mountain adventure, mountains are necessary outdoor natural conditions. In different seasons, the same mountain can even bring different natural environments. For outdoor enthusiasts who love mountain adventures, they naturally need different shoes, clothing and equipment.
burton ak457 series of ski clothing, snowboard and other products
Expanding product categories and extending supply seasons are actions that Burton must take to develop in the Chinese market, because it faces very real business challenges. On the one hand, Burton is facing increasingly fierce competition in its best field of snowboarding.
According to Sullivan's "2023 China Ski Industry Development Report", the size of China's ski market is expected to accelerate from approximately 38 billion in 2018 to more than 220 billion in 2027. This has attracted many commercial sports brands with strong financial resources and strong channel resources to enter the market. Anta, fila, Descente, Arc'teryx and other brands with different price points are all outflanking the ski market.
Facing fierce opponents, Burton needs to be prepared in many aspects such as product structure and brand building. Skiing alone will hardly help Burton achieve this goal.
Outdoor skiing covers a single season. After a brand reaches its peak consumption in winter, it is easy for demand to fall off a cliff in other seasons. This is a huge weakness for a sports brand that wants to continue to stay popular and be known by more people. The addition of "mountain" outdoor functional clothing will help Burton retain users in other seasons and bring more new customers to the brand.
's focus on other outdoor scenes is just Burton's first step in the brand transformation stage. If a sports brand wants to break through the competition, in addition to adjusting its product structure and emphasizing product performance, it must also build brand value. At this stage, in the Chinese market, consumers seem to be unable to see the values and sportsmanship emphasized by Burton in addition to product performance, equipment quality and other related content.
burton Beijing Longfu Temple Comprehensive Experience Store
Regarding the launch of the new spring series of ak457, Burton's approach is still to conduct low-key testing in self-built communities.In addition to official online channels such as Tmall, burton ak457 spring and summer series new products are currently only sold through four offline channels, namely Beijing Yintai Center in01 store, Beijing Longfu Temple comprehensive experience store, Shanghai Xingye Taikoo Hui store and Shanghai Pudong Jia Licheng shopping mall store. Since
announced the establishment of a joint venture with Hillhouse Capital in April 2020 to jointly operate China business, burton has opened 14 directly operated stores in the mainland, located in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Chengdu, Shenyang, Guangzhou and Wuhan . Three of them are outlet stores, namely Beijing Badaling Outlet Store, Shanghai Bicester Outlet Store and Suzhou Bicester Outlet Store. In addition, Burton also cooperates with sports dealers and is sold in dozens of sporting goods stores.
can see that Burton is consciously distinguishing store levels through the distribution of goods. For example, the high-end ak457 series is only available in major flagship stores in first-tier cities, bringing a new brand image to the target customer group. But this change should be faster, and may be more effective when paired with a louder marketing campaign.
