Text | Bai Jiajia Just now, Xtep’s character completely collapsed. The latest investigation results of the Beijing Half Marathon show that Xtep violated the rules by allowing "pacers to compete as specially invited athletes", violating the sportsmanship of fair competition. Xtep

text | Bai Jiajia

Just now, Xtep’s character completely collapsed.

's latest investigation results of the Beijing Half Marathon show that Xtep violated the rules by allowing "pacers to compete as specially invited athletes", which violated the sportsmanship of fair competition.

Xtep later issued an apology statement, saying that "the relevant staff made a mistake during the registration process." Of course, it did not announce the relevant internal inspection and processing results.

There are comments on the Internet: Maybe Xtep, who is very wealthy, still thinks that he has the "money power" and there is no need to take this punishment seriously.

Can the two words "mistake" make the most "ugly" scene in the history of Chinese marathon events pass by in the eyes of netizens?

Such a scene, which was contrary to the spirit of competitive sports, even made the commentator hosting the CCTV broadcast speechless for a time.

The Beijing Half Marathon is one of the most prestigious marathon events in the country. Where did Xtep get the courage to "walk" the champion? And what prompted it to take risks in front of hundreds of millions of viewers?

The answer is actually not complicated. The reason why

"takes risks" is partly due to the company's marathon strategy. Another deeper reason is "playing with fire" caused by fierce market competition and growth anxiety.

1. A "rigged" race

"It's better not to do it."

This is the voice of many runners after the Beijing Half Marathon ended, especially when they saw the final sprint stage of the race. After

entered the sprint phase, the black players who were originally in the leading position discussed for a while, and then ran behind He Jie in unison, and kept giving him gestures to let him win the championship. The generous scene of

made everyone realize that this was a "rigged" game.

At that time, insiders pointed out that He Jie was a contracted athlete of Xtep, and three black men were also wearing Xtep running shoes. "Anyone who has run a race can tell that these three black men are the pacers prepared by Xtep Hejie."

In fact, a very abnormal and strange thing happened before the race started. Two days before the start of the

competition, that is, on April 12, China's Jordan contract player Jiaorenga suddenly discovered after arriving in Beijing that he had been disqualified. The

organizing committee later announced that the sponsor (Xtep) had communicated with Jiaorenga on April 9, and only after obtaining the other party's consent, the organizing committee was notified of the cancellation of the qualification.

And Jiaorenga’s description clearly proves that someone is “lying”.

Organizing a marathon is indeed a valuable business. There are at least 10 sponsors for a marathon, and the amount of sponsorship ranges from tens of millions to millions.

But it is still essentially a sporting event, and it is an event that is known for its openness as a small number of amateurs can compete with professional athletes on the same stage.

Setting up barriers in order to allow contracted runners to achieve good results may not be what a marathon should be like.

He Jie did not say anything after winning the championship, but said: "This is a high-quality training session."

And this is the source of disappointment and even anger among netizens.

2. The eccentric marathon strategy

Why is Xtep so obsessed with letting its contracted players continue to achieve rankings in the competition, and even break records?

Sports brands naturally need star athletes, and star athletes need to continue to perform well.

When athletes wearing Xtep cross the finish line amid cheers, it also means that the brand's sales and reputation will reach a new peak.

Therefore, since its first involvement in the marathon in 2007, Xtep has been sparing no effort to connect itself with "champions" and "record-breakers".

Whether it was He Jie who set a new Chinese marathon record in the Wuxi Marathon last month, or several of its other contracted athletes who set a new record in the Fukuoka Marathon, many articles celebrating the athletes' outstanding results emphasized the Xtep running shoes on their feet. of credit. The brand marketing strategy of

has indeed brought Xtep great wealth.

Xtep’s 2023 financial report just released shows that shoe business revenue reached 8.172 billion yuan, accounting for 58% of total revenue.

Ding Shuibo, chairman and CEO of Xtep Group, once said: "Our industry-leading position in the running field continues to drive the group's business growth. Xtep has surpassed international and domestic brands in many marathon events in mainland China, and has a leading position in wear rate . ”

In order to further prove that it is the first choice for athletes and enthusiasts, it also listed a set of data:

In the key marathon events in mainland China in 2023, the wearing rate of Xtep running shoes was the highest among all and exceeded three hours (running under three hours). (within) ranked first among runners, and ranked first among international and domestic brands. In the recently concluded 2024 Xiamen Marathon, Xtep continued its outstanding performance, maintaining its leading position in wear rate, reaching 41.8% and 43.8% respectively among all runners and top three runners.

Champions and enthusiasts all wear Xtep, and it seems that it is indeed the first choice in the marathon field.

If you really think so, you are very likely to fall into the "trap" of these sports brands.

In the running circle, "buying feet" has become one of the main means for major brands to improve wear rate data.

Specifically, it means paying athletes to buy their "feet" and requiring them to wear shoes of the corresponding brand during competitions.

"Lalanx Bear Sports" reported in June last year "The Foot Buying War at the Marathon" that at last year's Seoul Marathon, Dong Guojian, a member of the Chinese track and field team, wore Xtep because Xtep "bought it from the Athletics Association." foot".

And the wear rate data handed over by Xtep in the financial report is probably also mixed with the moisture of "buying feet".

This way of thinking that requires results rather than process may be the reason why the Beijing Half Marathon staged a funny scene.

As a sports brand, it is understandable that it enhances its influence and brand power by signing contracts and sponsoring outstanding athletes. But the results of sports competitions are uncertain after all, and no matter how good the players are, they will inevitably be affected by their condition. "Jedi's comeback" is the charm of sports.

So some sponsors who are eager for quick success think that instead of betting, it is better to directly spend money to help players win the first place.

Obviously, this kind of putting the cart before the horse is contrary to the spirit of sports.

As a well-known sports brand in China, Xtep needs to get out of this "wrong road" as soon as possible and reduce "mistakes", even though it is not easy to do this right now.

3. Can you still find your original intention amid anxiety?

Objectively speaking, Xtep has not had a good life in the past two years. The inventory crisis caused by shrinking demand is stagnating the growth of the shoe business on which it relies for survival.

2023 financial report data shows that Xtep’s inventory turnover time has remained high in the past year.

In the third quarter of last year, the retail discount level of Xtep's main brand was 70% to 75% off, and the inventory turnover time was about 4.5 months. By the end of the year, although it dropped to about 90 days, it was still higher than Li Ning's more than 60 days, and also higher than previous years. In other words, supply is still greater than consumer demand.

The imbalance between supply and demand directly caused the growth of Xtep's footwear business to stagnate.

Although the footwear business has reached a new high in 2023, the revenue growth rate is only 5.3%, which is not only significantly behind the 20.6% of the apparel business, but also has a certain gap compared with the group's overall revenue growth rate of 10.9%.

Although the shrinking demand leading to inventory backlog is not only a problem faced by Xtep, in the past few years, discounts and promotions have also been the norm for international sports brands such as Adidas and Nike.

But the competition in the running shoe track where Xtep is located is more fierce than in other fields.

Foreign brands such as ASICS are paying more attention to the Chinese market.Local brands such as Anta and Li-Ning have also stepped up their efforts on the running shoe track. Niche running shoe brands Angpa and hoka one one have also begun to emerge.

According to pricing, Xtep’s thousand-yuan high-end running shoes will face the competition from niche brands such as hoka, Angpa, and Salomon. Those priced below 1,000 yuan are likely to be involved in price wars with brands such as Peak and Hongxing Erke, and cost-effectiveness is the latter's strength in the market.

The market is obviously not optimistic about Xtep's competitiveness. The stock price has dropped from HK$14.6 per share in July 2022 to HK$4.75 per share today, and the market value has evaporated by more than 26 billion.

From this perspective, Xtep's "mistake" in registering pacers as specially invited athletes in this Northern Half Marathon was actually a "hurt for medical treatment" under the dual pressure of market and valuation.

Finally, although I don’t know if netizens will buy Xtep’s “mistake” statement, I still hope that Xtep can provide more solid evidence to prove its innocence.

Starting from the enterprise, if a sports brand does not even respect the spirit of sportsmanship, how can it convince consumers that it will develop better products down-to-earth? Losing users may be just a matter of time.

Starting from the country, Chinese brands are in a critical period of going global, and every move must be successful.