Lulu lemon Chinese Market Performance Shining

Canadian sports brand Lulu Lemon released its first quarter earnings report for 2019. In the three months ended May 5, Lulu Lemon's global operating income increased by 20% year-on-year to US$782 million, and net profit increased by 28.5% to US$96.6 million. The Chinese market performed the strongest, with a year-on-year increase of nearly 70%. However, industry professionals have analyzed that Lulu Lemon's main category of women's yoga apparel sales may enter the platform period, sales growth slows down, Lulu lemon needs to launch more products of other categories, in order to maintain rising growth in the domestic market. situation.

China market becomes a performance growth engine

It is reported that Lulu Lemon's financial report shows that China's regional performance is the most eye-catching, sales increased by nearly 70% year-on-year. Driven by sales growth in China, sales in the Asia-Pacific region increased by nearly 40% year-on-year. During the reporting period, Lulu Lemon has opened new stores in cities such as Xi'an and Chongqing. In 2019, it is expected to add 10 to 15 stores in China.

Stuart Haselden, chief operating officer and executive vice president of international business, said, "Compared with North America, our business vision for China is more numerically considered. 50% of China's business comes from online." He said that WeChat and Tian Cats have a dominant position in China and will continue to be an important part of the digital business.

Lulu Lemon's promotion strategy in China is now well known in the industry, that is, through the “opinion leader” and “community economy” to accurately target the target population, and then bundle with the latter.

Specifically, Lulu Lemon will regularly hold yoga classes in major cities to attract local yoga communities and enthusiasts, and to maintain a cooperative relationship with the surrounding yoga studios, to lead the community with yoga instructors, and to actively target the targets. crowd.

At present, Lulu Lemon has more than 1,600 brand ambassadors worldwide, divided into three global yoga ambassadors, elite ambassadors and store ambassadors. Their main function is to experience products and promote social interaction. Lulu Lemon hopes to help the brand build a brand image in the consumer's heart through this unique and targeted “intensive cultivation”.

Future directions: men's market and sports shoes market

According to the reporter's understanding, before and after 2012, Lulu Lemon, which focused on women's yoga costumes, encountered difficulties. Due to the singularity and high price of the Lulu lemon product line, some lower-priced competitors in the market began to grab its market. Nike, An Dema and other sports brands have also launched relatively low-priced Free Voucher Codes sports and leisure products.

Lulu Lemon has encountered unprecedented market competition, coupled with the limitations of the growth of the female market, the development of new business, the search for new ways of profit growth has become an urgent problem for Lulu Lemon.

Relevant experts from the China Culture and Education Sporting Goods Association said that yoga apparel is a relatively small category. After a period of sales, it is likely to enter the platform period, and the sales growth rate will slow down. This is a phenomenon that will occur after a new product is released for a period of time. . Lulu Lemon wants to continue to grow and needs to develop more types of products.

In response to the competition, Lulu Lemon decided to cultivate the menswear market, hoping to walk through two legs and get rid of the dependence and restraint on the female market.

According to its financial report for the first quarter of 2019, the sales of men's wear business achieved a growth rate of 33%.

In addition, Lulu Lemon is also planning to enter the sports shoe market. Company CEO Calvin McDonald said the team has found a gap in the footwear market and is developing a line of sports shoes.

But he said that details about the progress of footwear development will not be disclosed until new products are released in 2019.

However, the current sports shoe market is relatively mature. According to Euromonitor's report, in 2018, Nike's share of the US sportswear market was 18.3%, Adidas was 6%, Anderma and SKECHER were followed by 4.1% and 2.6% respectively. The main Lulu lemon market share is 1.9%. In the Chinese market, domestic brands such as Anta, Li Ning and Xtep are also overweight in the sports shoes market. It can be seen that Lulu Lemon will still face considerable pressure in the future if it wants to maintain its upward development.