Nike Grows Female Consumption In China, But Has To Increase Sponsorship Investment In Women Only Platforms

Speaking to China Daily, Vanessa Garcia-Brito, Nike’s Vice President of Purpose Communications, “We know that female sneaker culture (in China) is growing very fast as well. And what’s exciting for us at Nike is that we’re helping to define what that culture is. I think it’s an area that continues to grow really fast.”

“At Nike, women have always been a major growth driver and female consumers are a major target audience. The Nike Women team is dedicated to that spirit,” added Angela Dong, General Manager of Nike China.

The statistics seem to back a growing resonance among Chinese females for sportswear and equipment. According to a report from online shopping portal Tmall, released earlier in March after its Women’s Day sales gala, there was a whopping 1,389 percent growth year-on-year in the number of women purchasing running wear. In the same period, 5.8 million female users also bought workout outfits. Women spent 75 percent more on boxing gloves in the same period, with solid sales growth also reported in sport leggings and headphones.

During this year’s Singles Day shopping festival, Alibaba’s Alisports branch announced 294 billion yuan (US$43 million) in sales. Women represented up to 43 percent of those sales, up from 33 percent last year.

In the past year, Nike has connected with Chinese women by releasing a Li Na inspired collection to encourage more girls to follow in her famous footsteps. The brand has also been increasing the number of female designers on its roster as it makes products meeting women’s demand for functional fashion.

According to Nike, its global revenue from girls and womenswear exceeded US$6.9 billion in the fiscal year of 2018.

“The business result is a pretty concrete reward to us, our women’s business has been growing robustly in the past 40 years, outpacing menswear growth,” Garcia-Brito said.

Meanwhile, Nike’s China unit recorded US$1.38 billion in revenue in the first quarter of the fiscal year of 2019, up 20 percent year-on-year. The brand’s spends in the Chinese sponsorship market has been relatively consistent since 2016—averaging slightly above US$88m annually—however, its investment with women’s sport and celebrity endorsements this year has been limited to the following:

                 . Zhou Dongyu (Celebrity endorsement renewal, US$368k)

                 . Chinese National Women’s Tennis Team (renewal, ~US$1.24m)

                 . Tennis player Zhang Shuai (US$200k)

                 . Li Na (renewal, US$750k)

And the time is ripe for a major like Nike to rewrite the script in one of its biggest markets.