With the popularity of fitness exercises in Russia, the size of the local sportswear market has continued to grow, and multi-brand sports goods retail chains have emerged.
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The upsurge of fitness sports throughout Russia has never been seen before. This has led to a rapid increase in sales of sports goods and accessories, especially sportswear and sports shoes. Last year, 50% of people across the country reported that they did exercise at least once a week, the highest level ever.
Overall, in the past 10 years, the number of Russians who exercise regularly has doubled, especially in large cities. Many of them go to the ever-increasing number of chain gyms to exercise. In contrast, people in small towns mainly participate in outdoor sports, among which jogging, cross-country skiing, mountain hiking and even open-air swimming are particularly popular.
It is worth noting that young people between the ages of 18 and 30 are the main supporters of this emerging healthy lifestyle. Their demand for casual sportswear has increased greatly, and even this kind of sportswear has become a popular local clothing. The apparel industry generally believes that casual sportswear has fashionable and comfortable styles, and is favored by many consumers. Therefore, this trend will prevail in the next 10 years.
Under this trend, although the overall sales of the Russian apparel industry shrank by about 4% last year, the sales of mid-to-high-end casual sportswear and footwear increased by 10%, and multi-brand sports goods chain stores were the main source of sales growth. The emergence of these chain stores in big cities and surrounding markets poses a threat to the traditional dominance of single-brand retailers. Adidas was once the preferred brand of sports enthusiasts in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Armenia. Because of the above trends, Adidas reduced its retail network in the former Soviet Union twice last year.
In contrast, Russia’s large e-commerce companies, especially Wildberries and Ozon, and emerging multi-brand retailers such as Sportmaster and Decathlon, have ushered in explosive growth in casual sportswear sales. These newly emerging multi-brand retailers sell a wide range of brands, in addition to global well-known brands such as Columbia and North Face, but also the most popular regional brands (such as Finland’s Reima and Russia’s FinnFlare), as well as Demix and Quechua, etc. House brand. The most popular retail models vary in different regions. In remote areas, large supermarkets and stores in shopping malls have advantages, while in St. Petersburg and Moscow, consumers prefer to patronize brand outlet centers.
However, North Face is not afraid of the rising trend of multi-brand stores. Instead, it partnered with Moscow retail group Inventive Retail Group to open its own brand store in Russia this year. Inventive Retail Group has successively introduced re-Store, Lego and Nike into the commercial streets of Russia.
The first store jointly opened by North Face and Inventive Retail Group is located in the Gallery Mall in St. Petersburg. It will open next month. The store area will reach 160 square meters. Technology accessories.
For Hong Kong suppliers and distributors, although North Face’s opening of its own brand stores may be beneficial to the business, the growing number of national multi-brand sports goods chain stores is the biggest opportunity. In fact, these retailers will sooner or later subdivide their business and increase the variety of goods, so there will be greater demand for the supply of their own brand goods.
In addition, when these sporting goods retailers begin to look at markets outside of Russia, their demand for the supply of their own branded goods is bound to increase further. The other member states of the Eurasian Customs Union, namely Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, are expected to be the pioneering targets of these retailers. In fact, Sportmaster, the largest sports goods chain in Russia and the third largest in Europe, has taken the lead to expand its business to Poland.
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