German sportswear maker Adidas AG is scheduled to open 3,000 new stores in China by 2020, counting on rising affluence and health-awareness in the country to boost its international business.
The new stores would bring Adidas’ total to about 12,000 across 2,200 cities in China and the company is to focus more on kids’ sports apparel, as China eases its one-child rule, Adidas China managing director Colin Currie said at a briefing in Shanghai on Friday.
“More and more, we actually see optimism for growth because the amount of Chinese consumers participating in sports are tremendous,” Currie said.
Adidas is in a race with international rival Nike Inc and home-grown sports brands Anta Sports Products Ltd (安踏體育) and Li Ning Co (李寧) to grab demand from the Chinese middle class’ growing awareness of the health benefits of exercising. China’s sports industry is likely to expand more than 19 percent annually to 3 trillion yuan (US$459.84 million) by 2025, Credit Suisse Group AG estimated in September last year.
The number paying to exercise rose to 164 million in 2014 from 98 million in 2007, according to a national survey conducted last year.
Adidas does not see any impact on its business from China’s slowing economy and the company has no plans for mergers or acquisitions in the country, he said.
The company plans to keep most of its production in China despite rising production costs, Currie said.
About 29 percent of its apparel and 23 percent of its footwear is made in China, according to Adidas’ 2014 annual report.
Adidas’ sales in greater China grew 38 percent to 2.47 billion euros (US$2.72 billion) last year from 1.79 billion euros in 2014, according to the report. Greater China now accounts for about 15 percent of Adidas’ global sales, up from 12 percent in 2014.
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