BEIJING, January 9 (Xinhua) – The American ice hockey equipment brand TRUE opened a new store at an ice sports center in Beijing and has received a warm welcome from the young trainees.
The store, which opened in October 2021, offers shopping services for teenagers who are trained at the center so that they do not have to look around the city for any individual equipment such as helmets, gloves, skates and sticks.
The popularity of ice and snow sports began early in Europe and America, and companies in this industry have mastered relatively mature technology, says Wang Zhiyong, head of the Beijing Capital Hockey Club’s international division.
“So the Chinese winter sports market run by the Beijing Winter Olympics will be a ‘blue sea’ in the eyes of foreign brands,” said Wang.
A research report on China’s ice and snow industry in 2021 showed that the scale of China’s ice and snow industry increased from 270 billion yuan (approximately 42 billion US dollars) in 2015 to 600 billion yuan in 2020.
According to China’s development plan for ice and snow sports from 2016 to 2025, the total scale of the industry will reach 1 trillion yuan by 2025.
Li Yanli, a professor at Beijing Sports University, said that the successful bid from the Beijing Winter Olympics has greatly promoted the development of China’s ice and snow industry. It has also improved the domestic sports consumption potential and expanded the sports market, enabling foreign sporting goods suppliers to find new investment opportunities.
Data from the company information provider Tianyancha indicates that China saw an increase of more than 1,000 ice and snow sports related companies in 2021.
At WF Central, an exclusive shopping mall in central Beijing, a third-floor corridor bridge is full of products from more than 10 global winter sports brands, including Bogner, Burton and Mons Royale.
“We restored the stage for a Burton’s studio here in an attempt to inform the audience about the spiritual meaning of snowboarding and culture,” a local employee presented.
Zhou Peng, who works at Bogner’s outlet in the mall, said the store opened in December. “Because many ski resorts opened, one of our ski suits was even sold out for a while,” Zhou said.
As the Winter Olympics in Beijing approach, Bogner has accelerated its layout in China’s winter sports market and plans to establish an offline business network with about 80 stores within five years.
Like Bogner, there are many other foreign companies that are optimistic about China’s ice and snow sports market.
In September 2021, the Swedish sports fashion brand Peak Performance opened its official flagship store on Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Tmall.
According to the statistical survey data from China’s Sports Venues 2020 released by the General Administration of Sport of China, on December 31, 2020, there were 1,888 ice and snow sports venues in the country. It is estimated that the number will reach 2,900 in 2022.
“Preparations for the forthcoming Olympic Games have led to the implementation of support measures in relevant areas, providing a high-quality business environment for companies wishing to participate in the sports industry and support sports development, and provide more investment confidence.” in Li.
The Beijing Winter Olympics will drive China to grow a complete ice and snow industry chain. The Italian online winter travel agency Snowit will take the opportunity to work with Chinese and foreign snow resorts, jointly promote the development of the industry and share the potential of winter Beijing Olympics “, says Zhang Xiandong, Snowit’s sales representative in China.
Source: sn.dk
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