In today’s article, we will look at:

• Marketing trends for sportswear in China
• The best marketing/advertising platform for sportswear brand
• Sportswear top sub-categories with potential
• Advice for foreign niche brands entering China

National-wide passion for fitness

In April 2022, 67 million Chinese people were actively using fitness APPs to work out at home. Indoor fitness became a heated topic on social media such as Douyin, Red, and Bilibili. For example, during the peak of the indoor workout trend, 4 million people were watching Will Liu’s (刘畊宏) online fitness live streaming on Douyin simultaneously, making it a sensational trend. At that time, Douyin’s daily active user size was around 5 million, meaning that approximately 80% of Douyin users were watching Liu’s fitness live stream.

As Chinese cities gradually open up after the lockdowns, Liu’s everyday viewers decreased. However, people’s passion for fitness continued and switched to outdoor scenarios such as sports and gyms. According to QuestMobile, the daily active users of Tera Wellness (一兆韦德) has boomed by 240.2% in June, compared to the last month.

More segmented opportunity: the Female Workout Market

Unlike the stereotype that males are more into workouts, female Chinese users account for 56.2% of the active users on sports and fitness APPs, higher than the percentage of male users (43.8%).

Considering females’ growing consuming capacity, brands like Nike, Fila, Anta, and Xtep have grabbed the opportunity and designed more female-oriented campaigns:

Sportswear brands bet on Douyin for social advertising

According to the QuestMobile report, sportswear brands spend more than half (58.1%) of their social advertising budget on Douyin Ads. It is followed by WeChat Ads (9.6%), Kuaishou (7.6%), Weibo (4.9%), and Tencent Video (4.2%).

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The online sales of sportswear brands on Douyin have been growing since this spring. As Double 11, the biggest sales festival approaches, we will keep an eye on the evolution of sales in Q4.

Top sub-categories in sportswear

Sports apparel and sports shoes are the two biggest sub-categories.

For sports apparel, t-shirts and sports pants are still the most crucial sub-categories in terms of revenue, which account for 25.2% and 21.4% respectively of the total sportswear sales. However, competition is already intense for these basic sub-categories.

Regarding growth rate, niche categories such as sports bras (+38.4%) and sports polo (51.5%) showed impressive results. Although the sales revenue of these niche categories is still small (less than 5% of the total sales), they are interesting categories to look at in the future.

Want to know more trends regarding the fitness market in China? You will find this article useful:

• RED (Xiaohongshu) Trends 2022: emerging trends in Fitness, Fashion & Beauty

Suggestions for foreign niche brands entering China

Brands need to identify the sub-category with the best selling potential, then focus the marketing efforts on the selected strategy. Sports t-shirts and trousers are highly competitive categories, so brands need to think about the key selling points: Is it because of the design, such as nice color and pattern? Is it because of the functionality, such as leg-slimming or butt-lifting? Or is it because of any emotional value, such as influencer/celebrity collaboration, your unique brand story, etc?

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The Super Brand Day event will last from the 14th to the 20th of April. The limited collection includes two products: a facial cream (319 RMB / 60g) and a serum (329 RMB / 30ml). (source: L’Oréal Weibo & Douyin account)

L’Oréal leverages internet slang to resonate with Chinese females on Douyin

In China, the word “Versailles” (in Chinese, “凡尔赛”) stands for not only the French Palace. It is one of the most trendy internet slang among young Netizens. It’s similar to “humblebrag” in English but with little negative meaning. 

Thanks to famous CCTV host Benny Sa (撒贝宁), the slang soon went viral on the Internet and in real-life communication. While Chinese people study day and night to enter the top universities and to work in megacities such as Beijing and Shanghai, Benny Sa is an “exception”. He stated on a talk show: “I didn’t choose to go to Beijing. I got recommended to Peking University without attending the Colleague Entry Examination. I hesitated because it’s too far from home, but Peking University is just alright.” (See video clip here)

Another typical Versailles sentence would be: “I own so many apartments that I don’t have enough money to renovate all of them. Such a struggle!”  

L’Oréal used this cultural context in its slogan “you deserve to be Versailles (humblebrag).” This shows support to Chinese young females’ desire to be independent, confident, and pretty.  

Considering how to promote your brand and products in China with a localized strategy? Simply fill out this 1-minute form and we will be in touch with you.

Douyin eCommerce Super Brand Day becomes a major shopping festival

Douyin has become an essential social eCommerce platform. Its Super Brand Day keeps attracting many domestic and international brands to participate. 
In 2020, the Chinese leading smartphone brand OPPO successfully held Super Brand Day on Douyin. By leveraging Douyin KOL and KOC seeding, users generated fun video content and created a buzz. OPPO did multiple live streamings collaborating with top-tier influencers like Luo Yonghao and Lamu Yangzi) and other offline pop-up activities. As a result, OPPO Douyin account attracted 510k new followers, 400 million total impressions on Douyin platform, and 21.74 million total views in live streamings. (Source: ChinaDaily)

In 2021, C-beauty leader Perfect Diary, smartphone giant Huawei, and F&B leader Wufangzhai took part in Douyin Super Brand Day. 

Besides, German kitchen utility brand Zwilling also joined Douyin Super Brand Day in collaboration with Chinese celebrity Xiao Zhan. The GMV reached 102 million CNY (~15.7 million USD) in 24 hours, overachieving the sales target by 204% (source: China Daily)

Douyin helped the 209-year-old brand reconnect with young audiences and attracted young followers through celebrity marketing and KOL collaboration.

Is Douyin becoming the next Tmall?

A few years ago, Tmall invented “Super Brand Day” as the ultimate event aiming to push signature collections and launch new products. It is often combined with celebrity collaboration or any other IP collaboration. 

Tmall Super Brand Day is still going, but Douyin picked up with the trend and started Douyin Super Brand Day. 

The shopping experience for Gen-Z customers is more interconnected with seeding and customized interests than ever. On Douyin, the system customizes the feed based on users’ interests, behavior, and other interactions shown on social media. So it’s a perfect channel to reach potential young customers interested in your brand.

Douyin has created a full-funnel ecosystem from seeding to conversion. It also has its own culture and vibe, thus needs tailored marketing strategies to succeed. With the joint force of celebrity and Douyin KOLs, eCommerce posts real challenges to traditional eCommerce platforms such as Tmall.

Looking for more information about Douyin, the Chinese Tiktok? Read on here:

• Douyin Marketing Guide: 7 examples of successful Douyin marketing campaigns
• Step-by step Douyin Advertising Guide
• What is Douyin Payment?
• How to create a Douyin Store?
• How to create a Douyin Verified Account?

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