Chapter 13 Chapter 6 Introduction Strategy (3)

The object chosen by "Li Ning" was Li Tie, the football star of the Chinese team at the time. In 2003, "Li Ning" officially signed a contract with Li Tie, and then carried out a professional step that was challenging and difficult for Li Ning Company: developing sneakers for Li Tie-"Tie" (iron) series. In order to complete the development of the "Tie" series, Li Ning Company specially recruited a technical development director with 20 years of work experience from abroad, and chose a manufacturing factory with 12 years of experience in shoemaking.This is said to be the best technical team in Asia to make the development of "Tie" series football shoes very smooth.

The reason why the development of the "Tie" series of special football shoes is so exciting is that it is of great significance to Li Ning. "Creating sports shoes tailored for famous athletes is a complete transformation of Li-Ning Company, which means that we will transform from a company that makes shoes and clothing to a company that makes professional sports goods." Zhang Zhiyong deliberately emphasized his tone, "developing the Tie series It is the first step for Li Ning to learn professionalism. We also made football shoes before, but we don’t know much about many functional designs.” In November 2003, China Sports Daily reported ""Li Ning": Bringing Give you the magic of sports" commented on Li Ning's move: "Football is the company's main sports project in the second half of this year and even next year, which will mark that Li Ning products will gradually enter the field of professional mainstream sports." February 2004, No. A Li-Ning brand "Tie" series of professional football shoes specially designed for football star Li Tie came out.This product was not often seen on Li Tie's feet in the early days of its appearance, and some consumers questioned its professionalism.

But in any case, in such a promotion, "Li Ning" began to explore various professional processes and requirements. In 2004, a week before Li Ning Company was about to go public in Hong Kong, there was a very famous criticism of it: the well-known American media "Wall Street Journal" said that Li Ning brand is a tree swinging between "leisure" and "sports". It is inferior to international professional brands such as Nike and Adidas, and is superior to mass brands such as Anta and Reebok. It has been hesitating between "leisure" and "sports".

But Li Ning executives are not impressed. "Only professional sports products will completely deviate from the main market of Chinese sporting goods today." An executive from Li Ning Company commented: "In your shoe cabinet, there will be a pair of basketball shoes, a pair of football shoes, a pair of running shoes, a pair of Tennis shoes, a pair of hiking shoes, or even a pair of jogging shoes? Very unlikely. Most people today wear sportswear, probably not just because they want to exercise, but because of comfort, leisure, or fashion." Such criticisms can be dismissed , but in the face of another situation, "Li Ning" couldn't sit still: in 2003, "Li Ning" was surpassed by Nike for the first time, and in 2004, it was left behind by Adidas. "Li Ning" has been fully suppressed by international brands - since 2003, after years of preparation, Nike and Adidas are showing amazing growth over "Li Ning" in the Chinese market.In addition to maintaining a strong position in megacities, the two companies are also actively developing distribution networks in second- and third-tier markets.Zhang Zhiyong regards the downward trend of "Li Ning" in the first-tier market as the biggest challenge at present. "This is a red flag," he told employees internally.

"Li Ning" needs to cut into the established strategy faster, but what must be paid attention to, and also the most professional link, is research and development.