[continuing from previous post]
The subsequent product logistics problems made the dealers even more troubled.
The Adidas brand table tennis table PRO800, launched in early 2010, was unveiled at the Munich Sporting Goods Show in January of the same year. It was the highest level in the industry and was successfully signed as the designated table for the Berlin Table Tennis Open in March of the same year. Although the PRO800 table, which is purely imported from Germany, costs five figures, it has been tested in the German Open and has the Adidas brand, so many dealers are looking forward to using it to make a big splash. But what no one expected was that such an expensive foreign treasure was already a "defective product" when it was delivered to the contracted dealer. It turns out that in Germany, the place of origin, logistics and transportation is basically a complete mechanized process. The simple and environmentally friendly packaging designed by Adidas Table Tennis for PRO800 is both beautiful and can cope with long-distance travel. But once it enters China, the violent disassembly and assembly of traditional logistics directly makes the product unrecognizable. The two brands of Double Happiness and Double Fish, which occupy the main market of table tennis tables in China, are particularly strong in product packaging, fully anticipating the damage to the product during logistics and handling. Moreover, the product is easy to disassemble and assemble, and a clerk can complete the installation in a short time. However, PRO800 not only needs to refer to the manual from time to time during installation, but even a skilled installer needs two people to operate for nearly 4 hours.
The "bad start" of the equipment category has poured cold water on the initial confidence of the contracted dealers, and everyone began to expect to open up the situation from the "foolproof" footwear and clothing products.
Adidas Table Tennis footwear and clothing products adopt the futures ordering method, that is, the contracted dealers reserve the number of products after seeing the samples. Most of the contracted dealers are full of confidence in this, but when the clothing products arrived one after another, they were dumbfounded. It turned out that when everyone placed an order, they did not know that the relevant product models were European standards, because even foreign brands such as Stiga, Donic, and Euler, the products sold in the Chinese market are also marked with Asian models. According to the previous sales norms, group purchases of table tennis professional clothing accounted for about 80% of the dealers' shipments, and a full range of sizes is often the most critical factor in whether a deal can be made. Due to the size problem, the group purchase volume was severely compressed. "As a result, a 2XL jersey is probably only suitable for Yao Ming. It is also difficult to sell at retail. How many table tennis players can wear such a large size?" Therefore, the first batch of Adidas Table Tennis professional clothing is mostly piled up in the warehouses of dealers. Since then, problems such as product version, style, unstable delivery cycle, etc. have always become the topic of "denunciation" by contracted dealers at every order meeting. "How can a big brand like Adidas have problems with these issues?" A contracted dealer complained.
Adidas, which operates well in the mass sports goods market, has repeatedly made mistakes that dealers think are "primary" in the table tennis market.
Generally speaking, product deficiencies will not lead to a strong and well-known brand's rapid decline as long as they can be adjusted and corrected in time. In fact, after introducing more table tennis professionals in 2011, Adidas' performance in the professional equipment product market has indeed improved greatly. If the marketing promotion and marketing are successfully promoted during the same period, the results may be completely different.
Signing top athletes and national teams, sponsoring top events in related fields, these marketing methods commonly used by sports brands have immediate effects on improving product sales in this field.
Unfortunately, several major events hosted by the International Table Tennis Federation have already been "taken" early, and Hangzhou Kangqun Trading Co., Ltd., which is only authorized to operate the table tennis project, has to do "detailed accounting". The sales performance is not optimistic, and the investment in promotion has become cautious.
A staff member who used to be responsible for marketing at Adidas Table Tennis told the reporter of "Table Tennis" that some of the early sponsorship and promotion were completely made in response to the "headquarters' requirements", and the market reaction and effect were not within the scope of consideration. Therefore, we observed that in 2011, Adidas sponsored the 2011 ITTF Youth Tour (Chengdu Station). In the absence of television broadcasts and media attention, the marketing effect can be imagined; afterwards, in order to cooperate with the "headquarters" to develop the youth market, in May 2012, it sponsored the Capital University Table Tennis Championship and the "Principal Cup" Table Tennis Competition. These competitions are rarely paid attention to by local table tennis enthusiasts, and the response of commercial sponsorship can be imagined.
In early 2011, when many top domestic and foreign players had contracts, adidas could only sign sponsorship contracts with two table tennis players ranked in the top ten at the time: Feng Tianwei (ranked second in the world) and Li Jiao (ranked tenth in the world). In the field of table tennis equipment, the impact of male and female players on the market is very different. Therefore, Adidas's heavy signing of table tennis this time is considered "not cost-effective" by many industry insiders.
More importantly, unlike mass consumer goods, for table tennis consumers, whether players actually use the brand's equipment after signing the contract is the top priority. However, the "tricky" Chinese consumers soon discovered that Feng Tianwei did not use Adidas equipment in the competition. Even when participating in the team competition, she did not wear Adidas Table Tennis uniforms because the Singapore national team was sponsored by a related brand.
Is Adidas Table Tennis really willing to be a "sucker"? Just sign an image contract? In fact, in order to let Feng Tianwei use the Adidas Table Tennis bottom plate, the Adidas Table Tennis team has worked hard, hoping that their contracted players can use their own products as soon as possible. After several twists and turns, the performance and design finally got Feng Tianwei's approval, and she also exposed the new bottom plate named after her on Weibo. But facing the pressure of the upcoming Olympics, under the persuasion of relevant people, Feng Tianwei, who was hesitant, finally decided not to change the equipment before the 2012 Olympics. This decision also became one of the reasons why Adidas Table Tennis did not renew its contract with it.
Ping Pang reporter learned in an interview that Adidas Table Tennis had once planned to sponsor the Table Tennis Super League, but just before the signing of the agreement, it was "taken away" by a domestic national brand with a higher sponsorship amount; the sponsorship of shoes with the Chinese National Table Tennis Team also fell through for various reasons.
No stars, no major event sponsorship. Adidas Table Tennis' performance in marketing left everyone with the impression that it was very un-"Adidas".
In the eyes of industry insiders, it was Adidas itself that really pushed Adidas Table Tennis to the finish line. Huang Mao, business manager of adidas Table Tennis China, said: "The cost, time and process of developing a pair of table tennis shoes are the same as a pair of basketball and running shoes, but the sales volume is very different. In addition, with the merger with tennis this year, Adidas has shifted its focus to tennis, which has been in the market for many years.
