German sports goods and sportswear marketer Adidas Group said its Greater China subsidiary achieved its target of €2 billion in net sales in 2015, marking the company’s highest ever annual sales in this region. As per an Adidas press release, Greater China is the second-largest market for the Adidas Group globally, while in the first nine months of 2015, sales in Greater China grew 18.4 per cent year on year compared to 2014. “This record achievement is a direct result of Adidas’ ability to execute upon a decisive strategy,” Colin Currie, managing director at Adidas Group Greater China said. “I am proud of our consistent delivery of innovative products and engaging marketing campaigns and this solid financial result is a reflection of our success in Greater China,” Currie added. In Greater China, Adidas has strengthened its position across all key sports categories, expanded its retail presence to more than 8,500 stores in both higher and lower tier cities and launched new and segmented retail stores. “Today, Adidas is the leading women’s sports brand, and Originals and Neo have become the no. 1 sports style brand and the No. 1 sports casual brand in China, respectively,” the company too added. Building upon this solid foundation, Adidas’ new strategy themed ‘Creating the New’ is aimed at propelling Adidas to greater heights by becoming the ‘best sports brand’ in Greater China by 2020. “The company’s new 5-year game plan will serve as a blueprint to seize further growth opportunities,” it observed. Under this new framework, Adidas will continue to focus on five main drivers like Football, Running, Women’s, Kids and Originals, as part of a brand strategy to strengthen key categories and lead mindshare. To fuel the company’s continued brand leadership, a new framework has been built around three major strategic choices; cities, speed and open source. “The ‘Creating the New’ plan will chart the path of the company’s continued growth as Adidas seeks to meet the demands of China’s burgeoning middle class,” it noted.
