People ski at the Silkroad Resort, one of the largest ski resorts in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Jan. 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Hu Huhu)
BEIJING, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Supported by favorable circumstances such as digital technology and public demand, China's sports technologies and sports marketing will have the potential to exhibit higher growth rates in the future, and emerging sports such as skiing will have greater growth space, said sports industry insiders.
-- Sports consumption sees recovery
Recently, a number of measures have been introduced across the country to boost sports market consumption. On March 23, Shanghai issued several measures to further promote and expand consumption in Shanghai, indicating the government is going to resume international sports events, support the deepening of the national sports consumption city pilot in Xuhui District and Yangpu District, and continue to carry out sports consumption voucher public welfare distribution activities.
With the support of favorable factors such as policy support, China's sports consumption has recently resumed a good momentum of development. Zhao Jie, Decathlon's media contact, said that since the Spring Festival, the sports consumption market has rebounded significantly, and sales of related sports products have achieved double-digit growth on average.
"According to the sales situation, sales of niche sports sucha as skateboarding, frisbee and paddleboards are showing a stable growth trend. Some of the hot selling items are from outdoor sports, such as camping, running, and cycling," Zhao Jie said, adding that consumers are beginning to look for new sports experiences beyond traditional items, and personalized demand is emerging for sports consumption.
-- Sports industry shows positive growth trend
"With sports events back on track, including 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 in the fall, it is believed that the recovery in all segments of the industry chain will be boosted, further encouraging consumer confidence, and the sports industry will continue to show positive growth in the future," Zhou Xing, managing partner of China Sports Industry at Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) said.
The momentum of sports industry growth has been reflected in the production and operation of enterprises. Several sports brands have recently released their annual reports, showing that the revenue of sports brands in 2022 has maintained a growth trend, with Anta Sports achieving revenue of 53.651 billion yuan, up 8.8 percent year-on-year, and Li Ning achieving revenue of 25.803 billion yuan, up 14.3 percent year-on-year.
Anta's annual report mentioned that as of December 31, 2022, there were 6,924 Anta stores at home and abroad, by the end of 2023, it is expected that the number will reach 7,100 to 7,200 and will continue to grow.
According to the 14th Five-Year Plan for Sports Development, the scale of China's sports industry will reach 5 trillion yuan by 2025, with the added value accounting for 2 percent of GDP, the total scale of residents' sports consumption exceeding 2.8 trillion yuan, and the number of employees exceeding 8 million.
A sports industry survey report conducted by PwC not long ago makes a conservative forecast that the Chinese sports market will maintain an annual growth rate of at least 5.2 percent over the next 3 to 5 years.
"Under the guidance of the Plan, the sports industry has huge room for growth, and more favorable policies are expected to be introduced in the future. Driven by the policies and measures, the potential of physical fitness and sports consumption will be accelerated and the scale of the sports industry is likely to reach a new level," Zhou Xing said.
-- New tracks bring new momentum to growth
Along with the overall growth of the sports industry, the growth of segmented tracks such as sports marketing and sports technology is expected to inject momentum for sustained growth of the industry in the future.
The above-mentioned PwC-conducted sports industry report also noted that respondents expect higher annual growth rates for industry stakeholders such as sports marketing agencies and sports technology companies over the next three to five years. Meanwhile, both global and Chinese investors consider the sports technology as a relatively more interesting track.
In terms of sports technology, Liu Hanlin, partner of China Sports Industry at PwC, pointed out that with the advent of the Web 3.0 era, the application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence in the sports industry will give rise to more new industries and new models, which are also closely observed by capital.
Liu Fumin, former director of the Department of Sports Economy, General Administration of Sports of China, said that China's sports industry has seen rapid growth in the past decade. However, facing the digital era, China's sports industry still has deficiencies in industrial structure, business environment, institutional system and talent team. In this regard, new technologies such as artificial intelligence, growth of consumption dynamics and cross-border integration of industries will create new opportunities for Chinese sports.
(Edited by Bao Nuomin with Xinhua Silk Road, baonuomin@xinhua.org)
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