Nike has recently reported that its business is booming in China. The sports brand giant reported that its second-quarter revenue amounts to $1.38 billion, and that is from the Greater China region alone. This is the 17th consecutive quarter that Nike posted a double-digit sales growth.
Following its success in China, Nike released a statement describing its relationship with the Chinese market "as strong as it can possibly be." Despite dwindling numbers in other international markets, Nike was able to mitigate this effect by expanding its market in China, a market with a largely untapped consumer base due to China's strict regulatory terms when it comes to foreign businesses.
Many market analysts have praised Nike's unprecedented growth in China since the company was able to achieve this despite the backdrop of an ongoing trade war between China and the United States.
During its recent second quarter conference call, Nike Chief Financial Officer Andrew Campion highlighted the company's consecutive revenue growth in Greater China. Mr. Campion added that the company's success can be attributed to strong consumer demands especially with its Basketball, Jordan, and Sportswear brands.
Based on its recent financial report, 70 percent of Nike's $1.38 billion revenue in Greater China comes from footwear sales. The report also revealed that Nike's total sales in China were up by 20 percent. That is a huge leap compared to the brand's North American sales growth of just above 6 percent. Nike's overall profit in China, before other items, jumped by 27 percent or about $502 million.
Mr. Campion said that apart from Nike's popularity, its success in China can be also be traced back to its partnership with local digital sales platform. He added that key to Nike's success in China is its partnership with Tmall and WeChat, two of the biggest digital platform drivers in the country. Considered as the flagship online sales platform of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, Tmall has helped Nike bring its product to a mass consumer market in China. WeChat, on the other hand, combines social media with mobile payment
This year alone, Nike was able to sync its NikePlus platform with Tmall accounts. This allows Nike to tap Tmall's massive user base. Just last week, Nike announced its partnership with social media giant WeChat. This partnership allowed Nike to tap WeChat's massive user base which is reported to be around 1 billion monthly active users.
By embedding its brand into China's massive digital and social media platforms, Nike has gained access to the country's massive market easily compared to how it has done it with other countries.
