Falling back in the field

The best way to gauge the fast-moving consumer goods market is to go shopping. After frequent visits to physical and online sports stores, we concluded that now is the best time to buy Chinese sports brands.

Chinese sportswear makers are embroiled in unprecedented challenges that will surely knock some of them out of the running.

In April, several Chinese sports companies, including Li Ning and Peak Sports, staged massive discount promotions in many of

Products in Wumart supermarkets, for instance, were sold with an average 50 percent discount, and the promotions were held on two weekends, instead of the usual one.

The same month, Li Ning T-shirts were sold at 19 yuan ($3) each - about 80 percent off - on Vancl.com, one of China's largest e-retailers. The products were inventories from two to three years ago. (Older unsold goods are usually shifted through outlet shops, low-tier markets and charity donations.)

April is generally off-season for sales in sports products such as sneakers and jerseys. It is more the time when new arrivals are enthusiastically marketed. Retailers often put out-of-season sports goods on sale before spring, when it is still too cold for outdoor activities in most parts of China.

Clearly, the recent sales, which ran against tradition by their size and timing, reflect an inventory crisis of the companies.

Domestic brands had pinned high hopes on a sports market that they believed would grow by at least 20 percent annually following the Beijing Olympics. Almost all sports companies pressed the expansion button to open as many stores as possible, and ran their production lines at full capacity.

But the market has only grown by single digits since 2010 due to the economic slowdown and cooling demand for sportswear. The lull was sudden and unexpected, resulting in high stocks and mounting accounts receivable, forcing the companies to curb expansion.

Among the six largest listed sportswear companies - Anta, Li Ning, Peak Sport, China Dongxiang, Xtep and 361 Degrees - only 361 Degrees increased its number of stores last year. The other five closed a total of nearly 5,000 outlets. The slimming-down continued this year. Li Ning, for example, shut down another 1, 200 shops.

The blind expansion was also a result of an anomaly in accounting practice.