China saw 800 new adidas stores open in 2012, exceeding the company's scheduled number of 500 and deepening the gloom of domestic sportswear brands, Chinese news portal netease.com reported Thursday.
The German sportswear company announced in late 2010 a plan to open 500 new stores every year and sell products in 1,400 medium and small Chinese cities by 2015. By the end of 2012, the company was running 7,800 retail stores in 900 Chinese cities.
Adidas' fast expansion to small and medium-sized markets in China will worsen the current situation of domestic sportswear brands, which have been burdened with high inventory.
By the first half of 2012, the total inventory of China's six sportswear brands including Peak, Li Ning and Anta had reached 3.7 billion yuan ($595 million). Li Ning Co closed 1,200 stores in the first half of 2012 and Anta Sports Products Ltd cut 110 stores over the same period.
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