The character “Nezha” of Tencent holding’s game “glory of the king” has recently been modified to become a skier – the new skin has become a flying flame on the snow, instead of stepping on the wind and fire wheel, stepping on the snowboard, and the skill special effects have also changed from the flame to the flying snowflakes.
Open all kinds of video software, and the recent screen opening pictures are basically ice and snow sports. All this is because the Winter Olympic Games will be held soon, and the ice and snow related industries have attracted much attention. The ice and snow sports that once needed certain environmental and technical support are only projects participated by a small number of people. With the North ice South exhibition, more capital is invested in the construction of ski resorts and related enterprises all over the country. From skiing training to all kinds of equipment, from ice and snow tourism to accommodation consumption, from offline purchase to online marketing, an industrial chain around ice and snow is extending.
1000 yuan training, 10000 yuan equipment
He Meiqin is a post-80s ski enthusiast who has been introduced for many years. “Because of my circle of friends, I began to contact skiing. At first, I had to learn basic skills. The course cost ranged from 300 yuan a class to 1000 yuan a class later. Ice and snow sports are different from ordinary running. I have to have skills to play, so training is the first step.” He Meiqin recalled to the first financial reporter.
There is a snow51 in TX Huaihai in Shanghai, which specializes in skiing equipment and ice and snow sports training. Around 10 a.m., the first financial reporter saw many guests start skiing in the store. “We do training for members. The membership fee is tens of thousands of yuan. They can come to class every week for one hour. We have exams every week. From entry to professional level, they can be divided into nine levels, which can also be divided into single board and double board projects. In terms of entry, double board will be easier and the technical threshold of single board will be higher, but if you really want to play well, double board is also very difficult 。 Some of the students who have passed our examination will form teams to participate in some competitions, especially the youth competition. Some actors will also come to ski training. For example, I received a girl who studied drama performance before. She learned from the beginning to close to the intermediate level. Later, because she can ski, she was selected to participate in the shooting of a recent hit drama with the theme of ice and snow sports. ” Zhu Ji, the relevant person in charge of snow51, vice president of value-added services of Shanghai shinuo Enterprise Development Co., Ltd., said in an exclusive interview with China first finance and economics.
Maybe it’s because the children have a holiday. Therefore, in the shop of snow51, most of what the first financial reporter saw were parents taking their children to study, and some parents studied with their children. Relatively speaking, children’s learning speed will be faster. Some children can walk freely on the ski track after learning for several months.
Learning ice and snow sports is the first step, and the accompanying consumption is all kinds of equipment. Zhu Ji introduced that the price of equipment from entry-level to advanced to professional level ranges from thousands of yuan to tens of thousands of yuan, including helmets, snowshoes, snow mirrors, snow clothes, snow fights, etc. for example, the price of general helmets is 700 yuan, snowshoes is 1000 yuan, snowboard is more than 1500 yuan, double board is more than 3000 yuan, etc. the price of professional level equipment can range from tens of thousands of yuan to “unlimited”, and some limited edition is hard to find. This also gives businesses a lot of business opportunities.
In the streets and alleys of Yongkang, Zhejiang Province, countless vehicles carrying snowboards, ski shoes and other products shuttle through every winter. “There are many enterprises engaged in hardware, plastic, home furnishing and other businesses in Yongkang. These industries constitute the upstream suppliers of skis, so it is easy to form an ice and snow industry belt.” Cheng Jinbiao, the person in charge of Yongkang wuxingbin outdoor products Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “wuxingbin outdoor products”), told the first financial reporter that the company mainly produces small and medium-sized fitness equipment and skis.
Ice and snow industry is an industry of “watching the sky and eating”. “The company’s Snowboard sales are linked to the weather. Where there is heavy snow, there will be more sales. The gross profit margin is 20% ~ 30%.” Cheng Jinbiao told the first financial reporter that the company’s sales channels are divided into online and offline, with a ratio of about 3:7. Online stores are mainly opened on taote, pinduoduo and other e-commerce platforms; Offline businesses are mainly small B businesses accumulated in retail and wholesale before. Although winter is the peak sales season, the factory generally starts to stock up from summer. The stock volume of wuxingbin outdoor supplies skis is hundreds of thousands of sets.
For the pressure of the stock capital chain, Cheng Jinbiao said that the accounting period of the ice and snow industry is a little long, and some accounting periods are even as long as one year, because the upstream suppliers also know that the peak sales season of the industry is in winter. After winter, they generally settle most of the payment for goods. Cheng Jinbiao said that Wu Xingbin’s outdoor products can produce 5000 skis a day, and the annual sales volume is several million yuan. The sales volume in the snow season this year has doubled compared with last year.
Similar to wuxingbin outdoor products, Yongkang HuiFu Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “HuiFu trading”) is an enterprise producing skis and ski circles. “In recent years, more and more consumers pay attention to skiing, and the sales volume of the company is also rising year by year. A number of businesses and factories have taken a fancy to the business opportunities of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games and choose to enter this industry.” Ying Zijun, head of HuiFu trade, told the first financial reporter that HuiFu trade mainly distributes goods on e-commerce platforms such as taote and pinduoduo, and some offline vendors and toy stores will also take goods through e-commerce channels. The company’s product promotion and marketing expenses account for about 20% of the company’s operating revenue. In order to improve sales, HuiFu trade continues to develop new styles to attract the attention of consumers. After the new products come out, the company will issue a batch of goods to test the sales volume. If the sales volume is less than expected, the production will be stopped, and the inventory will be sold slowly to earn back the cost of the mold.
the rise of clothing niche brands
Professional ice and snow sports clothing is also essential. In this regard, large groups are always one step ahead of the market. Anta Group established a joint venture with Japanese high-end outdoor brands desant and Itochu in 2016. Desant specializes in medium and high-end skiing and winter sports markets. In the past two years, the sales growth rate of desant online has exceeded 50%, and the current sales scale is about 1 billion yuan.
Chen Yihong, chairman of the board of directors of China trend, once mentioned that China trend will also focus on ice and snow development opportunities and tap Winter Olympic business opportunities. Bosideng group, which specializes in ski clothes, is also unwilling to fall behind. In December 2021, bosden announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary had entered into a joint venture agreement with German high-end fashion brand Bogner. Bogner is a world-famous luxury sports fashion clothing business. It was founded in Germany by professional skier Willy Bogner sen in 1932. It has two brands: Bogner and fire + ice. CMB International believes that cooperation is good for bosden. The cooperation with German high priced clothing brands can participate in and do more publicity activities for the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, improve the brand strength and contribute to some growth. CMB international predicts that in fiscal year 2026, the joint venture will have a revenue of HK $2.2 billion and a profit of HK $220 million (bosden accounts for about half).
Ice and snow fever has also driven the rise and hot sales of some local emerging brands.
During tmall’s double 11 last year, the sales of tmall ski products increased by 120% year-on-year.
“In the past two years, skiing has broken the circle from the minority and professional sports preferred by northerners to a new trend for the public. Consumers have gradually formed the consumption habit of purchasing skiing products through tmall. The category of tmall skiing has doubled for three years.” Wang Xiaoyuan, head of tmall skiing category, told reporters.
Vector, the original ski suit brand started from the OEM, is the representative of tmall’s new brand. Liu Yu, founder of vector, has gained insight into the potential of female and parent-child consumption through tmall and successively developed protective equipment, ski underwear, etc. On the first day of double 11 last year, vector’s sales rose 300% year-on-year.
As soon as the novice player Lu saw the business opportunities in the ice and snow industry, he founded flowtheory in 2021, mainly targeting young female customers. Previously, during the preliminary investigation, she noticed that many ski suits and equipment on the market are mainly black and white and gray, which is biased towards male aesthetics. “But if you read a lot of sharing posts in Xiaohong book, most of them are young women. They like to take photos, and they need bright colors to get the effect.” Therefore, Luyi simply cut into a more subdivided market: “I only do online now. I will go online in October 2021, with several million sales in a few months. This year’s plan is to double my performance.”
multiplier effect of ice and snow tourism
After receiving training and buying clothes and equipment, consumers’ next step is to set foot in ice and snow venues, so ice and snow tourism is heating up. According to the latest data released by the State Sports Administration, the number of people participating in ice and snow sports has reached 346 million.
“The holding of the Winter Olympic Games is bound to heat up the popularity of national ice and snow tourism. Around the Winter Olympic economy, a closed-loop industrial chain of ‘ice and snow manufacturing, rescue, vacation services and supporting facilities’ has been gradually formed. The demand for ice and snow consumption has boosted the agglomeration and development of industries and formed new consumption benefits.” Liu Yunan, general manager of industrial consulting business department of Qichuang tourism group, made an analysis.
On the eve of the Winter Olympics, ice and snow tourism continued to grow strongly. So far, the number of ice and snow tourism bookings on the flying pig platform for the Spring Festival this year has increased by 484% year-on-year. Among them, Harbin Ice and snow world, Songhua Lake ski resort, Beida lake ski resort, Anji Jiangnan Tianchi ski resort, Guangzhou rongchuang snow world, Badaling ski resort and other ice and snow tourist attractions and ski resorts are popular. According to the 2022 Spring Festival travel trend report released by Tongcheng travel, ticket sales of ice and snow sightseeing scenic spots and ice and snow sports experience scenic spots increased significantly, and ice and snow tourism related scenic spots increased by 57% year-on-year during the Spring Festival travel.
According to the “2021 global free travel report” of wasp nest, 2022 will be a year when the “Winter Olympic effect” will play a great role. Ice and snow tourism and sports tourism continue to heat up. Among the most popular cities for ice and snow tourism in 2021, Chengdu, Huzhou, Hangzhou and Guangzhou are on the list. The popularity brought by sports events is not limited to the competition period. The urban style and cultural image displayed through the competition will also play a great role in promoting the tourism development of the host place.
It is worth noting that the repurchase rate and multiplier effect of ice and snow tourism are very obvious. Qunar statistics show that more than 60% of skiers will buy snow tickets for the second time in the same snow season. An ice and snow tour will drive the comprehensive consumption of transportation, accommodation, catering and other local destinations. Qunar big data research institute found that every 1 yuan increase in ice and snow tourism revenue can drive the income of transportation, accommodation, catering and other related industries to increase by more than 4 yuan. Take the Beida Lake snow farm as an example. The ticket price of the snow farm is about 400 yuan. The comprehensive average consumption of customers who buy Beida Lake snow tickets on the platform reaches 1600 yuan, and the amplification effect is more than 4 times. Among them, the expenses of accommodation and snow tickets are about 25% respectively, and the transportation expenses such as air tickets and train tickets account for about 50%. The driving effect of ice and snow tourism on the surrounding hotels is also very obvious. After the ski season opens in 2021, the booking volume of hotels around the ski resort in December has more than doubled compared with that in November.
Some industrial chains are still developing in linkage. For example, Ctrip is cooperating with ski resorts, ski training institutions and other resource parties to jointly popularize the basic skills of skiing; Zhu Ji, who is mainly engaged in equipment and training, has been docking with major ski resorts as a source of tourists for sharing and cooperation. This has further strengthened the economic pull of the ice and snow industry chain.
According to the big data report on China’s ice and snow tourism consumption (2022) released by China Tourism Research Institute, the Beijing Winter Olympics has stimulated the enthusiasm of ice and snow tourism, and “300 million people on ice and snow” is becoming a reality. 71.7% of tourists will not change or increase the consumption of ice and snow tourism under the incentive of Beijing Winter Olympic Games, and 68.4% of tourists are very sure to increase the number of ice and snow tourism affected by Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Stimulated by the Beijing Winter Olympics, the upgrading of tourism consumption and the national layout of ice and snow facilities, the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in China has increased from 170 million in the 2016-2017 ice and snow season to 254 million in the 2020-2021 ice and snow season. It is expected that the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in China will reach 305 million in the 2021-2022 ice and snow season, and the income of ice and snow leisure tourism in China is expected to reach 323.3 billion yuan.
Internet popularity and capital favor
In addition to offline physical ice and snow consumption, online businesses such as short video are also in full swing.
Xiao Lai will not go back to his hometown this Spring Festival. He plans to practice in the ski resort during his holidays. On January 28, Xiao Lai sent a photo of Beijing Huaibei ski resort to the first finance and economics reporter. Nearly 100 skiers were lining up for admission, and many netizens were taking photos.
The peak season of ski resorts seen by Xiao Lai reflects the hot trend of the current ice and snow industry. At the consumer level, the “skiing” label on the short video platform is gradually enriched. According to the data of xiaohongshu, the “xiaohongshu ice and snow season” was launched in early November 2021. As of January 11, 2022, the topic has been viewed 100 million times. Top 5 topics include snowboarding, skiing wear, skiing experience, skiing equipment, snowboarding, etc. The tiktok of the short video with the “skiing” tag is 1 million 810 thousand, and Kwai’s 41 million 530 thousand is a daily user who records the 4 year old skiing training. In addition, iqiyi launched a variety show “super interesting skiing conference” with skiing as the theme. As of January 25, 2022, the program has won 469 hot search lists in the whole network.
Such a high popularity of the ice and snow industry has naturally attracted the favor of many investors. In the 2021 investment and financing annual report of lazy bear sports, the financing of ice and snow track reached the highest level in history. According to the data released by CCID Consulting in 2019, there were 14 investment and financing cases of about 10 million yuan in the ice and snow industry from 2015 to 2018, with a total investment and financing amount of 130 million yuan in four years. In 2021, ice and snow investment ushered in a small climax. According to tianyancha data, so far in 2021, a total of 10 financing events have occurred in the enterprise fields related to ice and snow projects, with an amount of about 200 million yuan. Among them, two hundred million level financing – snow51 and xueleshan, both occur in the subdivided field of indoor ski and ice and snow training. Coupled with Wanyu Fangfei, who does ice training, the training field receives the most financing.
In February 2021, goski (go skiing), an Internet service provider in the vertical field of skiing, announced that it had obtained a round of a + financing of 20 million yuan; In April, snow 51, a one-stop service platform for the ski industry, announced the completion of the 100 million yuan series a financing led by Jinsha River; In August, the skiing mobile application skiing announced the completion of a round of financing of RMB 40 million, which was exclusively invested by Hillhouse venture capital; The extreme sports one-stop service platform “extreme road”, which selects three extreme sports trend scenes of skiing, surfing and diving to cut into the port of young people, won a round of financing of RMB 45 million from Shanghai Lianchuang in September; In October, Aoxue culture, founded in 2014, completed a round of financing of tens of millions of yuan. Aoxue culture started from ski peripheral products and launched two ski equipment brands “zero summer” and “nobaday” in 2015.
According to the above financing data statistics, on the one hand, the financing dynamics of ice and snow industry in 2021 is indeed rich, but at the same time, it can also be found that these financing are limited to early investment, and industries and companies are still in the cultivation and growth period.
Peng Chao, founder of snowfeeder, who provides consumption guidelines for the snow circle, told the first financial reporter that compared with other major industries, the output value of ice and snow track is relatively small, and the ceiling is also low. The capital entered is mainly early investment. It is more worthy to invest in international brands and outdoor brands.
According to the enterprise survey data, as of January 13, 2022, there were more than 6800 ski related enterprises in China. In 2021, the number of registered enterprises reached 1383, with a year-on-year increase of 57.3%, which was the largest in recent ten years, while there was no obvious growth trend in the number of registered enterprises in previous years. In terms of regional distribution, Hebei Province ranks first with 752 enterprises, followed by Heilongjiang and Guangdong, with 679 and 638 enterprises respectively. Ski related enterprises are mostly distributed in the northern region. The number of enterprises in the three northeastern provinces ranks in the top five, and the number of enterprises in Shandong, Beijing, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi ranks in the top ten.
