Li Ning bears the label of world champion, and also has the fate of world champion: glory-trough-twists and turns-rise. This fate even continued into his business career, and Li Ning Company has experienced many twists and turns in recent years.
When we meet Li Ning, we can still feel the sense of strength precipitated in his career as an athlete. In a video interview with China Entrepreneur, he didn't want to make any modification on his face. Li Ning is not fashionable. Compared with other emerging entrepreneurs, Li Ning is older, but he seized the opportunity of the national tide and brought Li Ning to a new height.
Li Ning seems to be the same Li Ning, but the market is re-examining this old brand.
20 19 June, Li Ning's share price reached HK$ 27.65, a record high, and surpassed Anta to become the best performing stock in MSCI Asia Pacific Index. Judging from the capital market, Li Ning has passed the most difficult three-year loss period, and its share price trend in the past decade is a "symmetrical parabola" with an upward opening.
Before 20 12, Li Ning was firmly at the top of domestic sporting goods. However, with the blind expansion of market scale, the failure of product positioning and the inventory crisis of the whole industry, Li Ning entered a "dark moment".
The inflection point appeared at the end of 20 14. After Li Ning returned to China, he carried out a "drastic" reform of the company.
The first is to clarify the market positioning, continue to adhere to originality, and increase investment in design and research; Then Li Ning continued to clean up the inventory, strengthen the control of the supply chain through digitalization, and vigorously develop e-commerce channels and direct stores. According to public information, in 20 15, Li Ning Company returned to profit, and in the following three years, the compound annual growth rate of net profit was nearly 500%.
"God is elusive", Einstein's famous saying is perfect for Li Ning. No one expected that the elderly "Li Ning" would stand in the trend of the times as a pioneer and even break the stereotype of young people on a number of domestic sports brands.