On September 5, 2022, Special Step held the global conference of "World Running Shoes China Special Step" at the Water Cube Stadium, and released a new brand strategy, "World Class Chinese Running Shoes".

At the meeting, Ding Shuibo, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Tebu Group, promised that in the next ten years, Tebu Group would invest 5 billion yuan to help the development of China's running industry and let the world see China's new speed.

*Ding Shuibo, Chairman of the Special Board of Directors, made a speech

At the same time, Ding Shuibo said that in the future, under the strategy of "world-class Chinese running shoes", Tebu will focus on building world-class running shoes products around the field of running advantages, and upgrade its products, channels and runner services.

Not long ago, Tebu International (1368. HK) just released its financial report for the first half of 2022. The financial report shows that Tebu International's income in the first half of the year reached 5.684 billion yuan, up 37.5% year on year; Operating profit reached 922 million yuan, up 34.8% year on year; The net profit attributable to common equity holders was 590 million yuan, up 38.4% year on year. The financial report data is very bright.

What is the confidence of China's special step from OEM to running to the world?

Product strength behind "world running shoes"

At this press conference, Tebu not only officially announced the strategy of "world-class Chinese running shoes", but also demonstrated its hard technology XTEP ACE cushioning technology and its new product - 160X 3.0 PRO running shoes.

*Performance Comparison of 160X 3.0 PRO Running Shoe

Since its birth, the 160X series has swept eight international awards around the world, and has also been rated as "more than 99% of the running shoes tested in the laboratory" by Runner's WORLD, the running bible of global runners, and "the performance has reached the international top level". The hot sale of 160X series running shoes in 2021 helped the shares of Tebu rise by more than 200%.

The 160X 3.0 PRO running shoes launched at the press conference are stronger. According to Ding Shuibo's on-site introduction, the 160X 3.0 PRO running shoes of the special step are comparable to the top foreign running shoes. Compared with Nike's flagship running shoes, their shock absorption performance is more than 6%, anti-skid performance is more than 12%, wear resistance is more than 21%, and rebound test is far ahead. The reason why the special step 160X 3.0PRO running shoes are so strong is that seven years ago, the special step was dominated by sports technology.

*Performance Comparison of 160X 3.0 PRO Running Shoe

In 2015, Tebu invested heavily to build the sports science laboratory X-Lab, and began to focus on the research and development of running shoes. The X-Lab covers an area of 1700 square meters, has a professional track and field runway of the same specification as the Bird's Nest, and carries Photron high-speed cameras, Dassault space shuttle simulation software and other precision instruments, providing data support for new product research and development. Such R&D conditions can be called "top configuration". In 2021, the R&D expenditure of Special Step will reach 252 million yuan.

The XTEP ACE cushioning technology platform, the latest innovative scientific and technological achievement of Tebu, was witnessed by Professor Barry C. Barish, the Nobel Prize winner in physics and the "father of gravitational waves" invited by Tebu as the chief scientist.

*Barry, Special Chief Scientist and "Father of Gravitational Waves"

The huge investment in technology research and development has also made Tebu obtain satisfactory returns. At the press conference, the promotional video broadcast by Tebu showed that the 160X champion version of the running shoes won eight global awards, helped 38 Chinese athletes, won 207 marathon championships, and 7 of the top 10 Chinese marathon runners wore the special step.

Digital empowerment channel reform

Before 2015, Tebu's business model was still to sell products by wholesale through dealers. This model led to Tebu's slow perception of market changes and lack of insight into the diversified needs of consumers. In 2012, Special Step even had a major inventory crisis. In the subsequent re examination, Ding Shuibo found a problem with the model: "We found that there was a problem with the whole model. After all, it was the agency system at that time."

In 2015, the three-year strategic transformation plan was launched in a special step, starting an all-round reform in brand positioning, products, channels and operations. Since then, Tebu has transformed from a product company into a sports fashion brand company focusing on running and supplemented by fashion.

*Special step digital system

In addition, Tebu has also started channel reform. First, we gave up the original 60 sets of disconnected systems and began to build a middle office system covering all business processes to improve the efficiency of each link.

At the same time, we will adjust the agency structure and implementation ratio, and encourage the general agent wholesalers to become retailers. With the enabling of digitalization, the retail channel of Special Step has become more flat. In 2017, the number of special stores decreased to 6230, and the proportion of direct stores of general agents increased from less than 20% before 2015 to more than 60%.

*Special retail channel reform

In addition, Tebu has made a digital transformation in product manufacturing and supply chain, pulling PLM system and hundreds of suppliers into the nails, and putting all the links such as design, board building, fabric selection, cost and financial control into the cloud. Suppliers can directly download process packages, production technical data and contracts in the nails, and financial settlement will be automatically generated. The digitalization of the supply chain has brought about a 20% - 30% efficiency improvement for Special Step.

Sponsoring Marathon to strengthen brand image

On July 18, 2022, in the women's marathon of the Oregon World Athletics Championships, the Eritrean athlete Nazret Weldu broke her personal best record by 2:20:29, and broke the Eritrean national record held by herself.

*Eritrean player Nazlet Wildu

And the running shoes she wore in this competition were Tebu 160X 2.0, so Tebu became the only Chinese brand in the top 10 of this competition, broke the monopoly of foreign brands in the marathon, and created the history of Chinese running shoes in the World Championships.

Marathon and running event sponsorship has always been one of the major marketing strategies of Tebu Group. Committed to becoming a special step of the world's running shoes, he has been deeply involved in the field of running since 2007. He has sponsored marathon events for 15 years and has sponsored more than 1000 marathon events in total. In the 2021 Chinese Top 100 Marathon Men's List, 7 out of the top 10 are wearing the 160X series of special stride running shoes.

As a long-distance running event, the whole distance of the marathon is 42.195km, which not only tests human endurance, but also requires high running shoes.

Therefore, the 160X series running shoes of the Special Step have helped 38 Chinese athletes and won 207 marathon championships. The strength of the products cannot be ignored.

By building an X-Lab for sports science, Special Step has improved its product strength. By sponsoring marathon events and signing athletes, it has put its own running shoes on the world stage. From technology research and development to brand marketing, Tebu is gradually catching up with and surpassing international brands. The world's running shoes, China's special step, may not be far away from becoming a world-class running shoe.

*The data maps and video materials used in the article are from the network