On February 22, 2024, sports giant Nike officially launched its new Zenvy series.
This series focuses on soft technology, launching sports products including sports underwear and leggings, and adding clothing products such as tops, aiming to compete with the brand's business goals in the women's and yoga markets.
The women's yoga market is an emerging niche in the sports consumer goods market in recent years. After 2010, international sports brands led by Nike and Adidas began to focus on the women's market. In the past five years, lululemon has experienced rapid growth. The compound growth rate of 50% in the Chinese market in the past three years has made major sports brands more enthusiastic about taking a share of this niche market.
Interestingly, various brands have adopted different strategies in the face of this rapidly growing segmented market.
Nike has chosen to upgrade its product line. Currently, the brand's collection specifically designed for women includes Nike Zenvy, Universa, and Go leggings, covering application scenarios including running, yoga, training, and meditation exercises.
The Nike Zenvy collection was first launched in February 2023. Just one year later, Nike upgraded the series and applied its brand's cutting-edge fabric technology. Nike's expectations for this product line, or rather the yoga market, can be seen from this.
In the Chinese market, Li Ning once tried to compete in this niche market through an exclusive cooperation model. The Danskin brand, founded in New York in 1882, is renowned for its fashionable fitness products based on professional dance and yoga. Li Ning exclusively deals in the business of Danskin brand in Chinese Mainland and Macao.
On October 16, 2023, ANTA announced the acquisition of domestic women's sports brand MAIA ACTIVE. MAIA ACTIVE, founded in Shanghai in 2016, as well as brands such as Particle Fever and Riot Lolita, which were founded around the same time, are widely recognized as Lululemon's "affordable substitutes".
These replacement brands start their business online. Among them, MAIA ACTIVE has obtained several financing and has opened dozens of offline stores in the Chinese market.
Nike announced in May 2023 that it will continue to increase its investment in the global women's business.
According to Interface News, in the past two years, approximately 70% of the participants in Nike Sports Research Laboratories worldwide have been women.
Nike's Vice President and General Manager of Women's Category in Greater China, Zhu Jinqian, told Interface News, "More and more women are starting to exercise and participate in sports. Behind this is not only a gradual shift in the aesthetic of the female community, but also the significance of women's desire to establish a confident and joyful mindset through sports, accumulate energy, and pursue a more positive and healthy lifestyle. We believe that the female community is leading the transformation of sports."