Speaking of unfamiliarity with Kappa, if it were replaced by “back to back”, I believe many people would have an impression. This brand originating from Europe was born as early as 1916 and has a history of 104 years. At the beginning, Kappa mainly engaged in business such as underwear and socks. Later, it continued to expand its scale and began to involve the field of sportswear.
Looking back 10 years ago, Kappa was really popular in the market. Because there are two people sitting back to back on the logo, many people will call this brand “back to back”. But now it seems that this brand can no longer be seen in major shopping malls. Many people can’t help but wonder if Kappa has closed down? In fact, this brand has not closed down, but offline stores are basically no longer available. No one would have thought that the brand that once posed a threat to Adidas and Nike could not even find a physical store now.
It only took a short period of ten years to go from “top trend” to “passed”. In 1980, it can be said that Kappa’s peak period. At that time, with its simple styles, it occupied a dominant position in the sportswear market. Even many celebrities liked to wear this brand’s clothes. In addition, in 1981, Kappa sponsored the Italian Juventus Football Club, which became an instant hit in the market.
According to statistics, from 1988 to 2002, Kappa sponsored more than 200 teams in 27 countries. There are more than ten sports events involved. Precisely because of frequent cooperation with sports events, Kappa is gradually becoming known to consumers and its reputation in the market is growing. The influence at that time was comparable to that of international giants such as Adidas and Nike.
In 2009, Kappa’s revenue grew rapidly, with total revenue reaching 4.26 billion. At that time, the number of stores exceeded 4,000. With fashionable and high-priced marketing, the net profit from 2009 to 2010 reached 1.4 billion yuan. Such high profits are beyond the reach of other sports brands in the market. However, the sportswear industry as a whole has experienced a “recession” since 2011, and Kappa’s sales have dropped sharply due to excessive inventory backlog. It has become the company with the lowest business revenue and the smallest number of stores among the six major listed sports brands.
This situation also paved the way for Kappa’s subsequent decline. After many adjustments, the company seized on the retro trend in 2017 and launched label-matching products with brand DNA attributes. At the same time, Kappa has been actively trying cross-border cooperation, but its revenue that year was only 893 million yuan. Compared to its peak, this revenue is nothing. For Kappa, the overall positioning is fashion sports. However, as more and more sports brands join the market, Kappa’s advantages are gradually lost.
For products of the same price, many sports brands are better than Kappa in terms of workmanship and appearance, and are comparable to Nike, Adidas and other sports brands. Compared with other brands, Kappa is not big enough. Against the background of gradual changes in consumer aesthetics, the most common comment Kappa received was “ugly”. Judging from the performance in the first half of 2018, Kappa’s revenue was only 772 million yuan, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 481 million yuan.
Against the backdrop of declining performance, young people are becoming less and less fond of wearing Kappa. From being “top-notch” at the beginning to being “a has-been”, what step did Kappa make wrong? Industry insiders pointed out that it is mainly related to the asset-light business model. The advantage of this model is small investment and quick return, so Kappa relied on this model to occupy a large share of the sports market. However, the disadvantages of this model are also obvious, that is, brands can easily lose control of dealers and give agents too much freedom, resulting in their own brands being bundled with fakes. Counterfeit goods continue to flood into the market, which has also had a great impact on Kappa.
In addition, Kappa’s positioning is always vague, which is different from the professional sports brand routes that Nike and Adidas insist on. . Consumers don’t know whether Kappa is sporty or fashionable. Over time, as the sports market segmentation becomes more and more obvious, professional sports brands have clarified their positioning, but Kappa has always been in the middle.
After realizing the seriousness of the problem, Kappa began to seek transformation. In recent years, it has continuously adjusted its offline store layout and optimized its store structure. I want to use this to win back consumers, but under the trend of e-commerce, the advantages of offline stores are gradually lost. Kappa failed to keep up with the e-commerce trend in time and was a step slower in development, which resulted in the continuous closure of offline stores. �Until now, consumers can hardly find Kappa stores offline.
In fact, Kappa’s case has also served as a warning to many companies. Maybe Kappa will still exist in the future, or maybe After the transformation is successful, it will appear in the eyes of consumers with a completely new attitude. But under the competition in the industry, it is no longer so easy to get back to the top. With the general environment being affected, in fact not only Kappa but also many sports brands have been affected. However, some brands can take advantage of the opportunity to rise and occupy a place in the market. Some brands are gradually “fading”, constantly closing stores, and gradually taking a completely opposite path. These are all worth learning from.
Take domestic sports brands as an example In the past, brands such as Anta, Li Ning, Guireniao and Xtep were all on the same starting line. However, as time goes by, Anta and Li Ning are developing better and better. Guireniao and Xtep are gradually falling behind, and Guireniao has even faced the situation of “falling”. . It can be seen that for an enterprise, keeping up with the trends of the times is particularly critical. Although Kappa is now constantly changing its marketing model, including inviting some popular celebrities to endorse it, the impression in the minds of consumers has never been deep enough. It has even become a memory of those born in the 80s and 90s. For Kappa, there is still a long way to go in the future. Whether it can return to the public eye and win the love of consumers depends on Kappa’s subsequent choices. </p
