Young Chinese show growing interest in outdoor activities

Young Chinese consumers have shown a growing interest in outdoor activities such as cycling, fishing and hiking, enabling them to get closer to nature as the weather warms up and driving a rapid growth in sales of outdoor sporting equipment and accessories.

Besides traditional outdoor sports brands that focus on pure outdoor activities and emphasize the professional attributes of their products, a growing number of new outdoor sports brands have emerged in China over the past few years and they have integrated with more outdoor lifestyles and related mentality, said LeadLeo Research Institute, a market research provider.

With the rise of outdoor sports as a lifestyle, Sanlitun Taikoo Li, a shopping complex in downtown Beijing, is gradually transforming its underground level of the south area into a gathering place for outdoor sports brands.

Domestic outdoor gear and apparel maker Uppervoid has launched its first brick-and-mortar store in North China at Sanlitun Taikoo Li. Before that, outdoor sports brands such as New Balance and tennis sporting goods maker Wilson opened their stores in the same area in a bid to attract more young customers.

"Chinese consumers have been paying more attention to the design and styles of outdoor sports products and participants have shifted from professionals to the general public," said Zheng Zijiong, an analyst of LeadLeo. "Both professional and leisure settings of outdoor sports have their own participants, and the niche and mass markets have coexisted. Many young female consumers living in top-tier cities have become the main group of consumers."

This year, the market size of the outdoor sports sector in China is expected to top 3 trillion yuan ($413 billion), according to a report on the development of the country's outdoor sports sector released by the General Administration of Sport of China late last year.

Taking a short trip to suburban areas and going for outdoor activities have become a popular weekend lifestyle for young people, driving growing demand for outdoor sports gear.

In the first week after the Spring Festival holiday this year, the online search volume of cycling equipment such as bicycles and helmets surged 284 percent over the previous week, and the search volume of fishing equipment jumped 93 percent week-on-week, according to Xianyu, Alibaba Group's online trading platform for secondhand goods.

Compared with purchasing new products at their original prices, young people have been interested in buying secondhand outdoor equipment or renting goods to save money and achieve circular consumption. Besides outdoor sports gear, drones, Polaroid, Fuji cameras, and other types of camera equipment for spring outings have also seen growth in sales, Xianyu said.

Besides growing demand from the public, the outdoor sports sector has also gained support from favorable government policies.

Earlier this month, a new guideline said that China aims to develop its outdoor sports sector and cultivate new economic growth points by building about 100 high-quality outdoor sporting venues and destinations by 2030, according to the National Development and Reform Commission and the General Administration of Sport of China.

The guideline noted that China plans to build internationally renowned outdoor sports destinations with well-equipped facilities and high-quality services, and China aims to organize different kinds of sporting events and competitions at such venues.

China also plans to organize more national and mass-market sporting competitions and strengthen international cooperation in organizing such events, the guideline said.

"With favorable national policies and the continuous building of outdoor sports facilities, the number of outdoor sports participants is expected to continuously grow and the sector is foreseen to embrace a golden period of growth," Zheng of LeadLeo said.

He added that in the next few years, more domestic outdoor sports brands are expected to gradually enter the mid- to high-end market, and consumers' recognition of domestic brands is foreseen to increase. Besides, the mergers and acquisitions of overseas brands by top Chinese companies will drive further changes in the competitive landscape.

China's outdoor sports sector has been growing rapidly. From 2018 to 2022, the compound annual growth rate of the sector reached 27.1 percent, according to LeadLeo.

In the past few years, the outdoor sports sector has gradually transformed from a niche sector to a sector that covers all kinds of consumers. Participants have shifted from pursuing professionalism and excitement to pursuing socializing and relaxation, and from challenging and conquering nature to enjoying nature, said LeadLeo.

For instance, fishing, traditionally an outdoor sport favored by middle-aged and the elderly, has increasingly attracted the attention of young people, as they regard it as a way of getting close to nature and relaxing.

Shangdao Fishing Line Co Ltd, a Jinhua, Zhejiang province-based fishing line maker, said it has seen growing sales revenue in the past year, fueled by a growing interest in fishing from more people at home and abroad.

During the one-year period until February, sales of Shangdao Fishing Line jumped over 120 percent year-on-year, and it has seen demand from every region of the country, including those in inland areas. In particular, the order volume of fishing lines from coastal areas such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian and Guangdong provinces has been higher, it said.

"The market of fishing gear is constantly expanding and becoming more competitive, as more people are venturing outdoors for leisure and entertainment, and the sport has become more popular among young people, driven by the promotion of some online celebrities," said He Yudi, general manager of Shangdao Fishing Line.

"For consumers who purchased fishing line products online, those who were aged between 30 and 45 accounted for 40 percent of the total, and most of them are male. There are also a considerable number of female buyers, while many bought the products as gifts for their fathers and partners," He said.

He added that the company has been upgrading the materials it used, and added sensors to the development of fishing lines to help better discover fishing mines. The company also cooperates with Wenzhou University to apply more new technologies into the development of the products.

In addition, Shangdao Fishing Line has been constantly expanding its overseas markets by exporting products to Southeast Asia, North America and Europe. Sales have been rosy in countries such as Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and Canada, it said.

The company said it has participated in a number of professional fishing and outdoor sports exhibitions in China and abroad, and netted a large volume of orders at those expos. To further expand its overseas business, it recently established a team that focuses on cross-border e-commerce business, hoping to sell products through e-commerce platforms such as eBay.