Descente ski expands to China

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
Feb 23, 2016

Japanese-based Itochu Corp. recently partnered with a subsidiary of Anta Sports Products Ltd., China’s largest sporting goods distributor, to bring its Descente ski brand into China.

With the Beijing Winter Olympics generating a new demand for snow sports and sporting goods throughout China, the agreement to form a joint venture to expand Descente’s distribution is the next step in reaching the 7 million Chinese skiiers in the country.

Descente Ltd. is based in Japan, however the deal was completed between its South Korean subsidiary, Descente Global Retail Ltd., and Andes Sports Products, a subsidiary of Anta Sports in China.

Anta comments, “We have established extensive distribution networks with a leading presence in second and third tier cities in China under the management of regional distributors. We place great emphasis on branding by integrating sports resources and sponsorship, advertising and promotional activities and consistent store image to enhance brand and product differentiation.”

In an official statement released by Itochu, “one of its national policies China is seeking to promote domestic demand in the sports field, and sports-related markets are expected to show rapid growth in the future.”
Itochu further points out, “the creation of a strong partnership between [Anta, Descente and Itochu] in cooperation with other partners, will aim to achieve accelerated growth and expansion of operations for the “Descente” brand in the Chinese market.