Nike's flagship store in Beijing Wangfujing's shopping area, which is the company's first flagship store in China, will be reportedly closed when its lease expires, and H&M will be the new lessee of this site.
According to reports in Chinese local media, Nike's Wangfujing flagship store was opened in 2007. With an area of 1,100 square meters, the store has three floors. Nike's sales are not bad and the company is reportedly willing to continue the rental. However, the local owner apparently prefers young and fashionable brands like H&M.
Industry watchers in local media said that the Chinese sportswear market is still depressed and its attraction to consumers has decreased, even for first-class international brands. Nike's report for the second financial quarter of 2013 showed that from September to November 2012, its sales in China decreased by 11%, representing the largest decrease among its global markets.
Prior to this, Nike announced plans to open 40 to 50 factory stores in 2013 and products sold in these stores will be discounted up to 70%. Adidas also said that their development focus for 2013 would be store expansion in medium- and small-sized cities in China. The company will open 800 new stores in China in 2013 and two-thirds of them will be in medium- and small-sized cities.