Olympic Games ignite Chinese consumers' sports, fashion passion

BEIJING - During this scorching summer, Chinese audiences buoyed by the Olympic Games Paris 2024 athletes from China and around the world, have been increasingly interested in splashing cash on sporting activities and filling their shopping carts with celebrity-endorsed designer items.

The Paris Olympic Games have boosted the popularity of a variety of sports activities including tennis in China. Since the Chinese tennis players advanced to the semi-finals, the number of court bookings has increased by up to half, a person in charge of the chain tennis training center Rock Tennis said.

"After Zheng Qinwen won the championship, it triggered a peak in bookings and inquiries," the person said, adding that the court is planning to expand the number of its chain stores in Beijing in the future.

Data from the e-commerce platform Meituan shows that in July, the search volume for sports activities increased by around 180 percent from June, further demonstrating the Olympics' stimulating effect on the consumption market in sports in China.

In July, the order volume for badminton grew by 90 percent from a year earlier, and the group purchase order volume related to tennis sports surged by 172 percent, according to the platform.

At the same time, the events introduced for the first time at this year's Paris Olympics have also attracted attention. According to the Meituan data, emerging events such as breakdancing have gained popularity among young consumers since their Olympic debuts.

The search volume for breakdance surged by around 107.8 percent compared to the same period last year, and the number of related notes and guides grew by 150 percent. Since July, the search volume for indoor climbing gyms has also increased by 62 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.

Li Yanbei, the person in charge of Morepark skateboard park, said that the Paris Olympics have brought a new wave of popularity to skateboarding. "We hope to continuously increase the popularity of skateboarding by organizing events and providing explanations, allowing more people to understand and learn about this sport," she said.

"With the appearance of Chinese athletes on the Olympic stage and other major events, we are optimistic about the future of skateboarding," she added.

The enthusiasm generated by the Paris Olympics has not only driven the popularity of sports events but also stimulated the heat of many other consumer markets, such as cinema and apparel markets.

Watching games in theaters with large screens has become a new trend among Chinese audiences this summer. The total box office for the live broadcast of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in cinemas has reached about 2.44 million yuan (about $341,359), according to the data from the Lighthouse Professional Edition, a box office data provider owned by Alibaba.

Data from Douyin e-commerce platform shows that during the Olympic period from July 26 to August 11, the turnover of "essential" items used when watching the games, include alcoholic beverages, food and digital home appliances, has more than doubled from a year earlier.

When Chinese audiences are worshiping the Olympic athletes especially those from their hometown for their splendid performances in the different competitive fields, they have also turned to shopping sites and hunted for celebrity-endorsed apparel to show support for the athletes.

Taking table tennis as an example, compared with before the opening of the Olympics, the sales of the Li-Ning panda T-shirts and the same model of table tennis suits worn by Sun Yingsha and Fan Zhendong on the Dewu App have increased by more than 7 times.

During the Olympic promotion event at the Tmall official flagship store of a widely recognized fitness platform Keep, the daily sales of outdoor products such as fitness bags, knee pads, and waist supports increased by more than 30 percent compared to the week before the event, while short-sleeved T-shirts and sports trousers saw an increase of over 40 percent.

Wang Yuxiong, director of the Sports Economics Research Center at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said that sports consumption, especially the integrated consumption around sports participation and event spectating, as well as consumption induced by sports, is quite considerable.

The recent Olympic-driven consumption phenomena indicate that sports consumption as a new type of consumption and the sports industry as a sunrise industry are gaining prominence in importance, with a very large space for growth in the future, Wang noted.

With the Paris Olympics recently concluded, how to capitalize the opportunities and better promote the long-term development of the sports consumption sector has become a priority for both industry participants and policymakers in China.

China's top economic planner said at a recent press conference that in order to expand service consumption in key areas such as culture, tourism and sports, the country will strengthen the development of weak links and improve the quality of facilities and equipment for the three sectors.

Efforts will also be made to strengthen the construction of sports parks and football fields, and to improve the conditions of fitness venues and amenities for Chinese citizens, the National Development and Reform Commission said.