Source | Bohu Finance (bohuFN)
Author | Linn
Anta Sports’ third quarter financial report for 2026 is released.
The financial report shows that in the third quarter, the retail sales of Anta brand products (calculated in retail value) recorded mid-single-digit negative growth compared with the same period in 2025, and the Fila brand recorded low-single-digit negative growth. In contrast, the group’s other brands recorded positive growth of 25% to 30% year-on-year.
This set of data has attracted great attention.
In the first half of 2026, the combined revenue of the Anta brand and Fila will account for 75.43% of Anta’s total revenue. In other words, the development of the two core brands is directly related to Anta’s overall growth.
Today, the two core brands are under pressure at the same time, while other brands have achieved substantial growth. What problems did Anta encounter?
01 Why did it decline?
In fact, the sales of the two major brands are under pressure, which is not only affected by the industry environment, but also related to the brand’s own business strategy.
First of all, consumer demand in the sportswear market is changing, and Anta has chosen not to follow radical price cuts.
In August this year, the meme “All people have entered the era of pure living” became popular on the Internet. The media summarized this internet meme as: “Return attention from external recognition and material comparison to daily life.”
This change is also reflected in clothing consumption.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, retail sales of clothing, shoes, hats, and knitted textiles by units above designated size fell by 1% year-on-year in July and 0.5% in August. They rebounded to an increase of 1.2% in September. Overall, related consumption in the third quarter showed a trend of first coming under pressure and then picking up.
Behind the scenes, consumers have become more rational and do not easily pay for brand premiums. For example, compared to regular-price channels, outlet channels can provide greater price discounts, further increasing their appeal to consumers.
This can be seen in the channel performance of the Anta brand. Anta Sports’ financial report mentioned that traditional street shops, shopping malls, and department store stores are under pressure, while malls and outlets with new image stores are performing healthily.
More importantly, in such a consumer environment, Anta chose not to follow up on the competition with significant price cuts. The research report pointed out that in the third quarter, the offline discount of Anta’s main brand remained at around 71% off, which was the same as the same period last year, while the online discount was about 42% off, which was 2 percentage points higher than the same period last year.
Anta brand chose to stick to the 71% discount bottom line, maintain a relatively stable discount level, and did not follow the industry’s aggressive promotions. But at the same time, this also puts pressure on the development of regular price channels.
Secondly, the continuous segmentation of sports consumption scenarios has also brought considerable competition to mass sports brands.
In recent years, outdoor activities such as tennis, hiking, and cycling have emerged. Sports scenes have been segmented and diversified, which has also promoted the development of segmented sports and outdoor brands.
These brands do not seek to cover all sports scenes, but instead delve deeply into a certain segment, focus on specific groups of people, and attract consumers with clear needs through distinctive positioning, more professional products and performance.
This trend can be seen from the brand performance within the Anta Group. In the third quarter, compared with the periodic fluctuations in the mass sports category, high-end outdoor and professional segmented brands performed strongly.
Descente’s sales increased by 15-20% year-on-year, and the inventory sales ratio was optimized for 1 month year-on-year and dropped to less than 6 months; Colon’s sales increased by nearly 30% year-on-year, and same-store sales increased by more than 15%; MAIA ACTIVE brand sales increased by more than 30% year-on-year.
This shows that within Anta, brands that are oriented towards segmented sports scenes and have clear positioning have reaped the dividends from new consumer trends. Anta and Fila need to clarify a clearer answer: what kind of consumers the brand serves and what unique value it can provide.
Judging from industry performance, Anta is not the only company facing sales pressure.
In the third quarter of 2026, the retail sales of Xtep’s main brand recorded a mid-single-digit decrease year-on-year, and the overall retail sales of Li Ning points of sale (excluding Li Ning YOUNG) recorded a low-single-digit decrease year-on-year.
It can be seen that growth pressure is not limited to Anta. Some of the main businesses of domestic sports brands are facing challenges.
02 Anta continues to exert strength
Anta is already thinking of a way.
On the one hand, it continues to increase investment in the two major brands, and on the other hand, it accelerates global development.
Anta still has high hopes for the ANTA brand and Fila.
Ding Shizhong, chairman of the board of directors of ANTA Group, mentioned in a recent media interview that the main brand represents the core strength of China’s professional sports, represents the group’s fundamentals, and represents the original intention of the brand. “Anta’s main brand must win.” He emphasized.
Facing growth pressure, Anta is seeking to break through product innovation and channel structure adjustment.
On the product side, the company has successively launched Irving KAIBRID basketball shoes and C family series of running shoes, increasing its focus on professional sports tracks; on the channel side, it plans to increase the proportion of shopping mall channels, upgrade its outlet business, promote the lighthouse store project, promote the “exchange of quality for quantity” in traditional street stores, eliminate inefficient locations, and improve the overall retail operation efficiency.
The group’s management also stated that it will increase investment in resources and manpower for the main brand, and use the R&D, supply chain, and global talent capabilities accumulated from multiple brands to empower the main Anta brand, with the goal of building a Chinese sports brand with global influence.
Fila is also continuing to adjust its product and market strategies, further increasing investment in core sports fields such as tennis and golf, improving product professionalism, and strengthening brand differentiation positioning.
Obviously, Anta has not given up its original business because of the pressure on its main brand. Instead, it is trying to find growth momentum again through product upgrades, channel optimization and resource tilting.
In addition to continuing to focus on its main brand, Anta is also adhering to the “buy, buy, buy” strategy to promote global development.
On October 7, Anta Group officially acquired 29.06% of Puma’s shares and became its largest shareholder.
Ding Shizhong said, “Puma has a high brand value, including its brand assets, product assets, sports assets, and their global value chain, which complements our global layout. We have a lot of room for imagination for this brand.”
It should be pointed out that in the past, Anta mostly bought the management rights of the brand and incorporated the brand into its own management system; this time it acquired Puma, buying an important equity stake in an international listed company to further participate in the competition in the international sporting goods market.
This means that Anta’s global layout is no longer limited to operating its brands, but is also trying to acquire international brand resources, global market channels and industrial chain capabilities through capital cooperation.
In addition, according to recent media reports, Tom Beahon, founder of the British high-end sports brand Castore, said that several global footwear and apparel companies are approaching him for mergers and acquisitions. This includes Anta.
Castore’s business not only involves sportswear retail, but also includes B-side businesses such as professional team equipment. If Anta can acquire Castore in the future, it will have the opportunity to further expand its professional sports equipment business and even copy related capabilities to other brands of the group.
Of course, these potential opportunities do not mean definite growth. First, Puma’s channels have not penetrated enough, and there are shortcomings in localized new product iterations, regional marketing, and penetration into young consumer circles, and its market share has been stagnant for a long time. Secondly, Castore’s professional sports business is not easy to do and is facing losses.
In the future, how the group’s development can adapt and grow together with newly added brands will continue to test Anta’s multi-brand management capabilities.
03 Write at the end
In 2005, Ding Shizhong put forward a strategic slogan: not to be China’s Nike, but to be the world’s Anta. Twenty years later, at the 2025 annual summary meeting, Ding Shizhong still emphasized many times that “globalization is our eternal goal.”
But so far, Anta has shown more about how to make acquired brands live better through channels and operational capabilities in a market it is familiar with. Fila, Descente, Colon, Wolf Claw…these brands have taken on new vitality in the Chinese market and become Anta’s new growth curve.
In overseas markets, the progress of Anta’s main brand has been unsatisfactory. In 2025, Anta’s main brand overseas revenue will be 850 million yuan, accounting for less than 2.5% of the total revenue of 80.2 billion yuan. The sales growth rate in Southeast Asia has nearly doubled, and the first store in North America has been opened in Beverly Hills. These actions are more like tests.
In a consumer market with slowing growth and a mature enough market, the performance of Anta’s main brand is not too bad. The problem Anta faces is, to some extent, a common proposition for domestic companies: how to enter the broader global market and move from corporate globalization to truly brand globalization.
References:
1. Xinhuanet: With the 12.3 billion yuan acquisition of Puma, how far is Anta from becoming “the Anta of the world”?
2. Source Sight: Anta is actually already thinking of other ways.
3. Jiang Han Vision: Anta, Xtep, and Nike can no longer be sold? What’s the problem with sports brands?
4. Financial News: Anta’s main brand was under pressure in the third quarter, with high outdoor sales growth and its acquisition of Puma. Can it support its valuation?
5. China Business Daily: Anta invested over 10 billion yuan to become Puma’s largest shareholder. Can this transaction achieve a win-win situation?
6. Interesting business insights: Anta and FILA experienced negative growth in the third quarter, and sports giants encountered cyclical challenges
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