The demise of Yonex market share?

[ck1981]

Makis Kido/H. Setiawan just signed up with FlyPower Arbi recently after a few years with Yonex.
Li-Ning has taken over all the China and Singapore players while Victor has taken the Koreans and FlyPower has taken the Indonesians. Most of the western players they use other brands like Prince, Carlton and Head.
Who are the remaining Yonex sponsored players? I think only left Malaysia and maybe some not so famous players from Thailand, Vietnam and Japan.
This is quite a sad story for Yonex after so many years of domination.

[cooler]

Makis Kido/H. Setiawan just signed up with FlyPower Arbi recently after a few years with Yonex.
Li-Ning has taken over all the China and Singapore players while Victor has taken the Koreans and FlyPower has taken the Indonesians. Most of the western players they use other brands like Prince, Carlton and Head.
Who are the remaining Yonex sponsored players? I think only left Malaysia and maybe some not so famous players from Thailand, Vietnam and Japan.
This is quite a sad story for Yonex after so many years of domination.

flypower only took kido/setiawan, not the whole INA team.
Some key danish players also back by yonex.
It's good to have more competition.

[Smichz]

I believe there's still alot of them who is still sponsored by yonex.U should watch more matches on TV.

[ryim_]

Its good to have more competition so companies will strive to make even better products.

[ants]

Yonex did lose some of its MarketShare in Badminton... but Japan market is still very big. Not forgetting they have Tennis and Golf as well.
I would say it is good and also a wake up call for Yonex. They are stilll very strong in R&D just need improvement on HR and Marketing.

[ck1981]

yup, but compared to old times, nowadays Yonex has shrinked a lot.
If there r more brands coming up, like Victor, Flypower and Li-Ning, soon Yonex will be shifted out like Carlton if it dun adjust its pricing.

Yonex has its R&D but it has to sell its rackets first so that it has money to support the R&D.

[AlanY]

remember less than 2 yrs ago at 2008OG? YY claimed that all medal winners were with their rackets.

[ryim_]

yup, but compared to old times, nowadays Yonex has shrinked a lot.
If there r more brands coming up, like Victor, Flypower and Li-Ning, soon Yonex will be shifted out like Carlton if it dun adjust its pricing.

Yonex has its R&D but it has to sell its rackets first so that it has money to support the R&D.

If you look at it from the sponsorship point of view then yes, Yonex has really shrunk considerably. However, looking at it realistically, things haven't changed much. Perhaps it is different in various parts of the world but in Hong Kong, I still see tons and tons of new Yonex rackets. Yes, lots of players now look to buy Victor but Yonex is still the most popular by far. The way I see it is that competition will definitely do the sport good.

[ants]

Yonex indeed has been selling their rackets aggressively. I do agree that they need more sales to support their R&D. I dont think Yonex will be like Carlton. Quality speaks louder. I also agree with you that Yonex need to position their pricing competitively with the other competitors. But the price is not justified if Yonex lower their price for high end rackets. Even Li Ning's price is higher but i doubt their quality. Their PRICE does not reflect their quality.

[ryim_]

But the price is not justified if Yonex lower their price for high end rackets. Even Li Ning's price is higher but i doubt their quality. Their PRICE does not reflect their quality.

I play Badminton in various places in HK several times a week and I've pretty much only seen private coaches using LN rackets. I suspect it has to do with their prices as well.

[Yoppy]

maybe one day LN will sponsor JPN national team
I view LN is now on the poll position to rival YY and has all the ingredients to be numero uno, failure to do so will be a big disappoinment

[ants]

Li Ning can sponsor the smaller Japanese Clubs... National Team.. i doubt so. Japanese are known for their Loyalty. If ever Li Ning manage to get hold of Japanese National Team.. it will be either YONEX BIG FAULT or change of Management...

[Blitzzards]

Even Li Ning's price is higher but i doubt their quality. Their PRICE does not reflect their quality.

This I have to agree with you but to be honest the high end LN racquets are of up to par or even slightly better quality than similar YY racquets. Although the current LN prices now are a bit (far off from just slightly) too much compared to the YY prices.

[Dreamzz]

Li Ning can sponsor the smaller Japanese Clubs... National Team.. i doubt so. Japanese are known for their Loyalty. If ever Li Ning manage to get hold of Japanese National Team.. it will be either YONEX BIG FAULT or change of Management...

yeah, i doubt the senior JPN team will fall to li ning, there's something to be said about buying local.

[Yoppy]

Actually i also doubt it will happend in my life time (thats why i said "maybe") but who knows anything can happen. YY can sponsor many national team around the world i can not see a reason why LN can not do the same. Perhaps LN can for a start sponsoring individual JPN player
For the rest of the sentence i was refereing to the general market share

[colekwok]

I cannot see any Japanese players using LN rackets, like Yoppy said, at least not in my life time. Probably it is easier for LN to takeover Yonex as a company.

There is still quite a bit of national pride at the end of the day, otherwise, why should the Chinese team switching to LN? It is the same as the German football (soccer for N.American people) always go for Adidas (or Puma), England with Umbro.

[zombiez]

The most important question is, does a racket last longer than a string? And what strings do ppl use?

Just joking....