I believe LN is in this business for the long haul so they wouldn't risk losing all their investments from making bad products from any of their sport product lines. Did toyota become a top car manufacturer by marketing & making great lexus products but sell crappy subcompacts to the less wealthy buyers?
Well no but i think you may have interpreted what i meant wrong. After doing research, Li Ning does make quality products but i was thinking of more of a consumer. I mean to many of us, Li-Ning is a pretty new brand and with new brands, theres always uncertainty. So what i meant with my view was that a good way to make consumers aware of their brand/products was too mark up their prices on par with yonex +. That way, people know that Li-ning is going up against the badminton giant. And for me, I assumed that Li Ning would need would need to invest alot in order to gain their image. i.e. sponsoring the China team and many international players around the world. So by marking up their prices, its letting consumers know that they are here to do battle, thus they will have the r&d as well as high quality products to do so against Yonex. once consumers are aware of this, they still may hesitate to buy their products but once they lower their price, consumer will begin to purchase their products and realize their quality, technology and so forth. So in a nutshell me view was a consumer view. Though i could be wrong about somethings but then again, i still have a lot to learn. 1. Sponsor international players to gain awareness 2. Mark up prices on par with Yonex to let ppl know they mean business. 3. Once increase in awareness, drop prices to increase buying. 4. Increase buying = increase sales + image + awareness. 5. Consumer = Li Ning
In china, LN isn't a new brand, it is even more well known brand than yonex. Yonex is only big in badminton, so so in tennis and golf. Tennis and golf aren't that big in china but badminton is. Just being a new entrant into the badminton, LN can attain #1 spot in badminton in a flash. I havent tried LN rackets but coming close to yonex quality is good enough for the 1st year. The key is not having LN rackets crumble in front of the tv camera, after that, confidence of the products are assured. Having china did what they did in the sudirman cup is icing on the cake for LN.
I have the N90 that Lin Dan has, and i am in Toronto. My friend that owns a racquet store got his wife to bring one over from the Li Ning Official Store from China.... and she said that those racquets taht professionals are playing with are pretty limited and hard to get.
Don't double post next time, just wait for the server to finish. As for Professional Series from Li-Ning, I don't think they are that hard to get, it's about if you have the stack of cash to get them. In China, products are no subjective, money is. If you have the money, ask around and you will get it for sure.
Brother Dream18 , is it able to get Lin Dan N90 racket in shanghai, if so, i get my friend bring into singapore, how much your wife bought it ?
But Li Ning is make in China! ... Is the QC better now?... So badminton rackets are no hi-tech? RMB1900 (vs RMB1200 Yonex) for top end racket ? I will buy for sure if it is make in Italy with LV logo on it... Maybe u can buy a LV badminton racket in the mainland for less...
I agree with cooler. I discussed with my colleague who is chinese. Li Ning has been selling PREMIUM quality products for the chinese market for probably more than 20 years for sports clothing. It is embeded in the chinese people's mind that Li Ning is premium product in comparison to international brand like Adidas, Nike, Asics. I was surprised myself first time I hear this. Now Li Ning is also entering other sports as well like in basketball, they sponsored Spanish national team (rank #2 in the world), even Shaq O'Neal, the NBA center uses Li Ning basketball shoes. They also have extensive distribution network in China dominating the market share in sports categories. By having the image and their distribution alone, they can be confident to succesfully sell their products including badminton rackets in china alone. The others markets are just icing on the cake or long term plan for them. Mr. Li Ning is a very clever business guy.
BennyC, I think LN is a giant in sports equipments themselves. I have no datas but I think in terms of business they are on par or even bigger than Yonex just purely because LN dominates the giant Chinese market.
i do not believe so. With right marketing and limiting supply or perception of limited supply, one can command a higher price tag.
Was browsing through the photos of the 2009 WC and tried to identify the racquet models used by the Chinese squad. Other than Lindan, are the rest of the players using the li-ning racquet models which they are endorsing? Which racquet models are the rest of the Chinese squad using: - Xie Zhongbo - Zheng Bo - Guo Zhengdong - Chen Xu - He Hanbin - Shen Ye - Wang Yihan - Lu Lan - Wang Lin - Zhang Yawen - Zhao Tingting - Ma Jin N30? - Wang Xiaoli - Cheng Shu - Zhao Yunlei
I browse through the photos of the 2009 WC at http://sports.sina.com.cn/z/bad2009/photo/80718/ and compiled a list of li-ning rackets used by the Chinese players (I may be wrong ): N90 - Other than Lindan, these players also used the N90: He Hanbin, Xie Zhongbo, Xu Chen, Zheng Bo and tomboy Du Jing. N50 - By far the 'most popular doubles racquet'. Used by Fu Haifeng, Shen Ye, Guo Zhengdong, Zhao Tingting, Yu Yang, Cheng Shu and Zhao Yunlei. N70 - Bao Chunlai, Cai Yun and Zhang Yawen N30 - Lu Lan and Majin N55 - Chen Jin I believe no Chinese player used the blue/white N77 or grey/white N33 (but modious pointed that Cai Yun switched to the N33 during the doubles final).
