That same year Li-Ning stole the show from Midas with founder Li Ning's Bird's Nest stunt at the Olympic Games. The Olympic effect caused the company's stock to jump by more than 3%, registering an increase of about 54% in profits. By the time Li-Ning opened its first retail store in the US in February 2010, there was a palpable buzz about the Chinese 'Nike'. Sneaker fanatics waited in line for five hours to be among the first to own a pair of BD Dooms, basketball shoes named after NBA star Baron Davis.
Making the Change In July 2010, optimism was in the air when Li-King announced its transformation with a new logo and a more upscale product line-up. It also changed its marketing slogan from the tagline 'anything is possible' to 'make the change. indicating the company's desire to move away from being seen as piggybacking on Nike's fame. Its old logo, which bore an uncanny resemblance to Nike's famous swoosh, was stylized to look more like the Chinese character 'ren' (human) as well. Leo Wang. an analyst at China Market Research Group adds that while a logo similar to Nike in the first stage of its development offered the impression that it was of Nike's standard, being put under the global spotlight at the Olympics probably made Li-King more aware of the need for brand positioning.
The company also hiked prices by nearly 10% for shoes and about 20% for clothes to reflect the higher quality of their products, a move that would soon thereafter plague sales figures. Wang says that the aggressive expansion of distribution channels and sales in 2011 is the main factor in the company's persistent inventory woes. Li-Ning's company spokesperson confirmed that in December 2011. the number of stores was at its peak of more than 8,233. In comparison, Nike had about 7.300 shops in China in 2011. while Adidas is estimated to have about 7.800 shops in 2012. "In 2011. there were a lot of franchises and new distributors because Li-Ning was very optimistic about future sales, which didn't turn out as expected. Although they had inventory overhang from the Olympics. the main problem comes from 2011. says Wang.