Recently, TEP Kids and the Tsinghua University Sports and Health Science Research Center reached an in-depth strategic cooperation to take another step in building a sports expert brand strategy. This also means that the main TEP brand further lays out the mass movement, bringing more possibilities for development.

1. Promote better product and brand advantages

First, focusing on this cooperation itself, this is a strong alliance in the field of healthy youth development.

Over the decades, the Tsinghua University Sports and Health Science Research Center has promoted relevant research based on national strategic needs, innovative technology, etc., and now has 9 major research centers and 5 major laboratories, with strong scientific research capabilities. On the part of TEP Kids, we have always focused on the healthy growth of children and promoted the “Sports Experts, Better Understanding Sports Growth” brand upgrade.It has outstanding capabilities in implementing related scientific and technological achievements. The two are expected to further optimize the “R&D, production and marketing” link and develop products with higher “scientific content” and stronger market adaptability.

In the direction of cooperation, the two sides plan to further deepen research cooperation in the field of “Establishing a Biomechanical Database on Athletic Posture and Foot Health in Chinese Children and Adolescents and Promoting Sports Function in Foot Health” in the future. It can be seen that this collaboration is anchored by Xtep's dominant track — running.

It can also be seen that until then, TEP Kids continued to work hard to drive businesses driven by cutting-edge technological achievements, including providing professional sports products and professional comprehensive sports solutions.

In 2023, the TEP Kids launched the TEP 100 2.0PRO running shoes with the algorithm support of the Tsinghua University incubation team Yilan Technology, which became the “designated equipment” of the China Athletics Association.

This year, TEP Kids released a new A+ healthy growth shoe that took three years and was created by over 100 experts in the field and built using AI algorithms. This product is positioned as a sneaker that is more suited to the foot shape of Chinese children.It provides scientific solutions to developmental problems such as valgus, O-leg, and X-shaped leg, which are prone to lack of growth space or insufficient support during foot development in children.

At the same time, at the signing ceremony of this cooperation, TEP Kids also invited participating families to experience its latest AI intelligent detector to generate a complete growth report for each child's foot through accurate capture of AI algorithms, thus providing a series of comprehensive solutions to intuitively demonstrate technological abilities.

Looking at it from a further elevated perspective, TEP Kids has formed a comprehensive “six ones” solution, that is, a set of professional theoretical systems, a set of big data, a group of experts, a set of sports courses, a professional manual, a set of products for children's healthy growth, and a comprehensive, multi-level service system. This cooperation will help optimize this service system and will continue to enhance the competitiveness of XTEP children on its basis.

This also means that TEP Kids has consolidated the foundation of development and is more capable of implementing brand strategies and accurately launching sneakers suitable for the growth and development of children of all ages, so as to deeply target the target group, achieve co-building and expansion of brand value in “companionship”, and lay the foundation for the long-term development of the children's business.

2. Help the main brand grow in performance

From the perspective of TEP's main brand, the development of TEP children will enhance their growth to a certain extent. As of 2023, the Xtrex Kids business continued to grow and remains an important driving force for its growth. On the channel side, for example, TEP Kids has 1,703 stores in mainland China, compared to 1,520 in the same period last year, showing a trend of scale expansion.

At the strategic level, the main brand of XTEP has also achieved a further layout for mass sports, and it is expected that it will continue to gain momentum from it.

Similar to the logic mentioned above, this helps to deeply target the target group, and there is a value of “companionship.” As consumers age, from children to adults, XTEP's many years of companionship have the opportunity to accumulate users' mental assets, enhance consumers' loyalty to the brand, and continue to expand the customer base.

3. Deepen multi-level business collaboration

From the perspective of the TEP Group, the main TEP brand has always been the core segment, and its performance is highly correlated. Combined with the recent strategic adjustments initiated by Special Step, iteration forms a brand matrix focusing on running, deepens business collaboration in the field of professional sports, and is more likely to spawn multi-brand synergy effects.

In terms of the brand matrix, the main brand of TEP forms a synergetic effect with Saucone, which is reflected in terms of population and price. For example, the main TEP brand targets the mass market, and Sokoni focuses on the elite group.

At the internal level of the brand, TEP and TEP Kids have also formed a synergy effect through differentiated positioning and market segmentation. TEP Kids enables the TEP brand to cover all age groups and expand brand value. As an extension of the TEP brand, TEP Kids can also use its brand influence and resources to develop a positive business cycle.

Overall, this cooperation is not only a landmark event in the in-depth layout of sports growth tracks, but also a solid step in further developing the mass sports market. With its forward-looking strategic layout and technological innovation capabilities, XTEP may lead a new era of children's sports research and continue to lead the running track, opening up more room for growth.