한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

Text/Yuan Jiawei and Xia Bin

The 33rd Summer Olympics will soon come to an end in Paris, France. The charm of sports has attracted the world's attention to this fashion capital. As the top event in the international sports world, the Olympic Games have significant economic effects and have always been a battleground for major brands, creating many popular products and cross-border orders. This Paris Olympics is no exception.

Paris is experiencing a "Chinese style"

From sports equipment to peripheral merchandise, from venue infrastructure construction to event support services, the Paris Olympics was swept by a "Chinese style".

There was a drone show brought by Gaoju Innovation at the opening ceremony, there were lazy sofas made in Tongxiang by Ruili Home Textiles in the Olympic Village, two Quanzhou companies outsourced 80% of the production of the mascot "Frire", and products such as cheering sticks, the Eiffel Tower, and the Gallic rooster made in Yiwu appeared inside and outside the stadium... "Made in China" products can be seen everywhere in this Olympics.

Alibaba and Mengniu Dairy became global partners of the Paris Olympics. Companies such as Yili and Anta participated in the Paris Olympics as official sponsors or partners. Taishan Sports, Shanghai DHS, Zhang Kong Barbell and others joined by providing sports equipment.

At the table tennis competition, Guangzhou Shuangyu, as the table tennis ball supplier for this Olympics, has gone a step further based on the standards of the International Table Tennis Federation and has repeatedly reduced the tolerances of the Olympic balls, achieving an elasticity tolerance of no more than 4 mm, a weight tolerance of 0.015 grams, and a hardness tolerance of 0.03 mm.

Du Yinhuan, a technical engineer from Shuangyu, told the media that the company not only transformed the production line, but also formulated a set of testing standards and set up 15 automatic testing processes. Ultimately, 3 to 5 balls were selected from 100 for use in the Olympics, in an effort to ensure that Olympic athletes use competition balls with more accurate landing points and more stable moving routes.

As the designated cloud service provider for this year's Olympic Games, Alibaba Cloud fully supports the 2024 Paris Olympic Games with AI-driven cloud computing technology, realizes cloud-based games and cloud-based broadcasting, and launches a series of new technology applications. For the first time, the usage of the Olympic broadcast cloud supported by Alibaba Cloud surpassed traditional satellite broadcasting and became the main broadcasting method for the Olympics. China's AI technology is pushing the Olympic broadcasting into a new era in an unprecedented way. The high-freedom replay "bullet time" makes Alibaba Cloud's AI-enhanced new broadcasting technology stunning the stadium.

Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, said that Chinese companies are using cutting-edge technology to help global broadcasting organizations convey the magical charm of the 2024 Paris Olympics to more places and more people in a richer and more sustainable way.

Athletes' "Bringing Goods" and Commercial Value

Some products and athletes’ unintentional works successfully “stole the spotlight”, and Olympic champions are even walking “human cargo machines”.

For example,Zheng QinwenHe made history by becoming China's first Olympic tennis singles champion. "The same tennis racket that Zheng Qinwen used to win the championship" topped the popularity list of e-commerce platforms, leading by a huge margin. The search volume soared by 210% in just one day. During the final, his team wore Nike T-shirts with the words "The only souvenir I want to take away from Paris is the gold medal" and were snapped up.

Relevant data shows that since July, the sales volume of tennis skirts on the platform has increased by 91% year-on-year. Among them, the number of tennis skirts purchased by those born after 1995 increased by 179% year-on-year, and the number of tennis skirts purchased by those born after 2000 increased by 155% year-on-year.

Products related to Olympic champions have also become popular, and small businesses have gained a place in this Olympic economic boom.

Shooting AthleteHuang YutingAfter winning the first gold medal, the white puppy hairpin she wore quickly became a hot search. Taobao data showed that the search popularity of "Huang Yuting's same style" hairpin increased by 120% in a short period of time, and nearly 600,000 hairpins were sold in just two days, showing an amazing market demand.

Quan HongchanandChen YuxiAfter winning the women's synchronized 10-meter platform diving competition, the discussion about the ugly fish slippers worn by Quan Hongchan in the competition remained hot. "Quan Hongchan's same slippers" had a popularity of 6.868 million on Taobao's hot search, with 198 related products. The popularity of related topics increased by 113% within a week, and the sales of a single piece exceeded 70,000.

As the best in the sports world, Olympic champions are the targets of commercial endorsements that major brands are competing for. When choosing spokespersons, brands not only pay attention to current star athletes, but also plan to sign contracts in advance to seize market opportunities.

China News Service National Express learned that Ctrip has successfully formed a team with several "post-00" athletes who made their debut in the Olympic Games: swimmerPan Zhanle, gymnastsZhang Boheng, badminton playerWang ChangandLeung Wai HangAs spokespersons for Ctrip Travel, these athletes have achieved outstanding results in this Olympics.

Chen Yuanxin, professor of the School of Physical Education, Central China Normal UniversityGuoshi Direct Express said that when athletes win gold medals, it will play a positive role in the popularization and promotion of the entire sport, cultural cultivation, related product production and the number of sports participants. The emergence of Olympic champions will have an important impact on the overall commercial operation of a series of events in China: not only will it play a good demonstration and leading role in the training industry, it will also increase the domestic attention to the sport, so that more provinces and cities are willing to hold related events, and it can also bind some star athletes' IPs with cities to enhance the city's influence and form a positive stimulus.

Fan Zhendongis a good example. Fan Zhendong was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, and is from Hengyang, Hunan. After he won the men's singles table tennis final and achieved a career Grand Slam, the sales of table tennis rackets and peripherals in Hengyang City increased by 200% year-on-year, and the sales of table tennis supplies in Guangzhou City also ranked third in the country. On the hot searches on e-commerce platforms, the popularity of searches for "Fan Zhendong peripherals" increased by 125% this week.

Olympic cross-border orders surge

The Paris Olympics has brought new opportunities for Sino-French trade. As an important producer of sports goods and products related to the event, China has achieved a substantial increase in exports under the Olympic effect. Some non-Olympic sports have also taken advantage of the Olympic wind. For example, paddle tennis, one of the fastest growing sports in the world in recent years, has also seen a substantial increase in sales due to its quick learning, fun and social attributes.

Alibaba International Station merchants and Guangzhou Youge have seized the dividends of the rise of "pad tennis" and their "pad tennis" products have expanded from the Middle East market to South America and Europe, with growth exceeding 60% for two consecutive years.

Since the beginning of this year, the online export volume of merchants in the Olympic economy-related industries on Alibaba International Station has exceeded RMB 7 billion. Not only directly related industries such as sportswear, but also emerging industries on Alibaba International Station such as artificial turf and sports flooring have grown rapidly on the eve of the Olympics. The year-on-year growth rate of orders sold to France alone is as high as 139.58%. Driven by the Olympic economy, many industrial belts have emerged in the overseas boom. For example, since April this year, the number of Guangdong merchants newly added to Alibaba International Station has increased by 30% year-on-year.

The Olympic economic boom has not only brought huge economic benefits to the sports industry, but also played a positive role in promoting sports. The outstanding performance of athletes in the Olympics will remain in the Olympic arena, and their enterprising spirit will be passed on, inspiring people's love and pursuit of sports.

Source: National Express

Editor: Gao Yantang

Editor: Wei Xi