Profit margin exceeds expectations, Li-Ning maintains a steady course as it accelerates into the new Olympic cycle

Ask AI · How can the new Olympic cycle enhance Li Ning’s brand momentum?

Text / Xingli

In 2025, as the consumer market gradually recovers and competition among sports brands intensifies, Li Ning delivered a solid annual report: revenue reached 29.6 billion yuan, up 3.2% year-over-year; operating profit margin increased by 0.4 percentage points to 13.2%, net profit hit 2.94 billion yuan, with a net profit margin of 9.9%, outperforming market expectations.

Looking ahead, Li Ning’s business strategy remains steady. During the earnings briefing on March 20, Li Ning Group Executive Director and Co-CEO Qian Wei stated, “Solidifying the foundation remains the top priority in operations, meaning we maintain a cautious approach while staying challenged. We adopt a proactive mindset and actions to explore business opportunities across different categories and segments. ‘Strengthening the foundation and actively expanding’ will be the main strategic focus for Li Ning’s future operations.”

Steady performance with professional categories as the “cornerstone”

In recent years, Li Ning’s key theme has been “steady and pragmatic,” and the 2025 financial data vividly reflects this. In 2025, gross profit reached 14.49 billion yuan, up 2.4%, with an overall gross margin of 49.0%.

Notably, in cash flow management, net cash from operating activities was 4.85 billion yuan, with cash reserves reaching 19.97 billion yuan, an increase of 1.81 billion yuan compared to the same period last year. Ample cash reserves not only provide a solid financial foundation for operations but also give the company strategic flexibility to hedge market fluctuations and seize opportunities quickly.

Behind this stable financial performance is Li Ning’s clear business logic: focus resources on core professional sports categories, strengthen brand value output, and continuously reduce costs and increase efficiency through channel integration and refined operations.

Analyzing Li Ning’s growth structure last year reveals that professional categories continue to be the “cornerstone” of its core business. Currently, Li Ning focuses on six main categories: running, basketball, general training, badminton, table tennis, and sports leisure, while actively expanding into emerging segments such as outdoor, tennis, and pickleball.

As Qian Wei mentioned during the earnings briefing: “Where we can expand business opportunities, we will do so decisively. Where there are risks, we will stay cautious.” This strategic approach is well reflected in the performance of core categories, especially in running, which has shown positive expansion and continuous breakthroughs over the past few years.

According to the latest financial report, the running category’s annual revenue grew by 10% year-over-year, with its share of total revenue increasing from 16% in 2021 to 31% in 2025, marking five consecutive years of growth and becoming Li Ning’s largest category. This leap is driven by long-term technological accumulation and market penetration, from ultra-light shoes and Chitu to Feidian series, with a professional running shoe matrix that directly enhances repeat purchases among core runners.

In addition to running, the badminton category also demonstrates strong growth momentum. In 2025, revenue from badminton increased by 30%, leading the industry in growth. This achievement is no accident: since 2009, Li Ning has been deeply involved in badminton, accumulating professional expertise and product strength. In recent years, fueled by the badminton boom, these assets have been fully unleashed. More importantly, long-term planning has created capacity advantages, enabling rapid response to demand surges and efficiently converting brand momentum into market share.

Seeking growth beyond “professional” categories, expanding growth boundaries

While consolidating its core professional categories, Li Ning’s growth logic does not stop at existing markets. Confronted with the question of where new growth will come from, Qian Wei explained at the earnings briefing: “Our strategy is single brand, multi-category, multi-channel, so growth comes from categories and channels.”

While strengthening professional brand recognition and expanding market share, Li Ning leverages its ability to transfer expertise across categories, actively exploring new categories, new audiences, and new channels to build future growth drivers.

The outdoor category exemplifies this strategic approach. In 2024, Li Ning officially established an independent outdoor category, targeting the casual outdoor market, focusing on hiking, nearby camping, and urban commuting. In just two years, this new business segment has begun to show results: outdoor revenue doubled in 2025.

Qian Wei admitted, “We believe Li Ning’s outdoor segment still has huge growth potential.” In 2025, Li Ning opened its first standalone outdoor store, “COUNTERFLOW,” and looking ahead to 2026, he expects further expansion, including new store formats and channels, and the rapid establishment of replicable operational models and profitability for stores, laying the foundation for future scaling.

Additionally, in actively expanding to new consumer groups and scenarios, the Glory Gold Label product line stands out. Launched in 2025, this series features the Chinese Olympic Committee logo combined with the Li Ning brand logo, targeting urban consumers seeking quality lifestyles, and meeting diverse needs across commuting, business, and light sports.

Qian Wei said that through sponsorship of top sports resources, the goal is to empower the brand, but he also emphasizes seizing opportunities to develop new categories and product lines.

At the end of last year, Li Ning launched a new store format called “Long Store.” During the Milan Winter Olympics, Li Ning achieved its first “zero time difference” synchronized release of co-branded products with the Chinese sports delegation, turning top event hype into consumer momentum. Qian Wei revealed that since late 2024, Li Ning has been testing “Long Stores” and Glory Gold Label series across the country through pop-up and slow-pop strategies. Overall consumer acceptance has been high, and store performance exceeded expectations. These efforts have boosted confidence and helped advance this new product line.

Regarding the market potential of emerging categories and product lines, Qian Wei remains pragmatic. He pointed out that compared to major categories like running and basketball, the future business space for emerging categories may not be as large, but it should not be underestimated. For example, in badminton, a few years ago, many thought it was a small niche, but in 2025, Li Ning sold 5.5 million rackets, with badminton revenue accounting for about 7%—roughly 2 billion yuan—making a significant contribution to overall performance. Based on this experience, Li Ning’s continued expansion into outdoor, pickleball, tennis, and Glory Gold Label aims to tap into potential explosive growth in the coming years.

On the channel side, Qian Wei breaks down growth into two dimensions: first, improving efficiency of existing offline channels, i.e., how to enhance the performance of 7,609 stores across different market tiers; second, developing new store formats like outdoor stores and Long Stores. As of December 31, 2025, Li Ning’s sales points numbered 7,609, including core Li Ning and Li Ning YOUNG.

Anchoring top-tier event resources, awaiting value release in the new Olympic cycle

If professional product lines have solidified Li Ning’s foundation, and new categories and consumer groups are opening growth space, then at the start of the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics cycle, Li Ning is entering a new window for performance growth, awaiting value realization.

In the competitive landscape of sports brands, top-tier sports marketing resources are always the most scarce strategic assets. When consumer markets weaken and industry competition intensifies, the value of such resources becomes even more prominent. They serve not only as authoritative endorsements of brand image but also as key foundations for shaping brand culture and highlighting differentiation in the medium to long term.

In May 2025, Li Ning announced its partnership as the official sportswear partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee from 2025 to 2028. During this period, from the Milan Winter Olympics, Nagoya Asian Games to the Los Angeles Olympics, Li Ning will appear on the podium of more than ten top international events with the Chinese sports delegation. This partnership’s value exceeds short-term exposure benefits; it helps build a solid brand momentum moat for Li Ning in the new Olympic cycle.

Qian Wei explained this strategic value clearly: “We evaluate the value of top sports event sponsorships from a long-term brand empowerment perspective. Overall, sponsoring top sports events is not an immediate marketing tactic for quick business conversion but more about enhancing brand momentum.”

He further elaborated, “We aim to build long-term awareness among consumers and sports enthusiasts of Li Ning as a professional sports brand through cooperation and investment in top sports resources. This is our core goal in partnering with top sports events.” He also revealed that Li Ning will continue to increase investments in top-tier sports resources, among other areas, to support ongoing business growth.

Indeed, at the Milan Winter Olympics, this strategic cooperation already showed its effectiveness. When the Chinese delegation appeared in Li Ning’s professional sports gear at the opening ceremony, and Chinese athletes repeatedly stepped onto the podium, Li Ning’s new Olympic cycle brand debut was completed under global spotlight. Guojin Securities analyzed that “the Chinese delegation’s appearance in full Li Ning gear at the opening ceremony provided significant global exposure early in the event.” They also expressed confidence in Li Ning’s performance in 2026, expecting a notable increase in brand visibility to strongly support annual results.

If cooperation with the Chinese Olympic Committee is a key tool for strengthening brand momentum, then a multi-layered layout of national teams is a deeper penetration into professional awareness. In 2025, Li Ning added a partnership with the Chinese fencing team. At this year’s Nagoya Asian Games and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Li Ning will leverage top resources from the Chinese sports delegation and national teams in shooting, diving, table tennis, and fencing.

Standing at the start of the new Olympic cycle, Li Ning’s growth logic is clear: solidify the core with professional product lines, open new growth through category expansion, and strategically deploy top-tier sports resources to continuously inject momentum into long-term brand value.

As the Milan Winter Olympics approaches, a four-year brand value release cycle has officially begun. With scarce resources and solid operations, Li Ning’s new cycle story is worth ongoing anticipation.

Editor: Lin Sen