Winter goods win as Games spark buying rush in China

BEIJING : The start of the Beijing Winter Olympics has triggered a gold rush for winter sport goods in China, with online purchases of equipment and clothing from brands such as Anta Sports and Descente surging, and physical stores stripped bare.

The Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com's said sales of ski products on its platform for the period from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4 - the day of the opening ceremony - tripled from the same period last year. Ski goggle sales jumped 15 times and sales of figure skates and ice hockey sticks also jumped.

Over the same period, sales of ski equipment and skating products on Alibaba Group's Tmall marketplace rose 180per cent and 300per cent respectively, the company said.

Neither platform provided sales figures.

Sales of down jackets made by China's Anta and Descente of Japan in the same period doubled from the previous year, JD.com said.

Huang Xiaohu, a 34-year-old businessman in the northeastern city of Dalian, said he had driven to his local Decathlon store the day after the ceremony in search of a snowboard and ski clothes, only to leave empty-handed.

"Everything was sold out," he said. "There were only socks left, but the choice of those was limited too."

Anta, an official sportswear partner of the Beijing Games, led a group that paid 4.6 billion euros ($5.3 billion) three years ago for Finland's Amer Sports, whose portfolio includes European ski brands Atomic and Salomon, and Canadian outerwear brand Arc'teryx.

Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like lifestyle content platform, reported a spike in searches for Team Canada's red and white outfit and its manufacturer Lululemon after the opening ceremony.

Makers of winter sports garments and equipment have been rushing to expand their presence in the world's