Adidas, Europe’s biggest sports goods maker, will open 2,500 stores and expand its sales network to 1,400 Chinese cities, in an effort to regain market share lost to foreign and domestic competitors in one of the world’s most rapidly growing retail markets.

　　欧洲最大的体育用品生产商阿迪达斯(Adidas)将在中国新开2500家门店，把销售网络扩大至1400个中国城市，以求在世界上增长最快的零售市场之一从中外竞争对手手中夺回市场份额。

　　The German company is one of many consumer goods multinationals that have recently decided to shift their focus from near saturated “first tier” cities like Shanghai and Beijing to target smaller cities and less affluent consumers, where they believe growth potential is higher for foreign brands.

　　这家德国公司由此加入了许多消费产品跨国企业的行列。近期这些企业都决定将重心从接近饱和的“一线城市”（如上海和北京）转向较小的城市和不那么富有的消费者，它们相信外国品牌在那些地方会具有较高的增长潜力。

　　Adidas plans to reach far into the Chinese interior to open the new stores. Initially this will be in municipalities with as few as 500,000 people and then, by 2015, in cities with a population of just over 50,000, company officials said in Shanghai on Tuesday.

　　阿迪达斯计划深入中国内陆地区开设新店。该公司高管周二在上海表示，初期将覆盖人口仅50万以上的城市，到2015年将覆盖人口仅5万以上的城市。

　　“We will be in seventh tier cities by 2015,” said Christophe Bezu, Adidas managing director for greater China. At present, the company has 5,600 stores in 550 cities.

　　“到2015年我们将覆盖七线城市，”阿迪达斯大中华区董事总经理杜柏瑞(Christophe Bezu)表示。目前，该公司在中国550个城市拥有5600家门店。

　　The product mix in smaller cities will be chosen so that the entry price for consumers would be 15 per cent less than in Adidas’ existing shops in larger cities, he added. The company would be targeting “middle affluent” consumers with average disposable income of Rmb5,000 ($753) a month.

　　他补充说，与较大城市的现有阿迪达斯专卖店相比，较小城市的门店将选择销售较低价的产品，其面向消费者的入门价格将便宜15%。该公司将瞄准“中等富裕”的消费者，即每月平均拥有5000元人民币（合753美元）的可支配收入。

　　Herbert Hainer, Adidas chief executive, predicted that the strategy would allow the German group to regain the number two market position that it recently lost to Li Ning, the Chinese sportswear manufacturer.

　　阿迪达斯首席执行官赫伯特•海纳(Herbert Hainer)预计，这项战略将使这家德国集团能够夺回名列第二的市场地位，这个地位最近被中国运动服装制造商李宁夺走。

　　Li Ning, named after the Olympic gymnast who lit the flame at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, recently announced plans to take its brand upmarket to compete more directly with foreign brands like Adidas and the market leader Nike.

　　李宁品牌是以曾获奥运金牌的体操运动员李宁命名的，他还曾在2008年北京奥运会开幕式上点燃主火炬。该公司最近宣布，计划将其名牌向高端市场进军，与阿迪达斯和市场领先者耐克(Nike)展开更直接的竞争。

　　Li Ning’s move up to second position could prove a seminal moment.

　　李宁升至第二位，可能是一个有重大意义的时刻。

　　Retail analysts see it as one of the first signs in the retail field that Chinese products can rebrand themselves as not just cheap but desirable.

　　在零售业分析师们看来，这是零售领域的首批迹象之一，表明中国产品能够重塑品牌，确立不只廉价、而且值得拥有的形象。

　　Li Ning has strong sales and distribution networks in the lower tier cities that Adidas hopes to penetrate.

　　李宁在阿迪达斯现在希望进军的较小城市拥有强大的销售和分销网络。

　　Mr Hainer dismissed Adidas’s recent problems in China as a purely temporary phenomenon related to overstocking in the run-up to the Olympics.

　　海纳对阿迪达斯近期在中国遭遇的问题轻描淡写，称其纯粹是暂时现象，与奥运会之前进货过多有关。

　　Adidas China sales returned to growth in the third quarter, with currency-neutral sales rising 9 per cent year-on-year in China compared with 10 per cent for the group as a whole, he said.

　　他表示，阿迪达斯中国的销售额在第三季度恢复增长，剔除汇率因素后，中国销售额同比增长9%，集团整体销售额同比增长10%。

　　Mr Hainer predicted double digit sales growth in China over the next five years.

　　海纳预计阿迪达斯未来五年将在中国实现两位数销售增长。

　　Adidas made optimistic projections before the Beijing Olympics, predicting its China sales would exceed €1bn ($1.4bn) by this year. Mr Hainer now says that target will be reached next year.

　　阿迪达斯在北京奥运会之前曾作出乐观预测，称其中国销售额到2010年将超过10亿欧元（合14亿美元）。海纳现在表示，这个目标将在明年达到。