German sportswear giant Adidas and its American rival Nike are two of the most famous sports apparel brands in the world, but for many years now Nike has taken sheen off Adidas's share in all the important markets.

Take figures from any key market and you will see Nike surging ahead of Adidas. In America, for instance, Nike commands a market share of whopping 68%, while Adidas takes only 6%,  according to data from Euromonitor.  

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Even in Western Europe, one of Adidas' traditional markets, Nike has been continuously registering higher sales growth than Adidas, according to Financial Times.        

While all these market metrics are certainly less than flattering for the German sportswear company, there is one important market that it can look upto for some optimism. That market is the all important Greater China region. In this market, Adidas, it seems, has caught Nike literally napping, as in last four years Adidas has significantly closed the gap on its American rival.

According to figures from Euromonitor, between 2011 and 2015, Adidas' market share improved drastically from 8.5% to 13.8%, as compared to meager 11.2% to 14.3% registered by Nike in the same period.

These figures clearly indicate that Adidas has been working very hard to keep itself abreast in Chinese market, which by the way happens to be world's largest sportswear market. A good enough reason why Adidas does not want to give up such a lucrative market so easily to its main rival.

But how did Adidas manage to penetrate such an important market. Well, it was a change in branding strategy that helped Adidas to decode the Chinese market. It dawned on Adidas' top officials that branding itself exclusively as sportswear brand isn't really good idea for the Chinese market. Prompting Adidas to look at Chinese consumers with a fresh view, which eventually helped in making the company understand how consumers view sportswear and apparel.    

 "In China consumers want apparel they can do sports in, but also go to social occasions in," Colin Currie, managing director of Adidas Group Greater China told CNBC. "You know in lower-tier cities, it's OK to go to a wedding or to work in Adidas. It's actually acceptable."

This key insight prompted Adidas to branch into casual lifestyle clothing, simultaneously focusing on women's sportswear. It opened many women's sportswear stores with special focus on casual lifestyle clothing across Chinese cities. Not just in first tier cities, but also in second tier cities like Chengdu, Shenyang, and Chongqing. A decision that has so far proved prudent for German company.  

Some analysts though believe that Adidas's over focus on lifestyle and fashion may backfire if Chinese economy does not recover from current economic woes anytime sooner.

But at least for the time being Adidas will be relieved that in world's second largest sportswear market, its stars are shining slightly brighter than Nike's.     

TagsNike, Chinese sportwear