(Yicai) Nov. 6 -- Skechers plans to open between 600 and 700 stores in China next year, the US sneaker maker's chief executive officer for China, South Korea, and Southeast Asia reportedly said at the ongoing China International Import Expo.

Skechers has almost 3,000 sales outlets in China operated through its dealer strategy ‘brand management + channels expansion,’ and over 700 of them were opened this year, Willie Tan said, The Paper reported yesterday.

China is Skechers' second-biggest market after the United States, Tan noted, adding that 85 percent of the California-based company's products are made in China.

Skechers will invest an additional CNY1 billion (USD137.4 million) in Dongguan, Guangdong province, to renovate its Asia-Pacific research and development center, Tan said. The firm also invested in a Chinese livestream base that was put into use in August.

The second phase of Skechers' Chinese logistics hub in Taicang, Jiangsu province, will begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2025, Tan pointed out. The hub is said to have cost a total of over CNY3 billion. Its first phase is already operational, with a delivery capacity of more than 60 million goods a year.

Tan formally introduced Skechers in the Chinese market in 2007, after setting up a joint venture with China’s Luen Thai Group, which was founded by his father, to develop the brand's Chinese business together. Afterward, Skechers expanded its business to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and South Korea.

Skechers raked in a third-quarter sales record of USD2 billion in the third quarter of the year, up 7.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the company's latest earnings report. Sales in the Chinese market soared 18 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione