On Running, the Swiss shoe brand listed as On Holding, entered China in 2018 without a store. It joined Tmall in early 2019, opened one shop in Shanghai that December and sold CHF 1.8 million that year. By the end of 2025 it ran 38 locations in China, more than in the rest of the world combined. The filings never put a price on the build, but they record the pace, store by store.

Every figure below comes from On’s SEC filings or a dated Chinese report, checked on September 24, 2026. Where something could not be checked, the piece says so.

On September 24, 2026, on.tmall.com resolved to a live shop page behind a captcha, and JD answered with a bot check. So there’s no assortment count and no fresh review count here.

Where On Running stands in China now

On runs more stores in China than anywhere else.

“As of December 31, 2025, our global footprint consists of 67 retail locations. This includes 14 retail stores in the Americas, 10 retail stores in Europe and 5 in Asia Pacific (excluding China). We also operate 38 locations in China, including Hong Kong.” Source: On Holding AG, Form 20-F for fiscal 2025, filed March 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1858985/000185898526000008/onholdingag-20251231.htm

Count the dealer-run stores too and the number is higher.

On had more than 80 stores in over 30 Chinese cities in August 2026 and planned to pass 100 by the end of the year. Source: 21 Finance (21财闻汇), on Sina Finance, August 2026. https://finance.sina.com.cn/wm/2026-08-12/doc-ininaezk5274648.shtml

On doesn’t report China sales on their own. It reports Asia-Pacific, and it names China first when it explains the growth.

Asia-Pacific net sales rose 96.4% to CHF 511.1 million in 2025, 17.0% of the group’s CHF 3,014.0 million, “primarily driven by strong sales growth in China and Japan across both channels.” Source: On Holding AG, Form 20-F for fiscal 2025, filed March 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1858985/000185898526000008/onholdingag-20251231.htm

Growth has cooled this year, though from a much bigger base.

Asia-Pacific net sales rose 43.1% to CHF 170.5 million in the second quarter of 2026, 20.0% of group sales. Source: On Holding AG, second quarter 2026 results, August 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1858985/000185898526000018/a26q2-exhibit992xmda.htm

Prices sit high, and they stay put.

The Tmall flagship had 680,000 followers in May 2024. The average On shoe sold for more than 1,000 RMB, and upper models for more than 2,000 RMB. Source: Southern Metropolis Daily (南方都市报), May 2024. https://m.mp.oeeee.com/a/BAAFRD000020240516953884.html

During Double 11 2024, 85% of On’s orders on Tmall fell in the 1,000 to 2,000 RMB band, and its sales rose more than 40% year on year, according to Tmall data. Source: Jiemian (界面新闻), on Sina Finance, November 2024. https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2024-11-11/doc-incvskcn0716845.shtml

On the August 2026 results call, co-founder David Allemann singled out Tmall as especially strong and said On never discounts, 21 Finance reported. Its reporter found no On product in a Tmall promotion.

The sequence they ran, with dates

Date	What the record shows	Source
2018	Enters China, builds a running community before any store	424B4 prospectus; Lanjinger (蓝鲸财经)
Q1 2019	Tmall flagship opens	Ecommerce Online (电商在线)
December 2019	First store, Kerry Parkside, Pudong, Shanghai	Lanxiong Sports (懒熊体育)
2019	China net sales CHF 1.8 million	424B4 prospectus
2020	China net sales CHF 5.5 million, up 199%	424B4 prospectus
September 2021	NYSE listing at $24 a share	424B4 prospectus
End 2021	8 owned stores in Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenzhen and Beijing	20-F, fiscal 2021
Q2 2022	Stores and warehouse shut by lockdowns	20-F, fiscal 2022
End 2022	13 owned stores in China	20-F, fiscal 2022
End 2023	22 owned stores in China	20-F, fiscal 2023
End 2024	30 smaller mall-based stores in China	20-F, fiscal 2024
End 2025	38 locations in China, including Hong Kong	20-F, fiscal 2025
March 2026	Shenzhen MixC World flagship, 802 square meters	National Business Daily (每日经济新闻)

On formally entered China in 2018. It did not open a store right away. It built a community first and ran a mix of its own stores and dealer stores, aimed at the middle-class running scene in top-tier cities. Source: Lanjinger (蓝鲸财经), May 2024. https://www.lanjinger.com/d/232884

On joined Tmall in the first quarter of 2019 and grew there 263% and 125% in the two years that followed. Source: Ecommerce Online (电商在线), on Sohu, April 2022. https://www.sohu.com/a/538204412_197955

Offline business started with the first store, at Kerry Parkside in Pudong, Shanghai, in December 2019. Source: Lanxiong Sports (懒熊体育), on NetEase, December 2023. https://c.m.163.com/news/a/IM098E5K052989GA.html

The later store counts come straight from the annual reports.

On operated “10 own retail stores outside of China and 22 in China” at the end of 2023. A year later it listed “30 smaller format mall-based stores in China.” Source: On Holding AG, Forms 20-F for fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2024, filed March 2024 and March 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1858985/000185898524000012/onholdingag-20231231.htm https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1858985/000185898525000003/onholdingag-20241231.htm

The Shenzhen MixC World flagship opened on March 5, 2026. At 802 square meters it is On’s largest store in China. Source: National Business Daily (每日经济新闻), March 2026. https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2026-03-06/4282694.html

That first Pudong store was also the first On ran anywhere. The 20-F for 2021 says the first owned store “opened in late 2019 in China, followed by our flagship location in New York City in late 2020.”

The channel they picked first, and what it locked in

Tmall came before any shop. And On treats the marketplace as its own channel, run by its own people. (There’s a China web store too, on-running.cn, live on September 24, 2026.)

“Within China, we also consider our distribution through Tmall and JD.com as DTC.” Source: On Holding AG, Form 20-F for fiscal 2021, filed March 2022. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1858985/000185898522000006/onholdingag-20211231.htm

The filings don’t say which Tmall. Two things point to the domestic marketplace, where a brand sells through its own Chinese company: every 20-F lists a subsidiary, On Running Sports Products (Shanghai) Company Ltd., and the store lives at on.tmall.com rather than on a tmall.hk address, the domain Tmall Global stores use. That is our inference. No filing names the entity behind the store.

That choice commits a brand to a Shanghai payroll and a Chinese entity before the first sale. On could carry it. A brand selling CHF 1.8 million a year in China usually can’t carry it for three years.

The cheaper test runs through a cross-border store, with no Chinese company behind it. Sports and outdoor on Tmall Global takes a 50,000 RMB deposit and a 60,000 RMB annual fee at 5% commission. JD Worldwide’s rung is 35,500 RMB and 7,100 RMB, also at 5%. Douyin’s cross-border deposit for the category is 75,000 RMB (TheChinaPath calculator data, September 2026). Run your own numbers in the Tmall Global setup and run calculator.

What it visibly cost

On has never priced its China build in a filing. What the filings do show is how small the business was for how long.

“We entered China in 2018 and grew our net sales in the region by 199% from CHF 1.8 million in 2019 to CHF 5.5 million in 2020.” China accounted for CHF 8 million of net sales in the first half of 2021. Source: On Holding AG, prospectus (Form 424B4), September 2021. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1858985/000119312521275158/d175570d424b4.htm

Three years of small numbers behind a Shanghai office and a handful of mall stores. Then On listed in New York.

On’s September 2021 listing raised gross proceeds of CHF 652.5 million (US$702.2 million) from 29,258,125 new shares at $24.00. Source: On Holding AG, Form 20-F for fiscal 2021, filed March 2022. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1858985/000185898522000006/onholdingag-20211231.htm

China store openings sped up in the two years after the listing. The filings don’t tie the two together; we do, as an inference.

The stores also got bigger.

Co-CEO Martin Hoffmann said stores opened three years earlier had mostly been about 100 square meters. New ones reached 200 or even 300. Source: Huxiu (虎嗅), April 2025. https://www.huxiu.com/article/4252374.html

Bigger boxes in core malls mean more rent and more staff. At group level, overhead has so far grown a little slower than sales.

Selling, general and administrative expenses rose 27.0% to CHF 1,516.6 million in 2025, against net sales growth of 30.0%. The operating result rose 78.2% to CHF 377.0 million. Source: On Holding AG, fourth quarter and full year 2025 results, March 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1858985/000185898526000010/ex991pressreleasedatedmarc.htm

On doesn’t split costs by country. Its risk section does say where they rose.

“In connection with our expansion efforts, especially in the US and Asia-Pacific, we have encountered increased costs of operations resulting from higher customs, payroll and other expenses.” Source: On Holding AG, Form 20-F for fiscal 2025, filed March 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1858985/000185898526000008/onholdingag-20251231.htm

Some money came the other way.

In the fourth quarter of 2022 On “received a government grant of CHF 0.5 million from the Chinese government due to On having its APAC headquarters in Shanghai, China.” Source: On Holding AG, Form 20-F for fiscal 2022, filed March 2023. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1858985/000185898523000011/onholdingag-20221231.htm

Where they lost time

Three years, 13 stores. From the first shop in December 2019 to the end of 2022, On added about four stores a year in China. Then it added nine in 2023 alone.

“China had been negatively impacted by store and warehouse closures due to COVID-19 lockdowns for the majority of the second quarter in 2022, though it has seen a strong recovery since re-opening in both retail and e-commerce channels.” Source: On Holding AG, Form 20-F for fiscal 2022, filed March 2023. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1858985/000185898523000011/onholdingag-20221231.htm

The China team puts it more gently. Li Meina, who runs the offline business for Greater China, told Lanxiong Sports the three COVID years let On finish its first commercial push and gave it time to build up and think.

The public target is the other open question.

In October 2023 On set a long-term target of “a China share of 10%+” of its overall net sales. Source: On Holding AG, Investor Day release, October 2023. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1858985/000185898523000045/oninvestorday2023-pressrel.htm

No filing since says whether it got there. Asia-Pacific as a whole was 17.0% of sales in 2025 (Japan, South Korea and Australia sit inside that figure, so China’s own share is smaller).

What to copy, and what to avoid

Copy the order. The community came in 2018 and Tmall early the next year, and the first lease was signed only after both. Each step bought information before the next one cost money. If the community piece is the one you’re missing, that sits with TheRedScroll, the group’s China social media agency.

The pricing is worth stealing outright. With 85% of its Double 11 orders in the 1,000 to 2,000 RMB band and no product in a Tmall promotion, On tells buyers what a shoe costs and holds the line.

So is the store mix.

Of the 44 stores On had opened in China by late 2023, 20 were directly operated and 24 belonged to dealers. Source: Lanxiong Sports (懒熊体育), on NetEase, December 2023. https://c.m.163.com/news/a/IM098E5K052989GA.html

Dealer stores put the brand in front of buyers without On signing every lease. Picking those partners is the work behind distributor sourcing and management.

Be careful with the spending curve. On’s fastest store years came after a listing that raised CHF 652.5 million. A brand paying for China out of operating cash should sign its next lease only when its Tmall sales can carry one more.

And plan for lookalikes once the price is high.

A genuine On T-shirt sells for 400 to 800 RMB. The lookalike brand SKON sells similar items at 79, 99 and 199 RMB. Source: Huxiu (虎嗅), from Lanxiong Sports, June 2025. https://m.huxiu.com/article/4503253.html

Allbirds opened its first Shanghai store in April 2019, eight months before On’s first, and also ran China through its own entity. The results split fast.

Allbirds had opened 6 China stores and its Tmall flagship had 230,000 followers. On, which arrived around the same time, had 22 stores by the end of 2023 and 720,000 Tmall followers. Source: Sina Finance (新浪财经), August 2024. https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/hkstock/ggscyd/2024-08-06/doc-inchsrzh0104012.shtml

The full story is in how Allbirds entered China. It ended with a license to Belle Fashion.

Questions brands ask

Does On sell in China through Tmall Global?

The filings name Tmall and JD, both treated as direct-to-consumer, plus a WeChat mini program and On’s own stores. The Tmall store sits at on.tmall.com, the domestic marketplace address. Our reading, which no filing confirms, is that it runs through On’s Shanghai subsidiary on the domestic route.

How many stores does On have in China?

On’s 20-F counts 38 locations in China, including Hong Kong, at the end of 2025, out of 67 worldwide. Chinese press counts including dealer-run stores put the total above 80 in more than 30 cities by August 2026, with 100 targeted by year end.

How much does On sell in China?

On last filed a China-only figure in its 2021 prospectus: CHF 5.5 million for 2020 and CHF 8 million for the first half of 2021. Since then it reports Asia-Pacific only. That region made CHF 511.1 million in 2025, and On names China first among the markets behind the growth.

Should a smaller running brand copy On’s rollout?

Yes, in sequence. On sold on Tmall for most of 2019 before its first store opened, and its store count climbed fastest after the 2021 listing. A smaller brand can test the same demand through a Tmall Global sports store for 110,000 RMB before the first sale, the deposit plus the annual fee, with no Chinese company behind it (TheChinaPath calculator data, September 2026).

If you’re deciding whether to build your own China entity or start with a partner who already runs stores, request a Compass shortlist and we’ll come back with vetted partners for your category.