Chinese sportswear group Xtep International is leveraging the power of social media and live-streaming to help boost sales under its five-year growth plan, while downplaying the digital-asset approach due to heightened regulatory scrutiny.

The company, whose brands K-Swiss, Merrell and Saucony competes with Nike and Adidas globally, is also seeking to open bigger retail stores to complement its e-commerce efforts and close smaller outlets, chief financial officer Ricky Yeung said during a media briefing last week.

Chinese Nike rival Xtep leverages social media, live-streaming to set record sales, downplays popular digital tokens comes via ChinaTechNews.com.