Summary

Top Highlights

• But the world’s largest sportswear maker is in a protracted funk, worsened by Nike’s earnings report released last month which not only missed expectations but forecast shrinking sales for the year ahead
• What happened? Some of Nike’s issues have been evident for months, including increased competition from newer athletic brands like On and Hoka, which we wrote about in January.
• Those differences include: a lack of connection by younger consumers to some Nike classics, like Jordan sneakers (much of Gen Z is too young to remember the playing days of MJ), a post-pandemic return to shopping at bricks-and-mortar stores faster than Nike anticipated, and the general growth of sneaker sales among consumers over 35.
• Nike executives said that some nascent initiatives are showing promise that haven’t yet hit the bottom line, including that orders by retail partners are up “double digits” this autumn, led by a new performance running shoe, the Pegasus41.
• “For a lot of brands in the active category, the pandemic was an accelerator” of the trend towards casual dress and adopting sporty gear for work and play, he said. “This was not the case for Nike.”

Tags

Domain

Toughts & Comments

António Gonçalves

- Nike is facing challenges and a decline in sales, worsened by a recent earnings report. - Increased competition from newer athletic brands and a lack of connection with younger consumers are some of the issues. - Nike is seeing promising results from new initiatives, but Wall Street is watching for back-to-school sales and executive commentary. -...