Nike made a bunch of marketing mistakes. Getting rid of vendors for DTC was a bad strategy. If any of you are runners then you know how important it is for a knowledgeable salesperson in proper running shoe selection. What a stupid idea to get rid of the folks pushing Nike in retail stores. Nike spent 18 billion dollars on stock buybacks to reward it's management and investors. It only spent 11 billion on R&D which is why Nike has fallen a bit behind. Nike just decreased it's guidance forecast down 1.7% more. Not sure why CIS is so interested in supporting a decreasing global brand. Maybe with Nike struggles they would be willing to offer Miami a much better deal than Adidas. It would be big for Nike to have the support of Miami's fanbase to stop the bleeding. I hope the Admin is using Nike's weakness in any potential negotiations.
Oh and despite what many of you may think I do like Nike as they saved Converse.
1. The DTC strategy is what inflated Nike’s stock, as this strategy was implemented during Covid when the world was shut down.
2. The marketing strategy that failed under Donahoe was the over reliance on the resale market for its retros + choking off its wholesale partners which allowed smaller companies like On, Brooks, & Hoka to gain shelf space that was originally occupied by Nike. This in turn led these newer brands a share in the retail & running space
3. When the world re-opened, DTC became dated. Donahoe tried to overcorrect by, not restoring relationships, but by over flooding the market w more retros & color ways. This strategy created buyer exhaustion which matriculated to re-sellers. Shoes that were once in high demand, now became easy access, dropping value & perception.
4. Donahoe was replaced by Elliot, who admitted b/c of bridges burned not just w/ wholesalers, but also countries like China & Japan, it would take at least 3 yrs to correct inventory, relationships, & markets.
5. One of the bridges has already been repaired, which is wholesale relationships. Partners like Footlocker, JD Sports, & ****’s have become the preferred vendors of Nike once again. The issue is that Nike is still dealing w inventory issues which is y u can find a lot of their products at a discount at their outlets, DSW, etc.
6. Nike has made a concerted effort to regain the Asian demographic, which is y they’ve intentionally partnered w famous artists from South Korea, designers from Japan, & athletes in China. They know they will not get back what they lost, but even regaining 5-7% will make a huge difference.
7. Under Elliot, he specifically said Nike lost its way in sports. They’ve been very intentional in re-aligning themselves w the elite, rededicating themselves to youth sporting events, & re-uniting “the family” as they prominently show case all the greats both past & present who r Nike Athletes.
8. Nike’s market share & stock dropped b/c of its inflation during COVID. Nike is a split stock company, which is y it’s much easier to invest in Nike at a reasonable price point than Adidas which is both on The Exchange & The Euro market. The price is not what u look at, it’s the market cap, & Nike far & away controls the market cap in this sector. Like, it’s not close.
9. U made the point that Adidas is the future, & I feel like it’s ground hog’s day on CIS. Ya’ll said this same bull **** in 2015 during the Yeezy run. Through history, Adidas will go on a 3-4 yr run, until they get put back in their place. Adidas is still leaning & relying upon Yeezy’s old designs. They r now trying to milk Pharrell, when Pharrell was an afterthought when they had Yeezy. I literally just posted a link about which brand is most popular for Gen Z & Gen Alpha & NIKE was still the clear cut winner.
10. Let me be very clear…Idgaf if Adidas pay PSU $30m/yr or UTenn $20m/yr, Adidas will never, ever, ever have a true footing in American Football. They’re paying $1-1.3b to futbol teams, b/c this is a futbol company. They’re will always be one-two steps behind. It doesn’t matter how many ex Nike employees they hire, they do not have the tech nor bandwidth to keep up w Nike when it comes to American sports needs or aesthetics.
11. Nike’s running department has actually been leading its stabilization. They beat the market’s prediction & that was due to running. They’re track athletes literally just dominated the NCAA outdoor, indoor, & The Diamond League.
12. This is a play on, on #10; the reason y Adidas’ experience a much higher injury ratio per capita than Nike is b/c at Nike schools, there’s a whole body scan which makes sure its athletes are assigned shoes based upon position, weight, height, foot dimensions. Before players r assigned cleats, they must go through this. It’s not fool proof, but comparatively it’s been documented Nike having less catastrophic injuries per capita than Adidas.
Again, I can go on & on & on & on. The one thing I hate about the internet is the propensity of spreading misinformation & misinformation is more enticing than actual facts or context. I literally had to correct a PSU fan who said “Nike didn’t care about us b/c we asked for the gold swoosh in the playoffs & they said no.” My rebuttal was simple; “does Nike care about Oregon? If ur answer is yes, then why didn’t Oregon receive the gold swoosh?”
U see, just like Blake James, PSU’s AD had to justify why he broke a traditional, long standing relationship w Nike for Adidas. He said it’s b/c they wanted a gold swoosh like OSU got, & they wanted Saquon cleats; what he failed to mention is that the gold swoosh is ONLY for teams that played in the CFP12 Nat’l Championship game, & PSU already received special, priority cleats just for them.
Instead of just saying we took the $$, he wanted to create a narrative & that narrative was not only misleading it was disingenuous. Ur post is not disingenuous, it’s misinformed. The buy back strategy of ‘22 was, again, trying to overcorrect a problem created, keeping share holders happy vs. addressing the flaw.
Nike’s stock is going to trade between $40-45 right now for the next yr; once their inventory is corrected, & they unleash all the collaborators world wide, their stock will trade back to $55-65/share like normal in 2027. Once The Olympics happen in 2028, their stock will be around $60-68/share.
I’ve been through this way, too, often. Nike is the Drake of apparel….always claim he’s dead, then boom….3 #1 Albums simultaneously.
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