Nike's new CEO may look to mend retailer ties in sales revival push
Outgoing CEO Donahoe's DTC strategy misfired
Hill may put back focus on fixing wholesale model, experts say
Nike shares up 8%
Updates shares in paragraph 3
By Juveria Tabassum and Aishwarya Venugopal
Sept 20 (Reuters) -Nike's new CEO is expected to double down on the company's efforts to repair relations with retailers to energize sales, reversing a strategy under outgoing chief John Donahoe that focused on selling directly through its stores and website.
The sportswear giant named company veteran Elliott Hill as its CEO on Thursday, instilling confidence in investors about a turnaround at the firm that has been struggling with strategy missteps and intense competition.
The company's shares, which have lost a quarter of their value this year, surged 8% in early trading on Friday.
"Nike's board (including the controlling Knight family) wanted a leader with extensive company knowledge to address its recent problems, the most pressing of which is Donahoe's efforts to prioritize direct selling over product development and retail relationships," Morningstar analyst David Swartz said.
Former eBay executive Donahoe took the helm at Nike in 2020 and aimed to build out its e-commerce business and drive its direct-to-consumer (DTC) division.
That meant trying to sell more products through Nike's own stores, app and websites at full price and relying less on other retailers like Foot Locker and Macy's.
The strategy shift misfired, allowingnewer brands such as Roger Federer-backed On Holding and Deckers-owned Hoka DECK.N snatch some shelve space and market share from Nike.
Earlier this year, Nike executives admitted that the DTCstrategy was not driving growth as expected and that it was losing ground, especially in the running category.
"Donahoe was the right man for the job when he came in to shift the business model," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth.
"(But) the world changed post-pandemic to where consumers wanted to get out and see the brand on shelves and unfortunately, they shifted too hard in 2020 to make the shift back easy."
Nike is pinning its hopes on an Olympics year to help win back some market share by spotlighting performance products such as the Alphafly 3 racer and the Pegasus running shoe.
It is also planning to roll out new $100-and-under sneakers, to lure price-conscious shoppers.
A clearer picture of Hill's strategy will emerge at the company's investor day in November.
"While we do not expect Nike to back away completely from (its) push into direct-to-consumer, we very much look upon the appointment of Elliott Hill as CEO as a clear indication that Nike is re-focusing on product innovation," said Brian Nagel, an analyst at Oppenheimer.
Nike Brand's rocky sales in the past year https://reut.rs/4daX6Rz
Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
