re: Nike to be removed from the S&P 100. WOKE go Broke

quote:

---

USAID gone

Rap no longer in the top 40

Nike crashes

---

quote:

---

LONG POST, but interesting read if you want to know how and why Nike cratered so quickly.

TLDR version - they abondoned specialty shops in favor of online shopping 10 yrs ago and now can't get that marketshare back. And restructured like a PE company internally, all to their detriment.

Now, all they have is hoops and urban markets.
...

DETAILED Version

They've basically lost all of their running/recreation maket share and can't get it back.

10 yrs ago, after their new CEO took over after Phil, and had the genius idea to basically abandon specialty brick and morter shops and thought all of their specialty shopping should be online. By doing this they fricked over their long established mom-and-pops/indy chains, and specialty shops. Before they had like 75% of the shelf space in those shops and no one else could make a dent because of their long established relationships.

Once they fricked over those specialty running, recreation, shops, massive amounts of shelf space was now available and smaller brands inked deals with those shops. It's no coincidence there has been an enoumrous rise of brands like Onn Cloud, Brooks, Hoka, Aisics, New Balance, etc.

Before they never had the opportunity to get their shoes in the hands of runners and common buyers. But once Nike abandoned that market, these other brands could finally flourish... And they did.

Years later, Nike fired that CEO, and tried to get back in those shops, but the inventory space was gone and it ain't coming back. The very shelves they dominated, and voluntarily gave up, are now off limits. I think they have around 15% of shelf space now and now have no innovation or reputation among runners who finally abandoned Nikes and looked at other brands which were actually superior.

Add all of that to Nike also killing all their specialty divisions (Nike Soccer, Nike Running, Nike Baseball, Nike Tennis, etc) and merged them under basically just few umbrellas. By doing so, they lost decades of specialty knowledge and market expertise and contacts and forced people out who had previously been division heads in favor or a more Private Equity, streamlined approach.

Add all that together and that's here you are today. The new Nike CEO (came in around 23 or 24)is actually an old topflight Nike engineer. And Oldschool Nike heydey guy. He knows what the company needs to go back to, and has made lots of changes internally to get back to the old Phil days, but it's too late now. He can't get that market dominance back in the foreseeable future.

A market Nike spent 45 years building evaporated in less than a decade.

Now they basically survive on Basketball and Retro/collector shoes, and Jordan's.

Recently went shoe shopping for ultra comfort running shoes and the comparable Nike was also $30-50 more than the comparable Brooks or Hoka and close to $80 more than the comparable New Balance. Not a winning strategy...

---

Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.