Nike Inc. hosted its 2017 Investor Day this Wednesday and provided an overview of how the company is transitioning to a consumer-led experience.
According to Mark Parker, Chairman, President, and CEO of Nike, the concept stems from consumers wanting a more premium experience that includes innovative product and faster, more personal services.
“The consumer today expects a premium experience, with innovative product and services delivered faster and more personally,” said Parker. “Fueled by a transformation of our business, we are attacking growth opportunities through innovation, speed and digital to accelerate long-term, sustainable and profitable growth.”
To achieve this, Nike created three pillars: Consumer Direct Offense, the Triple Double Strategy, and New Membership Launch.
Consumer Direct Offense
According to Nike, this attack is led by digital and aims to serve athletes faster, more personally, and at scale. Set to be used across 12 key cities and 10 countries, this new offense will connect the Nike Brand and products with consumers with focused growth through key categories.
The Triple Double Strategy
According to Nike, the brand seeks to drive growth through three core business areas that include:
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2X Innovation: To double the cadence and impact of innovation, the Company will lead with more distinct platforms and scale innovation faster, will edit-to-amplify to give consumers better choices and will create new aesthetics spanning both sport and style;
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2X Speed: To double speed to market by reducing the average product creation timeline by over 50 percent through investments in end-to-end digital capabilities to serve consumers faster; and
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2X Direct: To double direct connections with consumers and shape the future of retail led by Nike.com and all new owned and partnered NIKE Consumer Experiences.
New Membership Launch
The brand announced a new NikePlus membership program in which members are granted access to the products they love, matched to their individual preferences and buying behaviors. It is a similar approach to what Under Armour is doing with ArmourBox.
With these new strategies, Nike forecasts it will reach $50 billion by 2022 — an estimate it needed to push back recently due to poor growth this past year.
Additional panels involved the unveiling of a new running silhouette, the Air Max 270, as well as a panel with NBA legend Kobe Bryant that discussed the evolution of Nike’s relationship with athletes, as well as a new silhouette for Kobe, the Kobe 360.
One of the big pieces of news from the presentation was that Nike will pivot away from its 30,000 retail accounts and favor a select 40 accounts for “enhanced retail experiences,” according to Sara Germano of the Wall Street Journal.
Moreover, Nike plans on putting out 25% fewer styles into the marketplace beginning in January, according to Jess Golden of CNBC Sports.
If you would like to view the presentation, you may do so at http://investors.nike.com.
What do you think about Nike’s new consumer strategies? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Nike
All that to say, “we will continue to make inferior, then poorly constructed product, then try and sell it at a higher price point, in order to meet our goals”.