Ads
Published
Dec 23, 2014
Reading time
2 minutes
Download
Download the article
Print
Text size

Nike focuses on narrow assortment and premium apparel

Published
Dec 23, 2014

With a turnover of 2.285 billion dollars (£1.475 bn) over the last quarter (September to November), the brand Nike saw its apparel sales excluding currency changes increase by 11% as compared to the same period last year. 

Image: Nike Tech Pack


"You know, I will say, we’re known for our footwear innovation," said Mark Parker, CEO of the American group. "We are currently accelerating our commitment to innovation in apparel, and that’s really where we’re going to shine." Parker intends to concentrate on a premium positioning of its performance products to raise its entire offer to a higher level.

"And we’ve done that, and where we’ve really gotten a lead on that, we’ve seen that consumer response has actually been quite positive," said Parker. "So as an innovation geek, a product geek, I’m incredibly excited about applying that even more aggressively to the apparel side of our business." 

The challenge for Nike is to build up the relationship between sport and lifestyle. But what is more surprising is that the brand intends to condense its range. "Our apparel business is doing very, very well," said Trevor Edwards, President of Nike brands. "We’ve tightened the collections down and made sure that this works across the board and we’ve seen really good conversions. Our apparel business within our own doors does exceptionally well. This includes sportswear and even the Tech Pack collection... but really all of the activity." 

And once it has been tested on its own retail network, the strategy will be more broadly applied. "One of the things that we’re learning is that the stronger we are in our own network, the better it is for our multibrand," said Trevor Edwards. "So we’re using this know-how by scaling back on the assortment and making sure that we apply it in the broader marketplace. And we think that’s what’s driving the great growth that we’re seeing." 

Nevertheless, it remains to be seen if the strategy is a successful one or if the suffers a slowdown in the increase in orders in the coming months.

Copyright © 2024 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.