For a strong brand and pricing power with consumers, Nike believes the key lies in innovation and newness. Nike recently delivered revenues up slightly than prior year’s double-digit growth and outperformed its expectations in North America.
Matt Friend, Nike’s chief financial officer, said the brand is focused on what matters most to capture the strong growth opportunity in the marketplace. “This means creating more value for consumers by scaling new product innovation with greater brand impact across the full marketplace with even more inspiration through sport and our athletes. Last quarter, we highlighted that particularly in an uneven macro environment, newness, and innovation are what drive brand distinction. Consumers are moving quickly to access new products.”
Friend believes trends are driving things all over the world. He said Nike needs to be faster. “So we’re accelerating a multiyear innovation circle. And while our new product cycle is just getting underway, this quarter showed that we are on the right track.” The executive shared that new and updated footwear models have grown into a majority of our top 20 growing footwear franchises.
“Footwear products introduced over the past several quarters are on track to generate a multi-billion dollar run rate on an annual basis. We see more opportunities ahead. We see momentum where we are focused most.”
Nike believes the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024 will serve as a catalyst for its brands. Friend said with a growing portfolio of new concepts, platforms and capabilities, their innovation teams are well-positioned to continue driving breakthroughs in performance and lifestyle over the coming years. “To maximize the impact of our new product cycle, we’re accelerating several important actions, lined up against key brand and sports moments. We are elevating and differentiating the consumer experience with our brands at retail, especially as consumers continue to shift back into physical stores. This includes increased investment to support strong seasonal retail marketing execution, breadth and depth of assortment, and elevated service and product presentation.”
Furthermore, Nike will leverage its full portfolio of thousands of physical doors to position its newest products in the path of consumers. The company is also sharpening its brand storytelling to tell bigger stories with greater reach. Nike is confident about taking the right actions to fuel brand momentum and return to stronger long-term growth.
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