Nike says it has cracked what runners want from their shoes as its athlete-focused turnaround strategy helped drive a surprise rise in quarterly sales.
The sportswear giant is repositioning itself to focus on athletes following the return of Elliot Hill, a Nike veteran who left the company in 2020 but rejoined last year as chief executive to lead its turnaround efforts.
The new “sports offence” model includes focusing more on sales of performance products such as running shoes after a period of declining sales when the retailer paid more attention to casual footwear.
Hill said: “It turns out runners mostly want three things from running shoes: big cushioning, stability, or an everyday shoe that returns energy”. In response, Nike has completely redesigned the Vomero, Structure and Pegasus shoes.
The strategy appears to be working as Nike’s running business, which has faced competition from brands including On and Hoka, posted 20 per cent sales growth in the three months to the end of August. Shares of Nike jumped $2.71, or 3.9 per cent, to $72.44 in after-hours trading in New York after the results were released on Tuesday.
