Nike: Direct Relationships & Digital Penetration

In 2017, Nike announced a corporate initiative called “Consumer Direct Offense”. The idea was to invest in their direct-to-consumer capabilities. 

Leveraging the power of digital, Nike will drive growth — by accelerating innovation and product creation, moving even closer to the consumer through Key Cities, and deepening one-to-one connections.

Specifically, Nike outlined a “Triple Double Strategy”

• 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;
• 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
• 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.

Their goal at the time was to have 30% of their business be digital by 2023. They hit that goal in 2020, three years ahead of schedule. While much of it was accelerating as Covid-19 shifted spending online, much of Nike’s shift to digital came from investing in digital at the right time.