Nike sees online sales surge

Nike, the world's most valuable sportswear brand, has seen it's investments into a direct to consumer strategy pay off largely due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Over the last few years, Nike has been pulling away from department stores and other wholesale outlets, opting instead to invest in opening its own smaller stores, called 'Nike Live' which s erve as pickup hubs for orders placed online. 

Previous to the Covid-19 crisis, they had set a goal of having its digital sales account for 30% of total revenue by 2023. However, this has already been exceeded and although remaining tight lipped on exact percentages at this stage, Nike’s digital sales are now on track to break 50% within that time frame.

Even as bricks and mortar outlets around the globe gradually reopened, the digital trend continued with online sales soaring by 82% during the fiscal first quarter.

“The accelerated consumer shift toward digital is here to stay,” Nike President and CEO John Donahoe proclaimed this week, “Digital is fueling how we create the future of retail.” 

The legendary North American sneaker maker has seen growing sales in most of its major markets including South Korea, China and Japan leading to a rise in share value by more than 10%, bettering Wall Street's expectations.

Rivals like Adidas have also seen improving online sales in many of their product lines, alongside Yoga apparel specialist Lululemon who posted a massive 157% leap in it's online business.

This shift in customer behavior has been widely attributed to the global pandemic. 

As a larger number of people work from home they have substituted suits for sweatpants and the demand for 'home-gym' accessories has skyrocketed.

“We know that digital is the new normal." Donahoe said, "The consumer today is digitally grounded and simply will not revert back,” 

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