Work History / Nike Basketball
Nike Factory Store basketballPlanning the second life of each shoe
Jimmy built a working rhythm with the Nike Factory Store buying team from his first merchandising year, mapped which basketball models would move into factory stores and when, and saw the channel's basketball footwear grow 9% in spring 2015.
Operating · 2011 to 2015
| Project type | Channel assortment planning |
|---|---|
| Industry | Athletic footwear, outlet retail |
| Seat | North America Footwear Merchandising Director, Basketball |
| Ran through | Nike |
| Dates | Fiscal 2012 to fiscal 2015 |
What it is
Nike Factory Stores are Nike's own outlet stores. They sell two kinds of basketball shoe: closeouts, which are inline models at the end of their run, and rebuys, which are models made again for the channel. By 2012 the factory stores were becoming a larger part of the Basketball category's business.
Jimmy's fiscal 2015 goals describe the aim: a clean and holistic marketplace, consumer relevant buy plans with factory store partners, and a seamless exit strategy.
What Jimmy did
- Set a cadence with the factory store buying team in fiscal 2012. His review gives three aims: understand their retail performance, drive a more consumer relevant assortment plan, and influence their buys.
- Worked from a factory store footwear page for fall 2012 that ran by price from the $110 Hyperfuse to the $65 Air Visi Pro III, with a team page led by the Zoom Soldier VI at $120.
- Built the fiscal 2014 and 2015 factory store assortment plan for Basketball, which went through four versions by June 2014. It maps each inline model, from the Hyperdunk at $140 to the Baseline Low at $60, to the factory store model that follows it, season by season through summer 2016.
- Drove the factory store assortment for All-Star Weekend in fiscal 2014.
- Used the channel in margin planning. The fall 2013 margin review notes that the Air Visi Pro III, as a factory store model, drove a higher margin for Nike at the regional level.
- Put the Zoom Soldier on the factory store agenda. His meeting agenda of October 2013 lists a Zoom Soldier request under factory stores, and his agenda of April 2015 lists the Soldier carry over for holiday 2015 and spring 2016.
- Worked the buy plans with factory store partners in fiscal 2015, to build equity in the stores, protect profitability and give each model an exit.
- Included the factory store on the Dallas market trip in January 2015. The recap rated it a market leader in presentation, with a strong assortment of rebuys.
Results
- Spring 2015 basketball footwear sales in Nike Factory Stores were $16.52M against $15.17M the year before, up 9% or $1.35M. The figures come from the factory store team's season recap.
- Rebuys were $9.0M against $6.7M, up 33%, and made up 55% of basketball footwear in the channel.
- It was the first spring with the Zoom Soldier as a rebuy, in 75 doors. The Zoom Soldier VII was the second best selling style of the season at $1.45M.
- The Hyper series, rebuy and closeout together, produced $8.7M, or 53% of the channel's basketball footwear.
- Year to date, basketball footwear in the channel was up 11%.
- Margin went the other way. The recap shows footwear margin at 41% against 46% the year before, and records that port and distribution center delays hurt the season.