“We are seeing the other side of the crisis in China. We now have a playbook we can use elsewhere.”
That was Nike CEO John Donahoe’s bold claim on an earnings conference call way back in March when the pandemic first hit. As we wrote at the time, Nike’s Covid-19 “playbook” involved a hard pivot to digital sales and marketing, building on efforts that had been in the works for years. The company acknowledged taking a hit, but argued that its aggressive digital embrace minimized the pain in China, and could do so in other markets.
This week the company announced its latest quarterly results: $10.2 billion in revenue nearly matching last year’s. That’s a remarkable bounce back from the 38% sales plunge during the lockdown period, a stretch that pushed many retail brands into bankruptcy. The key: Digital sales rose a whopping 82%. Six months later, Nike’s proven we should all be following their next move.
