Word: shoes
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...past couple of years, Nike's biggest business problem has been scraping the competition from the sole of its exquisitely designed, high-priced athletic shoes. Since 1995 Nike has racked up an astonishing average growth rate of 39%, sprinting from $4.8 billion to $9.2 billion in sales, capturing nearly half the athletic-shoe business in the U.S. while simultaneously expanding across the globe. In its last fiscal year, which ended in May, the company boosted sales more than 42% and posted earnings of almost $796 million. By any measure, that's a stunning year...
...Orders for spring are off too. Inventories ballooned as customers shunned boring products with high prices. And because Nike cranks out an entirely new product line every year, it has been powerless to stop the damage. "You are always six months away from disaster," says Nike's chairman and shoe-bah, Phil Knight. Nike's earnings projections have been dropping like so many Tiger Woods putts. Worse, the company's top shoe salesman, fella named Jordan, is threatening to retire to run his own little business...
...sporting-goods retail consolidation that has claimed hundreds of stores in the U.S. The survivors, including powerful chains like the Sports Authority, complain that every store is selling the same stuff. Nike, as the biggest shoe supplier, with a 47% domestic market share, suffers most...
...brown-shoe phenomenon. Teens and young adults, the core shoe buyers, haven't forsaken their hightops. The new Air Jordan XIIIs are a hit. But kids have extended their shoe buying over a wider range of styles: Vans, Airwalks, Skechers and Lugz for the skateboard dudes and the hip-hop crowd; outdoor brands such as Timberland for everyone. Reebok estimates that 15% to 20% of the sneaker business went brown last year...
Better competition. Once blessed by rivals who couldn't tie their own shoes without risking injury, Nike faces a resurgent Adidas, whose sales increased 92% in North America in the last quarter. True, Reebok could still screw up a one-man 100-m dash, but it is pumping fresh money into shoe technology and advertising. New Balance expects sales to rise 25% this year, and fashion brands such as Tommy Hilfiger are breaking out sneaker lines...