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Nike Chairman, President, and CEO Mark Parker is making big promises. For the brand's fiscal 2017 third quarter results, announced on Tuesday, the leader of the world's biggest sportswear company laid out exactly how Nike plans to continue its dominance. These quarterly earnings reports provide an update to shareholders on the company's sales, goals, and future products.
The talks are full of brandspeak—as to be expected, the word "innovation" is used ad nauseum pretty much every time—but anyone willing to wade through all that will be rewarded with some pretty interesting tidbits about where Nike is headed and where it's been.
Here, we've collected a handful of key talking points from top Nike execs from its Q3 2017 earnings call. Below are comments from Parker, along with Nike Brand President Trevor Edwards and Chief Financial Officer Andy Campion. (The full transcript is here for more thorough readers.)
Nike’s Next Cushioning System Is Coming Soon
“Later this summer, we’ll unveil a third platform: a next-generation cushioning system, designed in radical new forms that helps runners and basketball players increase their performance and stay fresh, longer. Using a new material, this will be the first widely available Nike platform that merges our new algorithm-based approach to designing with data…[Nike is] merging performance and style in another new cushioning platform that actually conforms and shapes to the foot for ultimate comfort.” — Parker
Nike+ Users Spend Way More Money Than Average Customers
“What we’ve found is that Nike+ members who use our personal shopping appointments generate more than three times the average transaction size. We see the consumer shifts within digital commerce as well, with a larger share of our growth coming through our apps.” — Parker
Nike Wants to Get Much Faster at Making Shoes
“To continue to stay one step ahead of the consumer, we will cut our average product creation cycle in half. One way we’re doing that now is through our Express Lane, where our global product engines make real-time adjustments to DTC and wholesale product lines with local teams in North America, Western Europe and China. We are moving faster than ever before, getting products to market in weeks, not months.
“Through the Express Lane, we’re fueling consumer demand through new localized styles…and we’re supercharging our most successful franchises. For example, we’ve built more flexibility and speed into the delivery of some of our top sellers like the Air Pegasus, Air Force 1 and we’re looking ahead to include the Air VaporMax.” — Parker
Nike Is Chasing Triple Doubles
“We are also obsessing over the triple-double that Mark [Parker] referenced: doubling the cadence and impact of innovation, doubling our speed to market, and doubling Nike’s direct connection to consumers in the marketplace. That is the formula we are employing to fuel Nike’s next horizon of accelerating growth.” — Campion
Nike Wants to Sell More of Less Sneakers
“We’re driving focus through our Edit to Amplify approach. This is an area where we have not been as sharp as we need to be. Currently, 75 percent of our styles generate 99 percent of sales. By editing out 25% and amplifying the productivity of both new Innovations and the products consumers already love, we’re driving more growth from fewer styles.” — Parker
Space Jam Jordan 11s Were Nike's Biggest Release Ever
“The top performer, however, was the Space Jam 11s. And when I say ‘top performer’ I don’t just mean in Q3. The Space Jam 11 was the largest and most successful shoe launch in the history of Nike. This speaks not only to the obvious demand for our products, but also our ability to connect greater numbers of consumers worldwide to the products they covet.” — Edwards
