Nike's management has finally reached its breaking point? Today, Nike Group announced a sudden major leadership reshuffle for its China, Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) senior leadership team. According to an internal Nike memo cited in foreign media reports, "Greater China is at a critical juncture and requires a leader who can revitalize the business, rebuild trust, and reconnect sports culture with the market." Consequently, Nike announced that Angela Dong, a veteran with over 20 years at the company and the current leader for Greater China, will officially step down on March 31st. Simultaneously, Nike appointed Ms. Cathy Sparks as the new Vice President and General Manager of Nike Greater China. This leadership change comes against the backdrop of persistently pressured performance and a volatile, declining stock price trend for Nike Greater China. Nike's Q2 FY2026 (September-November 2025) earnings report revealed total quarterly revenue of $12.43 billion (approximately RMB 87.512 billion), a 1% year-over-year increase; however, Greater China revenue plummeted 17% YoY to $1.423 billion (approx. RMB 10.018 billion), with EBIT shrinking drastically by 49%, nearly halved. As of the US market close on January 20th, Nike's stock price was $63.63, down over 22% from its near-yearly high of $82.44.
The significant management shakeup at Nike stems from continuously deteriorating operational data in its Greater China region. Examining annual revenue, the decline in Nike's China business has persisted for two years: in FY2024 (June 2023-May 2024), Nike Greater China revenue was $7.545 billion, which dropped to $6.585 billion in FY2025 (June 2024-May 2025), a YoY decrease of 12.7%, and a significant 20.6% drop from the peak of $8.29 billion in FY2021. The quarterly data presents an even bleaker picture. For Q2 FY2026, ended November 30, 2025, Nike Greater China revenue was merely $1.423 billion, a sharp 17% YoY decline, with EBIT halved, plunging 49%. This marks the fifth consecutive quarter of YoY revenue decline for Nike Greater China, with the rate of decline accelerating, worsening from 10% in Q1 FY2026 to 17% in Q2.
Analyzing by channel, both of Nike's core channels are struggling. In Q2 FY2026, the direct-to-consumer business, Nike Direct, fell 18% YoY, with the digital business, Nike Digital, crashing 36%, and company-owned stores declining 5%; the wholesale channel also suffered, dropping 9% YoY. Nike Group CFO Matthew Friend candidly admitted that foot traffic declined in both company-owned and partner stores in Greater China, and digital channels fell into a "promotion dependency," with extended consumer purchasing cycles and increased discounting severely eroding brand profitability. During Q2 FY2026, Nike also implemented various measures in the Chinese market, including store upgrades, focusing on sport, reducing promotions, self-liquidating inventory, and adjusting purchasing plans. The effects were somewhat noticeable; for instance, total inventory decreased by a mid-teens percentage compared to the prior year, with the number of inventory units down 20%. However, proactively reducing promotions also led to a YoY sales decline, such as a 35% drop in sales during the "Double 11" period. In stark contrast to its own performance decline is the强势崛起 of domestic brands and the reshuffling of market share. Euromonitor data shows that Nike's market share in China was 18.1% in 2021, leading the industry; but by 2024, its share had fallen to 16.2%, with its advantage continuously narrowing. Meanwhile, Anta's market share rose from 9.8% in 2021 to 10.5% in 2024, jumping to second place in the industry; Li-Ning's share also increased slightly from 9.3% to 9.4%, solidifying its third position, while Adidas fell from 15% to 8.7%, being overtaken by domestic brands. The gap in revenue scale is also narrowing. In the first half of 2025, Anta Group's revenue grew 14.3% YoY to RMB 38.544 billion, Li-Ning's revenue increased 3.3% YoY to RMB 14.82 billion, while Nike Greater China's revenue for the same period, converted to RMB, was approximately RMB 24.9 billion, a 13.5% YoY decline; Anta's overall revenue has far surpassed Nike's performance in China. More notably, domestic brands have also demonstrated resilience on the profit front. In H1 2025, Anta's net profit attributable to owners, excluding the dilution impact of Amer Sports' listing, grew 14.5% YoY, while Nike Greater China's operating profit saw double-digit declines for multiple consecutive quarters, widening the profitability gap.
Behind the performance slump lies a continuous loss of brand reputation. An investigation found that Nike faces a high volume of consumer complaints on domestic online platforms, with product quality and after-sales service being major pain points. On the Black Cat Complaint platform, Nike's complaint count reached 39,939, far exceeding Adidas's 26,730, Li-Ning's 18,947, and Anta's 10,900; Nike's complaints are nearly 3.7 times those of Anta. An analysis of complaint content reveals that consumer feedback centers on two core issues: poor product quality and perfunctory after-sales service, specifically including shoes coming unglued, uppers splitting, soles wearing out too quickly, refusal to exchange or return faulty products, and slow response from customer service. On social platforms like Xiaohongshu, popular among younger consumers, complaints about Nike's quality control are even more concentrated. Searching for keywords like "Nike poor QC" or "Nike shoes unglued" reveals numerous real-user case shares and图文反馈. Some users reported that expensive Nike running shoes, costing nearly a thousand yuan, showed severe glue separation after just one year of wear, with售后 offering only repair, not replacement; others反馈 that newly purchased sneakers had crooked stitching or flaws on the uppers,严重不符 with the brand's premium positioning. Some popular posts garnered over a thousand likes, with comments filled with negative sentiments like "poor value for money," "QC keeps getting worse," and "won't buy again," creating a扩散效应 of negative word-of-mouth. The frequent occurrence of quality control issues directly impacts the "high-end, high-quality" brand image that Nike has long built. Industry insiders note that in the past, Nike justified its high prices with core technologies like Air cushioning and Flyknit, making consumers accept that "you get what you pay for." But now, as domestic brands continuously invest in R&D, their product quality has approached Nike's closely, while Nike itself is mired in QC issues. When a thousand-yuan Nike shoe shows little difference in durability compared to a few-hundred-yuan Anta or Li-Ning shoe, or even has quality problems, consumer trust and purchase intent naturally plummet significantly.
Industry analyst Zhang Shule stated that the core brand image Nike built for Chinese consumers is "expensive," a perception previously supported by quality and technological content, but the rise of domestic brands has彻底打破 this balance. "Starting with Li-Ning pioneering the 'Guochao' trend and Anta following suit, domestic sportswear brands first attracted attention with Guochao styles closer to Chinese consumers' aesthetic preferences, then continuously improved quality and tech. Although not yet fully equal, they have come infinitely close to Nike. Coupled with affordable prices, they directly breached Nike's brand moat, achieving a reversal from attracting eyeballs to attracting revenue." Zhang Shule emphasized that Nike's setback is essentially a failure in market strategy. "As domestic consumers' psychology shifted towards pursuing value for money, cultural identity, and individuality, Nike persisted in its own ways, paying insufficient attention to Chinese consumer needs, sticking to a global, mass-market merchandising model lacking localized design and innovation. This caused it to gradually lose its luster among the youth. Nike's loss to domestic brands is not merely a victory of cheaper alternatives; it is a strategic victory for domestic brands accurately capturing the market pulse amidst the burgeoning new consumer demand in China." Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangoal Institution, believes the强势崛起 of domestic brands has fundamentally shaken Nike's dominant foundation in the Chinese market. Local players like Anta and Li-Ning, through continuous R&D investment, heavily recruiting international design teams, and deeply integrating Chinese cultural symbols, have successfully built a new consumption paradigm combining quality, cultural identity, and price advantage. More importantly, these brands deeply understand local consumer psychology, who now prioritize actual product performance, design uniqueness, and alignment with personal values. "In contrast, Nike's product strategy in recent years appears increasingly rigid, with frequent re-releases of classic models, numerous high-priced collaborations, yet a lack of sincerity in basic models, overall showing a tendency towards 'luxurification.' When an ordinary running shoe easily costs over a thousand yuan, while a domestic brand offering comparable or even superior performance sells for half the price, consumers voting with their wallets becomes inevitable," Jiang Han stated.
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