To The Moon

A summary of how Nike $NKE screwed up, in 5 steps:

1) They moved everything online and in their mobile app, removing a ton of product from places like Amazon and dozens of physical retailers.

2) They thought that the immediate success in revenue growth and margins was a good thing, they pat themselves on the back for doing a good job in moving everything on their own apps and cutting costs of retailers.

3) After removing all their product from Amazon and retailers, other top competitors quickly filled the shelves that Nike left open. Adidas, New Balance, Sketchers, ASICS gained a bunch of exposure.

4) New brands that nobody knew about realized there's a bunch of new shelf space with the absence of Nike hogging all the distribution. On brand, Hoka, Brooks, etc filled up this new available distribution, gaining awareness, brand value, and revenue growth.

Nike had done essentially the exact opposite of what Google did. Google defaulted themselves everywhere, making it so competition was impossible. Nike took their presence away from every place possible, inviting in new competitors.

5) Now customers are fully aware of the top performing shoes like On, Hoka, Brooks, Altra, and have fallen in love with them. Nike is trying to catch up with their designs and technology, but it's too late. You can't put the genie back in the bottle. It's likely that competition will be more difficult now than ever in their history.