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Nike, which sells footwear, clothing and other items, cut ties
with Amazon at a time when the online retailer was trying to
lure big brands to its website. While Nike stopped selling its
sneakers and athletic gear directly to Amazon in 2019, Nike’s
goods were still available on Amazon.com, sold by independent
sellers that list their merchandise directly on Amazon’s
marketplace.
Now Nike is resuming its direct relationship with Amazon.
“Nike is investing in our marketplace to ensure we’re offering
the right products, best services, and tailored experiences to
consumers wherever and however they choose to shop,” the company
said in a statement. “This includes expanding to new digital
accounts, including Amazon in the U.S., new physical partners
like Printemps (a French luxury department store chain),
elevating retail experiences across the marketplace, and
launching Nike’s AI powered conversational search to improve our
online services.”
Amazon is navigating its way through bringing Nike back on
board.
“While independent sellers have listed some Nike inventory in
our store for many years, Amazon will soon begin sourcing a much
wider range of Nike products directly to expand our selection
for U.S. customers,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.
“We value independent sellers, and we’re providing an extended
period of time for the small number of sellers affected to sell
through their inventory of overlapping items.”
When Nike announced the pilot program with Amazon.com in 2017,
it hoped that it would have more control over the brand. Amazon
acknowledged at the time that there were problematic sales of
counterfeit goods on its site and implemented some tools to try
to stop them.
Nike is reestablishing a more direct relationship with Amazon at
a time when its sales are weakening.
In March the Beaverton, Oregon, company reported that its
third-quarter sales fell 9% to $11.27 billion as revenue
declined for the Nike brand and Converse.
Jefferies' Randal Konik is supportive of Nike reconnecting with
Amazon.
“We like this move by Nike plain and simple,” he wrote in a note
to clients. “Amazon is the largest e-commerce platform and the
move further cements Nike’s brand ubiquity.”
Shares of Nike rose more than 2% in Thursday afternoon trading.
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