In February 2018, there were more Amazon product listings for Nike than any other clothing or footwear brand, according to an analysis by research firms Coresight Research and DataWeave. Just over six months later, Nike had dropped to the eleventh most-listed brand, as the number of Nike products for sale fell by nearly half.
That’s exactly what Nike wanted.
Nike confirmed last year that it would launch a pilot program to offer a limited number of products directly through Amazon for the first time. It had previously hesitated to put its sneakers and clothes on the platform. Amazon’s vast—and still growing—third-party marketplace, which in 2017 accounted for most of the stuff sold on Amazon, was rife with Nike items never authorized for sale by Nike, as well as counterfeits. According to the Wall Street Journal (paywall), after weeks of talks, the companies came to an agreement that would see Nike sell a limited number of products on the site. In exchange, Amazon would crack down on the unauthorized third-party sales and knockoffs.
The apparent outcome is reflected in the analysis by Coresight and DataWeave, which included more than 1.1 million products across 2,782 brands. ”The 46% decline in Nike’s listings has been driven by an identical fall in the number of third-party listings for the brand,” the firms note. (Only Aéropostale outdid Nike’s decline, and similarly, was “entirely driven by a fall in third-party listings offered by an array of sellers,” the report said.)
Most of the products are still from third parties. In September, there were 9,051 Nike products listed, and only 83 directly by Amazon. But it was a significant drop from the 16,764 Nike products on offer in February.
Like other American brands, Nike has been adjusting to the struggles confronting many large retailers, such as department stores. Beyond just focusing more on sales directly to shoppers, the company announced last year that it would concentrate on working closely with just 40 retail partners. While it didn’t say it intended to close the thousands of other accounts it has, former Nike brand president Trevor Edwards offered a warning that “undifferentiated, mediocre retail won’t survive“ (paywall).
The aim has been to make sure the right products, at the right price points, are in the right channels, which helps to control how shoppers see the brand. Nike might sell its cooler, premium sneakers through Foot Locker, while making less expensive shoes aimed at a more casual consumer available at Macy’s.
Amazon, meanwhile, offered up everything, without any differentiation whatsoever. It seems that’s at least starting to change.