American sportswear brand, Nike has gone on a spree to shut down stores in India bringing the number down to a mere 150. And it may further slash it to 1,000.
The company garnered a revenue of US $ 10.7 billion, aided by high sales in China during the first quarter ended 31 August.
However, it has withdrawn from most of its franchise agreements in India and has decided to go along with only one strategic partner New Delhi-based SSIPL (Sports Station), which will operate its offline stores.
Nike is looking to monetise more through its online sales for which it had previously partnered with Amazon and Flipkart along with its official website.
Subsequently, the company downsized its workforce in India, asking many to join its operations in Southeast Asia. Currently, its rivals Puma and Adidas run around 360 and 600-700 stores, respectively, in India.
The company is going through a major global restructuring with more focus being given to 12 key global cities including New York, Shanghai, London, Tokyo, Paris and Mexico City so as to achieve 80 per cent of its projected growth by 2020.
Notably, no Indian city is part of the above list.
SSIPL and Nike have had a long-standing relationship as before the official entry of the brand in India, SSIPL had brought Nike products into the domestic market.
Nike India notched up sales of around Rs. 829 crore during the year ended March 2018, trailing Adidas (Rs. 1,131 crore) and Puma (Rs. 1,157 crore – calendar year 2018).
SOURCE: https://in.apparelresources.com