NEW YORK, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- During one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year, Nike was the only brand to have a 30 percent discount on most of its footwear at Macy's famous Herald Square location in New York City, as "Nike is in a race for cash," reported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Thursday.
Chief Executive Elliott Hill said after he took over in October that his top priority was clearing out the company's inventory. The company is slashing prices on its website so aggressively that it is not only risking its own holiday sales but also weighing on its retail partners, according to the report.
The sneaker giant will deliver quarterly results Thursday for the quarter ending Nov. 30, and it is expected to report its third consecutive sales decline, a 9 percent fall from a year earlier, according to analysts polled by FactSet. Hill, a Nike veteran who returned to lead a comeback, is expected to lay out his strategy after a year of bad results.
"The discount-driven cleanup has already made a dent on the results of some of Nike's large partners," noted the report. "A pair of Dunk sneakers sells for 115 U.S. dollars at Dick's Sporting Goods or Foot Locker but shoppers can get the same shoes for 85 dollars on Nike's website."
Nike is now selling more to retailers such as Foot Locker and Macy's than it did a couple of years ago. It is also rekindling relationships with retailers that it cut ties with to focus on selling items directly to consumers. "The strategy yielded record profits at first, but early last year, executives realized they were stuck with too much merchandise and needed help unloading it," it added.
