Wholesale or partner retail has historically been a major revenue driver for Nike. Among, today more than 30,000, retail partner that generate around 70% of Nike’s business, there are just a handful of accounts that bring in a lion share of the wholesale business and as such are considered as strategic accounts. The Parreto rule or the “80-20” applies in Nike’s case as well, so 20% of partners generate about 80% of the business in each territory (North America, EMEA, APAC). 

 

In a very brand driven business and organization like Nike, brand function, brand strategy and branding execution has a prominent position that permeates all aspects of business operations. Given the importance of brand and branding and importance of wholesale as a channel – it’s not surprising that Nike established a dedicated (digital) brand team and department solely focused on brand support of wholesale partners. In 2013, being early to recognize the growth promise of online and e-commerce sales and being on the forefront of trends, Nike organizes a digital brand support department for wholesale.com partners. The department’s single mission was driving digital brand business growth of wholesale partners with nascent e-commerce capabilities and partnering with, then only emerging, today, sport and fashion online retail powerhouses.