.jpeg?resize=218%2C150&ssl=1 "Nicole Kidman Accepts Her Lifetime Achievement Award—Trying Like a Trophy")
JD Sports activities Vogue Plc mentioned sluggish innovation at Nike Inc. contributed to a hunch in gross sales on the UK retail chain as shoppers look to refresh their wardrobes.
“Nike has been so profitable however they simply stopped a bit bit bringing in new stuff,” mentioned Régis Schultz, JD Sports activities’ chief govt officer, in a name with reporters Thursday. “On the identical time Adidas is doing very properly, New Steadiness is doing very properly.”
Customers “get bored in a short time,” he mentioned. “Should you don’t usher in new stuff, new product, new innovation, new color, I feel the demand is struggling.”
The British retailer is banking on a summer time of sports activities to revive its fortunes, after like-for-like gross sales within the UK fell 3.1 % within the remaining quarter of 2023, based on an announcement the identical day. Pretax revenue for the complete yr was in keeping with steering of between £915 million ($1.16 billion) and £935 million, following a revenue warning in January. Shares rose 6 %.
Weak gross sales led Nike to announce cost-reduction plans final yr, together with chopping jobs and simplifying its product strains.
The US sportswear firm, which manufactures the favored Air Jordan line of footwear, makes up an estimated half of JD Sports activities’ gross sales worldwide, based on a word by Man Lawson-Johns, fairness analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“The longer term fortunes of JD stay inexplicably linked to Nike’s success,” Lawson-Johns mentioned. “The closeness of its relationship supplies the unique merchandise and aggressive pricing that lures in punters to half with their money, but it surely additionally creates a dependency.”
By Jennifer Creery
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