Nike pulls clothes and shoes from Amazon amid digital push
Nike is pulling its clothes and shoes from e-commerce site Amazon as part of a pivot to selling directly to customers.
Nike announced late on Tuesday that it was ending a pilot scheme to sell its goods through Amazon which began in 2017.
“As part of Nike’s focus on elevating consumer experiences through more direct, personal relationships, we have made the decision to complete our current pilot with Amazon Retail,” it said in a statement.
“We will continue to invest in strong, distinctive partnerships for Nike with other retailers and platforms to seamlessly serve our consumers globally,” it added.
Read more: Sports Direct calls for probe into Nike and Adidas
Nike appointed former Ebay boss John Donahoe as chief executive last month in a signal of its intention to bet big on e-commerce.
Nike’s digital revenue surged 35 per cent in the last fiscal year, with the company expecting online sales to account for about a third of its business by 2023.
The move to pull its wares from Amazon comes after reports that Nike told retailers last month that it would stop supplying them with its products.
Read more: Liverpool win New Balance court battle allowing Nike to become kit supplier
Those reports led to an intervention by Sports Direct which called for a competition probe into how sportswear giants like Nike and Adidas use their market position.
The Mike Ashley-led retailer said top brands “use their market power to implement market-wide practices aimed at controlling the supply and, ultimately, the pricing of their products”.
Amazon declined to comment.