What does the announcement of John Donahoe as CEO of Nike foretell? Donahoe, a former chief executive officer of EBay Inc. and corporate software provider ServiceNow Inc., comes with a more technical skillset. Why hire a leader with a technical mindset over a retail-oriented leader? And what market trends may be driving new leadership models?
In recent years, Nike, like all retail giants, has been grappling with radical changes in how consumers shop in the internet era. Nike has coalesced its digital strategy around what it calls the "Consumer Direct Offense," a major push into web sales, mobile apps, and other e-retail channels. Nike has:
A slew of mobile initiatives
Nike+ fitness app that has over 170 million members (Killed FuelBand after the launch of Apple Watch)
Premium shopping app for Air Max obsessed customers
Acquisition of Celect and Zodiac Inc. (AI and data analytics firm)
Purchase of computer vision startup Invertex Ltd., which makes technology that could eventually enable customers to measure their feet at home accurately.
So what does this all predict? The list above is a combination of some flashy digital assets that are now being tempered with data-driven solutions. Is it possible that the future of Nike is being designed on data mining and predictive anaytics rather than the flashier digital endeavors that most crave?Â
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These acquisitions predict that following trends where Nike is betting the future:
Understanding consumers' shopping behavior using Celect and Zodiac
FuelBand as hardware is not where the future is but the software powering these systems, and the data it collects about consumer behaviors is more valuable
Developing future solutions will be powered by analytics rather than hype cycles
Data will identify needs of consumers that we are not even aware, thus driving innovation
Nike is using the digital assets that it's built up in its day-to-day business in an eco-system. That trend is important to watch and replicate where possible by other companies.Â
Donahoe's appointment heralds the sneaker giant's shift from viewing technology as a whiz-bang consumer-facing advantage, to using it as a tool that undergirds the entire operation. Expect Nike to start taking a smarter approach on its digital offensive—from new subscription services to additive manufacturing, to data science-driven innovation.Â