Nike is stopping all sales of its products through Amazon, as the sports brand embarks on a renewed focus on “more direct, personal relationships” with customers.
The move ends a Nike-Amazon partnership that ran as a pilot programme for two years.
People can still purchase Nike footwear, clothing and other items on the company website, its app, or at one of the thousands of brick-and-mortar stores where Nike has retail partnerships.
“We will continue to invest in strong, distinctive partnerships for Nike with other retailers and platforms to seamlessly serve our consumers globally,” Nike confirmed.
Nike competitors Under Armour and Adidas continue to sell products on Amazon. Nike officials said they will continue using Amazon web hosting to power the Nike website and many of its apps.
The Nike-Amazon split comes one month after the sports apparel and equipment company named John Donahoe its incoming CEO. Donahoe, the former CEO of eBay, takes over for departing Nike CEO Mark Parker on Jan. 13.
Commenting on the move, James Barlow, country manager UK at Akeneo, said: ‘With Nike, Birkenstock and Vibram pulling their products from Amazon, we’re seeing a new trend emerge across e-commerce : retail brands are taking control of their customer experiences. These brands understand the importance of delivering consistent and enriched customer experiences to create lasting customer loyalty and to survive in a competitive market landscape.
“We’re seeing this shift amongst our own customers; brands no longer want to rely on the infrastructure of the big marketplaces . Instead, they want to be able to provide consistent, streamlined experiences to customers directly, ultimately controlling and protecting their brand identity across all channels. With the help of new technologies, brands can tell a consistent product story and create lasting loyalty.
“This move by Nike and others should act as a wake-up call to Amazon and other distributors that brands are beginning to expect more. Like their customers, they are becoming more sophisticated and a ‘one size fits all’ approach will no longer do.’