On March 22, Nike released its third quarter financial report for the 2024 fiscal year, with revenue of $12.4 billion for the quarter. Among them, Nike's performance in Greater China continued to maintain growth momentum, achieving six consecutive quarters of growth, reaching $2.084 billion.
It is worth noting that this has been Nike's continuous growth in the Greater China region for six quarters, and the strong growth momentum is more due to Nike's long-term "intensive cultivation" in the Chinese market. Behind this meticulous cultivation is Nike's long-term in-depth insight into the Chinese market, and based on this, it accurately grasps and continuously meets the diverse needs of consumers. In fact, in the increasingly competitive Chinese market, Nike has always relied on innovation as the foundation, engaged in differentiated competition, and continuously increased investment in various fields such as women, children, and professional sports, actively expanding new business growth points, thereby promoting Nike's strong market performance in the Greater China region and leading the industry.
Further upgrading local insights and continuously tapping into market potential
In the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, the domestic sports consumption market continued to heat up. When the vitality of sports meets the vibrant Spring Festival season, the Spring Festival consumption boom with cultural connotations and emotional attributes injects new vitality into it. As an old friend who has been deeply involved in the Chinese market for many years, Nike has keenly grasped the Spring Festival as a node with local characteristics. With deep insight into consumer demand, the integration and innovation of local product design, and the constantly expanding and upgrading digital ecosystem, Nike has achieved many breakthroughs in the important consumption node of the the Year of the Loong Spring Festival. During the Spring Festival, Nike's sales increased year on year, and its the Year of the Loong series products were also popular with consumers.
Since ancient times, Chinese people have unique feelings for dragons. Based on this insight, Nike has deeply explored the cultural core of the elements of the the Year of the Loong, launched the Dragon New Year series at the Spring Festival, echoed the unique feelings of Chinese consumers for dragons with cultural heritage and trend innovation, and received positive feedback from consumers with full and beautiful meanings and distinctive visual language. This series includes categories for men, women, and children, covering sports such as street dance, basketball, running, and lifestyle categories, seamlessly connecting various scenes of sports life.
At the same time, the JORDAN brand has also launched the Xianglong Qixin series, integrating the images of dragons and phoenixes in traditional Chinese culture, telling stories about the combination of Eastern aesthetics and modern design, which is deeply loved by consumers. Nike's new products cleverly integrate with local culture, and each item not only inherits culture, but also captures trend trends with design creativity, providing Chinese consumers with more daily fashion choices.
In addition to launching innovative products at the New Year consumption node, Nike also aims at the New Year goods market. During the Spring Festival, it actively develops the e-commerce layout of the Tiktok platform, creates a new social retail scene around the needs of consumers, and opens up new growth opportunities and growth space for Nike's business in China. On February 7, Nike officially launched live broadcast in Tiktok, and two official flagship stores, NIKE Huaihai Trend Flagship Store and NIKE Guangzhou Brand Flagship Store, were first launched, opening the prelude to a new layout in the field of social e-commerce. At the same time, Nike's offline store sales also achieved multiple breakthroughs during the Spring Festival period, including the Nike By You accessories customized by the brand for the Spring Festival, which were also loved by many consumers and all sold out within two weeks.
As a leader in digital innovation among sports brands, for Nike, all digital innovation ultimately needs to return to the essence of serving consumers, where consumers are, Nike is. Through the global concept store matrix, Nike will accurately reach the target audience with professional, scientific and rich original short video content and live broadcast forms based on localized consumer insights, stimulate and meet the personalized shopping needs of Tiktok consumers, build a new online scene of Nike sports community, and form a close connection with sports enthusiasts.
Continuing innovative competitiveness, diversified products closely connecting consumers
Innovation has always been one of Nike's differentiated competitive advantages in the Chinese market, and it is also another important pillar supporting Nike's continuous growth in performance in the Greater China region. This quarter, Nike has driven business development through continuous product innovation, bringing consumers a brand new sports experience and continuously driving performance growth.
The Action Plan for Promoting the Construction and Service Improvement of Outdoor Sports Facilities (2023-2025) issued by the National Development and Reform Commission of China proposes to promote the total scale of the outdoor sports industry to reach 3 trillion yuan by 2025. In recent years, more and more young people have fallen in love with the increasingly diverse outdoor activities and sports consumption. Faced with the growth of diversified demand, Nike continuously brings exciting and diverse new products to consumers with its innovative capabilities. In the third quarter, Nike further focused on product innovation, bringing new products in fields such as running and basketball. It continued to increase investment in the women and children's market, continuously establishing links with the "Generation Z", and continuously creating better sports experiences for people of different types and ages.
Specifically, the new product has made remarkable breakthroughs. In terms of running, Nike has continued to push the boundaries of technological innovation this quarter, bringing the revolutionary Nike Alphafly 3 to all runners. The Nike Alphafly 3 is the lightest and most tested product in the history of this series, and has been tested and verified by elite marathon runners. It is equipped with Nike Air Zoom units to further assist runners in achieving breakthroughs.
In the basketball field, the first pair of basketball shoes to be equipped with ZoomX midsole foam this quarter, the Nike G.T. Cut 3, was launched in the Greater China region, bringing a court experience that combines rebound and quick response. The product also offers sizes suitable for both older and younger children for consumers to choose from. The Nike G.T. Cut 3 (GS) basketball shoes for older children are equipped with Cushlon foam in the midsole, which is more suitable for children's driving. The soft and rebound cushioning provides a soft and responsive feel, helping the next generation of young players perform on the court. In addition, as a new chapter in Nike basketball signature shoes, young basketball star Devin Booker also welcomed the first signature shoe, the Nike Book 1; Jordan brand signed athlete Jason Tatum has also brought his new Jordan Tatum 2, further promoting the development of basketball and culture.
The women's market has always been one of Nike's key areas of focus. Nike has always been the biggest supporter of women and women's movement, committed to providing women with more product and service choices. This quarter, Nike launched a brand new upgraded Nike Zenvy Air Release series, expanding more clothing categories on the basis of the original yoga pants products, meeting the wearing needs of female consumers in multiple scenarios, and receiving high praise from many female consumers.
Meanwhile, Nike's children's business maintained strong growth momentum this quarter, achieving double-digit growth. Relying on a localized team specifically designed for children and adolescents, as well as long-term research from Nike's sports research laboratory, Nike has applied its innovative technology system EasyOn to multiple children's products. This technology system is developed for children of all ages and different body types and is applied to multiple products under the brand, providing children with a comfortable and convenient wearing and taking off experience.
Continuously establishing links with Generation Z and embracing Generation Z is an important new volume engine in the current sports footwear and apparel market. This quarter, Nike continues to expand its trendy market by launching retro running shoe collections such as the Nike Vomero 5, Nike V2K Run, and Nike P-6000, which carry unique memories of the millennium, resonating with Generation Z consumers. In addition, Nike also provides opportunities for young consumers to showcase themselves by creating exclusive sports experiences such as street dance and basketball events, igniting the enthusiasm of Generation Z for sports and promoting the development of sports culture trends among the younger generation in China.
In the fiercely competitive sports market today, Nike, which has been in China for more than 40 years, has always maintained its determination to deeply cultivate the Chinese market. With strong local insights and cutting-edge innovation, Nike has developed together with the Chinese consumer market, continuously improving its investment in various aspects of the Chinese market to meet the increasingly diverse consumption needs of consumers. This long-term intensive cultivation not only strengthens the brand's differentiation advantage and has earned Nike widespread recognition in the Chinese market, but also promotes steady growth in performance.