Foot Locker Reportedly Expanding Home Court Collaboration With Nike

Foot Locker is reportedly expanding the “Home Court” basketball sections it launched with Nike.

The expansion is part of an effort by the sports apparel retailer and the sneaker giant to fix their damaged relationship, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday (Dec. 3).

According to the report, Foot Locker plans to launch the new sections — which feature digital wallets where customers can test a sneaker’s performance with vertical jumps — in 100 stores around the world by 2026.

“Basketball culture is a really key part of our overall strategic history,” Foot Locker CEO Mary Dillon told Bloomberg. “That’s key to all of our brands — especially Nike and Jordan.”

The report argues that the scale of this effort signals that the Nike/Foot Locker partnership is on the mend after Nike began to focus more on its own stores and website in favor of its retail partners, triggering a long sales downturn for Foot Locker.

Investors, the report adds, had grown concerned about the relationship, with Foot Locker shares down roughly 20% this year. According to Bloomberg, Nike products once made up three-quarters of all Foot Locker purchases, but that number fell below 60% in 2022.

And as PYMNTS wrote in October, Nike has continued to be haunted by its direct-to-consumer strategy, with the company trying to “curry favor with its wholesale partners” and recapture the momentum that once delivered double-digit growth.

“We are moving aggressively to shift our product portfolio, create better balance in our business and reenergize brand momentum through sport,” Nike CFO Matt Friend told the company’s earnings call audience. “That said, a comeback at this scale takes time, and while there are some early wins, we have yet to turn the corner.”

That, as PYMNTS noted, was an understatement, with revenues down 10% year-over-year, with Nike Direct revenues falling 13% and digital sales down 20%. A 1% increase in sales at the company’s stores helped offset the decline.

“We believe brighter days are ahead for Foot Locker, largely due to a change in direction from their largest supplier, Nike,” Tom Nikic, an analyst at Needham & Co., wrote in a note to clients, per Bloomberg. “Nike plans to start increasing allocations of their best products to Foot Locker.”

Foot Locker earlier this year introduced its “store of the future” concept, featuring special sections by the entrance that showcase the latest sneaker releases and trending products, and “dynamic storytelling opportunities” that help consumers understand product features.