Introduction | Global vs. Local Performance | Assortment Overview | Top Performing Categories |
Pricing Overview | Key Product Launches | Conclusion
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JANUARY – DE CEMBER 20 1 9 • ACTI VEW EAR
Adidas vs. Nike for Women
Written by Ashley Looi, Business Intelligence Analyst
2019 has been a spotlight year for women in sports with
trailblazers like Simone Biles’ record breaking weekend at the 2019
U.S. Gymnastics Championship and Sarah Thomas becoming the
first person to swim the Channel four times non-stop.
Due to emerging female empowerment movements like #MeToo
and #TimesUp, the “shrink it and pink it” approach applied by
athletic brands are no longer good enough. Women have been
turning to female-centricbrands like Lululemonand Athleta.
Declaring 2019 as its ‘Year of Women’, Nike released ‘Dream
Crazier’ campaign fronted by Serena Williams, showcasing
women’s exceptional athletic performance. The brand also
sponsored the US Women’s World Cup that rose to victory in July.
Adidas released a campaign entitled ‘Her Time is Now’, celebrating
female empowerment in collaboration with Pharrell Williams.
Adidas also landed a collaboration with Beyoncé to relaunch her
Ivy Park collection in January 2020.
In this report, we compared the performance of Nike and Adidas
for women by analysing four markets, namely UK and US in the
west alongside Malaysia and Singapore (MY and SG) in the
Southeast Asian region. More than 41,000 data points were
tracked from January to December 2019.
2
Instagram @nike
JANUAR Y – DECEMBER 2019
All data used in this report comes from products retailing
online as tracked by Omnilytics,unless otherwise mentioned.
Introduction
CHAR T 1: BRAND PER FOR MANCE I N U K AND US
3
Nike and Adidas are giants in the sportswear industry but how well
do they fare against each other in womenswear?
GlobalPerformance
Nike was ahead of Adidas on total sell-out rate despite having less
SKUs and discounting.
MYand SG Performance
Both brands were tied for total sell-out rate at 81% but Nike drove
more than 3 times higher sell-out rate at full price driven by high
new-in rate at 75%,despite its higher median price than Adidas.
Adidas while offering a wide assortment with 4,250 more SKUs
than Nike, 85% of total assortment was discounted products.
Nike demonstrated strong brand loyalty in both global and the
local regions, with newness at the right price driving success.
Positioning Performance
Brands
Assortment
SKUs Count
Median
Price (USD)
New-In Rate
% of
Discounted
Products
Sell-Out
Rate
Sell-Out Rate
at Full Price
Nike 12,384
70 63% 58% 88% 50%
Adidas 15,604
65 56% 73% 83% 49%
CHAR T 2: BRAND PER FOR MANCE I N M Y AND SG
Positioning Performance
Brands
Assortment
SKUs Count
Median
Price (USD)
New-In Rate
% of
Discounted
Products
Sell-Out
Rate
Sell-Out Rate
at Full Price
Nike 4,550
97 75% 21% 81% 78%
Adidas 9,300
47 57% 85% 81% 22%
JANUAR Y – DECEMBER 2019
Global vs. Local Performance
4
Nike and Adidas are mostly known for their footwear, but there
were other sales drivers in the assortment.
Top 3 Categoriesfor Nike(Total 4 Markets)
1. Shoes
2. Top & T-Shirts
3. Pants & Leggings
Top 3 Categoriesfor Adidas(UK andUS)
1. Shoes
2. Top & T-Shirts
3. Outerwear
Top 3 Categoriesfor Adidas(MY and SG)
1. Shoes
2. Top & T-Shirts
3. Accessories
Accessories made it to the top 3 categories for Adidas in MY and
SG markets, overtaking Pants & Leggings and Outerwear. Most of
the contribution to Accessories sell-out came from backpacks,
socks and headwear.
CHAR T 3: TOP CATEGOR IE S BY SELL -OU T CO UNT
JANUAR Y – DECEMBER 2019
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000
Pants & Leggings
Tops & T-Shirts
Shoes
Nike
MY/SG
US/UK
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500
Accessories
Outerwear
Tops & T-Shirts
Shoes
Adidas
MY/SG
US/UK
Assortment Overview
The categories with the highest sell-out for Nike in MY and SG were
Shoes, Tops & T-Shirts and Pants & Leggings whereas Adidas’
were Shoes, Tops & T-Shirts and Accessories.
Shoes
Shoes comprised of 63% of Nike’s total assortment but only 24% of
Adidas’. Sneakers were extremely popular for both brands, a
majority of which came in core coloured uppers with just a splash of
colour.
Tops& T-Shirts
14% of Nike’s assortment was made up of Tops & T-Shirts whereas
the category made up 33% of Adidas’ assortment.
The most important function of the category is to wick sweat from
the athlete’s body. Both brands had derived their own technology
for performance fabric, Primeknit for Adidas and Dri-Fit for Nike.
More than 75% of tops in both brands came in core colours - black,
white, blue and grey. The popular fashion colours in the category
were red, pink and purple for both brands.
JANUAR Y – DECEMBER 2019
Top Performing Categories
Nike Daybreak
USD 116.49
Nike Air Max Camden
USD 50.00
Adidas Run Primeknit Tank Top
USD 72.79
Nike ACG Top
USD 65.61
Adidas Graphic Cycling Jersey
USD 155.34
Adidas Super Sleek Shoes
USD 70.00
Pants & Leggings
Tights & Leggings made up most of Nike’s Pants & Leggings
category. These products featured punchy colours and bold prints.
Similar to the Tops & T-Shirts category, the performance fabric
used is Dri-Fit and is mostly seen in leggings.
Accessories
The category mainly consisted of socks, hats and bags which took
up 67%contribution of accessories.
Adidas’ accessories had more minimalistic designs and focused on
core colours that donned the brand’s signature trefoil logo.
JANUAR Y – DECEMBER 2019
Top Performing Categories (cont’d)
Nike Epic Lux
USD 135.92
Nike Power Tights
USD 78.40
Nike Sportswear Tech Fleece
USD 110.00
Adidas 3D Mini Backpack
USD 33.42
Adidas Trefoil Ankle Socks 3 Pairs
USD 14.75
Adidas Trefoil Baseball Cap
USD 19.66
7
Nike had a higher median price than Adidas in MY and SG
markets. A closer look at the price bands of the top 3 categories
revealed interestinginsights.
Nike priced higher in both the Tops & T-Shirts and Pants &
Leggings categories respectively. However, Adidas set higher
prices on Shoes than Nike to reveal the brand’s focus on driving
premium footwear.
CHAR T 4: PR ICE BANDS BY TOP PER FORM ING CATEG ORY SELL -OUT R ATE
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
> USD 300
USD 200–300
USD 100–200
USD 0–100
Shoes
Adidas
Nike
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
> USD 75
USD 50–75
USD 25–50
USD 0–25
Tops & T-Shirts
Adidas
Nike
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
> USD 150
USD 100–150
USD 50–100
USD 0–50
Pants & Leggings
Adidas
Nike
JANUAR Y – DECEMBER 2019
Pricing Overview
8
DiscountingStrategy
Throughout 2019, Nike and Adidas both favoured the 20-29%
discount band in MY and SG markets. Nike’s discounting strategy
was focused on the range of 10-39% whereas Adidas concentrated
at discounts higher than 20% and had a wider spread up to 89%.
Most of the discounts offered for both brands were for Shoes and
Tops & T-Shirts.
BlackFridayDeals
Both Nike and Adidas standardised Black Friday discount
mechanics across all 4 markets.
Nike’s promotion was ‘Buy 2 get 40% off” on its Black Friday
Collection with the promo code ‘BFCM40’. The brand also offered
an additional 25% off on sale items when shoppers used the promo
code ‘SEASONMVP”upon checkout.
The Adidas Black Friday sale offered 30-50% discount on selected
sneakers, clothing and accessories. The sale included popular
shoes like the Adidas Ultraboost 2019 and Adidas Stan Smith.
JANUAR Y – DECEMBER 2019
ADI DAS:
BLACK FR ID AY SALE
NIKE:
BLACK FR ID AY PROM O
Pricing Overview (cont’d)
VIS UAL MER CHAND ISI NG
[1]
FOR BLAC K FRI DAY
Note:
[1] Subscribe to Omnilyticsdashboard to access the module.
Although both brands have iconic products that distinguish one
from the other, Nike leans towards performance shoes while
Adidas towards more lifestyle-inspired. The iconic products are all
made available in MY and SG, however the variety is limited as not
all colourways are offered.
Among Nike’s most notable products are Nike Air Force 1, Nike Air
Max and Nike Air Jordan, whereas Adidas’ distinguished products
comprised of Adidas Superstar, Adidas NMD and Adidas
Ultraboost.
The Air Max range had three times as many SKUs as the other Nike
iconic products because there are multiple designs within the Air
Max range like the Nike Air Max 270, Nike Air Max 97 and Nike Air
Max 95 to name a few.
Adidas’ iconic products drove higher sell-out than Nike’s, despite
being tied on total sell-out rate at brand level in MY and SG. Even
at nearly double of Nike’s total SKU count, Adidas opted for a
smaller assortment when it came to its iconic product lines to
maintain exclusivity.
JANUAR Y – DECEMBER 2019
CHAR T 5: SELL-OUT RAT E OF I CONI C PRO DUCTS AG AINST SKU CO UNT
Iconic Products
70%
75%
80%
85%
90%
95%
100%
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Air Force 1 Air Max Air Jordan Superstar NMD Ultraboost
Sell-Out Rate
SKU Count
Number of
SKUs
Sell-Out Rate
Nike Kyrie 5 ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’
USD 148.87
Nike Classic Kyrie ‘Spongebob’
USD 45.00
Both brands identified and took leverage of trending subcultures to
incorporate into their designs for capsule collections. A key
difference between the two would be the target demographic.
Spongebob Squarepants and Stranger Things appealed to a
younger audience. On the other hand, Game of Thrones and Stars
Wars attracted mature audiences due to the mature themes of the
former and long standing fanbase of the latter.
Another difference between Nike and Adidas were the featured
products in the collaborations. Nike’s collections extended across
footwear, accessories and apparel, whereas Adidas focused on its
iconic footwear in collaborative efforts.
MY and SG had a higher number of SKUs for the Nike x Stranger
Things because the UK was only limited to apparel.
Assortment SKUCountbyMarket
JANUAR Y – DECEMBER 2019
Nike x Stranger Things
USD 62.97
Subculture-Led Products
Collection UK and US MY and SG
Nike x Spongebob
Squarepants
7 4
Nike x Stranger Things 32 50
Adidas x Game of Thrones 6 6
Adidas x Star Wars 8 13
Adidas x Game of Thrones Shoes
USD 90.00
Adidas Nite Jogger Star Wars Shoes
USD 130.00
Adidas NUMD_R1 Star Wars Shoes
USD 130.00
Adidas Pharrell Williams Hu NMD Shoes
USD 233.04
Adidas by Stella McCartney Court Dress
USD 98.30
Adidas Pharrell Williams Boyfriend Tee
USD 45.00
Nike x Off-White
USD 109.84
Nike x Ambush
USD 144.75
Nike x MadeMe
USD 82.33
Both Nike and Adidas engaged in cross-collaborations with high
profile brands and celebrities. Nike went a step ahead by drawing
focus to the Women’s World Cup by engaging prominent female
designers to curate a lifestyle collection surrounding the event.
Nike
Nike engaged with Off-White to curate a Nike x Off-White
collection showcases more on apparel rather than footwear. Nike
also secured four female designers Yoon Ahn, Christelle Kocher,
Erin Magee and Marine Serre for its football inspired lifestyle
collection.
Adidas
Adidas and Pharrell Williams came together to launch a campaign
titled “Now is Her Time” to empower women through the power of
representation and bold choices. Adidas also has a longstanding
collaboration with Stella McCartney on female-centriccollections.
Assortment SKUCountbyMarket
Collections UK and US MY and SG
Nike x Off-White 10 15
Nike World Cup Lifestyle
Collection
29 22
Adidas x Pharrell Williams 96 53
Adidas x Stella McCartney 743 106
JANUAR Y – DECE MBER 2019
Collaborations
Nike US 2019 Stadium Home
USD 103.54
Nike Canada 2019 Stadium Home
USD 71.97
Australia 2019 Stadium Home
USD 66.97
Nike Indy Bra
USD 34.90
Nike Yoga Tights
USD 65.00
Nike Yoga Top
USD 60.00
JANUAR Y – DECE MBER 2019
Inclusivity
Collection UK and US MY and SG
Nike Stadium Tees 36 15
Nike Yoga Collection 289 97
NikeStadiumTees
Nike sponsored 14 out of the 24 teams that participated in the
Women’s World Cup, three of which entered the finals. The US
team eventually won the title, which led to a big win for Nike as its
USA Women’s World Cup shirt became its bestselling jersey of all
time, evenoutperforming the men’s jersey.
The stadium tees that were offered in MY and SG, while small,
comprised of prominent teams of USA, England, France and
Australia.
NikeYoga Collection
Nike debuted its new yoga collection with the use of mannequins
mimicking yoga poses. The Nike Yoga Collection is also designed
for other studio workouts like dance and barre. The range is
available in plus sizes but not extended to MY and SG markets.
The collection was a success with an 88% sell-out rate. The yoga
collection was made available in MY and SG with a narrower
offering but failed to perform as well as UK and US market with a
sell-outrate of 39%.
Assortment SKUCountbyMarket
Nike Pro Hijab
USD 32.31
Nike Pro Hijab
USD 32.31
Nike Pro Hijab
USD 32.31
Nike Sportswear Top
USD 70.00
Nike Victory Sports Bra
USD 34.90
Nike Air Dress
USD 70.00
NikePro Hijab
Nike introduced the Pro Hijab to help Muslim women in sports
perform better. The designers got several athletes to test the initial
prototype of the Nike Pro Hijab in their respective sports and
gathered their feedback to cater to the female athletes’ needs.
The results of Nike efforts can be seen where the Nike Pro Hijab
sold out in MY and SG, countries with a large population of Muslim
women. However, the assortment offered was smaller despite the
high Muslimconcentration in MY and SG.
Plus Size
Nike brilliantly used plus sized mannequins to bring awareness to
the brand’s plus size range while Adidas worked together with
UniversalStandard to come up with plus size offerings.
Nike had a wider plus size range compared to Adidas. The brand
showed sincerity on inclusivity by making its plus size assortment
available in MY and SG, albeit a narrow offering. The Adidas x
UniversalStandard collection failed to reach MY and SG.
Assortment SKUCountbyMarket
JANUAR Y – DECE MBER 2019
Inclusivity (Cont’d)
Collection UK and US MY and SG
Nike Pro Hijab 7 2
Nike Plus Size 512 13
Adidas x Universal
Standard
64 0
MainFindings
Nike was Leading at Sell-Out: Adidas had a wider
assortment range than Nike at global level and up to 2x
more in the MY and SG region. The brand also had over
70% of SKUs on discount. However, these strategies failed
to translate to sell-out rates higher than Nike.
Nike was leading in sell-out, by giving what the consumer
wants with the right products. Nike continues to focus on
driving women’s sports performance and inclusivity
offering more than influencer marketing as heavily
invested by Adidas.
Tighter but Credible Localised Assortment: Both brands
offered limited assortments in MY and SG compared to the
UK and US. Having said that, Nike did better in the local
markets than Adidas, with credible representations of its
many capsules.
The brand catered to the local demands by introducing
Nike Pro Hijab and Nike Plus Size collections. Although its
local plus size collection was much smaller at just 13 SKUs,
it showed an understanding that Asians generally have
smaller builds, hence do not require an offering as wide as
its global markets. Nike also paid attention to the
Southeast Asian region’s conservative culture by refraining
from introducing its pride-inspired BETRUE collection.
NextStepsfor Brands
Keep Tab on Subcultures: With increasing demand led by
the consumers, brands should leverage on subcultures to
spot emerging trends.
Omnilytics dashboard monitors trends across different
markets and brands with ease. With keyword search
function, retailers can assess the brands that stocked
“Stranger Things” along with trade performance.
Brand Positioning: For decades, Nike has been empowering
women in sports. The brand heightened this act by
announcing 2019 as “Year of Women” with MY and SG
well-represented of women exclusive capsules, most
notably for Pro-Hijab and plus size collections. Its hyped
BETRUE pride collection was not extended to the
Southeast Asia region, demonstrating an understanding of
the region’s conservativecultures.
Adidas knew well to play in a different space than Nike,
and positioned itself at the intersection of sports and street
styles for women with its “Now is Her Time” campaign.
While it is important for every retailer to have accurate
information about market demands, it is also about
mapping the findings against its brand positioning to
derive informed decisions and strategies that tactfully
capture its target market audience.
Website @adidas
JANUAR Y – DECE MBER 2019
Conclusion
Definition of Key Metrics
Metric Description
Assortment SKUs Count
The total count of stock keeping unit (SKU) i.e. the number of styles that a brand offers. In the report context, it is the total product count within a data
set.
Median Price The price of the product at the midpoint of the data set.
New-In
The products that are newly added to the retail website within the timeframe selected.
New-In Rate
The number of new products launched by a brand within the timeframe selected. It is calculated by dividing the new-in count over the total product
count within a data set.
Sell-Out
A product registers a sell-out event when it is indicated as out-of-stock or no longer published on the website.
Sell-Out Rate
Calculated by dividing the number of out-of-stock product count over the total product count within a data set.
Sell-Out Rate at Full Price
Signals consumers’ willingness to pay at full price. It is calculated by dividing the number of out-of-stock product count at full price over the total number
of out-of-stock product count.
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