{"id":21342,"date":"2025-12-19T06:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T04:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/nikes-china-conundrum-deepens-as-turnaround-stagnates\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:32:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:32:26","slug":"nikes-china-conundrum-deepens-as-turnaround-stagnates","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/nikes-china-conundrum-deepens-as-turnaround-stagnates\/","title":{"rendered":"Nike\u2019s China conundrum deepens as turnaround stagnates"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">The United States (US) sportswear giant\u2019s sixth straight quarterly sales decline in the country, including a 20% drop in footwear, underscores how a market once seen as a growth engine has become its biggest pressure point. Chief Executive Officer, Elliott Hill admitted on Thursday&#8217;s post-earnings call that &#8220;it&#8217;s clear we need to reset our approach to the China marketplace,&#8221; which accounts for roughly 15% of revenue.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Nike&#8217;s struggles in China are longstanding, and investors were never expecting a quick return to growth. But Hill&#8217;s aggressive push to refresh product offerings and cut legacy lifestyle lines has not shown even the slow, steady progress investors had hoped for.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Instead, margin pain is mounting: second-quarter gross margins fell about 300 basis points, hit by tariff costs and a glut of obsolete inventory. Nike&#8217;s stock is down 13% so far this year, on track for a fourth straight year of declines. The structural challenges are stark in a consumer market beset by fierce competition and shopper fatigue that is pushing prices down.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Hill acknowledged Nike had not invested enough in refreshing its Chinese outlets to boost foot traffic, but China\u2019s so-called monobrand retail landscape, where brands commonly operate their own stores instead of selling through third-party retailers, also limits Nike&#8217;s ability to replicate the multi-channel dominance it enjoys in the US.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21343,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-21342","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Nike is running out of time to prove its China playbook works","published_date":"2025-12-19 00:00:00","news_description":"Nike is running out of time to prove its China playbook works","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25051,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21342\/revisions\/25051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=21342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}