Foot Locker executives on Wednesday said the retailer is making progress on its efforts to increase the assortment of brands outside of the Nike ecosystem.
In a call with analysts discussing third quarter results, Foot Locker president and CEO Mary Dillon said that the chain’s brand mix diversity outside of Nike increased to 36 percent of sales in Q3, from 32 percent this time last year. This progress is in line with the retailer’s goal to have more than 40 percent of its brand mix be outside Nike by 2026.
While Nike still remains the top brand at Foot Locker, executives highlighted other popular labels at the retailer that made waves in Q3 across a variety of categories.
In the perfomance running category, the Deckers-owned Hoka brand and the On label were two top performing brands at Foot Locker. The On brand is currently available in 420 Foot Locker doors, ahead of the retailer’s plan to enter 350 doors this year. Hoka has been added to 50 doors since last quarter, bringing its total door count to 150.
“We remain bullish on our partnership with these exciting newer brands and we’re planning for even more door count expansion across these two brands next year,” Dillon said.
In the performance running category, Dillon also highlighted gains in Asics and Brooks. Crocs and Ugg were standouts on the lifestyle side, with Ugg becoming one of Foot Locker’s “top footwear vendors” for the third quarter, according to Foot Locker EVP and chief commercial officer Frank Bracken.
“From a lifestyle standpoint, Ugg played a meaningful role in our business this back to school, especially for our female consumers,” Bracken said, highlighting the Ugg Tasman as a standout style. “Their strong brand connection to the fashion forward consumer gives us confidence that this trend will continue through the holiday season.”
Bracken also highlighted enhanced inventory and marketing with the New Balance brand, Rihanna’s new collaboration with Puma (the Fenty Creeper Phatty) and “increased supply of trend right Adidas models like Samba, Gazelle and Campus.”
At the same time, Foot Locker emphasized its existing partnership with Nike and touted strong sell-through of some Nike and Jordan models.
“Our relationship with Nike is strong,” Dillon said. “And I’d say we’re very aligned on the areas that we can complement each other in the marketplace, and drive growth.”
These areas, Dillon said, pertain to an emphasis on basketball and kid’s sneaker culture.
“Nike, as well as all of our brand partners, I think appreciate the investment that we’re placing in the Lace Up plan,, which is simply raising our game as a retailer in the ecosystem,” Dillon said.
The exec said Foot Locker had delivered solid results that showed progress in the retailer’s “Lace Up” plan, which it rolled out in March. This multi-pronged strategy aims to increase market share and grow sales to $9.5 billion by 2026. It includes diversifying the brand portfolio, rolling out new store formats focused on an off-mall presence, maximizing the loyalty program and investing in technology.
