NBA All-Star 2011 in Los Angeles: the distribution plan, door by door

What it is

The 2011 NBA All-Star Game was played in Los Angeles. Khounlavong had arrived in August 2010 as the lead Nike Sportswear rep in the territory. "Own All Star in LA" was one of his stated goals for the fiscal year, beside leading Kobe Bryant product distribution.

The aim was to make Nike successful at the territory level, with a precise view of which locations needed which assortment and how many pairs. He named two obstacles: a lack of distribution information and a short timeline. The work ran from December 2010 to February 2011, at the same time as seasonal selling, order gathering and preparation for the MAGIC trade show.

What Khounlavong did

• Built the All-Star line plan for the Basketball and Nike Sportswear categories, and communicated it to the categories. Kobe Bryant silhouettes were part of the line plan.
• Brought the key stakeholders together and created an action plan that ran in the background while orders were being entered.
• Worked through the selling season and holiday time constraints, and met with the local team to choose the doors.
• Built a distribution plan that cross referenced doors with styles, and set the unit strategy and revenue targets.
• Worked with the category sales managers so the territory strategy lined up with each category, and so the number of allocations was right down to the door.
• Managed the All-Star distribution process, with check points for the others on the project.
• Filed the line plan under his goal to balance buzz and business: map the boutique business, then commercialize it with territory and national partners.

Results

• Boutique sell-through averaged 67.4% across nine doors.
• He recorded the outcome as clean and clear distribution of product in the right locations, the correct number of allocations, and turn key execution.
• In his words in 2011, the plan gave Nike "a surgical focus on the correct locations" and spoke to consumers where they lived.
• His 2013 account of the weekend: the weather did not cooperate, and the excitement across the city did.
• No All-Star planning file survives in the archive. The plan is documented in his fiscal 2011 review, his 2011 list of accomplishments and his resumes.

At a glance