Dunham's football cleats: from 45% share to 65%

What it is

Dunham's Sports was a sporting goods chain based in Waterford, Michigan. A profile Khounlavong kept in May 2006 counts 140 doors in 11 states and lists a cleat business of $2.7M a year as a strength of the account.

In July 2006 Nike's Global Analysis group was preparing a competitive report on Under Armour for senior management, timed to that company's quarterly earnings. It asked the field for account and market information. The request reached Khounlavong on July 19 with a deadline of noon that Friday. He answered on July 20.

What Khounlavong did

• Reported football share at Dunham's: Nike 45%, Adidas 30%, Under Armour 8%, all other 18%. He noted that Under Armour's share was held down by its own allocations.
• Reported that Under Armour cleats were 60% sold through with three to four weeks of peak football business remaining, and that its growth had cost Adidas and Reebok more than Nike.
• Compared price. Under Armour's Hammer was selling slower because it sat $15 above Nike's Land Shark.
• Named the Nike models driving the business with their sell-through: Vick Shark 25%, Vick D 25%, Super Speed 25% and Blade II TD 20%. He called them the main leverage point for gaining share in summer and fall 2007.
• Looked ahead to baseball. Under Armour would enter for spring 2007, allocate its units as it had in football, and lift the allocations on April 1. He gave the planned baseball share: Nike 47% of units and 51% of dollars, Easton 27% and 25%, Under Armour 6% and 10%.
• Carried the attack on Under Armour football as a category priority in fiscal 2009, under growth with the high school team athlete.
• Changed the assortment on the wall. Reebok's Thorpe was replaced with more Nike Land Sharks, and Adidas was reduced to a single model, the Corner Blitz.

Results

• Nike football at Dunham's was up 36% in June 2006, then up 31% and 40% in the first two weeks of July.
• Dunham's football cleats as a whole were up 84% in June 2006 and up 26% in July to date. He credited Nike as the reason.
• Dunham's football business with Nike grew by more than 15% for summer and fall 2007, recorded in a sales program request of April 2007.
• Nike reached 65% share of football at Dunham's for summer and fall 2009.
• His January 2007 list of accomplishments names Nike the number one football brand in his accounts.

At a glance