Nike Men's Running, North America: a $1B business in a contracting category

What it is

Running had the halo. Elite runners wanted to wear Nike. The halo was not cascading down to the everyday consumer.

What Khounlavong did

• Ran the North America launch of the Air VaporMax, selecting the doors with partners and building the product flow, while Nike's global team seeded the franchise through The Ten with Virgil Abloh and Off-White.
• Drove adoption of a new footwear line plan across the category.
• Optimized the pricing architecture for the North America running footwear business.
• Led the category's effort to learn, understand and support the lifestyle consumer.
• Built the market share and competitive analysis that framed the category's response.
• Carried the Pegasus, Free and Flyknit franchises, and launched the Vaporfly after Breaking2.
• Balanced wholesale sell-through and direct margin across 5,000+ points of distribution.
• Worked back through factories, warehouses and outside partners on custom repackaging, numbered pairs and special deliveries.
• Built the category's pricing architecture across five deck versions, assigning each price band Amplify, Attack or Fortify, with a focus on $100 to $160.
• Set sell-through expectations by launch tier: 90, 45, 14 and 1 day.
• Itemized $66.0M of gaps in the spring 2018 line and built $60.2M of requests to close a season running 17.8% under target.
• Led New York market travel in December 2016 with run crews and 21 Mercer.
• Developed the Zoom Fly energy launch strategy.
• Built a retailer-friendly assortment template that was adopted across categories.

Results

• More than $1B in men's footwear revenue carried.
• VaporMax launch day, March 26, 2017: 100% sell-through on Nike.com men's, at 21 Mercer and at Nordstrom.
• By fall 2017 the VaporMax Flyknit was the number two men's model by bookings.

At a glance