The February 2019 strategic plan workshop: four priorities and a written SWOT

What it is

Khounlavong's internal title in Los Angeles was Sr. City Consumer Director. The workshop deck opened with the evolution of that role across functions, product categories and four consumer mindsets: the visionary, the sneaker obsessed, the trend maven and the sport inspired. His own review of the year noted that the business had no yearly or seasonal strategy to set direction.

The workshop deck is dated February 4, 2019. Its title was Nike LA Sportswear, Mindset Strategy, Strategic Plan Workshop. Several pages were still marked as work in progress.

What Khounlavong did

• Set four priorities: bring a consumer oriented and connected mindset, know and influence the market for growth, win at the moment of truth, and grow together.
• Set measures for each. Monthly feedback to the global and North America general managers. Digital growth ahead of physical stores. Key doors ahead of North America in retail sales growth and sell-through. Growth in the favorite brand indicator, in market share and in membership in Los Angeles.
• Set four long term goals: a top line strategy for the sneaker obsessed mindset, defined trade zones, accounts and doors, a new marketplace that joined physical and digital retail, and cross-functional alignment.
• Wrote the SWOT. Strengths included a strong product innovation roadmap, fully staffed cross-functional resources in Los Angeles, and local retail partners rooted in sneaker culture.
• Named the weaknesses: access gaps in trade zones along the I-10 corridor, in the Valley and in Orange County, a gap in women's points of distribution, no plan for a marketplace that joined physical and digital, the product offering under $110, and the need for an updated and purposeful influencer strategy.
• Named the threats: many accounts were based outside the West, a heavy reliance on collaborations, and infrastructure that was still evolving to support a city-led way of working.
• Committed to a quarterly pulse report on the business and to updated consumer profiles that were younger and more diverse.
• Set the influencer approach: a network inside and outside the sneaker industry, a purposeful roster, and one standard across categories.

Results

• The October 2019 plan addressed items the workshop had named: women's points of distribution under Empower Her, and trade zones and key doors under the top destinations plan.
• A launch that joined physical and digital retail followed on July 20, 2019, the Stranger Things scavenger hunt with SNKRS and BAIT.

At a glance