Top destinations and trade zones: where Nike Sportswear would win Los Angeles

What it is

Nike's city plan for Los Angeles counted 19 million athletes, five counties and 24 consumer zones, with a fifth of the retail density of other key cities. The city team had a map of consumer zones and must-win destinations in its fiscal 2019 to 2021 plan, written before Khounlavong arrived. By 2019 the city plan prioritized 13 consumer zones that drove 80% of Nike's incremental full potential opportunity.

Khounlavong's February 2019 workshop set out to build on that marketplace strategy and give it a sportswear orientation. It listed the gaps: access gaps in trade zones along the I-10 corridor, in the Valley and in Orange County, the need for a clearer hierarchy of accounts, a lack of Tier 1 points of distribution, and key trade zones and doors that needed review.

What Khounlavong did

• Set the task in February 2019, under the priority "win at the moment of truth": define the must-win trade zones and key doors, then obsess the key doors and the digital marketplace.
• Set out the attributes to sort partners by: authenticator, growth driver, distinctive market position, business health and partnership status.
• Named the top Nike Sportswear destinations for fiscal 2021 to 2023. The list held 37 doors plus BRS in Santa Monica: 2 premium access doors, 14 athletic specialty, 2 sporting goods and 3 soccer specialty, 9 Nike Direct, and 7 neighborhood boutique accounts.
• Set four criteria for a top destination: the most influential doors in the marketplace, doors that drive brand distinction and consumer connection, highest priority for product innovation and storytelling, and impact globally, across the city and in local communities.
• Chose three focus areas. Downtown and Hollywood were the most authentic retail destinations and were used to start energy. East and South Los Angeles were to grow by giving access to the underserved through Nike Direct and partner doors. Orange County was to be served digitally while Nike built infrastructure for later.
• Mapped each zone by consumer mindset, account, door and franchise. In Hollywood and West Los Angeles the focus was the sneaker obsessed, with doors that included Undefeated, Kith, BAIT, Revolve, Shoe Palace and Foot Locker.
• Used a door legend with four roles: anchor, energize, authenticate and serve.
• Included a product rule in the plan: right product, right destinations, right depth, all year, with assortments, depth and sizing set for the top destinations.
• Included the merchandising support for the top destinations: sell-in tools for West accounts, Los Angeles input to line planning, and sell-through data in season.

Results

• A named list of 37 top destinations for Nike Sportswear in Los Angeles, by channel, in the October 2019 plan.
• His 2019 resume records the distribution work as the elevation of key access points and the removal of bottlenecks in distribution.

At a glance