Greater China accounts for about 13% of Nike's revenue and 15% of Adidas', making the world's second-largest economy a major competitive battleground for both clothing brands.
A new UBS note highlights a widening divergence, with Adidas gaining market share as Nike's turnaround struggles to gain solid traction.
UBS retail analyst Jay Sole wrote Monday that Adidas continues to outperform Nike in China, citing an industry expert who highlighted Adidas's stronger locally tailored products and marketing. Nike, meanwhile, faces weaker product momentum woes, inventory challenges and disruption from changes to its distribution strategy.
Sole's conversation with the industry expert and other findings raise further questions about Nike management's execution and its ability to refocus the business on product innovation and consumer demand after years of prioritizing woke cultural wars that only ended up with S&P Dow Jones Indices booting the company out of the S&P100 later this month.
Here's more color on Sole's conversation:
China athletic wear industry market conditions are have softened:
We hosted a call on September 4th with an industry expert to provide insight around how athletic wear sales are trending in China. The expert believes overall industry conditions have become more challenging over the last several months, with demand slowing versus earlier in the year. While consumer interest in
