Case Studies

Nike: House Of Innovation

How might we create the most innovative direct to consumer experience in the world?

Market Foresight | Future-proof Innovation

Nike now makes $12.4 billion (36% of revenue) from Direct to Consumer sales

The Challenge

In 2015, Nike CEO and President Mark Parker set an ambitious revenue goal; $50 billion by 2020. The most innovative company in the world was going to need to up its game once again to reach this moonshot figure. A me-too strategy was not an option.

The Outcomes

‘The House of Innovation’, opened its doors in November 2018 and can be found on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street in New York. This was followed by a store in Shanghai and, undeterred by a turbulent 2020, Nike announced the launch of its next store on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

The Result

In 2020 36% ($12.4 billion) of Nike’s revenue comes from DTC activations. Nike invested in a marathon, not a sprint.

Read on to find out how a museum director, a restaurateur and a storyteller helped Nike shaped the future of retail…

Our Approach

To achieve this target we worked with the Nike Retail Innovation Experience Team to develop a Direct to Consumer (DTC) strategy. This would capture more revenue at a higher margin for the business. To future-proof Nike’s innovation plans, a collaboration with The Sense Network was the only choice for the Global Vice President of Nike Retail Experience.

How The Sense Network helped

We engaged radical thinkers and extreme users, including a museum director, a restaurateur and a storyteller. We needed to understand what constituted ‘state-of-the-art’ in retail and digital consumer experiences across the globe. Our task was to design a consumer journey that would exceed this benchmark. Using these insights as inspiration we created a retail experience. We identified the touchpoints that would communicate and demonstrate pinnacle Nike product and service innovations.