Nike breaks up with Amazon, deciding everything should happen at Nike.com
(Gasp). Wait. (Gasp)... Amazon doesn't take rejection well. But it just got dumped by Nike. It's ending the 2-year relationship and moving out because it doesn't want to sell its gear on Amazon.com anymore.
We smelled this ghosting before it happened... Nike CEO Mark Parker was replaced by eBay's former CEO last month — and he's already flexed his ecommerce muscles by going directly to consumers online instead of via Amazon. That move could lose the love of Prime members and their "ship 2-day-free or it's not me" policy. But here are 3 big benefits to owning your own online shopping:
- You get customers' email addresses. Then you can pepper their inbox's promotions tab daily with reminders that you exist and sell things.
- You don't get middlemen. Cut out the platforms that may take a cut of every sale of your goods on their sites.
- You control the customer experience. Nike.com is a sleek, ripped website. Amazon.com isn't. Better looks leave customers happier and willing to pay higher prices.
The real winner here is Shopify... If you buy something online, there's a good chance it's powered by Amazon or Shopify. Shopify lets retailers control the front-end website, while it handles the back-end logistics. Nike may or may not become a Shopify customer — but if other big brands ditch Amazon, Shopify wins.