Foot Locker has entered an “enhanced” relationship with adidas in which the brands will work together to improve product innovation, create elevated experiences and drive deeper customer connectivity. The partnership establishes Foot Locker as adidas’ lead partner in the basketball category and aims to drive more than $2 billion in retail sales by 2025, nearly triple the partnership’s revenue from 2021.
The deepened relationship will combine new product development, exclusive Foot Locker positioning, increased product allocations, shared marketing spend and an elevated premium presence across Foot Locker’s entire portfolio of banners, with a focus on key cities and communities that the companies jointly serve. Both retailers will increase their digital focus and accelerate the rollout of the adidas partner program at Foot Locker.
The collaboration will focus on adidas brands including NMD, Superstar and Stan Smith as well as the adidas influencer partnership portfolio. Additionally, adidas will provide Foot Locker with a dedicated team, created to deliver an elevated consumer experience both in-store and online to drive demand, and Foot Locker will play a prominent role in adidas’ new sportswear product division.
“We are delighted to be deepening our partnership with Foot Locker as we continue to execute our ‘Own the Game’ strategy,” said Kasper Rorsted, CEO of adidas in a statement. “Consumers will be at the heart of this exciting collaboration and will be able to experience the adidas brand and its key product franchises, as well as new product innovations at Foot Locker, stronger than ever before.”
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“We are excited to build on our partnership with adidas as we continue our strategy to broaden our selection of footwear and apparel for the sport and sneaker communities,” said Richard Johnson, Chairman and CEO of Foot Locker in a statement. “This close partnership will enable us to bring consumers even more unique, pinnacle products from iconic brands, as well as accelerate our push into apparel, adding new dimension to our assortment and bringing more customers into our ecosystem.”
Foot Locker’s enhanced relationship with adidas may help the retailer fill the gap created by its shift away from Nike. Nike products accounted for nearly two-thirds of total supplier spend for Foot Locker in Q4 2021, but Foot Locker is aiming to diversify its product portfolio as Nike pushes away from some retail partners to focus on its own DTC business and new store concepts.
In March 2022, Foot Locker announced a strategic shift to DTC led by both Foot Locker and “one of the Company’s vendors,” which likely referenced the yet-to-be-announced adidas partnership. Foot Locker’s diversification plan also calls for reducing the maximum spend for a single supplier to cap out at 55% by Q4 2022. The initial impact of this process will be revealed on May 20, 2022 when Foot Locker releases its first quarterly results since the new strategy was announced.
