Nike's current rebuilding strategy is not exciting; inventory issues persist and the Jordan scarcity pivot is viewed skeptically due to waning brand relevance.

Nike's stock continues to hit its lowest level in 52 weeks. The stock declined overall in 2026 by more than 46%. The management team predicted a difficult year in their current fiscal year, and also hinted that the struggles could continue into the next fiscal year.

Although Nike's results are declining and revenues are falling year-on-year, this is not surprising. The management team expected this to happen . For the first quarter, they said the results were in line with their expectations.

They noted that Nike's business is performing well, but they are facing pressure in Nike sportswear, the Jordan brand, and in Greater China. They are taking deliberate steps to promote those businesses, but they stressed that the benefits of this work will take time.

What worries investors and the management team as well, in my opinion, is that they will face difficulty in clearing inventory even after reducing prices and offering discounts and promotions.

They noticed that some older, larger-sized sneakers sold for less than expected.

This has affected their future order books as they proactively work with wholesale partners to try to clear that excess inventory to create a healthy market. Since the older products are not selling, this means that the wholesale partners still have a lot of them in their stores, on their shelves, and in their warehouses, so they are not ordering new merchandise from Nike because they already have these unsold products.

And so Nike struggles to clear that stock. They are working with wholesale partners to find ways to offload that inventory.

They acknowledge that the consumer is cautious, and I agree with Nike.

One area where Nike is achieving success is in new products. Wherever they introduced new products, they experienced early success. And I agree that they needed new products, don't you?

They relied on old, popular products, and reintroduced them time and time again in different colors and with slight modifications, but in essence, it is the same product. The Air Force 1 and Jordan shoes sell very well for Nike, but they haven't released many new products that have become successful.

Okay, here's what Nike is doing for Jordan brand shoes . They will return to focusing on the scarcity model that was previously devised. They have over-supplied their iconic vintage products, so they deliberately reduce the size and frequency of classic Jordan releases.

In my opinion, these are the best products that Nike has. This is Nike's best intellectual property in the Jordan footwear portfolio. These are very popular products, and are sold for prices exceeding $200 per pair.

The latest release of classic "Jordan" shoes was priced at $215 per pair, wasn't it? This price is close to the highest average selling price in Nike's shoe portfolio, which is consistently one of their best-selling products.

Now, Nike is deliberately reducing the quantities of its most popular products in that category. I'm not sure about that. I do n't know if this strategy will increase sales or change the course of things.

Perhaps in the long run , I can see the benefits of that for the "Jordan" brand by creating more scarcity for the product. But I simply don't see it that way. I simply don't see it that way.

Incidentally, the Jordan brand does not become more popular over time. In fact, its popularity is gradually declining, as the new generation of children is less familiar with Michael Jordan and the successes he achieved in the NBA , isn't that right?

So, the reason I'm raising this issue is: wouldn't you, as a company, want to take advantage of this product at the most beneficial time, especially since the situation will only get worse from now on ?

I thought that was the case, but if you recall when Nike said a few years ago that it wanted to sell directly to the consumer, bypassing middlemen and focusing on building direct relationships with customers, I thought it was a good strategy with a reasonable chance of success, but it turned into a complete disaster for Nike, and they are trying to recover from it.

So, perhaps my thinking that this is a bad strategy might end up yielding good results for Nike. It remains to be seen , but the struggles at Nike continue, and what I've seen from the management team and their rebuilding strategy doesn't excite me much.