Glasses on the run Newsletter #57
Hi,
I hope you are all well and will enjoy this short selection of stories from the business of running.
What was interesting in the business of running
Nike CEO John Donahoe is departing. Donahoe has been in the role for less than five years, which is not a lot for a company of Nike's stature. While Nike navigated well the challenges posed by the covid pandemic by focusing on its online sales, its continued focus on the direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel started to backfire in recent quarters as the company began losing popularity with everyday runners to the benefit of brands like Brooks, Hoka, and On among others. DTC generated 40.4% of Nike's revenues for the fourth quarter of the 2024 fiscal year (which ended on 31st May), but its revenues declined by 2% year on year. And while at the time Nike founder Phil Knight expressed support for Donahoe, three months later that has apparently changed and now Knight and the Nike board are bringing back from retirement former Nike executive Elliott Hill who will be taking over as President & CEO in October (CNBC).
Strava has launched a new Metro Academic program - enhancing its collaboration with academics and researchers in urban planning. It has extensive data from the activities its 125 million users post on the platform and recently its CEO Michael Martin shared that unlike many other online services, Strava is not planning to monetise that data. And with the new program it is encouraging collaboration with academics, researchers, and urban planners to help "enhance biking and pedestrian infrastructure in both urban and rural settings" (Strava).
Somewhat related, Strava is among the hobby apps that are part of a relatively new trend. At least some people are replacing the more traditional social media platforms with apps, such as Strava and Goodreads, focused on shared interests and activities they enjoy (The Guardian).
Apple introduced the 10th generation of its Apple Watch. Here is a review (The Verge) and a comparison against other existing models (The Verge). There is no new generation of the Ultra yet, which is likely to come at a later date.
In the same time, one of the key players in the wearables market and one Apple competes with its Watch - Garmin - has added a number of new features to some of its watches and cycling computers. Among them are Garmin Coach and Garmin Share, which interestingly bring Garmin closer to the area Strava operates in (Tech Radar).
In another running app development, Adidas is closing the Runtastic offices in Austria. Adidas acquired Runtastic in 2015 for EUR 220 million, but has been integrating it into its existing digital offering rather than keeping it as a standalone app and brand. So, it's not surprising that it now consolidates further its digital capabilities by moving its team members to fewer locations (Footwear News).
On the wave of excitement it generated, here is an overview of some of the most popular running shoes at this year's UTMB, which took place at the end of August. You would not be surprised to find out that the winner of the men's 175 km (109 miles) race Vincent Bouillard, who is an engineer at Hoka, actually ran with... Hoka (Run by Outside Online).
And finally, here is how scammers take advantage of the rising popularity of marathon running in Canada by reselling non-existent bibs to athletes looking to get into sold out races. Be careful (St. Albert Gazette).
As always, thank you for reading,
Momchil
