Sneaker Sales: Foot Locker's Big Plans for 2025

Foot Locker is expecting a tough year ahead in the sneaker market. The company is bracing for more discounts in 2025. This is due to Nike, its biggest partner, clearing out old stock with markdowns. Nike is trying to fix its problems by selling old shoes at a discount. This is a big deal because Nike makes up about 60% of Foot Locker's sales. Foot Locker's recent results show a mix of good and bad news. They made more money than expected but sold less than predicted. For the next year, they expect profits to be lower than what experts guessed. However, they think sales might go up by 1% to 2. 5%. This is better than what analysts thought. The company made $49 million in the last three months of 2024. This is a big improvement from the $389 million loss they had the year before. But sales dropped by nearly 6%. This is partly because they had an extra week of sales the year before. Foot Locker's CEO, Mary Dillon, says the company's plans are working. They are focusing on making stores better and selling more from different brands. This includes companies like On Running, Hoka, and Ugg. They are also fixing up old stores and moving some to better locations. This will cost them $270 million, but they expect to close some stores too. The company's biggest issue is in the Asia Pacific region. Sales there dropped by 14. 1%. This is mostly because of a big drop at their atmos banner. They are closing some stores in South Korea, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. They will also rely on a third party for operations in Greece and Romania. Foot Locker's Champs Sports banner is doing better. Sales there went up by 1. 8%. But their WSS banner had a drop of 3. 3% in sales. The company's namesake chain saw a 5. 5% increase in sales. Foot Locker is trying to fix its problems by focusing on different brands and fixing up stores. But they still have a lot of work to do. They need to deal with Nike's discounts and figure out how to compete with direct-to-consumer sales. This will be a big challenge for them in the year ahead. Nike's new CEO, Elliott Hill, is trying to fix the company's problems. He says deep discounting is to blame for their issues. Nike is trying to sell more shoes at full price on their website. But first, they need to get rid of old inventory. This is a problem for Foot Locker because it makes it more likely that customers will buy directly from Nike. Foot Locker is trying to fix its problems by focusing on different brands and fixing up stores. But they still have a lot of work to do. They need to deal with Nike's discounts and figure out how to compete with direct-to-consumer sales. This will be a big challenge for them in the year ahead.