Major players in the sportswear retail space are experiencing some troubles at the moment, with some warning the industry is in for a rough 2024.

The kingmaker, Nike, recently has taken cost-cutting measures that have recently included cutting 1,700 jobs, or 2% of its workforce. This move came after Nike in December lowered its full-year sales outlook while announcing that it will undergo a $2 billion cost-cutting initiative over the next three years.

• CFO Matthew Friend told analysts on the company’s most recent earnings call that factors such as the US dollar’s effect on foreign currency and lower consumer demand over the holidays are making the equation much more difficult for the brand.
• Outside of layoffs—some of which quietly started at the end of last year—Nike said it’s aiming to simplify its product assortment and lean more on automation and technology to trim the fat.

What’s going on? On a macro scale, retailers—sportswear or otherwise—are dealing with challenges such as disruptions within the global supply chain, shifts in consumer behavior and preferences, and the transition to digital retail platforms, Smirna Kulenović, editor at Next Luxury, told Retail Brew via email. But she said that’s not all that’s at play.

Keep reading here.—KM

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Within 15 minutes of listening, Simon Kringel found himself humming a Super Bowl ad.

“Ooh, ooh, Temu…Ooh, ooh, Temu, all of my wishes came true.”

“It was pretty immediate,” Kringel, founder and director of unmute, a creative sound agency that has worked with clients like Lego and eBay, told Marketing Brew. “It has that annoying flavor to it. You don’t want to be stuck with it, but you are.”

After the game, Kringel might not be the only one cooing (perhaps through clenched teeth) the saccharine refrain that aired around half a dozen times on Sunday night. It’s part of a spending wave that’ll see Temu (pronounced “teh-moo,” as the jingle reminds us) spend an estimated $3 billion on advertising this year.

Keep reading here on Marketing Brew.—RB

Shrinkflation, when brands make their products smaller, often undetectably so, and charge the same price, has struck a nerve with politicians in France. “C’est scandaleux” is how French finance minister Bruno Le Maire described the practice, and in December France submitted a draft decree to the European Commission that would require supermarkets to alert shoppers with labels or signage when products have been shrinkflated.

Now the opprobrium is coming from major politicians on our shores.

On Super Bowl Sunday, as Americans shoved snacks—including some that have been shrinkflated—into their gaping maws, The White House released a video of President Joe Biden decrying shrinkflation.

Keep reading here.—AAN

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