Nike Inc. has set the performance bar high.
Mark Parker, president and chief executive officer, said the company could add nearly $11 billion in sales by 2017, raising its revenues to $36 billion.
And a big part of that will come from apparel, which is expected to keep pace with its growth in recent years and add $3 billion in sales by 2017, expanding to more than $10 billion in annual revenue. Nike-branded apparel has been growing by nearly 40 percent over the past three years.
"We’ve been growing our women’s [apparel] business faster than we have our men’s business," Parker said at a meeting with investors.
The ceo and other executives were pitching the athletic giant, which already has over $25 billion in sales, as a growth company.
"There is more opportunity for Nike today than at any point in our history," Parker said. "Over the next decade, we will see the world’s middle class grow by over one billion consumers." Much of this growth will come from countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Trevor Edwards, president of the Nike brand, said the brand’s strength flowed from its focus on sports, which provides both excitement and technical inspiration as it seeks to meet the performance needs of top athletes.
"Sport is a powerful force," Edwards said. "It transcends the boundaries of distance, of language, of culture. Every single year gives us the new hope of a freshman class, the promise of a new phenomenal athlete and the anticipation of a new team on the cusp of greatness. The Nike brand lives and thrives with this … energy of sport."
The brand is also plotting rapid expansion on line.
Edwards projected that sales on nike.com would quadruple to $2 billion for 2017, up from sales of $540 million during the fiscal year ended May 31.
"The consumer landscape continues to see tectonic shifts created by the impact of digital," Edwards said. "The young consumer lives in a digital world. Digital is like oxygen. It’s omnipresent and indispensible. It’s everywhere and it’s always on."