“During the pandemic, Nike stuffed the market with Jordan 1, Air Force 1 and Dunks,” Matt Powell, a senior adviser at BCE Consulting and an expert on the footwear industry, said in a post on LinkedIn. “All of these programs are now on life support and may not ever recover.”

Donahoe outlined a restructuring plan in December to cut $2 billion in costs over three years in response to weaker sales. That includes slashing global headcount by 2%, including layoffs at its Oregon headquarters and its European hub outside Amsterdam. The layoffs and other belt-tightening measures followed a move to prioritize Nike’s own stores and website that has failed to produce the promised levels of profits and growth.

Weakness in those direct channels, which also missed expectations in the latest quarter, are a “reason for concern, as the activewear giant could be turning its core shoppers away due to lack of newness,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Poonam Goyal.

Donahoe said that the current fiscal year will be a “transition year” for the business as it kickstarts a “multiyear” cycle of introducing new products. The company is focusing on increasing the speed at which it gets products to consumers, but analysts have still voiced concerns that new merchandise could take too long to arrive. Evercore analysts including Michael Binetti said “truly transformational products won’t be scaled until” autumn of 2025.

Saunders said executives will now have to show results quickly.

“It’s not like the company is drifting aimlessly,” he said. “However, it needs to show some signs of progress and a sequential improvement across the new fiscal year.”

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(—With assistance from Kim Bhasin and Tim Loh.)

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