Nike Looks To Boost Wellness Credentials With Nike Well Collective

As brands rush to get a piece of the $1.5 trillion wellness market pie, new products and experiences are being launched at an unprecedented rate to address consumers’ rising interest towards overall self-care. Category lines are blurring, with brands expanding to new product offerings in order to play across this broad industry space and gain wellness credentials. The latest company to review its brand strategy in a quest to incorporate wellness in its global offering is Nike, with the launch of Nike Well Collective. Here is how the brand plans to develop its wellness ecosystem:

Designing experiences to better serve wellness communities: Nike no longer wants to be seen as a sports and performance brand only. Its objective is now more holistic, aiming to link fitness to mindfulness and wellbeing more directly with this new strategic vision called “Nike Well Collective”, which will take form both via the brand’s app and stores. To support and execute its mission, the brand defined 5 pillars: movement, mindfulness, nutrition, rest and connection. The collective will therefore provide resources, inspiration and methods to promote physical wellbeing which encompasses movement, rest, breathing. Tools will be developed by 1,000 new fitness trainers globally and a team of medical professionals and researchers who will provide actionable ways to improve sleep, body image and other factors that play a role in holistic wellness.

Store strategy revamp: As of June 13th, all Nike Live stores are now becoming Nike Well Collective stores, shifting the focus to showcasing experiences, support and innovation geared towards holistic fitness, defined by the brand as “movement, mindfulness, nutrition, rest and connection”. For context, the Nike Live store format was designed to deliver a localized, high engagement discovery journey with digital innovation at the heart of the store experience. As shared by the company in a statement, “these digitally driven, member-focused spaces — with curated product assortments supporting women’s sport and lifestyle journeys and every moment in between — are the ideal backdrop to continue to improve and enhance how it serves holistic fitness and wellness”.

While this initiative is definitely relevant given the current rise in interest and purchasing power going towards wellness, research shows that consumers do not actually want a single solution or platform to cater to all facets of their wellness needs and priorities. Nike clearly has the credentials to play within this space given that sports and movement play an unquestionable role in one’s physical and mental wellbeing, but in trying to be everything to wellness enthusiasts, it might struggle to find its audience or drive engagement with its existing customers who already have their go-to targeted apps for meditation or nutrition for example.

Wellness is a hard market to define as it spans across many product categories and is approached differently based on one’s personal definition. In its future of wellness report, McKinsey broke down wellness under various sub-categories ranging from health and fitness to nutrition, sleep and mindfulness, which stems from consumer’s views and definition of the overall category. Given how so many factors in our lives impact our state of mental and physical health, it should come as no surprise that countless companies out there seem to be shifting towards becoming “wellness” brands. In fact, Amy Montagne, the VP/GM of Global Nike Women’s shared: “We’re a sport company, but I also see us as a movement and wellness company” - a perfect illustration of how brands who were already playing a role in improving customers’ health are now actively and explicitly looking to brand themselves as wellness businesses.