For most folks, once they’re semi-regular runners, cost and turnover of shoes becomes a factor.
Running has an entire spectrum of needs, personally If Nike is shocked $75-$80(mid $50s after discount https://www.nike.com/w/mens-running-shoes-37v7jznik1zy7ok?sort=priceAsc) isn’t competitive with pricing for other brands (Asics and New Balance are easily had for mid-$30s on sale) then I have a bridge to sell them. I(with most people) are not training for Boston, and don’t want or need whatever bullshit is sold along with 2-20x the price tag for a pair of shoes to sweat in.
Feigning surprise their incredibly expensive pricing which pushed away the top of their marketing funnel impacts the middle and end of their funnel should be shame on their marketing and analytics team. That goes for any sport, their shit is overpriced and I couldn’t give a shit about their brand.
When a company decides to put shareholder profit above customer engagement and availability, it shouldn’t surprise them when people don’t want to engage with that brand anymore.
Sounds like Nike wants people to think it cares about running only when it sees that its profits as a collectors item fade since less and less people have disposable income for shoes. My Nike fund can’t build up when all my extra money now goes to the grocery store, mortgage, and energy bills.
Any reasonable changes to restore face with the running community would mean eating into profits, which shareholders won’t like, and they can’t publicly say they need to do it to save the brand.