Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTVicki M. YoungWed, June 24, 2026 at 9:02 PM GMT+2 4 min readNike Inc.'s China business is in need of a shake-up — and the sportswear firm might have just figured out how to do it.A report from BNP Paribas Equity Research senior analyst Laurent Vasilescu said that per a Chinese media report Nike plans to cut off its key distributors in China beginning Jan. 1. The end result will be that the distributors will no longer be able to sell Nike products on any online platform. That would leave consumers with just one option: They will be able to buy Nike products only from the brand's official flagship website in China. It's a shift in focus to direct-to-consumer from brick-and-mortar.More from WWDEXCLUSIVE: Wang Yibo and Leah Dou Front 2026 Coco Crush CampaignMajor Sports Events Are Driving Cultural and Brand ImpactWall Street Sees Nike CFO Change as Strategic MoveDecember's second-quarter earnings report saw declines in Greater China and the Asia-Pacific and Latin America, or APLA, region. Revenue fell in Greater China by 10 percent, with online sales down 21 percent. Greater China footwear revenues also fell 10 percent in the quarter. At the time, Nike president and chief executive officer Elliott Hill said during an earnings call, "We are moving with urgency." He noted that the brand's China comeback is still in its early phase.Footwear News found that Nike's problem stretched back over five years, and that under the leadership of former CEO John Donahoe, the brand's DTC-first approach meant the sportswear firm could own consumer data and improve margins. But that also marginalized its wholesale partners such as Topsorts and Pou Sheng, partners that helped the brand build a robust retail network reaching millions of consumers at key retail outlets that include lower-tiered markets.Angela Dong, the local veteran who was CEO of Nike Greater China, stepped down from her role on March 31. She was succeeded by Cathy Sparks, who was named to the position of vice president and general manager of Greater China this past January. Sparks, a 25-year Nike veteran, was most recently vice president and general manager of APLA.BNP's Vasilescu noted that data from Pou Sheng and Topsports indicate that brick-and-mortar sales have been pressured for years, while online sales overall in China has been the growth engine for many sporting goods brands. But he pointed to one key risk with what could be the new distribution strategy."A potential push to eliminate online distributor sales would remind us of Nike's DTC push at the expense of wholesale partners in Western markets," the analyst said. "This strategy opened up shelf space for competitors and ended poorly for Nike. We believe the same could happen if it takes the same approach in China."Terms and Privacy PolicyEU DSA contactPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info