Case Study
Nike’s New Sports Knowledge
Underground
Nike, Inc.
Best Extended Enterprise Learning Program
October, 2013
Company Background
Nike, Inc. is an American multinational corporation that is
engaged in the design, development and worldwide marketing
and selling of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and
services. It is one of the world's largest suppliers of athletic
shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment,
Company At-a-Glance
Headquarters
Year Founded
Revenue
Employees
Global Scale
Customers/Output, etc.
Industry
Stock Symbol
Website
Beaverton, Oregon
1982
$28b
36,000 globally
Yes
Globally diverse
Athletic Footwear, Apparel & Equipment
Nke
www.nikeinc.com
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
Budget and Timeframe
Budget and Timeframe
Overall budget
Number of employees involved
with implementation
Number of contractors involved
with implementation
Timeframe to implement
Start date of the program
N/A
10-25 over the build period
2 main 3rd party vendors (one for the new
Reporting functionality & one for the front end
UI/UX)
Just under 12 months
July 2012
Overview
Nike’s New Sports Knowledge Underground (SKU) is an extremely robust digital
platform that is capable of delivering content (Nike product knowledge in the form of
Movies, Interactive Explore the Products, Tech Sheet PDF’s on product & technology,
Quizzes, Certifications, etc.) to anyone on the globe that has internet access. The
platform has full Learning Management System (LMS) capabilities, i.e., tracking users,
assigning curriculum, administering quizzes, issuing certifications, gathering feedback,
publishing content, the ability to customize the experience by Retailer or User group,
the ability to track all activity and an extremely robust Reporting tool. In addition, now
all of the company’s content on the site is “Consumer friendly” and is approved by the
Nike Brand team so it can be used anywhere and for any audience type.
The primary audience has consistently included just over 100,000 external (non-Nike
employees) Retail Sales Associates across the globe. In addition, the SKU platform is
heavily leveraged internally by Nike employees across the globe. As a result of the
launch of the New SKU, the new and emerging audience is the actual consumer.
Here’s some historical context: The Evolution of the SKU Solution:


2003 to 2007 – Launch of the proprietary Product Education platform or LMS
for Retail Sales Associates only and in North America only,
2007 to 2008 – rebuild the platform to accommodate double byte characters,
truly becoming a Global platform,
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 2
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground





2008 to 2009 - Launch Global accounts and conduct the first mobile solution
proof of concept on the Dell Axim X51,
2009 to 2010 – Launch the brand new SKU Mobile (Apple products only),
 SKU Mobile was a 2010 Brandon Hall Best Use of Mobile Silver
Award Winner,
2010 to 2011 – SKU Mobile continues to thrive and expand globally and a QR
Code Pilot in North America on the iPad is successfully completed,
2011 to 2012 – completely rebuild the SKU platform,
July 2012 – the NEW SKU platform is launched.
The NEW SKU is a web-based and mobile solution all in one, so it works with all devices
(desktop, tablets, or smartphones) and all browsers. The previous SKU Mobile was an
iOS or Apple only mobile solution, which was a great tool and worked extremely well.
However, since Nike does not provide any hardware for external Retail partners, they
are free to purchase whatever types of devices they want. The new SKU works with all
mobile devices thanks to the ‘Touch First’ or ‘Mobile First Responsive Design’
development methodology and approach. For those who are more technical, Nike built
the new SKU with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript.
Figure 1: Mobile
Source: Nike, Inc., 2013.
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 3
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
Nike’s primary goal was to provide a ‘Truly-On-Demand’ and ‘Just-In-Time’ product
education solution that could be used by a globally diverse audience on whatever
hardware (desktop, laptop, or mobile) they chose to use. In addition, the company
wanted to provide a solution with increased accessibility and a much more intuitive,
simpler, and easier to use interface for a newly expanded audience.
Nike also wanted to provide a very robust ‘Performance Support’ tool for its primary
external audience and a global product education solution that was available anytime,
anywhere, and for everybody.
Figure 2: Navigational Guide to the NEW SKU:
Source: Nike, Inc., 2013.
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 4
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
Figure 3: Module Page – all relevant content on this product is all on one page:
Examples of Product Module Pages
Source: Nike, Inc., 2013.
Figure 4: Module Page – All relevant content on this product is all on one page:
Source: Nike, Inc., 2013.
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 5
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
Outside of the primary goal stated above, the four main areas that Nike used as its
guiding compass throughout the Design & Development phases of the program were:
1. Consumer Friendly & Nike Brand approved Content,
2. Shareable Assets & Ability to add other (Retailer specific, Nike Brand heat videos,
user generated, etc…) content,
3. Elevated & Enhanced Site Experience,
4. Simplified Administration.
Nike absolutely achieved all of it goals. At the end of the day, the company created an
extremely robust, highly diversified and easy to use product education solution.
All content on the site is approved by the Nike Brand team for use with Consumers.
Figure 5: Nike Content
Source: Nike, Inc., 2013.
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 6
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
Nike’s platform allows other content to be added easily to either a Modules or Basics
page, and the company is able to share its content blocks with Retailers for their eCommerce sites.
Figures 6 and 7: Basics Pages examples:
Source: Nike, Inc., 2013.
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 7
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
The site experience is vastly enhanced, very intuitive and simple to navigate. Nike
simplified the administration of the site for its Global Admins and provided Global
partners a free translation tool in the SKU Information Station.
Figures 8 and 9: SKU Info
SKU InfoStation – internal development tool to build the Tech Sheets,
enable no cost translations & feed the Front end of the NEW SKU
All Tech Sheet content is in a database and layout tool now available to
Geos for translation or customization
SKU InfoStation
content text blocks are in a database that directly
feeds the SKU front end and can also be delivered
for other sites and uses
Source: Nike, Inc., 2013.
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 8
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
In addition to the Module Pages above, the enhanced Search feature, the Glossary, the
customizable Content Sets all contribute to a very powerful Performance Support Tool.
Figures 10, 11, and 12: Search Functionality:
Source: Nike, Inc., 2013.
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 9
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
Figure 13: Customizable Content Sets:
Source: Nike, Inc., 2013.
Business Conditions & Business Needs
Nike’s Sports Knowledge Underground (SKU) was initially created about ten years ago to
affect the dialogue at the “Moment of Truth.” Nike describes the Moment of Truth as
anytime, anywhere, that anyone is looking for information about Nike products to make
a buying decision. The traditional view of this, and the initial approach for the
company’s solution ten years ago was to provide a product education tool specifically
for Retail Sales Floor Associates (non-Nike retail, e.g., Finish Line, Sports Authority,
Dick’s Sporting Goods, etc.) that would help them learn more about Nike products so
they could speak more confidently when working with a customer in their respective
stores.
From experiences running a Retail Store and from all the feedback that Nike has
gathered over the years, the company knows that a Retail Sales Floor Associate is much
more likely to engage with a customer and talk about a product when they have
something meaningful to say about that product. That’s the Moment of Truth. Nike
can’t afford to have its product misrepresented or not have the Sales Associate properly
communicate the features and benefits of the product.
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 10
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
For the Retailer, it’s all about Sell-Thru and the profitability of the product that they’ve
invested in. Nike wants to ensure that when it comes to product that it has done
everything it can to help them convey the accurate product information to their
customers. Ultimately, Nike’s trying to help its Retail partners increase the Sell-Thru of
the Nike product they carry in their stores.
When business slowed down dramatically a few years ago for everyone, Nike realized
how much more important product education was for Retail partners. With fewer
customers coming through the doors, Retail partners needed to maximize those
encounters and convert (make a purchase) those fewer customers. In addition, the
downturn in business significantly reduced the time used for training and in many cases,
Retail partners completely eliminated product training. So on one hand you need
product training more than ever to drive sales, but on the other hand, you can’t afford
the labor hours to train floor associates.
Everyone (Retail partners and Nike) realized that they needed a solution that was more
readily accessible to the Retail Sales Floor Associate. They needed a solution that
offered more flexibility in the Retail environment and that was quicker and easier to
access. They also needed a solution that was device or platform neutral so Retail
partners could use whatever hardware they wanted to for their stores.
In addition, the Retail Sales Floor Associates wanted content that they could share
directly with the customer on the Retail Sales floor.
To address access needs, Nike launched SKU Mobile in 2010. Although the SKU Mobile
application proved to be an invaluable tool and it addressed the access needs, it had a
different interface than the company’s regular web solution and it only worked on Apple
mobile products (iPad & iPhone). Even though it was fully integrated (full LMS
capabilities) with the web solution, the interface was geared toward a Sales Associate
(as a Learner) and not so much for a Consumer.
To maximize access, Nike knew that it needed one application that would work on a
desktop, a laptop, and on all mobile devices. The company needed a solution with one
User Interface (UI). And it needed a solution that was device neutral. An application that
was scalable on a global level, and an application that was fully integrated. Nike knew it
needed a solution that was Consumer Friendly, so the Sales Associate could share
information with their Customer on the sales floor. Thus the NEW Sports Knowledge
Underground (SKU) was born.
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 11
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
Design and Delivery
The original design of the Sports Knowledge Underground (SKU) was patterned on a
subway system of learning, with the Blue line for Running, Yellow for Basketball, etc.
This subway-themed experienced that had served the company so well since the
inception of the program would have to be replaced because it was too linear and
prescriptive by design. Nike prescribed the learning paths for the user and dictated the
order of completion. The learner could only progress in the course once they passed the
quiz and didn’t have access to the individual content blocks (Product movies and
product detail sheets) until they completed the lesson. That made it hard to share
content with customers on the sales floor.
Nike would also have to say goodbye to the animated characters it used in the program
to narrate some of the movies and guide the learners through the different subway
stations or curriculum paths. The Global audience was not happy with this decision, but
it was imperative in order to make the content Consumer Friendly and to get the
necessary green light from Nike Brand partners. The partners have adapted well –
example below.
Figure 14: Global example:
Source: Nike, Inc., 2013.
As mentioned in the overview, Nike’s Design approach and Development methodology
for the NEW SKU was the ‘Touch First’ or ‘Mobile First Responsive Design.’ To
accomplish this, the company had to build with the end in mind, i.e., build for the
smallest screen first (the Smartphone), then a tablet size screen and lastly, a laptop or
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 12
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
desktop size screen. Nike needed all functionality for display and navigation to work
with a click and drag of a mouse and the touch, tap, or swipe of a tablet or smartphone.
The mobile device of choice is the tablet-sized device due to the resolution and screen
size.
One of the biggest challenges Nike faced was that the design of the previous platform
didn’t allow for Retail Sales associates to access content to share with customers unless
they had already completed those lessons. As mentioned previously, the earlier SKU
quizzed the learner on every product and the learner could not move forward until they
passed the quiz, so they couldn’t get access to the performance support materials or
tools until they completed the assigned lesson. Obviously, that was an obstacle to a
Retail Sales Floor Associate when trying to properly assist a customer and provide
meaningful information about Nike products.
So how do you build a learning tool that provides the necessary information for a Retail
Sales Associate, but still allows them to use it directly with a customer? You design and
develop a Consumer Mode toggle that immediately takes the screen from a traditional
LMS look and feel with quizzes, recommended learning, assignments, user progress,
etc., to one that removes all of that information and just displays product information.
As mentioned in the overview, Nike used a linear and prescriptive approach to ensure
that the Retail Sales Floor Associate completed all assigned lessons. The completion of
the quiz was a vital driver for motivating the learner to complete all assigned
curriculum. But since the company removed that from the design of the NEW SKU, it
needed different ways to motivate learners to ensure that they learned about new
products every season.
There were several ways in which Nike accomplished that. First and foremost, the
company designed an intuitive, easy to use interface that invited participation.
Secondly, it developed rich, engaging content. Nike put all related content on one page
(either a Basics page or a Module page) for one stop shopping. Next, the designers built
the NEW SKU to be fully customizable, i.e., the Retailer only sees the product or content
that they bought for their stores, thus not wasting payroll dollars learning about Nike
product that they didn’t have.
And lastly, Nike tracks all usage, all module completions, all downloads of PDFs, and all
quiz completions and awards points for all activities. These points are accumulated
every season for each employee and the company has been tracking them since the relaunch. The SKU Leader Board will officially launch next season and it will add a huge
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 13
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
peer motivational element to the solution. Included below are a few screen shots of the
Leader Board.
Figure 15: Leader Board:
Source: Nike, Inc., 2013.
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 14
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
Figure 16:
Source: Nike, Inc., 2013.
Measureable Benefits
As mentioned above, Nike quizzes the learner (the Retail Sales Floor Associate) on all
assigned products. The completion of the quiz was a vital metric for measuring the
success of the overall program, the participation rates, and the completion rates.
External Retail partners love these metrics as much as Nike does. The company still
tracks all of those completion metrics and has a robust Report Builder tool that the
Retail partners have full access to. They can see their daily, weekly, and monthly results
by Store, by District, and by Region. Nike has bench mark data for all Retailers regarding
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 15
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
their Participation Rates and Completion Rates with the old SKU and is comparing that
data to their NEW SKU data. So far, everyone is trending well above their previous rates.
In some geographies Nike is seeing a 90% + completion rate of assigned content.
Each Retailer in all Nike Geographies and Territories (i.e., North America, Greater China,
Korea, Japan, Western Europe, the UK, Brasil, etc.) drives the participation and
completion of their assigned training in different ways. Some Asian countries run their
own competitions and communicate results regularly.
However, Nike has said since the inception of the program that the only metric that
really matters to external Retail partners is whether they are increasing the sell-thru of
Nike products in their store. Nike has done several Sell-Thru studies (including of three
of its top five US based Retailers) that consist of measuring and tracking the Sell-Thru
data on several dozen Nike products over a six month period in two separate sets of
stores. The two sets of stores are similar in all respects. In one set of 20 stores, Nike
implements the SKU solution and in the other set, it doesn’t. Then the company simply
compares the Sell-Thru of all Nike products between the two sets of stores.
Every time the company has done this analysis the results are the same: the 20 stores
that have the SKU solution have significantly higher Sell-Thru on all Nike product
featured on the site. The typical increase across the board is 6-8%, but Nike has seen
many instances of double digit increases with a diverse group of Retail partners.
Fortunately, major Retailers have seen this type of increase with the SKU solution in the
past, so Nike hasn’t been asked to conduct any recent Sell-Thru analysis since launching
the NEW SKU. Retailers believe in the fundamental premise that if their Retail Sales
Floor Associates know about Nike’s product, they are more likely to sell more of that
product.
In addition, Nike receives feedback every season through the feedback mechanism that
includes anecdotal examples of how Retail Sales Floor Associates used the solution on
the sales floor to actually sell a product to a customer. They share the content (mainly
the movies) on the sales floor with their customers to actually close the sale. When a
customer can hear directly from the Nike Designer or Developer on how they built the
shoe or what the design inspiration for the shoe was, they love it. It moves them to
purchase.
Prioritization on what functionality was released first and what would be in future
enhancements came directly from retailers. Nike conducted a Global Summit at its
World HQ and had attendees from every one of the Geographies in attendance. These
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 16
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
attendees work directly with Retail partners and conducted meetings with them prior to
attending the Summit to hear what their priorities were. The company built its project
plan and development sprints based on that information.
Nike had a release in April of 2013 that showcased enhanced functionality with the
Message Board, Certifications program, Feedback system, and a new Survey tool. Right
around the corner from that was the launch of the new and exciting Leader Board with
gamification mechanics. With the power of the Leader Board and the anticipated
success, Nike hopes to have a National Nike Product Knowledge Contest to see which
Retailer has the best Nike product knowledge in the country and globally.
Lessons Learned
Spend as much time as necessary in the planning and design phase and don’t rush to
start building. Plan the work and then work the plan. Make sure that you get input from
all users and all audience groups before you start the project, as Nike did. Manage
expectations and communicate frequently, especially if you have a Global platform. Be
willing to push something out to a future release if performance is going to be an issue.
And finally, plan the appropriate time and resources for platform stabilization,
performance optimization, bug fixes, and development for future enhancements.
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 17
Nike’s New Sports
Knowledge Underground
About Brandon Hall Group
With more than 10,000 clients globally and 20 years of delivering world class research
and advisory services, Brandon Hall Group is the most established and well-known
research organization in the performance improvement industry. We conduct research
that drives performance and provides strategic insight for executives and practitioners
responsible for growth and business results.
Brandon Hall Group has an extensive repository of thought leadership research and
expertise in our primary research portfolios — Learning and Development, Talent
Management, Sales Effectiveness, Marketing Impact, and Executive Management.
At the core of our offerings is a Membership Program that combines research,
benchmarking, and unlimited access to data and analysts. Our members have access to
research and connections that help them make the right decisions about people,
processes, and systems, coalesced with analyst advisory services tailored to help put the
research into daily action.
The Value of Membership
The Brandon Hall Group Membership Program encompasses comprehensive research
resources and an array of advisory services. Our Membership Program provides:
 Cutting-Edge Information – Our rigorous approach for conducting research is
constantly evolving and up-to-date, providing your organization with current and
future trends, as well as practical research insights.
 Actionable Research – Your membership includes advisory services and tools that
are research driven and provide you a breakthrough approach to addressing
immediate challenges and opportunities inside your organization.
 Customizable Support – Whether you are an executive or entry-level practitioner
our research and analyst insights can be leveraged at an individual level and
across the entire organization. We realize that every organization has unique
needs, so we provide multiple analyst and research access points.
 Community of Peers – We realize the value of connecting with your peers and
being part of a community that is focused on continuous improvement. Your
membership provides you with personal connections to fellow professionals.
 Unlimited Access – Every member of your team has the ability to utilize research,
best practices, and advisory services when they need it most.
To learn more about Brandon Hall Group, please call us at (561) 865-5017 or email us at
success@brandonhall.com.
© 2013 Brandon Hall Group. Not licensed for distribution. Page 18