6 Lessons from Nike’s $34 Billion Retail Empire for Ecommerce Entrepreneurs

I’ve always been a fan of Nike. Their products are comfortable, fashionable, and while pricey, useful for running or training. I know they have some ethical issues with their manufacturing and what not, but still, I’ve admired them as a company.

As a writer and marketer, I wanted to get a deeper understanding of the path they took to become such a large and successful company. So I read Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, Nike’s founder.

Regardless of whether you like Nike or not, it’s a beautifully written book I highly recommend to any entrepreneur and nonfiction reader.

I learned a lot about their story, from how Knight created the behemoth out of his mere passion for running to how they almost went bankrupt until a Japanese bank saved their asses and much more.

Since I'm a writer at heart, I wrote some of the main learnings I took from their story, and how the ecommerce entrepreneurs from this subreddit can use them to grow their business.

Lesson #1: Ask for Forgiveness, Not Permission

Phil Knight started from the bottom, with nothing on him. He had no business experience — he launched the business as soon as he finished his graduate degree in Stanford — no connections, and no money. While his father gave him some money to start, he had nothing.

How did he start then? By executing his vision relentlessly.

After graduation, he went on a round-the-world trip, exploring different countries: India, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and France, among others. Originally, however, his trip had one goal: go to Japan and pitch Onitsuka — a leading Japanese shoe manufacturer — to resell their shoes.

He didn’t even have a company set up, a partner, or money, yet he went to the headquarters and talk to the company’s senior managers to get the partnership done and make the first order. All without speaking Japanese, with a business plan, or anything.

He had studied the shoe business when he attended Stanford, but besides that, he had nothing on him. Instead of asking people whether that was a good idea, trying to secure funding, or getting everything set up before he was ready to pitch Onitsuka, he reverse engineered the process and started from the end goal (becoming a reseller) and built the business from there.

Surprisingly enough, he got to convince the Japanese to let him resell their shoes in the West Coast. That's how Blue Ribbon Sports, which eventually would become Nike, got started.

Takeaway: It’s easy to think you need to do certain things right before you start your business — ecommerce or not. Time after time, I’ve personally seen successful people get shit done regardless what other people say. This is the case of Phil Knight, and it definitely applies to many other businesses.

Lesson #2: Hustle Your First Sales

Getting the first few sales, validating your product, and getting feedback from the customers is a highly challenging process for most ecommerce entrepreneurs.

I remember when I launched my ecommerce business. Instead of building a list to pre-sell and build some hype, I waited until launch to start marketing my store. But then, I did what I believe most first-time ecommerce store owners do: I started reading every article I could, trying to do everything at once: SEO, content marketing, Facebook ads — you name it.

In reality, it’s much easier to go where your customers hang out and sell to them. This is exactly what Phil Knight did.

Once he got his first stock of shoes in his house, he took his Plymouth Valiant, stocked it with them, and went to different running competitions selling the shoes face-to-face to the runners themselves. (Here’s a photo of the van Nike salespeople used to sell their shoes in the early stages of the company.)

Selling to people in running competition is the ultimate “growth hack:” you go where your customers are, and sell your products to them, learning a lot about their needs, preferences, and interest along the way.

Takeaway: When you are starting, do whatever it takes to make your first sales. Call people, go visit your customers, talk to them face-to-face, or whatever it is you need to do to make a sale. As Paul Graham says, “Do Things that Don’t Scale.”

Lesson #3: Niche Down Your Positioning

When you're getting started, your lack of funding or revenue will push you to make a sale to anyone who’s willing to buy from you. If only it was that easy.

To make sales consistently and make your marketing effective, you need to position your business. That is, define who you want to sell, what you want to sell, what’s so special about you, and how you help your audience.

Nike got it right from the start. Phil Knight was a running buff. He ran in college and knew the kind of shoes runners wanted. Sure, this doesn’t replace any kind of market research, but it guarantees a deeper understanding of the issues that affect the target audience.

Running wasn’t popular back in the 60s, but niching down to the almost non-existent running community helped him separate himself from other companies.

Takeaway: Niche your business. It will scare you at first, but it will be what separates you from all the other competitors in your industry.

Lesson #4: Partner with Experts

When you think of Nike, you probably don’t associate it with an innovative company like Apple or Amazon. Yet Nike probably is the most innovative sports apparel company in the world.

Phil Knight wasn’t an innovator — he was the Steve Jobs of the business, making orders, focusing on sales, and organizing the company. The man who helped take Nike from a small company was Knight’s former track-and-field coach, Bill Bowerman.

Bill Bowerman not only was one of the greatest running coaches of all time, but he also invented the modern running shoe sole. Literally. Before that, people ran with sneakers or shoes that had no kind of technology to help runners sustain faster or longer races.

(TIL fact: Bowerman created his first soles with his wife's waffle iron. Here's a picture of it.)

With this innovation, Nike made a huge dent in the industry, separating itself from the rest, and building momentum on the running industry that was just starting to grow. Nike became the company that was for and by runners.

All it took was having the right partner, a man who was an expert in the field.

Takeaway: If you’re not an expert in whatever you sell, it pays well to partner who understands more than you about the industry; someone with more connections, money, or technical expertise.

Lesson #5: Partner with Influencers

Just like partnering with an expert can reap huge dividends, the same applies to influencers. I’m sure all of you are aware of the importance and benefits of influencer marketing. Nowadays, the concept has been beaten to death. But this is exactly what Nike used to become the #1 sports brand in the world.

Back in 1984, when Nike was already a large company, they took NBA's 1984 draft third pick, Michael Jordan, and created a shoe brand around him, the famous Air Jordans. This would eventually help Nike 4x their growth in 10 years, become a “cool” brand, and expand their influence in a new industry: the urban market.

Takeaway: Use influencers to increase your reach in a new audience. Instead of focusing on a 1-time gig, consider associating with someone for the long-term.

Lesson #6: Develop a Powerful Tagline

If you think about Nike, you probably remember it for its tagline, “Just Do It.” This tagline is what helped Nike solidify its brand.

(TIL fact: the inspiration to the tagline came from the last words of a well-known Utah serial killer, as you can see in this post.)

The power of this tagline is that it’s neither cheesy nor it sounds like the typical corporate bullshit no one believes in (e.g., “We Care About Our Customers”), but rather it represents the spirit of runners and athletes alike.

While you may not be able to come up with a tagline as powerful or influential as this one, you too should work on finding a tagline that represents your brand and your audience.

Takeaway: Summarize your brand’s value proposition and spirit with a tagline. It’s the simplest and most scalable kind of advertising. Once people associate you with it, you’ll get a positive association in your customer’s mind.

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TL;DR: Nike is a highly innovative retail and fashion business. The foundations of its success can be implemented by any ecommerce entrepreneur. If you want to emulate its success, do what they did:

1. Don’t ask for permission to start

2. Do whatever it takes to make your first sales

3. Niche down

4. Partner with experts

5. Partner with influencers

6. Develop a tagline that represents your brand

BTW: I’ve created a long-ass guide where I explain all of this with greater detail, plus actionable steps for ecommerce entrepreneurs to learn how to take each of the six lessons in their stores.

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