Value Investing with Legends · Friday, October 30, 2026
Jim Engle explains that Nike lost its historical monopoly on shelf space and control of distribution due to strategic miscues, such as moving heavily toward direct sales and cutting out wholesale partners, allowing agile newcomers like OnCloud to capture market share.
“They had better distribution and they also had technological advantages in terms of their manufacturing processes. They still have technological advantages. They still have a brand, but they no longer have that control of distribution they once had, and the control of share of voice.”
“They tried to go mainly direct, and they fired a lot of their wholesale channel, and that opened up A lot of shelf space for companies like OnCloud and others to suck into the vacuum. And that was a strategic blunder.”