Nike digital sales slumped in 2024, leading to layoffs and — ultimately — the naming of a new Nike CEO, and all of this occurred as Nike’s competitor Fanatics continued its own multiyear streak of ecommerce growth.
At the end of 2024, Nike remained the Apparel & Accessories category leader in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 2000 Database. That database tracks the leading online retailers in North America by their annual ecommerce sales. There, Nike ranks No. 13 overall among online retailers, while Fanatics is No. 15.
However, as Nike pursues a course correction, Fanatics is narrowing the gap between the Apparel & Accessories category’s No. 1 and No. 2 players. In fact, that development proved to be one of the most interesting category-level stories in the 2025 State of American Ecommerce Report.
Why Nike has struggled during Fanatics’ rise in online retail
When Elliott Hill took over as CEO at Nike in September 2024, he inherited a company that grew web sales by double-digit percentages in 2020, 2021 and 2022 but spent the next two years watching those numbers decline. Part of this trend can be attributed to Nike’s own over-optimization for direct-to-consumer sales at the cost of relationships with its retail partners.
Digital Commerce 360 projects Nike’s online sales will reach $8.15 billion in 2025. That would be down 14.2% from 2024, but still not as deep as the 22.2% year-over-year decline that the company saw in 2024.
Nike web sales by year
As Hill implements his turnaround plan, he will need to change that trajectory, not only by improving Nike’s digital channels, which include its website and SNKRS app, but also by reinvigorating the brand through innovation at the product level. He will be helped in part by Tom Peddie, who Nike named as vice president, general manager in North America.
Fanatics’ ecommerce growth
While Nike was reassessing its path forward in 2024, Fanatics was charging ahead. The company’s web sales increased 28.9% year over year to $8.47 billion in 2024, Digital Commerce 360 estimates. That followed 46% year-over-year growth in 2023.
Fanatics web sales by year
Importantly, Fanatics still trailed Nike by volume. Nike’s online sales totaled $9.50 billion in 2024. Nevertheless, Fanatics extended a streak that has put it on pace to potentially overtake Nike in online sales in 2025, Digital Commerce 360 analysis shows.
Fanatics has accomplished this growth in the 2020s through a variety of means, relevant to both its sports apparel and collectibles business. First, it has signed deals expanding its reach across leagues and fandoms. These have included professional player-, team-, and league-level agreements, in addition to working with apparel brands such as Lululemon and Nike. Moreover, it has made major acquisitions, including its 2022 Mitchell & Ness deal, the 2023 acquisition of the wholesaler Fexpro and others. It has also branched into livestream shopping with its Fanatics Live platform.
None of this is to say that Fanatics is sure to replace Nike in the No. 1 Apparel & Accessories online sales spot in 2025. But the conditions are ripe if Nike fails to regain positive sales momentum.
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