Nike Says No To Amazon: Stops All Sales Of Merchandise On E-Commerce Giant’s Website

Nike (NKE) has reported stopped the sale of all its merchandise on Amazon (AMZN) as it focuses its attention on selling directly to consumers.

“As part of Nike’s focus on elevating consumer experiences through more direct, personal relationships, we have made the decision to complete our current pilot with Amazon Retail,” a Nike spokeswoman told CNBC in an emailed statement. “We will continue to invest in strong, distinctive partnerships for Nike with other retailers and platforms to seamlessly serve our consumers globally.”

The news of the sale halt comes after a pilot partnership with Amazon that started in 2017 to sell a limited product line through the e-commerce giant, Bloomberg reported. The partnership was part of an effort to control counterfeit Nike products, according to the news outlet.

According to the spokesperson, Nike will continue to use Amazon Web Services for its website operations as well as some mobile apps

Manufacturers such as Nike have reportedly been leery of selling products through Amazon as they could, in some cases, lose control of their brand. Nike’s decision to focus on selling direct to consumers is only fueled by a 30% growth in annual sales of $11.8 billion, according to the company’s Q4 fiscal year earnings in May 2019.

Shares of Nike stock were up 1.08% as of 10:59 a.m. EST on Wednesday whiles shares of Amazon stock were down 0.81% at the same time.