Nike Could Be Losing Its Lead in Online Running Shoe Traffic, Similarweb Data Shows

Nike is falling behind running shoe competitors when it comes to website traffic growth.

Between March 2022 and March 2024, traffic to Nike.com’s running shoe category has declined steadily, according to web traffic data complied by Similarweb. Whereas the Swoosh’s running segment had double the amount of traffic of its competitors in March 2022, other brands have since caught up, with Brooksrunning.com now rivaling Nike’s total traffic to its running category.

“Nike has been in a rut in the last year, after years of dominating sportswear and footwear in general, while challenger brands like Hoka or Brooks have done a good job at highlighting their value proposition for running,” said Ines Durand, Similarweb’s advisory services solution business manager, in a statement.

Overall, the data found that Hoka, Brooks and Asics all increased their traffic visitation between April 2023 and March 2024, compared to the prior year. Hoka.com saw the highest year-over-year growth rate, at 59 percent. Brooks saw 28 percent growth and Asics saw 25 percent growth. New Balance, which is a larger site in terms of total traffic than Hoka, Brooks and Asics, saw 14 percent year over year growth. Saucony, however, saw its traffic decline year-over-year.

“Shoppers are leaning more and more towards recognizable and specialty running shoes brands,” read the report, which was created in part by Durand.

When it comes to traffic sources, Similarweb found that direct traffic and paid search traffic — not referral traffic from websites and publishers — were responsible for most of the brands’ traffic growth. This suggests that consumers are aware and loyal to the brands they like and are broadly no longer looking to research which running shoes are the best for them.

“The overall increase in direct traffic by all players (except Saucony.com) reflects a potential shift towards well known running brands and highlights the importance of brand building and consumer loyalty,” the report read.

The data echoes other data points that suggest the Swoosh has lost momentum in running. Since the pandemic, Nike has lost share to smaller, running-focused brands like Hoka, Brooks and On, all three of which have found success with their niche performance offerings. According to the 6,020 U.S. teens who responded to Piper Sandler’s 47th semi-annual survey this spring, Nike was the top choice among teens’ favorite footwear and apparel brands. However, the Swoosh also lost share in every category in the survey for the first time in several years.

Outside of running, the Swoosh has recently faced slower sales trends and has been criticized for limited innovation.

Despie the challenges, a recent note from Morgan Stanley analysts led by Alex Straton suggested that Nike’s global sportswear market share has been “stable to higher” year-over-year as well as in the last four years between 2019 and 2023. It also pointed out that Nike has been the leader in market share gains in the sportswear industry since 2019.