C
huck Couch doesn't hide
from reality.
He knows the numbers
don't lie. Mizuno completed
2016 holding the sixth
position in both units sold
and dollar sales in the run
specialty channel, according to data from Sports
Marketing Surveys USA, sitting much closer to
seventh-place Hoka One One than to fifth-place
Nike. A mainstay on running specialty store
footwear walls for the last two decades, recent
years haven't been kind to Mizuno. Despite having
two of the channel's steadiest performers in the
Wave Rider and Wave Inspire, other models in the
Mizuno lineup have struggled to gain traction while
established names such as the Precision, Alchemy,
Elixir and Nirvana have disappeared. At the same
time, some veteran leaders in the Mizuno running
enterprise departed, including former running head
Fritz Taylor, now the vice president of running at
Under Armour, as well as veteran sales executive
Dave Lambert. Those internal troubles, of course,
coincided with the market share-snagging plays of
upstart brands such as Hoka and Altra as well as
run specialty's downward turn after years of surging
annual growth. As a result, Mizuno's inventory
backed up, revenue declined and company leaders
were left hunting for answers in an increasingly
complicated marketplace.
4 runninginsight.com © 2017 Formula4media LLC.
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After some
sluggish years,
Mizuno has hit
the reset button
with renewed
optimism for
what's ahead.
BY DANIEL P. SMITH
MIZUNO
MOVE
ON
THE
Mizuno Men's Wave Horizon
The brand
is working
to gain
traction.
