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Benzinga
Benzinga
Business
Anthony O'Reilly

On Running Shoes Won't Be Running Black Friday Deals Despite 'Price-Competitive Environment'

apparel and footwear

Swiss footwear company On Holding (NYSE:ONON) will offer no Black Friday deals in an effort to solidify itself as a premium brand, company officials recently said. 

"We’re going into this holiday season with a full price strategy," On Executive co-Chairman Caspar Coppetti said during the company's Q3 earnings call last week. "So we have no discounts coming up, and that’s against the backdrop of a very price-competitive environment. So we’re really staying true to the discipline that the premium strategy demands."

On's competitors don't seem to be following its lead. Sportswear brands Adidas and Nike (NYSE:NKE) started promoting Black Friday sales weeks before the official start of the holiday shopping season.

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HOKA, owned by footwear brand Deckers (NYSE:DECK), was promoting holiday running gifts on its website at discounted prices.

On Is Running Past The Competition

On's Q3 net sales were 794.4 million Swiss francs ($994.3 million), according to its earnings report. Its net income for the quarter was 118.9 million francs, up from 30.5 million francs during the same period last year. 

On raised its full-year sales guidance from 2.91 billion francs to 2.98 billion francs. 

Other companies seemed less optimistic about their future outlook.

Nike expects its fiscal Q2 revenue to decrease by low-single digits and gross margins to fall 300 to 375 basis points, Nike CFO Matthew Friend said during the company's fiscal Q1 earnings call in September. The company's Q1 net income was $700 million, down 31% year over year.

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HOKA sales are expected to grow by "a low-teens percentage versus last year," Deckers CEO Stefano Caroti said during the company's Q2 earnings call last month. That's down from the mid-teens growth it anticipated for the brand during the previous quarter.

HOKA and UGG helped lift Deckers' bottom line in Q2 as the brands saw an 11.1% and 10.1% sales increase, respectively, year over year while other Deckers-owned brands saw a 26.5% decrease, according to its earnings report.  

On's Tariff Resiliency 

Tariffs played a part in Nike and Deckers' decisions to trim their sales guidance, company officials said. 

"So as US consumers are beginning to see some price increases, it is impacting their purchase behavior within the consumer discretionary space," Deckers CFO Steven Fasching said during the earnings call. 

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Recent reciprocal tariff increases on certain countries may cost Nike $1.5 billion on an annualized basis, up from the $1 billion the company anticipated the prior quarter, Friend said during Nike's earnings call. 

On proactively raised its US prices before the tariffs were implemented, which led to "a slightly positive margin effect in Q3," company CEO Martin Hoffmann said during the Q3 earnings call. 

"So we are fully in control of our future," he added. "We will digest the tariffs and still be well above our long-term target." 

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Image: Shutterstock

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