Nike Runs with Alpha Online

When Nike Inc. decided to add an e-commerce layer to its Web site-to sell the shoes and clothes it promotes online-staffers didn't have much direct-to-consumer retail experience to go on: no catalog operation, no order-fulfillment program. But the executive who's overseeing the launch, Mary Kate Buckley, is a pro at figuring out how to implement retail operations under the most challenging circumstances.
  "I am most excited when I'm in unchartered territory," says Buckley, who recently celebrated her one-year anniversary as director of new business ventures for the Beaverton, Ore.-based manufacturer. "I have been in the position where I am in the dark and have to figure out just what approach to take to solve all of the problems."
  The world's leading maker of athletic shoes (fiscal 1998 revenues: $9.6 billion) is one of the biggest brand-name manufacturers yet to tiptoe into the budding world of e-commerce. In February, Nike initiated the first phase of a four-part Internet sales plan by adding online ordering and payment functions to Nike.com, which until then had been a marketing and informational Web site. To test the waters, Nike began selling its innovative Alpha line of shoes, clothes and accessories online to U.S. customers.
  In Phase 2, the company will roll out a full Internet store of Nike products sometime this summer, and in the final phase, Nike will sell its goods online worldwide. "Nike is one of the first manufacturers and first global players trying to go out and do e-commerce right," she says. "To me, that's exciting."
  Get the full story on Buckley's plans for Nike.com in the May/June issue of Internet Retailer.