Amid WNBA Mania, Foot Locker Says It’s Gaining Female Consumers in Basketball

Courtesy of Foot Locker

says it is winning over more female consumers, especially in the basketball category.

According to the company’s chief commercial officer Frank Bracken, the company sees “the momentum around women’s basketball to be at a tipping point,” he said in a Thursday call with investors discussing Foot Locker’s first quarter performance.

“Female participation, athlete innovation, fan excitement and media coverage will continuously accelerate, making the game of basketball bigger, stronger and more inclusive than ever,” he continued. “And Foot Locker looks forward to being a critical access point to female consumers for our brand partners as they invest to serve the needs of female athletes.”

Specifically Bracken said Foot Locker focused on telling the story of Kobe Bryant in a way that felt “accessible to more consumers, especially young women.” He also called out the excitement surrounding the WNBA, which yielded more commercial opportunities and corresponding footwear deals like the Sabrina 1.

“Needless to say, Caitlin Clark has brought another level of excitement and having just signed with Nike, we’re very bullish and optimistic about the plans there,” Bracken said. “Nike, Jordan, Adidas, Puma, Under Armour … I think all of them are going to have participation in the female side of basketball, and we’re going to be right there to invest with storytelling with some open to buy and with some co-marketing to help support that growth,” Bracken said.

Outside of basketball, the women’s segment is also driving Foot Locker’s gains in the lifestyle category, especially in the Adidas business. When it comes to sales trends, Bracken said that the women’s section in Foot Locker’s recently renovated “Store of the Future” location outperformed women’s sales compared to the rest of the chain.

The renewed focus on female consumers, Bracken said, is a result of women’s increased buying and trend setting power in the sneaker market.

“One of the big structural changes post-Covid is more consumers are wearing sneakers,” Bracken said. “And amongst those new consumers, women are really leading not only the commercial side of it, but also leading trends. “

He added that the chain’s vendor partners are also investing in product and demand creation catered to the female consumer, which is bolstered by Foot Locker’s storytelling and marketing efforts.

Foot Locker Inc. on Thursday reaffirmed its outlook for the full year of 2024 after it reported results for the first quarter that included better-than-expected earnings per share. Total sales in Q1 were $1.87 billion, down 2.8 percent over the prior year, short of the $1.88 billion expected by analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance. Foot Locker reported a net income of $8 million in the first quarter, compared with net income of $36 million in Q1 of last year.