Nike Buys Predictive-Analytics Company in Fresh Digital Push

(Bloomberg) -- Nike Inc. has purchased a data-science firm that it believes will provide new insight into what its customers want, and how to deliver it.

The acquisition of Boston-based Celect dovetails with Nike’s biggest initiative -- its digital presence. In just the past year, Nike has debuted a new type of retail store, enhanced its member app and unveiled a new product line, all of which is centered on learning more about its customers on an individual level.

The key stat: Nike members spend three times more at Nike.com than guests do, a metric that Nike executives attribute to the company’s ability to better serve those that they know the most about.

Celect, which last year raised $15 million from a handful of investors, offers predictive analytics that will help Nike optimize retail inventory and predict consumer patterns. Terms of the deal weren’t announced.

Nike’s most recent acquisitions have also focused on tech and data. In 2018, it purchased Invertex Ltd., an Israeli computer-vision startup. That technology became Nike Fit, an expansion of the Nike app that lets consumers measure their feet at home and learn about the proper size of different Nike shoes.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eben Novy-Williams in New York at enovywilliam@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III, Cécile Daurat

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