Nigel Cowman is appointed to the new position of general manager of Nike Ireland as part of a renewed focus on the growing Irish market, where the company wants to increase its apparent lead over Adidas. His appointment was announced at the same time as the opening of Nike’s first branded store in Ireland on Dublin’s plush Grafton Street, in partnership with the country’s third-largest retailer, Champion Sports.
With a 7 percent increase to an estimated €711 million after VAT in 2006, the Republic of Ireland boasts higher per capita consumption of sporting goods than the UK, based on the findings reported in our 80-page report on this country, published earlier this year as part of our Northern European market research report. However Nike has kept until now only a sales director in place in the Republic of Ireland, running pretty much everything out of the UK. The local sales team will continue to take orders, but the invoicing will continue to come from Nike EMEA in the Netherlands, while financial reporting and administration will continue to be handled by Nike UK & Ireland.
In fact Cowan will continue in his current role as category general manager for the running business of Nike UK & Ireland, and he will still report to its general manager, Jim Allaker. A 34-year-old native Dubliner, Cowan worked at KPMG in the Irish capital before joining Nike at its European head office in 1997 as European finance director for Nike equipment, and then as European finance director for Nike footwear. He moved in the UK in 2004 to act as director of finance, planning and operations for Nike UK & Ireland.
The Nike store in Dublin measures more than 1,300 square feet on two floors. About one-quarter of the space will be used by Champion Sports to present other brands.
