Matthew Friend
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at NIKE
Thanks, John, and hello to everyone on the call. NIKE's first quarter results demonstrated the impact of staying on the offense when we drove a quicker return to a healthy marketplace in fiscal '23 and leading with operational discipline as we begin the new fiscal year. We delivered Q1 results in line with our guidance. Retail sales across NIKE Direct and Wholesale continue to grow on top of extraordinary sales this past year. Both Nike inventory and our total marketplace inventory are healthy. Working capital efficiency is improving with a normalized supply chain. Gross margins are expanding on an operational basis, excluding the effects of foreign exchange and transitory headwinds are abating. In short, we are building on a strong foundation for sustainable and more profitable long-term growth.
Before reviewing our financial results, let me first speak to what we are seeing from our consumer in the marketplace and where we are driving focus and attention to unlock even greater potential ahead. In Q1, retail sales across NIKE Direct and Wholesale grew mid-single digits versus the prior year. Our top franchises are driving strong full price sales and our newest product offerings across Nike, Jordan and Converse are generating positive consumer reception. Looking at inventory, we continue to feel very good about our position. NIKE inventory dollars are down 10% versus the prior year. Our total inventory units across the marketplace, including NIKE and our wholesale partners, are down double digits versus the prior year.
Partner-owned inventory units are in line with the previous year, with levels planned to remain lean through our second quarter, a meaningful accomplishment after higher levels of wholesale sell-in during fiscal '23. On the whole, we are very comfortable with the level of inventory in the marketplace in relation to the retail sales that we're seeing as we begin increasing levels of wholesale sell-in in our second half. And overall, we're confident in the health and shape of our marketplace.
NIKE Direct continues to lead our growth, up 6% versus the prior year. As we deliver on our strategy to elevate the marketplace through premium physical and digital retail experiences, we continue to see that consumers want to connect directly and personally with our brands. And in fact, member engagement within our direct business is up double digits versus the prior year, with increasing average order values.
Our stores delivered in an especially strong quarter, with traffic up double digits from last year and members driving an increasing share of our business as consumers shifted from our digital to physical channels. This is similar to what we are seeing across the industry. And after seeing this trend build in early July or in early June, our team was nimble in transitioning inventory to capture higher full price sales across our entire store fleet. NIKE Digital grew 2% with nonlinear comparisons to the prior year, including liquidation actions and a higher number of product launches on the SNKRS app in fiscal '23.
Looking through all that, what stands out are the underlying consumer trends we see in our digital business. This includes sustained momentum on the NIKE mobile app with growth in traffic and increasing member buying frequency. We continue to see a growing structural advantage as more consumers start their shopping journeys with us on mobile.
Meanwhile, within wholesale, we see largely positive results from our most important strategic partners. Specifically, we were pleased to see high single-digit to low double-digit retail sales growth and strong inventory management with many of our key partners, including DICK's Sporting Goods and city specialty partners in North America, JD, Zalando and Sports Direct in EMEA, and Topsports and Pou Sheng in Greater China. We continue the reset of our business with Foot Locker, planning for near-term sales declines as they invest in consumer-right concepts for the future.
Ultimately, we have a segmented portfolio of strong partners across price points and channels with no single partner representing more than a mid-single digit of NIKE's total business. And looking across the entire marketplace, we are confident in our brand momentum as we accelerate direct consumer connections, elevate our brands and create capacity for long-term growth.
Looking ahead, our priorities start with our product pipeline. And over the coming seasons, we will build on the market share gains that we have accelerated in recent years, by scaling newness and innovation across our portfolio, while carefully managing the health of our most iconic product franchises. This year, for example, we will build on the consumer momentum around running and modern comfort with performance and lifestyle franchises such as Infinity, Motiva, Invincible, Vomero 5, V2K and the Air Max 1. We will refresh our basketball portfolio across Nike and Jordan through innovation and style and grow the Kobe brand.
We will ignite the next chapters of Pegasus, the Jordan Game shoe and Tech Fleece while continuing to grow powerhouses like Dunk and Metcon. And as we look towards the second half of this fiscal year and beyond from the 10th anniversary of Air Max Day to the Paris Olympic Games, we will introduce our next wave of Nike Air innovation. This will bring our most comprehensive evolution of the Air platform in years, one that we expect to catalyze both our brand and business. We will deliver pinnacle performance innovation to athletes while also scaling into new lifestyle franchises over the next several years. Ultimately, we are focused on scaling a deep, diverse and distinct product portfolio, not just for one quarter or one season, but for years to come.
Last, we are turning the corner in driving more profitable growth while also recovering on transitory cost headwinds. This includes structural improvements in profitability in areas such as supply chain, with reduced digital switch shipments and improved digital fulfillment costs enabled by investments in our regional service centers, and a new transportation management system.
In addition, NIKE Brand ASPs are up across footwear and apparel across all geographies as we focus on the price value of our products. And in Greater China, consecutive quarters of double-digit growth, healthy inventory and sequential improvement in full price sales will enable us to begin rebuilding towards higher profitability in the geography.
Finally, we are focused on improving our marginal cost of growth with more modest increases in operating overhead this fiscal year, following two consecutive years of double-digit growth. We are doing this by unlocking speed and productivity as we transform our operating model to build a faster and more efficient Nike.
Now let me turn to our NIKE, Inc. first quarter results. In Q1, NIKE, Inc. revenue grew 2% on a reported and currency-neutral basis. NIKE Direct grew 6%, with NIKE stores growing 12% and NIKE Digital up 2%. Wholesale grew 1%, reflecting our proactive decisions to restrain inventory supply and prioritize marketplace health, particularly in North America.
Gross margin declined 10 basis points to 44.2% on a reported basis, primarily driven by higher product costs, and approximately 90 basis points of unfavorable changes in net foreign currency exchange rates, almost completely offset by strategic pricing actions. SG&A grew 5% on a reported basis, primarily due to increased demand creation expenses around World Cup and more moderate increases in operating overhead benefiting from shifts in timing of technology investments for the remainder of the year. Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 12% compared to 19.7% for the same period last year. primarily due to a onetime benefit provided by the recent delay of the effective date of U.S. foreign tax credit regulations. Diluted earnings per share was $0.94.
Now let me turn to our operating segments. In North America, Q1 revenue declined 1%, with wholesale down 8%, in line with our expectations following our restrained sell-in of marketplace supply. NIKE Direct was up 7% as NIKE stores grew 11% and NIKE Digital grew 4%. EBIT grew 4% on a reported basis, primarily due to strong gross margin expansion.
In a competitive environment, our retail sales momentum grew throughout the quarter across NIKE Direct and Wholesale. NIKE's back-to-school performance outpaced the broader industry with strong sales from our top franchises and clear consumer excitement around newness. Infinity 4 drove strong full price sales as we partnered with key running specialty accounts to host community activations. Our newest generation of Tech Fleece amplified by strong investment from key marketplace partners drove retail sales up double digits from last year across NIKE Direct and Wholesale. Zenvy, Go and Universa fueled double-digit growth in statement leggings with Dunk and Free Metcon driving strong sell-through. And the Jordan brand continued its momentum with double-digit growth, led by Jordan Women's and kids as well as performance basketball.
In EMEA, Q1 revenue grew 6%, with NIKE Direct also up 6%. NIKE stores grew 17% and NIKE Digital declined 2%. EBIT declined 5% on a reported basis. Global Football and fitness grew double digits and women's outpaced our total growth in the geography this quarter. New innovation and styles are resonating with Phantom Luna driving strong sell-through, Metcon up double digits, and Motiva, our new walking shoe, off to a great start in creating a new performance category for NIKE. Pegasus, Invincible and Vomero also delivered strong results in the quarter. In addition, statement leggings and shorts grew double digits with integrated brand and retail experiences. And as we deepen our focus on serving all segments of the running community, trail running footwear grew double digits with new product innovation and brand activations.
In Greater China, Q1 revenue grew 12%. NIKE Direct grew 10%, with NIKE stores up 12% and NIKE Digital up 6%. EBIT declined 3% on a reported basis. Throughout the quarter, we saw incredible energy around the return of sport, with thousands of young runners joining in our back-to-school kids race, players across cities taking part in our Jordan Flight basketball tournament and historical highs in social engagement with our neighborhood accounts as consumers joined in hyper local community experiences to celebrate our newest Kobe release.
Retail sales across NIKE Direct and Wholesale grew double digits with another quarter of strong sell-through. In a highly promotional marketplace, we outperformed industry trends with improvement in full price sales. Our performance dimensions led growth with consumer excitement around G.T. Jump, Sabrina 1 and Invincible. And in lifestyle, Vomero and other retro running styles are gaining momentum as we prepare to scale over the coming seasons.
In APLA, Q1 revenue grew 3%. NIKE Direct was up 3% with NIKE stores up 10% and NIKE Digital declining 3%. EBIT declined 17% on a reported basis. Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Mexico led our growth this quarter as we accelerate our momentum in international markets. In particular, store traffic in Japan is returning to pre-COVID levels. Sales through our new Myntra partnership in India are already exceeding plan, and Mexico's digital business delivered double-digit growth.
Kids led our growth in the geography, up double digits with strong growth from Mercurial, Court Borough and Fleece. We also saw market share gains in women's lifestyle with positive consumer response to Air Max Koko, V2K and Gamma Force. In addition, Jordan continues its global growth with Luka and Tatum fueling strong momentum in performance basketball, and our new streetwear footwear franchise is resonating with consumers.
Now let me turn to our financial outlook. As we look forward, we are confident in NIKE's new product innovation pipeline, brand strength, deep consumer connections and the health and shape of our marketplace. Our Q1 results reaffirm our expectation for healthy profitable growth this fiscal year. For the full year, we continue to expect reported revenue to grow mid-single digits. At the same time, we are closely monitoring the operating environment, including foreign currency exchange rates, consumer demand over the holiday season and our second half wholesale order book. As a reminder, this growth outlook includes approximately 4 points of headwinds from accelerated liquidation and higher wholesale sell-in during the prior year, as we sold roughly five seasons of supply within four financial quarters. Therefore, quarterly comparisons across marketplace channels and in the aggregate, will be nonlinear.
We continue to expect gross margins to expand 140 basis points to 160 basis points on a reported basis, which includes 50 basis points of negative impact from foreign exchange headwinds. We are cautiously planning for modest markdown improvements for the balance of the year given the promotional environment. We continue to expect SG&A to slightly outpace revenue growth. more specifically at the high end of mid-single digits. We continue to expect other income and expense, including net interest income to be $225 million to $275 million for the year and we continue to expect our effective tax rate to be in the high teens range.
Now let me provide some additional color on our second quarter. We expect second quarter reported revenue growth to be up slightly versus the prior year, as we faced our most challenging comparisons from fiscal '23. We expect second quarter gross margins to expand approximately 100 basis points versus the prior year, reflecting benefits from strategic pricing, improved markdowns and lower ocean freight rates partially offset by higher product input costs. We continue to expect a negative impact from 50 basis points of foreign exchange headwinds. We expect second quarter SG&A to grow mid to high single digits. We expect our second quarter effective tax rate to be in the high teens range.
For NIKE, being on the offense means competing to win now and over the long term. We are confident in our strategy, our leadership position and our ability to create even greater opportunity ahead.
With that, let's open up the call for questions.
