JD Sports commits to reaching core audience as sales dip
Despite sales dipping group-wide, JD’s brand awareness was boosted by “sharper marketing activations”, as the retailer “accelerated its shift” to AI.
· Marketing WeekBy Amrit Virdi 23 Sep 2026 12:15 pm
JD Sports plans to focus on brand investment despite seeing sales slide amid a challenging consumer environment.
Speaking on the release of the retailer’s results today (23 September), CEO Régis Schultz claimed the group had demonstrated a “resilient performance against a challenging backdrop of consumer cost-of-living pressures, footwear product cycle headwinds and a highly promotional market”.
JD Sports plans to focus on brand investment despite seeing sales slide amid a challenging consumer environment.
During the 26 weeks to 1 August 2026, the group saw sales drop 0.7% year-on-year, from £5.94bn to £5.89bn. Like-for-like sales fell by 2.8%.
Gross margin was 46.8%, 20bps lower year-on-year, while controlled price investments were partially offset by higher marketing spend.
Speaking on the release of the retailer’s results today (23 September), CEO Régis Schultz claimed the group had demonstrated a “resilient performance against a challenging backdrop of consumer cost-of-living pressures, footwear product cycle headwinds and a highly promotional market”.
‘Harness that power’: JD Sports on using social to deliver ‘omnichannel synergy’
He added that the group “remained focused on controlling the controllables”, noting success within product, online and loyalty in the half.
Last week, the retailer promoted Mike Grimes to the role of group CMO, an 18-year veteran of the company who most recently served as CMO for North America. He will now lead the global brand strategy and is tasked with implementing a “consistent vision” across markets, while enabling local teams to connect with customers.
Grimes is also being asked to strengthen the group’s customer proposition by leveraging the scale of its brands, own-brand portfolio, customer insights and global brand partnerships.
Earlier this month, Schultz praised the new CMO’s “extensive experience” within the business and “deep knowledge” of the markets JD Sports operates in, which the CEO claimed will help deliver sustainable growth.
Reflecting on his appointment, Grimes said he is excited to lead the next phase of the retailer’s brand and marketing evolution to “further strengthen” the brand’s “cultural relevance” and “curate compelling customer experiences”.
‘Focused marketing’
JD Sports expanded its product proposition over the half, with apparel and accessories accounting for 36% of group sales. New ecommerce platforms that went live in the UK and Ireland helped push online sales to 20% of total group sales.
The JD Status loyalty programme also surpassed 10 million active customers globally, while the group “accelerated its shift” to AI, which has included deploying AI tools across marketing effectiveness metrics.
JD has had a long running “brand first” element to its broader strategy, with brand awareness “continuing to grow” as the retailer claims to have a “deep, unrivalled understanding” of its core 16 to 24-year old customer base.
In North America, strong online performance was driven by “focused marketing and controlled price investments”, particularly in digital marketing, with organic online sales growth of 10.7%.
Brand awareness in the US and Canada was also strengthened by “sharper marketing activations”, with the brand strategy in the US focusing on JD’s positioning at the “intersection of sport, performance, culture and lifestyle”.
In June, JD Sports digital director Nicola Burnett told Marketing Week the retailer is looking to drive the “omnichannel synergy” of digital and physical retail, as well as reach incremental customers, particularly through its tie-up with Snapchat.
During the 2025 Christmas season, the team used Snapchat’s Promoted Places feature on Snap Maps across the UK and France, leading to a 15-point lift in ad recall and 20% incremental reach in the UK.
As a whole, she said the company plans to increase investments in social and influencers, and is actively exploring social commerce, alongside how to show up in LLMs (large language models).
Looking ahead, the group aims to continue to invest in its customer proposition, including through marketing, digital and loyalty to “drive sales momentum and sharpen execution”.