Nike’s running and workout app, Nike Run Club (NRC), has notified mainland Chinese subscribers that the programme will be discontinued next month. On Wednesday, NRC and the Nike Training Club (NTC) app told mainland Chinese subscribers that activities would cease on July 8 “due to business reasons. ”
It did not specify a rationale for the decision, but a business representative told Reuters that in the future, it aimed to offer Chinese runners a “improved and localised solution.”
China is also an important manufacturing location for Nike, with the country producing around a fifth of the company’s footwear and apparel. According to a business statement on the app, Nike Run Club has more than 8 million users in China who have cumulatively covered more than 600 million kilometres (almost 373 million miles).
Nike added that local users will be able to export their fitness data.
The move is the latest in a series of recent changes made by major Western corporations to their operations in mainland China. Amazon (AMZN) announced the closing of its Kindle bookstore in the country, as well as the end of Kindle device sales in the country, last week. Airbnb (ABNB) will also remove all of its listings in the country this summer in order to focus on outbound passengers.
“Thanks for every run together with us!” Nike said in a statement. “It’s with sadness that NRC APP will cease service and operation in your market from July 8.”
“We are creating an ecosystem from China for China, specifically catered to the region’s unique consumer needs to serve athletes better,” the company spokesperson said. “We will continue to serve Chinese runners with an enhanced and localized digital solution in the future.”
On the Weibo social media network, posts on the NRC app’s closure received over 70,000 views, with many users disappointed by the service’s demise.
“I’ve been using the app for seven years, and it will discontinue like this,” said one user. “Every step I have run was recorded here,” another Weibo user said, ending the post with three tearful emojis.
China has imposed new restrictions on internet corporations in areas such as content, as well as new regulations, such as one on personal data protection, to protect users’ data privacy. These new laws are possible reasons that companies are restructuring their business in China.
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