The article says Nike agreed to sell on Amazon so Amazon would crack down on counterfeit Nike merchandise. The question is will Amazon stop checking now?
... promises to protect the target business or person
from dangerous individuals in the neighborhood and then
either collects the money or causes damage to the
business until the owner pays
Let's say a customer wants Nike shoes, has Amazon Prime, and does most of their shopping through Amazon. Before:
1.) Search Amazon for Nike shoes
2.) Buy shoes
3.) Close Amazon
4.) Receive (possibly counterfeit) shoes. If low quality or fake, perhaps think less of Nike.
After:
1.) Search Amazon for Nike shoes
2.) Observe no Nike shoes in results
3.) Google 'buy nike shoes'
4.) Visit nike.com
5.) Nike promotes sweatpants/sweatshirts/is running a sale/etc on landing page
6.) Possible conversion (customer is drawn in by promotions; ends up buying more than just the shoes)
7.) Receive authentic Nike merchandise, think highly of brand
It's a couple extra steps and this is oversimplified for a generic case. There's also places it could go wrong, such as if Nike chooses to collect and sell customer/transaction data. But if executed correctly, the switch benefits both Nike and the consumer while only hurting Amazon. Seems like a win-win-win.
Except step 4 in your second scenario could also be "Visit dickssportinggoods.com" or "Visit finishline.com" or any number of reputable retailers that will sell genuine Nike products. Nike isn't saying they will be the exclusive seller of their products.
Nike is just no longer doing business with one (large) retailer who is apparently 'unable' to separate counterfeit products from genuine ones.
Over the years I've found some really good deals on Nike's site. I'll admit I'm usually lazy and will buy from Amazon to avoid the hassle of creating an account and giving all my info to yet another company but when Nike wants to clear out their inventory of something, they're pretty generous with the discounts.
To be fair, Amazon is the LAST place I would buy Nikes. Counterfeit risk is too high. Comingling inventory is the worst.