Nike Industry Analysis Essay

The advertising strategy differs from company to company. Generally, Nike believes in spending 5-7% of its revenues in advertising and endorsement. Nike has planned to spend $4.2 Billion until 2014 for endorsements alone. With the huge size of Nike, it is tough for other companies to allocate a big amount for their marketing expenses. Moreover, Nike has always an edge when it comes to advertising and marketing. The table below shows the advertising strategy for the major players in the industry.

NIKE Inc. has been the worldwide leader of athletic shoe sales for many years now. The company’s successful brand image combined competition and enablement for the competitive, athletic user. Nike has to modify their brand to a focus of excitement and freedom and not just competitiveness. By collecting and studying an assortment of material we could be able to understand where NIKE is currently placed in the athletic shoe industry compared to their competition, and how they will be able to adjust their brand focus so it can be more effective in the future. These adjustments can help NIKE reach the more casual group of urban runners and ultimately increase the sales forecasts, while still controlling a percentage of the market for athletic shoes.

The factors that drive Nike’s decision to stick with its current organizational structure include its well-established brand name in the industry. The company positioned itself as a brand

Nike is the leading and yet renowned supplier of athletic apparel and shoes. The company controls close to 33% of the global athletic shoe market (Dogiamis & Vijayashanker,2009).Nike was founded by Bill Power and Phil Knight in 1962 as a Blue Ribbon Support and then was later on renamed to Nike in the year 1968 (Patrow,2003).The company supplies very high quality product in close to 100 countries with major markets being located in the U.S,U,K, Asia Pacific as well as in the Americas. The company has managed to attain its lead and legendary position via the application of innovative and yet attractive product design which is backed by quality production as well as well crafted marketing strategies.

As the brand name of Nike continue to soar, other companies in the industry; learning from the success Nike has experienced, start focusing more on brand development to keep up with the increasing levels of competition. These companies resort to brand maintenance, which has become the main target in this industry due to product differentiation made by Nike. Nike, being market-advantaged, produces an extensive range of products, through which it gains a balanced level of profits. This has influenced rival companies to initiate a new range of products in their businesses too. Previously these companies had high risks of failing in business, if their single products did not appeal to the market. Due to the impact of Nike’s business strategy, the other companies are also enlarging their product range,

The cost to the retailer is approximately 35.50$ which includes in the Research and development ($0.25), promotion/advertising ($4.00), Sales/distribution/admin ($5.00) and Nike’s operating profit ($6.23). While the cost of the user is $70.00 which holds in it the Retailer’s rent ($9.00), personnel ($9.50), other ($7.00) and Retailer’s operating profit ($9.00) (Break Down of Nike’s cost, 1995). In the first quarter of 2015, the revenues for Nike increased 15% from 7.4$ to $8.0billion. Gross margin elevated 46.6%. The increase was due to higher margin products and higher average prices. Selling/administrative expense exceeded 21% , reaching to $2.5 billion. Operating expense increased 19% to $1.6 billion and the net income increased 23% to $962 million (Leonard, 2015). Nike’s Inventories were $4.0 billion, short-term investments and cash were $1.0 billion, $4.6 billion, which was lower compared to the last year. (Nike News,

Nike invested in their brand by getting sports heroes to advertise for their brand such as Michael Jordon, Tiger Woods and the Brazilian football team. This further fuel the products appeal towards the consumers.

Nike is known as one of the most consistently innovative companies for its technologically advanced products. As Nike stated, Innovation is the company’s heart in its business growth strategy because it helps them to become more sustainable company and to keep up with the competition and customer demands (nikeandunderarmour.com, 2015). Therefore, Nike vision innovation is a key business success of the company. It invests

After 2006, Nike caught up with the Adidas in global market share. It’s all thanks to Nike’s ability to find new alternative ways of brand management such as digital distribution with YouTube or individual partnerships with players that lead to Nike catching up when it did not have the rights to market extensively on the worlds biggest stage.

Nike’s organizational Form reflects a conglomeration of resources, processes and people around the activities most critical to their target customers in terms of its Value Proposition. It decided therefore to concentrate in depth on the critical activities and competencies rather than increasing the breadth of its

Enderle, K., Hirsch, D., Micka, L., Saving, B., Shah, S., Szerwinski, T. (2000, March 14). Strategic Analysis of Nike, Inc. Retrieved on December 14, 2005, from

Nike’s recent decline in market share and stock can be attributed to changing trends in consumer spending habits and apparel tastes. Nike can re-establish a competitive advantage in the short-run by implementing an innovative design team and brand ambassador. Long-run competitive advantage can be achieved by fully committing to a sustainable innovative business model or by incorporating innovative technology trends into their retail structure.

A comprehensive analysis, using market data and market research, allows us to assess all areas affecting Nike’s strategic direction:

Seeking Behaviour Although Nike is the market leader in sports shoes, this doesn't guarantee consumers will switch to competitors alternatives. There are consumers who switch brands in an attempt to be different. This is often due to changes in fashion 4.6 Consumer Decision Making in the sports shoe market, for a running shoe: Total Set

With a slogan of “Just Do It,” Nike is known all over the world for its products ranging from apparel to shoes. Receiving recognition and sponsorship from various celebrities and athletes including Michael Jordan, Nike’s brand is generally associated in a positive light. However, the brand itself, variety of products, and numerous sponsors exist as only a few aspects of this continuously expanding brand. Another aspect to consider when addressing the overall existence of a product as well as the constant introduction of new products is the production process itself: how the product came to be, who is involved in creating the product, and where the product is produced.