CS for Under Armour

In the athletic apparel industry, as in any industry, it is key to stay in touch with the current trends in order to keep your products relevant. With Lululemon focused on such a niche activity it will be important that they explore other markets within the sports apparel industry in the future so as to stay relevant. We can see the company’s first steps in doing just this when they recently introduced their men’s apparel line. A summary of the athletic apparel industry’s external environment are listed in Exhibit 1.

With a mission to “make all athletes better through passion, design, and the relentless pursuit of innovation” and a vision to “empower athletes everywhere”, Under Armour is an athletic apparel company who understands its’ expectation to society and meets these expectations in innovative fashion (Under Armour, 2017). In the world of athletic apparel, Under Armour has been labeled as the underdogs, but along with this label comes their undeniable hunger for growth in all areas of their business, including their tactics to be socially responsible. Under Armour works tirelessly to protect its’ brand and discover new methods to set themselves apart from their competitors. They take nothing for granted and prove this through their philanthropy,

 Introduction Under Armour is currently one of the leading companies in the sports apparel industry whose mission is to “Make all athletes better through passion, science, and the relentless pursuit of innovation”.1 When Under Armour first broke into the sports apparel industry it was a disruptive pioneer that initially made the

Brand has been kept affordable in terms of price Inspired well-taken care of employees who The company can be both bigger and better. THREATS The sportswear industry is growing and becoming more competitive so the will be new producers and entries in the market with new ‘’aces up their sleeves’’. More competition in the market

Many professional sports leagues and teams, including Major League Soccer, National Hockey League, and US Ski Team use Under Armour as their official supplier for performance apparel. In the summer of 2004, Under Armour became the exclusive athletic ware supplier for the entire United States Military.

Obviously, there is a big number of driving forces in the athletic footwear industry. Each of these driving forces has different impacts—some of them can have a more considerable effect than others on figuring out how much cross-company differences influence market shares and a number of units sold. The first line of most influential factors includes comparative prices, S/Q ratings, and a number of models offered among the footwear competitors. These three most important competitive forces affect customer decisions of which athletic footwear brand to choose. Furthermore, the decisions of customers whether to purchase one brand or another are also influenced by such forces as advertising, celebrity endorsements, the number of independent retail

Technological environment is the combination some factors which develop new products and also create opportunities and threats for the company. Not only does it benefit marketers greatly creating new product and market opportunities, it also creates opportunity for customers to consume new products. The evolution of technology has provided many platforms for marketers. New and improved technology can either profit the organization, or create threats of more competitors in the market. In the sportswear industry, technological factors could cause unemployment as machines replace workers. It could, however, reduce cost as more products can be made at a lower cost and lesser amount of time compared to labor made garments. Moreover, technology can benefit the sportswear marketers as a form of market research as social media and internet has outrageously developed over the past decade. Social media famous people can promote the sportswear by just wearing the items and posting a picture on the internet or simply advertising it at a really low price, almost immediately increasing sales. Political factors are those that affect the

A newcomer is going to have to build its way up the same way all the famous sporting goods brands have done it. Under Armour, Nike and Adidas/Reebok are aware of the possibility of new entrants in the market and that is why they keep advertising, establishing distribution channels, making marketing agreements, and keeping up brand loyalty in their customers.

a. Under Armour’s approach towards innovation is very unique, they think and plan out their projects thoroughly in order to create a one of a kind product that could be appealing to their consumers. The company has been extremely progressive throughout the years in order to stay ahead of the other competitive companies in their targeted industry. By constantly updating and coming up with different product lines, such as compression shirts and cleats, Under Armour is able to compete with other top athletic wear company’s in their market. If

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS, CASE INTRODUCTION AND KEY POINTS Introduction Under Armour’s rapid rise in the sports apparel industry under its founder and CEO Kevin Plank has surprised many. Plank has turned a company that he started in his grandmother’s basement into a powerful opposing force to Nike. The company’s competitive advantage

Competition is very fierce due to the number of companies competing for sales. Lots of money goes to marketing and promotions using various channels to reach the young demographic group of consumers who spend the most money on Nike’s products. Growth is slowing down in the athletic footwear industry. But new markets are emerging with high growth rates. These markets include extreme sports market and the corporate merchandise market.

Threat of Substitution: The threat of substitutes in this industry is high in my opinion. I say this because there are so many companies in the industry that have varying sports apparel, footwear and accessories. Customers can easily substitute one product by using another similar product of another company.

* Intensity of competitive rivalry Sport Apparel is a large industries with many firms such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Under Armour, the Gap, Athleta, Nordstrom, Lucy and Bebe store. Large industries allow multiple firms and producers to prosper without having to steal market share from each other. Large industry size is a positive for Lululemon Athletica. … This qualitative factor will lead to an increase in costs.

The athletic apparel industry is also defined by a moderate threat of new entrants. As mentioned earlier, the industry is extremely concentrated, with large companies (Nike, Adidas, Under Armour) at the top and several smaller companies following. While the costs for starting a local company is low, as the company grows, it will become harder to compete and be profitable in this industry. The incumbent firms in this industry have the advantage of existing production, distribution, and supply chain processes. New companies would consider the large upfront costs of these processes while incumbent firms take advantage of economies of scale due to having the benefit of already securing a large market share. These large costs in turn cause the company to have low profits, which discourages new entrants. Additionally, the threat of new entrants is low because of the brand preferences of consumers in the economy. This industry

Currently, Nike stand as a leading figure in producing high quality sports and fitness equipment and apparels. Bearing just a simple start of selling Japanese imported shoes from a station wagon has transformed