Marketing Analysis : Nike 's Strategy

The trade policies in NorthAmerica are quite liberal when compared to the other areas of operation such as LatinAmerica and Europe.

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

In this paper, we present an elaborate analysis of the marketing mix employed by Nike in its marketing strategy. The marketing mix is conducted on the basis of the concept of "marketing mix" which is usually referred to as the "4Ps" as an important means of effectively interpreting as well as translating the marketing strategy into practice as noted by Bennett (1997).A recommendation is also provided.

Companies like Under Armour, Nike and Adidas/Reebok have high threats of substitute´s products. These companies share the sport apparel industry and are vulnerable to competitive pressure from the actions of buyers whenever they view that their products can be substituted for others. The availability of substitutes invites the costumer to compare performance, features, and ease of use as well as price. Under Armour’s major competitors are Nike and Adidas/Reebok because they have a similar or competing product offerings. The top sport apparel brands offer similar products and that is why each one of them needs to keep a high standard and produce good quality products in order for customers to keep buying their product.

6). This strategy is a major component of Nike’s business strategic level plan. In applying this strategy, Nike has attained a great deal of consumer insight, which it uses to offer uniquely designed premium products to the athletes. Still on product differentiation, Nike focuses more on research and development at a greater level. These unique features to Nike, have transformed the competition levels in this competitive industry, leading to a trend of a paradigm shift in the market. Most consumers opt for Nike branded sports products and apparels, at the expense of the other brand names.

Due to upper price range of sports footwear and apparel by given lack of compliments, the bargaining power of customers always be high. Because of high customer bargaining power, ASICS don't have strong loyalty popularity fans. However, customers will choose other brands with high visibility, advertising, product sponsorship and changing styles.

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

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.

The athletic shoe industry will be first analyzed by the Porter’s Five Forces framework. The well-known Porter’s Five Forces is a model that analyzes an industry and helps firms develop a business strategy. The five forces model focuses on six forces that will determine the attractiveness of this industry: (1) the risk of entry by potential competitors, (2) the intensity of rivalry among established companies within an industry, (3) the bargaining power of buyers, (4) the bargaining power of suppliers, (5) the closeness of substitutes to an industry 's products, and (6) the power of complement providers (Hill, Jones, & Schilling, 2015).

The use of substitutes in the footwear industry is very high because of the large number of companies and similar products in the industry. There is a great deal of rivalry and the customers’ bargaining power is high. If the store experiences a large demand for unusual small or large sizes not kept in stock and cannot fill these request within a reasonable time frame customers could stop patronizing the store. If competitors with similar business models locate in the same area this could pose problems for the shoe store. If Johnson’s misjudges the path of current fashion and over stocks shelves with the wrong products, this could cause problems in moving merchandise.

In this industry, the Power of Buyers is low to moderate. It is considered low because athletic shoe producers have two sets of customers, direct consumers and intermediate consumers creating very low buyer concentration. Their intermediate consumers include a variety of stores from discounts stores, sporting goods stores and department stores. Due to the large size of the athletic shoe producers, the majority of intermediate consumers have very little negotiating ability and thus low power, allowing the athletic footwear firms the ability to earn an increase in profits by selling to intermediate consumers at full price. Some intermediate consumers such as large department stores and large sporting goods stores would have the size to be able to leverage some power over the athletic shoe producers giving them moderate power. The industry’s members reach direct consumers through vertically integrated self-operated brick and mortar retail stores as well as through online firms. Direct buyers have moderate power over the athletic shoe producers since there are no switching costs to go between brands. However, athletic footwear is strategically important to people if they are either athletes or people wanting to participate in high performance fitness activities, therefore giving them low power since they depend on the product to fill a

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.

One of Nike’s main opportunities is product development. Developing their product range makes them more competitive and because products tend to go out of fashion quickly, Nike must introduce new products relatively fast because consumer demand the newest and latest products. Increase in internet shopping will no doubt reduce the cost and improve prices making them even more competitive.

Environmental: Now a days people are more conscious about environmental issue. So environmental issue can affect the Nike business. During the business Nike have to ensure that their business is eco-friendly

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