MARKETING STRATEGIES AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

This assignment analyzes the marketing strategies used by Nike, one of the biggest footwear and apparel companies in the USA. The analysis includes an overview of the company's approach to product development, market penetration, and customer communication, as well as its efforts to increase accessibility through digital platforms. The report concludes that Nike's focus on new products, customer communication, and global accessibility is key to its continued success.

MARKETING STRATEGIES
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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Analysis on marketing strategies:....................................................................................................3
Description of strategies in marketing plan:....................................................................................4
Integrative strategies in Global environment:..................................................................................4
Way to proceed with products:........................................................................................................5
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................5
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Introduction:
Marketing strategies play a critical role in growth of a business. The way an organization reaches
its target customers and approaches them, impact the financial success to a great extent
(Hollensen, 2015). However, the strategies vary on basis of several factors including the nature
of target customers. Here, the marketing strategies used by Nike, one of the biggest footwear and
apparel companies in the USA, are analyzed. The assignment also includes how Nike
implements these strategies in the marketing plans, how the global environment shapes their
strategies and how they conduct the entire process of marketing with their products.
Analysis on marketing strategies:
According to Sheth and Sisodia, (2015), development of new products helps an organization to
strengthen its position in existing markets. On the other hand, Perry (2014), stated that
businesses have to diversify their products to enter new markets. Nike nicely blends all these
strategies together for making themselves more prominent in the marketplace. The organization
focuses on developing new products regularly. The latest self-lacing shoe, HyperAdapt 1.0 can
be an instance in this case. The shoe moulds itself automatically when anyone steps in it. It is
expected that the new shoe will help Nike to increase its share in the global footwear industry
from 30 % to 35 % (Forbes.com, 2017).
Nike is mainly known as athlete footwear and apparel manufacturer. Along with these, it
produces several other types of products including gears for different sports, accessories.
Additionally, it is aiming to launch new range of women’s apparel in the upcoming days
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(S1.q4cdn.com, 2017). All of these help Nike to reach new markets along with the market for
athlete products.
Description of strategies in marketing plan:
The 4C’s model of marketing reveals that consumer, cost, communication and convenience are
the factors that deserve special attention while developing marketing strategies (Atwal &
Williams, 2017). Hutchinson et al. (2015) also opined that the outcomes of marketing efforts are
influenced greatly on the process an organization uses to serve its customers. Nike, with its
recent ‘Triple Double’ strategy, aims to double its innovation, speed to market and also doubling
the communication with the customers (Nike News, 2017). As a result, the company is
improving its product quality, convenience and also strengthening its relationship with
customers.
Integrative strategies in Global environment:
Beyond the USA and European market, Nike aims to increase its footprints in the global
markets, too, especially in the China, South Korea and Japan, which are considered as emerging
sportswear markets. In global market, Nike is mainly focusing on reaching the customers faster.
To serve the customers of these emerging markets, Nike is launching a new Express Lane in
Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo for reducing its product cycle to half (Nike News, 2017).
As stated by Wagner & Eggert (2016), embracing digital technology is essential for catering to
the global customers. The Nike management also, is focusing on creating a digital platform to
make theor products more accessible across the globe. For example, it recently launched the
Nike Direct organization which combines the Nike+, direct-to-customer retails and Nike.com
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(Nike News, 2017). The new organization will make the products more easily available to the
global customers.
Mobile devices are an excellent way to reach the global customer (Leeflang et al. 2014). Nike
has launched a new app, SNKRS Stash which allows the customers to access the exclusive
collections of the organization through geo-location. Shock Drop is another app that will notify
customers about sneakers and will also let them buy instantly through the app. The company is
planning to launch Nike+ app also which will boost the accessibility of Nike products further in
the global market.
Way to proceed with products:
According to (Sheth & Sisodia, 2015), market penetration strategies such as increasing sale of
products or use of competitive pricing help an organization to acquire large share in a market.
Nike management also focuses on retaining its position in the existing market. Additionally, the
Nike management also emphasizes on developing innovative products and diversifying their
offerings also. As stated by Atwal & Williams (2017), development of innovative and diverse
products, not only satisfies the existing customers, but it also reduces the competition and helps
organization to enter new markets (Wagner & Eggert, 2016). So, it is evident that extensive
focuses on innovative product development and diversification strategies help Nike to increase
its customer base along with strengthening its bond with existing ones.
Conclusion:
Analysis on the current marketing strategies of Nike indicates that the organization gives
importance on reaching customers with new products. In addition, the company is also putting
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stress on increasing communication with their customers and making the products more available
to them through mobile apps which are expected to increase presence of Nike in global market.
References:
2017 Annual Report and Notice of Annual Meeting. (2017). S1.q4cdn.com. Retrieved 21
December 2017, from https://s1.q4cdn.com/806093406/files/doc_financials/2017/ar/docs/nike-
shareholders-letter-2017.pdf
Atwal, G., & Williams, A. (2017). Luxury brand marketing–the experience is everything!.
In Advances in Luxury Brand Management (pp. 43-57). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Hutchinson, K., Donnell, L. V., Gilmore, A., & Reid, A. (2015). Loyalty card adoption in SME
retailers: the impact upon marketing management. European Journal of Marketing, 49(3/4), 467-
490.
Leeflang, P. S., Verhoef, P. C., Dahlström, P., & Freundt, T. (2014). Challenges and solutions
for marketing in a digital era. European management journal, 32(1), 1-12.
NIKE, Inc. Announces New Consumer Direct Offense: A Faster Pipeline to Serve Consumers
Personally, At Scale. (2017). Nike News. Retrieved 21 December 2017, from
https://news.nike.com/news/nike-consumer-direct-offense
Nike's Latest Innovation: Stepping into The Future. (2017). Forbes.com. Retrieved 21 December
2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2016/03/22/nikes-latest-innovation-
stepping-into-the-future/#6e6057d22444
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Perry, M. (2014). MARKET ORIENTATION IN SMALL BUSINESSES: CREATIVE OR
LACKING?. Marketing Management Journal, 24(1).
Sheth, J. N., & Sisodia, R. S. (2015). Does marketing need reform?: Fresh perspectives on the
future. Routledge.
Wagner, S. M., & Eggert, A. (2016). Co-management of purchasing and marketing: Why, when
and how?. Industrial Marketing Management, 52, 27-36.
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