Nike's Marketing Strategy: A Comprehensive Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Nike's marketing strategy, examining its external and internal environments through PESTLE and SWOT analyses. It delves into Nike's competitive advantage, evaluates its current marketing mix, and recommends strategies for future success. The report also explores segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP) strategies, outlines SMART objectives and goals, and provides a detailed breakdown of the marketing mix elements.

Business Marketing Strategy

Table of Contents
Part 1..........................................................................................................................................3
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Situational analysis – (PESTLE) (SWOT).................................................................................3
PESTEL Analysis.......................................................................................................................4
SWOT Analysis.........................................................................................................................5
Competitive advantage (USP)....................................................................................................7
Evaluation of current marketing strategy...................................................................................7
Part 2..........................................................................................................................................9
• Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning (STP)........................................................................9
• Recommended objectives and goals (SMART).....................................................................10
• Recommend marketing strategies, based on the application of the marketing mix to your
chosen brand.............................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................13

Part 1
Introduction
The main focus of this report or project is to analyze and evaluate the various marketing
strategies which are followed by different organization. In this report our main focus will be
to describe the full marketing audit which involves external and internal environment in any
organization of NIKE, which is very renowned and popular Foot Wear Company in the
world. It is well known for its quality, standards, and style. Here, an appropriate source will
be undertaken to describe the whole working principle, objectives and marketing strategies,
including organizations relative positive attitudes towards its industry member. Moreover in
this the effectiveness of the organization like NIKE, its competitiveness edge will be
demonstrated by the evolution of its competitive performance.
NIKE is America’s multinational corporations which mainly include production and
manufacturing of the Footwear, different footwear equipment, apparels, services and
accessories. Headquarter of this company is in Beaverton and Oregon which is in Portland
metropolitan area. It was founded in the year 1964 on 25th January which was named as Blue
Ribbon Sports at that time by Bowerman and Phil Knight and was named as NIKE in the year
1971 on 30th May. The company usually operated retail stores as Niketown name. Its brand
value in the year 2017 was approximately 29.6 Billion Dollar. And in the year 2012 it has
employed almost more than 44000 people all across the world. It also sponsors many high
profile teams and athletes from all over the world with a recognized trademark of SWOOSH
logo or as “Just Do It “ (Burgelman., 2017).
Situational analysis – (PESTLE) (SWOT)
The word situational analysis can be define as the collection of different methods that a
manager can use efficiently to analyze any organizations external and internal surroundings
or environments, thus resulting in to understand completely the capabilities business
environment and its customers. Situational analysis is critical step in establishing a
relationship with its customers for a long run, and it is second step process in marketing
plans. The marketing plans include companies or any organizations objective, its budgeting,
strategies or plans, execution and finally the evolution (PANDEY., 2017).

There are several methods comes under Situational analysis this include SWOT analysis i.e.
S for strength, W for weakness, O for opportunities and T for threats. Situational analysis
looks over both the areas, the micro-environment factors that affect especially the firm and
macro-environment that affects firms within the environment.
PESTEL Analysis
PESTEL or PEST analysis includes detailed analysis of the organization NIKE, which
discusses the economic, political, technological, and several legal factors in the company.
NIKE’s brand is popular and famous worldwide which provides its products all over the
country. The following different factors covered in this segment can be positive or negative
for the concerned company. These factors include political factor, legal factor, and
economical factor, environmental and social factor as well.
Political Factor- The consistent and easy going atmosphere in US, provide continuous easy
flow to the corporate activities. Government has introduced many laws and rules and
different to reforms for the development of the organization or company and also enabled the
company to start their working at international level as well. Every country makes their own
rules and regulations with an aim to enhance the business and its activities in the country
leading to its expansion. As a result due to increase in the business activities there will less
unemployment, increased revenue collection through different tax collections or export and
import duties on the product. The brand mainly focuses on developing leading position or
status in the market, financial performances, excellence in executing the products and its
extension in the leadership quality for encouraging innovative designs (PANDEY ., 2017).
Legal Factor- Different legal aspects during the business activities has been followed by
NIKE. For the different operations and to meet labor wages according to the rules and
regulation of the country, this brand pays huge amount of taxes in the countries it operating.
To avoid restriction in particular countries of this brand, the authority need to understand the
policies of the different countries and the potential problem that may arise in their market
Thus the brand should be used friendly. The NIKE Company always try to maintain a
healthy, safe and fair condition of the factory by following various rules and polices governed
by the industry.
Economical Factor- NIKE comes under top 3 brands in the world, and it has large scale of
apparel for athletics and sports footwear all over the world. The brand targets the minimum or

lower incoming groups of the society, thus focuses on the products which are in premium and
mid- range. The brand also focuses on the life styles of the different people of different
subgroups and produces its products according to it and their needs. For the year between
2013 to 2012 the brand has a growth rate of 7.3% of the GDP which was 6.8% more the past
year. The sale in the branded products like footwear, sports shoes of global brands has been
increased as the position of the middle class was improved.
Environmental Factor- A strong and consistent efforts have always been maintained by
NIKE in order to set a responsible workplace and its environment and to minimize its impacts
on the environment as well. The brand is strictly abides and adheres to the environment laws
and regulation of the different countries.
Social Factor- The different sports product of this popular brand like NIKE is getting
popular day by day among the growing young generations. Young generation is highly health
concern and is adopting various healthy life styles, which in return will give them healthy
body, healthy mind and will make the emotionally and mentally strong. Almost every country
of the world take part in various sport activities and games and have introduced different
policies to encourage and embrace them. Thus in this segment the sport brands bring new
technologies and changes for the advancement in its products every year as to people
attracted to the brands and they can find a consistent and new innovation in the products
(Kapoor ., 2014).
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
NIKE as a big brand itself brings out the best combination and mix- match of the
technology and appraisal for the athletics in the world. It is the largest seller of footwear,
sports products and athletics shoes in the world. It largely sponsors international teams,
its players, and different clubs mainly from sports sections likes cricket, football, hockey,
basketball, motorcycle etc., just as to draw the attention of the viewers toward their
products, which will ultimately result in increase of the sales of the brand. NIKE is a huge
brand and its outstanding advertisement and branding makes it most popular in
comparison to the other brand in any country. Its business is spread in more than eighty
countries, along with the Adidas and Reebok. To have a great scale of sales of the brand it
makes products in mid-range as well as premium range to target mainly the low salaried

peoples. NIKE operates through forming a large network which includes company owned
stores, departmental stores, specialty retailers, thus having a proper and better reach over
the market. Many movie stars, actors, actresses, players and other famous personality
which are well known globally endorse this brand. By 2010 and 2014 it is seen that the
revenue of the company has increased by about 4.8% in total and between year 2014 to
2019 there is an assumption that its total revenue will be increased by the all most 19.9%
(Li, and Hopfgartner, 2016.).
Weakness
As it is quite famous and has its brands available globally but though it has certain
weakness which are need to be rectified as to increase its sells and expand its marketing
in the other countries in which it has not set his foot yet. The most probable problems that
NIKE as a company and famous brand faces, is its fake and duplicate sales in the market
of different countries. Being a popular and well-known brand among the common
peoples, any controversies related to it will eventually affect the brand image and status
of the Brand considerably. This is the reason behind why most of the professional
personalities or athletics prefers other brands over it. Dealing with the international
currencies can cause loss to the company.
Other reasons for its weakness as a Brand it’s maturing and fast growing US markets,
decreasing income and resulting in the flat revenues. As internet connections and
networks are available almost every country thus there is chances that the sales of the
brand will decline as people will come to know the other products available in the market
with same prizes and quality. Number of IPR seizure made in US has improved by total
25% within a year .This shows that a lot amount of counterfeit and other products is being
pumped into the market every year. Though Nike is great brand, but it has to maintain its
position as a leader in the market in comparison to the other competitors such as Reebok,
Adidas and PUMA. The competition in Sports and footwear industry is very high thus
NIKE always have it bonds with the high professional athletics and influential clubs or
teams from different sports sections which includes crickets, football, hockey. Badminton
etc. to popularize its brand and its products (GÜREL, and TAT, 2017).

Competitive advantage (USP)
USP or Unique Selling Proposition is a concept for the marketing, which was at first
proposed to explain different patterns in advertising campaigns successfully. This term was
developed by a professor at the Harvard Business Schools. Today it is being used to
differentiate different products from similar objects. USP of the company plays a vital role in
maintaining the standards and status of the company and thus limiting the entry of the new
strong competitors in the market and its business.
Advantages - Most important advantages of NIKE over other brands, is its Branding. Nike as
a company creates a strong image among its younger generations and this allows the
company to charge most premium prices over its strong competitors. Secondly, it has large
scale of revenue approximately 29 billion dollar which is twice its other strong competitors in
comparison to Adidas or any other brand. Thirdly is its scope, which means offering different
products by only one corporation than from different corporations. NIKE as a company and
popular brand produces a wide range of clothing, shoes, and gears focusing mainly women,
men, and kids. Fourth advantage is the customizations. NIKE offers customization of its
products to its customers. Fifth competitive advances include the strategic innovation of the
NIKE. They produce products with perfect mix-match and designs, which attracts it
customers. Products have distinctive features that separate them from other competing
convectional products. These features are generally inspired from customer’s emotions, their
desires, and fantasy. These are the distinctive characteristics which separate NIKE from other
Brands. This adds an amazing aura to the products of the NIKE. Sometimes due to
inappropriate behavioral of the famous personalities or the athlete the brands name gets
hampered and the positive buzz turns into negative buzz. Thus company needs to adopt
certain new buzz models to maintain its position in the market.
Evaluation of current marketing strategy
Under this topic we are going to evaluate the marketing strategies of the NIKE. We will be
explaining the Nikes external environment and some research over its competitors. The sales
and profit trend of the NIKE and its market share will be evaluated. Generally the concept of
the Eight P’s is being used in order to describe the process of marketing the brand. These
include Products, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process and Physical evidence (Mahdi at
al., 2015).

Product- Brand offers wide range of products. NIKE provides customized shorts, shoes and
shirts for Cricket. The recent innovation in the products is that it has started producing 30%
lighter cricket shoes. NIKE as a product always encourages better and best performances.
Price- Nike always provide price depending on its products. The pricing strategies of NIKE
always based on its targeted customer and the nature of the competition. It is generally known
as cost based pricing or value based pricing. Though the pricing of the brands is little high in
comparison to other brands present in the markets but still people love buying it because of
the peoples trust over the brand.
Place- Big role in marketing is played by NIKE stores. The whole idea and objective of these
stores is to provide a future view and experience to its customer, like they have never before.
There are different specific outlets and stores where NIKE promotes different specific
products to increase its scale of sales. These can be Nike town shops-In big cities and large
countries these provide better products to its customer., big retail discount stores-In this big
discounts are provided to attracts more customers and last but not least flagship stores (Mahdi
at al., 2015).
Promotion- The promotional strategies of NIKE are always effective because the brand
focuses mainly on its teenage customers and new customers to balance out existing customers
in the market. Other modes of promotion which are being used by the brand for its promotion
is its Print advertising which is quite common mode of advertisement but it provides a strong
message to its customer. They also use popular and influencer athletic personality for the
promotion of its products.
People- Peoples are directly related to the brand and they are the direct reasons why business
is formed. These people become genuine part with in the organization after training by skilled
professionals. These people act as great medium to provide some feedback for the business.
Process- This generally means service provisions. To maintain a proper balance between
standardization and customization is known as Service provision. Thus all the services
including delivery to the customers should be balanced and maintained with time and day .
Physical evidence- The physical evidences comprises the physicals elements which are
provided by the company for which the customer pays. The beauty and comfort of the scape
and location provide great experience to the uses or say to its customers. Thus NIKE always
focuses on the location of its stores and tries hard to make its stores look exceptional from

any other ordinary stores in the world. NIKE also provides a complete makeover look to its
interested candidates. More over printing materials is also being provided to the customer to
keeps authenticity of the physical evidence of the process ((Mahdi at al., 2015).).
Part 2
• Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning (STP)
STP Elements Goals Strategies
Segmentation To determine a particular market
for increased sales and marketing.
Different ways of age grouping,
geographical or demographic ways
are used to segment a market.
There are three different targeting
strategies. They are undifferentiated
strategy, concentrated strategy and
differentiated strategy. The company
can choose to apply any of the three.
Targeting To target a market based on future
potential and not just the present
sales (Ottman, 2017). The
companies have certain criteria
according to which they target a
market and they include
profitability, customer satisfaction,
productive differentiation,
competitive rivalry, customer’s
price sensitivity, customer’s image
of the company and more.
There are certain factors, which
influence the targeting market
strategy. The whole world has a love
for football especially the youth
(Ryan, 2016). To target the youth is
the main strategy behind the sales of
the sub brand. The needs of the
customers, the production and scale
economies influence the strategies as
well.
Positioning The goal is to create an image of
the product in the minds of targeted
customers. Positioning is
determined by the use of perceptual
mapping. It allows the organization
to assume the customer preference
for the product and also helps in
determining how customers see
different competitors for the same
The strategy is to determine a market
segment first then project the targeted
customer’s expectations and belief.
Then the product is catered according
to those needs and expectations. A
strategy is applied that sets the
football shoes apart from other
company’s shoes.

product.
• Recommended objectives and goals (SMART)
SMART Elements Goals And Objectives
Specific Ensuring the right amount of sales of the product,
maintaining an image of it in the minds of the customers
should be the specific goal of the company.
Measurable Numbers hold a significant portion in the business (Kotabe
and Helsen, 2014). The company should have a proper
proportion of outcomes account to measure the success of the
product.
Attainable Any significant ideas that can help boosting the sales of the
product should not be discouraged (Jarach, 2017). Even
though there are competitions out there, the company should
be able to prove to the customers why their product is better
than any other competitor.
Relevant The company priorities should be relevant to the original
aspects of the market. Just on, the basis of assumptions or
weak competitors, strategies should not be changed or
ditched. It should remain constant.
Time-Based To determine the sales or consumer’s feedback on the
product, there should be a timeframe set by the company so
that for the first edition and certain changes could be made on
the second one.
• Recommend marketing strategies, based on the application of the marketing mix to
your chosen brand.
Marketing Mix
Elements
Strategies
Product The product should reach to the customers, as they have desired.
The quality of the product highly influences the customer’s

preference for a certain brand. If the product is not per consumer’s
satisfaction then the marketing strategy is a failure (Polat and
Akgün, 2015). The product should be physically protected and
properly stored before it reaches the buyers. To protect the product
the dispatch should be made efficiently and economically.
Price The price of the product should according to customer’s
convenience. In order for the product to reach the customers, it
should be affordable. If it is too expensive for the customers to
purchase then the company will not receive their desired outcome.
Place The strategy of place is centered on two important areas. One is the
successful dispatch to the consumer and the other is the location
where the product is merchandised (Toffoletti and Thorpe, 2018).
The wholesalers, retailers and agents play the role of dispatching
the products to the consumers successfully without any destruction
of the product.
Promotion The promotion mainly involves creating the positive the image of
the product through advertising platforms to reach out to people.
The promotion should contain all the positive aspects about the
product and should be attractive enough to get the people to buy it.
The advertises or the offers related to the product should influence
the people and remind them of their favorite football team or
player.
People One of the important aspects that support a company or its
products is the people. This strategy is mainly related with
customer satisfaction. The customer feedback is what matters the
most for a successful business. Any queries related to the product,
which could be about the resources used to make or about the price
or the fabric used should all be provided by the company
(Kiseleva, 2017). If the customer is dissatisfied with the product
then he/she be addressed humbly and proper negotiation should be
made to prevent any damage in the product’s reputation.
Process The policies and procedures that are in existence, which pertains to
the company’s product and services. It is an important aspect of the

marketing strategy because people are not only just interested in
the product but also the name of the brand.
Physical Evidence The physical evidence refers to the packaging of the product. The
size, color, UPC barcode, material and label of the packaging are
mentioned in the box covering the product. The details should be
updated from time to time and it should be customer tested. A
customer also checks the box first along with the details written on
it and then the product. Packaging includes the visual layout,
practical setup and specific use or wash details in case of shoes.

Conclusion
On the basis of the all the information’s provide above in this project report which are
collected during the project preparations, it can be concluded that though NIKE is a popular
and trusted brand among the peoples of different countries, but if its wants to maintain its
status and marketing position in the global market worldwide as a leader in sports footwear,
equipment, appraisal and fitness wear than it has to innovate its products and should prove its
brand quality to its customer.

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