Analysis of Nike Brand Marketing Fundamentals Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Nike's marketing fundamentals. It begins with an overview of marketing research and planning, emphasizing its importance for understanding consumer needs and developing effective marketing campaigns. The report then delves into the competitive landscape, focusing on Nike's position within the footwear industry, highlighting its key competitors like Adidas and Puma. A detailed examination of Nike's marketing mix follows, including an analysis of its product lines (Nike shoes), pricing strategies, distribution channels, and promotional activities. The report further discusses the implications for Nike's future, suggesting strategies for adapting to the changing market dynamics. Recommendations include shifting promotional efforts to online platforms and refining pricing strategies to cater to diverse consumer segments. The report concludes by reiterating the significance of marketing research and strategy in a competitive business environment, using Nike as a successful case study.

The Nike Brand
MARKETING FUNDAMENTALS

Table of Contents
Marketing Research and Planning…………………………………………………………………2
Competition for my favourite product………………………………………………………….2
Implications for future and Recommendations…………………………………………….4
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………
……4
References…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…5

Marketing Research and Planning:
Marketing research is undertaken by a business that helps the management to explore various
information relating to the marketing strategy and plan. It is known to be one of the critical components
of marketing and operational success. Once management has developed an important base of marketing
research, marketing campaigns can be developed as per the requirements and needs of consumers
(Johansson and Mattson, 2015). Any firm undertaking significant marketing research can strategically
build marketing objectives for the segmented market and thus move closer to its vision. One company
that excel using marketing research is the IKEA who use ‘chatbots’ to retrieve response from
consumers rather than putting traditional form of questionnaire (Rezvani, 2016). This also develops a
sort of social aspect in relation with online surveying process. Today’s market demands a deep insight
into consumer minds and thus IKEA marketing strategy seems to be a sign of their efficiency as using
this tactic help the company to well assess response of customers and modify their activities as per
respective opinion.
Competition for my favourite product:
Competition is related to external behaviour which influences the targeted behaviour through various
elements like attitudes, perceptions and resources. Every business goal and marketing intended is to
exceed the competition by offering more satisfaction to the customers through their products and put
some influence in the industry. My favourite product from the products on Nike is the Nike shoes. Nike
stands with monopolistic competition in the footwear industry with including a diverse portfolio
(Axelson and Easton, 2016). The intense competition from Adidas, Puma and Reebok has pressurised
Nike to reposition in the market on various other elements such as premium design and product
differentiation. Hence, it requires Nike to takeout advance market research by combining advanced
technology so as to offer superior products.
One of the company differentiated product is HyperAdapt 1.0 that eliminates a multitude of distractions
and really advantage performance (ndtv.com, 2016). This shows that Nike offers innovation and better
value products through its market research in various areas like metabolic cart, Kinematics and ankle
range of motion. However, Adidas shares are rising in the U.S. dip stock price of Nike in relation with
shifting customer preference. In essence, HypreAdapt comes at a crucial time reflecting Nike
innovating in the industry with pop-culture suggestion from the film i.e. ‘Back to the Future’. Below,
Nike shoe marketing mix is being elaborated:
Product – Considering Nike shoes, the business of Nike progressively adds more product lines like the
company provides running shoes, tennis shoes and also for many other sports containing cricket. In
addition, the company is continuously doing innovation in this segment due to high competition in the
market. For example, Nike introduces ‘HyperAdapt’ by stepping into future of footwear with self-
lacking shoes technology that senses and adjust according to an individual foot. This innovation helps
Nike to be on distinct position in the footwear industry and attain competitive edge in the industry with
the other players (Adidas, Reebok).
Price – Nike always focuses on designing price to be competitive to other fashions shoe distributor. The
company target customer demands for premium products and hence, the company uses vertical
integration in pricing. It helps Nike to regulate costs and impact product pricing. Nikes adopt value
based and premium pricing strategy for its targeted segment. The company accepts customer perception

in value based pricing strategy and on the other hand, their premium price is related with the premium
branding (Zambrano et al, 2017). For example, the business uses big celebrities to adopt its products
especially shoes. Example, Cristiano Ronaldo did the advertisement of Nike shoe i.e. Mercurial
Superfly.
Place – In relation with Nike marketing mix, the distribution strategy of Nike mainly uses three
channels to sells its variety of products including retailers, company online stores and exclusive offline
stores. However, with the rising of e-commerce platform, company has extended its reach to various
through various channels. In 2019, the company operated a total of 1,152 retail stores globally
(Statista.com, 2019a). The products of Nike also being sold through various independent distributors
and subsidiaries. As of May 2017, Nike had 985 brand stores globally. In every city, Nike exclusive
stores are very common fulfilling the requirements of every customer of a particular geography.
Promotion – Promotion is an important tool for any business firm who seeks to increase its sales and
revenue with high brand awareness. This aspect involves the approach of Nike adopts to communicate
with its target market. Nike is continuously increasing its promotional budget yearly and yearly to
maintain strong brand image throughout the world. In 2019 alone, Nike’s promotion and advertising
costs amounted to nearly 3.75 billion U.S. dollars (statista.com, 2019). The company also undertake
various sponsorship events such as the Golden West Invitational and Hoop It Up. It increases the brand
image all over the world with contributing its shoe market to huge success.
Implications for future and Recommendation:
In relation for future implications, it is important for Nike to change its traditional strategy of
promotion by moving to online ecosystem. It implies that Nike needs to cut for print and television
promotion and increasing to the social media. With regards to this, Nike can use its web resources to
smartly position itself.
Other than this, the pricing strategy of Nike shoes is high. Nike can regulate it based on consumer
groups and needs. This help the company to perform niche segment of the market effectively as well
also helps in building customer loyalty. The company can also increase its market presence in emerging
nations and to that marketplace, where there is high growth potential to ensure its constant leadership in
the international athletic footwear.
Conclusion:
Marketing research and strategy plays an important role in this dynamic and complex business
environment. Due to changing customer demands and high competition, any enterprise functioning on
a small or large scale needs to carry out proactive analysis of the market to gain competitive advantage.
Taking example of Nike, it is one of the well-known and successful brand established world-wide. It
has a lot of strength in its shoe product portfolio, however, in certain areas, the company can reform its
marketing strategy collaborating with the customer’s needs and environmental opportunities.

References:
Axelson, B. and Easton, G. (2016) Industrial Networks (Routledge Revivals): A New View of Reality.
London: Routledge.
Johansson, J. and Mattson, L.G. (2015) Internationalisation in industrial systems – a network approach.
In Knowledge, networks and power (pp. 111-132). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ndtv.com. (2016) Self-Lacing Shoes By Nike, 20 Years After ‘Back To The Future’ (ONLINE)
Available from: https://www.ndtv.com/world/-news/sportswear-firm-nike-unveils-first-self-lacing-
shoes-1288123 (Accessed 10/082019).
Rezvani, M. (2016) Ekka: Why your chatbot needs a vertical focus (ONLINE) Available from:
https://venturebeat.com/2016/11/06/why-your-chatbot-needs-a-vertical-focus/ (Accessed 10/08/2019).
Statista.com. (2019) Nike’s advertising and promotion costs from 2014 to 2019 (in billion U.S. dollars)
(ONLINE) Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/685734/mike-ad-spend/ (Accessed
10/08/2019).
Statista.com. (2019a) Total number of Nike retail stores worldwide from 2009 to 2019 (ONLINE)
Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/250287/total-number-of-nike-retail-stores-
worldwide/ (Accessed 10/08/2019).
Zambrano, D.S., Mayorga, O.T., Ramirez, A.R. and Bustamante, F.P. (2017) Evaluation of Consumers
motivations of Sportswear Teams in the City of Bogota. European Journal of Sustainable Development,
6(3), pp.295-302.