Nike Sales Strategy and Management Plan: Industry Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Nike's sales strategy and management plan. It begins with an executive summary and introduction, followed by an in-depth examination of the industry, including market size, recent trends, and industry potential. A competitive analysis assesses key players like Adidas and Reebok, exploring their positioning and communication strategies. The report then delves into consumer analysis, covering demographics, psychographics, purchasing factors, and consumer issues. It proceeds to evaluate Nike's sales approach, including the strengths and weaknesses of a consultative sales approach, and its focus. The sales management analysis examines the effectiveness of advertising and promotion strategies. Finally, the report explores market opportunities, such as international growth, digital investments, manufacturing revolution, and health and wellness, offering insights for Nike's future strategies.

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Executive Summary
Nike is one of the world’s prominent supplier of athletic footwear and apparel. It has been
established in 1964, as Blue Bowerman and Phil Knight. They sell a wide range of footwear
lines. They have been able to achieve this through aggressive marketing, quality production,
and technological products. They are committed to maximizing satisfaction to customers. In
this report, a discussion has made to develop a sales strategy and management plan which
describes the analysis of the industry, customer, and market opportunities.

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Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................1
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Background Analysis.................................................................................................................3
Industry Analysis....................................................................................................................3
Competitive Analysis.............................................................................................................4
Consumer Analysis.................................................................................................................5
Sales Approach Analysis........................................................................................................6
Sales Management Analysis...................................................................................................7
Analysis of market opportunities...............................................................................................7
Recommendation........................................................................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
In January 1964, University of Oregon track athlete Phil Knight and his coach Bill
Bowerman established Nike Inc. as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS). It is considered the largest
sportswear organization, and its headquarters are in Beaverton. The organization initially
worked as a distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger, which meets Knight’s
automobile (Mahdi, Abbas, Mazar & George, 2015). Nike has made itself as a prominent
brand in U.S. athletic market and secured half of its market share. In addition, Nike has made
a relationship with Wieden Kennedy made several marketing communication means to reach
the consumer and to make them responsive of products. Nike has made its own variety of
footwear line, which incorporated the Swoosh intended by the Carolyn Davidson. So, the
Swoosh was used by Nike and then was listed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
(Burgelman, 2017). In the following, an effort has been made to discuss to develop sales
strategy and management plan of the company by describing the analysis of consumer,
competitor, industry, sales approach and sales management. It is to be done to understand the
analysis of market opportunities utilizing appropriate sales methods.
Background Analysis
Industry Analysis
Size of the industry-
Australia is a core market for Nike, as the industry produced approximately 42
percent of the overall revenue in 2018. They paid $38 billion to acquire more than 1.1 billion
pairs of footwear. As per Sporting Goods Manufactured Association, athletic footwear
encounters for nearly 35% of all footwear purchases (Rahman & Areni, 2014).
Recent Trends-
Nike expands its target customers from teens to young customers due to intense
rivalry with Reebok and Adidas. With the rising need for the preservation of the environment,
most customers have started challenging sustainable products. Nike has established a
recycling program, which targets to decrease the carbon footprints of its products. As
competition is rising at a very fast pace, it is paving the way towards the expansion of athletic
footwear with an emphasis on enhancing user experience. Consumers purchase athletic
footwear seek high-quality and cost-effective products that can enhance their playing and

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running skills. The manufacturers of Nike have launched NikeID are currently focussing on
customization (Singh, 2016).
Industry Potential-
Nike already gets more than half of its sales growth internationally. The industry has a
positive growth of 16.60% in the approaching year and a strong short-term growth of 25.54
over the next couple of years. Nike is at the stage in which it offers the company a
competitive advantage over the competition (Stoneman, 2015).
Nike concentrates on quality in its progressions and products. The goal in this
strategic decision area is to fulfill customers’ expectations about product quality (Payne,
2014).
Competitive Analysis
Key Players-
The main competitor of Nike are Adidas, Puma, and Reebok which tried to capture its
enormous share for a long time and adopt strategies to keep up with the super brand and
promoting the athletic footwear and apparel but Nike is having distinct competency and
differentiation in the extent of publicizing. They are in the 1st position which cannot be
substituted by any of the competitors definitely as of its Slogan “Just Do It” as
distinguishable for the target audience (Giannoulakis, 2016).
(Jensen, Cobbs & Turner, 2016).

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Positioning Strategy of Competitors-
Adidas used to tap a distinctive image in the minds of the customers. They emphasize
the value of quality products, which is able to maintain its brand essence. Reebok has also
achieved to hold the loyalty of a huge portion of the industry’s female customers. They are
giving tough competition to Nike as they have to concentrate on creating a brand image in the
minds of customers (Heuzenroeder & Bennett, 2014).
Communication Strategies-
Adidas is using T.V advertisement to communicate with customers. They use to pop
up its ads on various sports channel such as Star Sports, ESPN, Star Cricket etc. The main
objective behind this to attract the customers who spend more time in watching T.V. Reebok
is utilizing the Internet to reach its target audience where they can find the information
regarding company product new launches, price, size, sales, etc.
Sales Approach
Adidas is adopting the Buddy approach to sale the footwear and maintains a
relationship with customers. They show the interest in the customers and try to connect and
build an emotional level and trust. Reebok is using Guru approach as when dealing with
intellectual customers which cannot be persuaded by an emotional connection (Siali, Jiayi,
Shakur & Ya’kob, 2016).
Consumer Analysis
Consumers
Demographically Nike primarily targets consumers who are between 18-25 and
covers both men and women footwear athletes equally to develop long-term brand loyalty.
They use psychographic basis to target the individuals by distinct personalities as fosters the
attitude of the customers. They use Geographic basis in U.S. focus is on football and baseball
so they prefer to use footwear which is strong. Behavioral seeks to build customer loyalty as
Nike participates to make customers feel good about describing the various use of athletic
footwear (Hartmann, Rutherford & Park, 2017).

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Issues facing Consumer
Consumers faced issues are that Nike overcharges their consumers to make their
profits other than they also want that the athletic footwear should be long-lasting. Consumers
complaints continue for a long time as this can harm their relationship with the industry
(Vrontis, Thrassou & Amirkhanpour, 2017).
Factors while making a purchase decision
The important factors while purchasing the footwear are its price which influences the
most as it is based on the income of the consumer. Next is the design of the footwear which is
according to today’s fashion as females are more concerned about their choice as it should
match with their outfit. The brand name also plays a huge role as it is Nike so consumers
know that this is attractive and technological friendly (Teichmann, Stokburger, Plank &
Strobl, 2015).
Influence of consumers and their needs
Yes, they are influenced by others as they purchase the footwear by taking
suggestions from family and friends especially. There are customers which are not targeted
by Nike and needs to be targeted of age group 40-50 and above that (Kozlowski, Searcy &
Bardecki, 2015).
Sales Approach Analysis
Strength and Weakness of Consultative sales approach
Consultative sales approach is a best sales approach for Nike to engage with potential
customers and understand about the needs and perceptions towards buying the footwear. This
approach builds and maintains a relationship of trust with customers to analyze the issue and
deliver solutions frequently (Cuevas, 2018).
This approach may take days or months to close a sale deal. This can also be possible
that the deal may be canceled as because of the defect of the footwear product and which is
taking time to resolve it than the customers switch to other brand or product (Lisun, 2017).
The focus of the approach
Consultative sales approach primarily focusses on experience that the potential
customer feels and sees during the interaction. It is about making the customer comfortable

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and provides the leads with value. They have to provide the customer with the best footwear
which is suitable to them with size and convenience. This approach is profitable for Nike as
by focussing on this approach it pays more emphasis to the value which suggests that
customer should be satisfied. Sales professionals following this approach observe the
increasing number of deals, greater customer satisfaction, and loyalty. It will provide benefits
to Nike as leads to development, success, and profitability (Marx & Wouters, 2016).
Sales Management Analysis
Strength and Weakness of Advertising and promotion
The most effective sales management strategy is advertising and promotion. Nike
makes deals with some celebrity athletics which can make attention to their footwear
products. This can generate a relatively higher level of awareness of Nike. They also engaged
a large number of advertisements through offline media. Their aggressive celebrity
endorsements, advertising campaigns, and quality products enhance their brand image
(Kumar & Deodhar, 2017).
This strategy is the short-term motive as induces customer for a short span of time but
they did not become a loyal customer as they afterward switch to other brands. The customers
feel that the offers which are given at times create an impression in the mind that these are
done to sell a poor quality product (Craik, 2017).
The focus of this strategy
It focusses on high-profile celebrity endorsers, such as sports teams and professional
athletes. Nike offers discounts and special inducements to attract customers towards footwear
so that more and more sales generated. It builds public relation in encouraging the business
and footwear products to the international sporting goods market. This strategy is profitable
for Nike as they are pursuing people who are active and appreciate high-quality sporting
products especially footwear. They focus on the athlete and that make this strategy profitable
of its ability to reach a huge number of athletes (Warren & Gibson, 2017).

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Analysis of market opportunities
Continued international growth
Nike has continued its worldwide development by offering and promoting the product
as fashion as well as athletic wear. There are various consumers who see some Nike products
as a fashion and wear their footwear instead of just athletic wear. It has a very strong brand
image and high-income group to purchase the footwear for the sake of status and therefore
Nike has the opportunity to make expansion in the footwear products like fashion and sports
wears as well as to come into the new market like that of jewelry and sunglasses. For
example, they should focus more on international development because some evolving
markets like Australia have a richer customer to spend excessively on athletic footwear
products (Craik, 2015).
Digital Investments
Nike is focussing on enhancing its online sales strategy to produce through Nike.com.
Online sales have many advantages, involving the capability to meet with more consumers
who may not be in a Nike store and they also get to retain all of that respected data about the
consumer. In addition, it has the advantage of greater gross margin by permitting Nike to
create modified gear and other higher-priced footwear products, as well as retain the
complete sale. They incorporate mobile check-in and shopping facilities, as well as
touchscreens on the walls to permit customers to order and shipped till home if they
desire. For example- Nike has launched a Nike+ smartphone app which has a mobile
shopping part that provides customers personalized recommendation and alerts for new
advancements (Weller, Kleer & Piller, 2015).
Manufacturing Revolution
Nike is having a new concentration on changing its manufacturing procedure by
making it broad-based and technology-driven value maker. Flyknit in specific helps lower
production costs by decreasing material waste from unused scraps, as well as establishing
customizable design to provide differentiated, premium products. For example, Nike has
labeled its company advantage for manufacturing revolution as the ManRev project, which
obtains finance as part of the business's capital expenses. By modernizing the role of
innovation in manufacturing, the organization intends to reinvent a footwear product which
will help in modernizing it effectively and efficiently (Gibson, 2016).

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Health and Wellness
Nike should focus on the health and wellness as Nike should create sustainable
products which do not give harm to customers. It can be seen that the number of people
contributing to running events which have developed on an average of 9% every year since
2005, as per Morgan Stanley. Information also states that millennials consider exercise is
critical for wellbeing, while their parents only concentrated on a diet. Improved activity
prompts to improved athletic apparel and footwear expenditure. They see athletic footwear
and apparel more than as a fashion trend. For example, Nike’s Flyknit shoes have been
violently successful. These opportunities are helpful in building a profitable venture
(Cherikoff, 2017).
Recommendation
Consultative sales approach
Nike has broadened its product range and maintains its international growth as this
approach to engage with customers and identify the needs and focussing on providing the
best quality products. It can have an expansion and cooperation with Apple for advancing the
innovation in respect of gamepads featuring soccer, Golf etc. It helps to maintain the success
of the company by satisfying consumer needs. It creates a tone of helpfulness that fosters
trust. It builds and serves customers’ needs. It does not cost a huge amount and producing
greater benefits of the footwear product to reach with every customer (McGann, Ong,
Bowman, Duncan, Kimberley & Biggs, 2016).
Advertising and promotion
Nike own target is to accomplish the greatest digital sales strategy to enhance sales,
which has a potential influence on large populations of the target audience. It should enhance
its marketing communication ways by utilizing social media to connect and associate with
customers. Nike utilizes celebrities to signify the product to the client or ideal user.
Extremely prevalent personalities such as professional athletes utilized as proposing Nike’s
products. They should innovate their brands as apply shopping feature on mobile to connect
with customers digitally. It cost around $30 billion as on celebrity endorsements they need to
pay a higher amount (Burchielli, Delaney & Coventry, 2014).

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Push and Pull strategy
Nike should utilize push and pull promotional strategy, which includes taking the
product straight to the consumer and safeguarding that they are aware of price, size of
footwear. A pull strategy includes inspiring consumers to seek out the brand in an active
process. It is associated with providing sustainable products and secures the health of the
customers. It incorporates direct promotional strategies such as boosting retailers to stock the
product, designing of footwear and even selling face to face. A pull strategy needs a highly
visible brand which can be advanced through mass media advertising. The cost of the factor
is depending upon budget, target audience, type of the product, and competition Baumann,
Lehner & Losbichler, 2015).
Direct selling, Cross Selling or Up-selling
Nike is trying to become the next great direct-to-consumer brands to direct sell the
footwear product as it revolves the manufacturing process. Digital business will be the main
part of the footwear product of Nike as it grows 18% in the first quarter and now wants to get
more worth out of each of its digital customers. The cost effected will be $50 billion as it is
intended to include data analytics and digital transformation. It providing important benefits
to people who want a prospect to earn success and maintain a business of their own, to
customers as a substitute to retail stores, and a cost-efficient way for an industry to bring
footwear products to market (Nossar, Johnstone, Macklin & Rawling, 2015).
Conclusion
Nike, Inc. is an organization which is deep-rooted in competition. From athletes’ footwear
with the best sports apparatus in the world to continuously enlightening own financial
performance. Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight probably could not have believed in 1962 to
what extent their $500 investments would yield in 2000. They did recognize that product
quality and modernization would assist participants to attain greater goals. Nike still works on
this philosophy today. It is one that has assisted athletes and stakeholders alike to understand
athletic and financial greatness. Although a shifting marketplace for athletic footwear
continues to rise their product lines and marketing reach to become a more influential
worldwide brand. It is seen from market and market analysis that Nike has the possibility to

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implement its aims and can provide new products and increase its share so by looking at
Nike’s overall approaches. So everything has been done in the report just to understand more
consumer behavior and the positioning of Nike footwear product which are very essential for
Nike to create an appropriate and various advertising and promotion to induce the more
female customer to build up the image positioning of Nike in the future.