Marketing Project Nike Inc.

Submitted to
Ms. RabiaIjaz

Submitted by
Muhammad Umair Muneeb 2131075
Hafiz Ebad-ul-Haq 2131102
Muhammad Ali 2123296
Abdul Raheem 2132240


Date
22/4/2014
National College of Business Administration & Economics
40-E1, Gulberg III, Lahore 54660, Pakistan
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am heartily grateful to Allah Almighty, the most beneficial, the most merciful, all
knowing, who blessed us with the strength to complete this report. It would not be possible to
complete this study without the guidance, advice, cooperation, sympathetic attitude, valuable
suggestion, and help of our instructor. I am heartily thankful to my instructor, Ms. Rabia Ijaz
whose encouragement; guidance and support from the initial to final level enabled us to
develop an understanding on the subject. I would like to thank department of business
National College of Business Administration and Economics Lahore for providing me
opportunity to conduct the report. I would like to thank my fellow group members for their
help and support. Above all I would like to thank my parents and whole family for doing all
that have done so far for me, and allowing me to purse what I want. We would not forget to
appreciate the assistance of those who helped us in the completion of this report, most
importantly Mr. Google.











EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The basic purpose of this project is to indicate some of the marketing strategies that
are being used by Nike Inc. These marketing strategies are playing an important role in
progress of Nike Inc. Due to which it is affecting the profit of the company. This project is
basically a detailed research on marketing strategies of the company, which includes
meeting with some company officials and detailed questionnaires on different issues and
problems. After the complete research on these issues we reached to some of the major.
At the end of the project, we concluded some of the suitable conclusion according to
the report. According to our research, we believe that Nike Inc. has already introduced
new technologies and products in the market that have never been around before. Further
they should Identify the products customers are wishing for and then realize them at a very
fast pace. Nike should now introduce new products in the market and also they should
increase their retailer accounts and shops in the market. Their apparels shares in the market
are very low; they should also use different technologies and strategies to increase their
market value in the market value.








Introduction

Profile:
Nike was founded in 1964 under the name of Blue Ribbon Sports by university of
Oregons track coach Bill Bowerman and runner Phil Knight. Today Nike has become the
worlds leading supplier of shoes. As of May 2011, 38,000 employees work under Nike in
46 different countries around the globe and in Nikes World Campus located in Oregon. Its
Headquarter is in Oregon. United States.

















Contents of Report:
1) Marketing management orientation
2) Customer relationship groups
3) (Companys mission statement) Is it product or marketing oriented?
4) Product/market expansion grid
5) Market segmentation
6) Target market
7) Positioning
8) Marketing mix (7 Ps)
9) Companys marketing environment (Micro and Macro)











Marketing management orientation:
A company majorly focuses on meeting the desires and needs of their customers through
different strategies and their market mix. In past, market strategies were concentrated on
increasing the sales of the existing products, but now marketing orientation works in other
direction, they modify their products to meet the demands of their consumers. Some people
consider marketing orientation as some kind of campaign between a company and its
consumers.
There are five components of marketing management orientation.
1. Production concept
2. Product concept
3. Selling concept
4. Marketing concept
5. Societal concept

1. Production concept:
Different companies in the world have different kinds of philosophies related to the
production concept. For example, a company may have its philosophy or its idea that if the
manufacturing in done on a big scale, then the production cost/unit would be less and then all
the products would be sold automatically in market. In the same way, some companies can
have some different view. They might have idea that if their products quality is good or
remarkable, then there will be no difficulty for them in selling their products.
Manufacturing Process:
1. -cutting
2. -sewing
3. -heeling
4. -finishing
5. -treeing
6. -stock fitting
7. -lasting
8. After the manufacturing, the shoe is then sent to distribution, retailers and
trading companies where it is then sold to consumers.

2. Product concept:
Most Firms believe that customers or people are attracted with features and standard quality
of the products. They try to make their product distinct from their market competitors
because Customers always want something new and unique in affordable prices. Companies
try to make their products fine enough so they get high preference in the market. But the
companys belief that if they have good quality of products then there will be more sales, but
it is always not true. There are some exceptional cases also.
Nike loves innovation. It always tries to do something new, something unique that there
will be no competitors for them in the market and to increase their sales. Since 1980, Nike
has entered into various production lines. In1980 Nike included sneakers to its production
line. Nike sells Soccer, Running, Golf, Sneakers to Basketball, Casual, Baseball, Football,
etc. Nike not only sells sneakers but also they sell clothing. Nike trademark Big Check named
SWOOSH that is placed on each and every single product they sell in the market. Nike
always use advanced technology in order to create make their products distinct from the
market.
Recently, Nike has contracted with Apple Company to develop sensors that would be able to
fit inside the sole of Nike shoes, that sensor could track all activities of an athlete. Sensor is
well-matched with many Nike shoes because Nike has started to cut out shoe soles portion in
order to make it perfectly fit. Further, Nike also has stepped into field of technology with
their new product name "Fuel Band that counts all the activities regards athletes: Running,
walking, turns etc. The Fuel Band devices measure moves and then turn them into Nike Fuel,
and Nike Fuel is calculated the same way for everyone, so everyone can compare and
compete with anyone. Nike has many of their sponsored athletes promoting the product by
sporting them around their wrists. Nike Fuel Band has grown to become a very popular
among many health conscious customers, due to its ability to see all every activity progress
on PC in Graphs and charts.

3. Selling concept:
A product cannot be bought itself but it has to be sold. Companies use different marketing
strategies to attract their customers and increase awareness about their products and also to
increase their products sales. Companies use selling strategies like increasing their shops and
franchises, and supplying their products to big retailer in the world.
More than 20,000 retail accounts are owned by Nike Company in United States. It also
collaborates with frequent independent retailers and has agreements with over 110 other
countries all over the globe. Many retail outlets are working all around the world owned by
Nike situated in major cities. Nike uses their online site www.Nike.com to track valuable
information about customers in order to optimize customer relationship management. Many
customers may request certain color of sneakers to be released and with this blog, they are
able to satisfy their customers need.

4. Marketing concept:
Companies do not sell what they can actually make, but they make those things what they can
sell. Keeping in the mind this idea, these companies direct their marketing activities and
efforts to achieve customers satisfaction. Companies direct their marketing activities to
achieve consumer satisfaction. They use their promotion strategies to get ahead in the market.
Promotions are dependent on the position of store. Nike has many athletes that serve Nike as
brand ambassadors Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, LeBron James, and Lance Armstrong and
Tiger Woods. All these athletes have made the brand image of Nike very strong in the
market.

Nike has built up their customer relationship management in order to satisfy their consumers.
Through the use of the online blogs, Nike is now able to utilize the Customer centric in order
to improve on their products and service. Many customers may request certain color of a
sneaker to be released and with this blog they are able to satisfy their need. Ordering a
product from Nike asks people to input some basic data such as name, location and contact
info and that info is used in order to track buying habits of the customer. There is an option
for the customer to receive offers through their email account.

Nike uses new area to promote their product. Promotions like advertising on the TV, Nike
has signed famous athlete different sports like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Michael Jordan, Rafael
Nodal, and Tiger Woods etc. Its all because of these policies that Nike today is number 1
sneakers brand and today Nike's share in soccer shoe market in Europe has reached 35 %.


5. Societal concept:

This concept to refer to that what a company is doing for betterment of its society. For me,
two concepts are under the societal concept, first is the companys steps towards betterment
of people of society and secondly for the betterment of the environment. Nike is trying its
best to go positive towards both these concepts.

Nike is working a lot for the betterment of the society since many years. Nike has made great
effort through different programs to increase youth participation in physical activities, Nike
has served about more than 150,000 children through a program named NIKEGO since its
launch in 2002. The purpose of this program is to increase physical activities in colleges,
among youth ages 8-15.
Some days ago, Michelle Obama announced a campaign to engage school kids in a program
to bring physical activities back to the classrooms and she's also getting a big support from
Nike Company. The shoe-maker Nike will spend $50 million on the "Let's Move Active
Schools" effort over the next five years. Several other organizations are also combining to
donate.








Customer relationship groups:

Companies can classify consumers into 4 groups: strangers, butterflies, barnacles and true
friends.

Strangers:
In this relationship, customers are neither loyal to the company nor they give large profit to
them.

Butterflies:
In this relationship, customers are very profitable but not loyal towards company.

Barnacles:
In this relationship, customers are loyal towards the company but they give them a little
profit.

True friends:
In this relationship, customers are very loyal towards the company and also give them big or
large profit. Because there is high or strong fit between both of them.
Nikes relationship with its customers is like true friends. Nike offers free service online via
email service and a live chat with Nikes experts to manage the relationships with dis-
satisfied customers. Nike a more tangible brand, in which it is important in order to have
customers more emotionally attached to the company.. This marketing approach mainly aims
at creating an impression of personal relationship between the consumer and the organization.
For a globally operating organization such as Nike, friendly relationships are an efficient way
to manage customer.




Mission statement:
Nikes mission statement is To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the
world. If you have a body you are an athlete. It is a market oriented mission statement.
Nikes tries to motivate the people towards fitness and sports. And it says that every person in
the world is a potential athlete. And if he wants to be an athlete or sportsman Nike will make
his way easy. It also refers to the fact that Nike exists to supply everyone in the world with
the world-class equipment or apparel. From the start, one understands that Nike intends to
motivate to the world of athletes or people who have a body. The mission is the catalyst that
drives the organization.
Its been a long time since Nike is in business. Initially Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight used
togo school to school for selling running shoes to track runners. Then Nike bounced in to
much bigger developing shoes manufacturer for all sorts of sports. Nike understood they had
to grab a hold in all the sports, to be the master brand in athletic sportswear.










Market/Product Expansion Grid:
Nike uses geographical area to promote their product. Advertising on the TV- write the
future, just do it kind of slogan, internet- YouTube and other social sites, which helps them
to break the geographical barriers and increase the ability to reach people on the other part of
the world. Sponsoring in different social activities where people or players wear Nike logo
contains dresses; sales promotions like discounts, coupons and to keep good relation with the
public they release their own press and magazine and take part on the events. Nike do
campaign about the ability of men, women with new fashion, using famous athletes and
sports teams for advertising which are such outstanding steps they have taken to keep good
communication between them and their customers. Nike uses different tactics, they use in
advertising on TV which diverts consumer to visit internet to Nike website to see the finial
ends.
Following figures shows expansion record of Nike:
Nike introduced different products during their way on success.



Expanding Revenue Record of Nike:









Market Segmentation:
Geographic Segmentation:
Geographic segmentation is actually dividing the market within different diverse
geographical parts, for example cities, countries and regions.
Nike footwear is really famous in the part of EU and Asia Pacific. The main objective is to
sell this product in those continents where some particular sports is very popular. For
example, football is popular in Europe. It is not much popular in south Asia so its footwear is
mostly advertised more generally in Europe.

Demographic segmentation:

Demographic segmentation is isolating the market on the basis of age, gender, race,
occupation, income, and also on the level of education.
Relating to age and income, they target peoples in variety age from young person to middle-
aged people and the income series is basically from middle to upper class. By depends on
gender Nike has broadly expanded itself nationally. Nikes target market is youth between 18
and 35 years. With the development of women and children sports, new manufacturing lines
have been developed. The products that company manufactures are modified regularly. Nike
promotes its products like shoes and clothing in a variety of ways. Teams of different sports
in the world are mainly targeted by Nike.

Psychographic Segmentation:
Psychographic segmentation is about social class, standards, characteristics, beliefs, interests
and values of customers.
Nike uses athlete where it influences consumer to be interested on their shoes and footwear.
The purpose is to trade their products to the people in which some particular sports or athletic
activities are most popular. Nike always supports a confident attitude, and always targets
those kinds of people.


Target market:
Nikes target market is actually youth, aged between 15 to 35. People in this age people use
to or love to do jogging, exercise and play different physical games. Due to which Nikes
most of the customers are athletes or sportsman. People use different shoes for different
purposes, apparels, track suits and many other thongs and product to remain fit. Athletes or
young people mostly prefer to buy Nike shoes because of its comfort level and quality. Nike
targets the youth and students, who have embraced the modern culture. Nikes Competitive
market is been expanding and dominating in the international market.














Positioning:
Nike one of the global master in sporting equipments industry, has maintained a strong
position. Nikes images and its trademark make it the worlds one of most reputable brand.
Nikes products and marketing techniques all contribute to take the shoe company to a huge
success. Nikes Products are basically designed for sporting purposes. Its product is
considered to be highly effective and comfortable to the athletes. It is recognized for the
quality of the shoes and has gained the positive reputation all over the world. Every company
tries to develop its brand reputation; it helps the company bringing in more revenue. Nike,
which by sponsoring high-profile athletes and teams, has become one of the most recognized
global symbols.
Nike also uses different strategies to distinct their products from markets and make it almost
perfect in order to increase their brand value. It's all because of successful strategies that
today Nike is number 1 shoe brand in U.S.











Marketing Mix:
Nikes marketing mix is one of the strongest in the world. Depending mainly on its strategies,
it has established its hold against major competitor.
1. Product:
Nike offers a widespread range of shoe and all are currently top-selling products. Firstly,
Nike started selling footwear. Most famous product categories of Nike today are: Running,
Baseball, Football, Bicycling, Basketball, Cross-training, Outdoor activities, Tennis, Golf,
Soccer Volley ball footwear. Today Nike is not only dealing in footwear but they are also
selling cloths, apparels, electronic equipment related to sports etc.
2. Price:
Nikes prices are designed to be competitive to its competitors. Nike uses different price
strategies like Price Leadership strategy and value based pricing. A company fixes its prices
based on the value, the consumer gives to the product or companies find the cost of the item
and then research whether a customer is willing to spend on it or not. With this valuable
information, they manage to increase their sales and profits. These steps can control prices
and influence product demand.
3. Place:
Nike supplies its shoes products to many stores like Nike stores across the world/globe. Nike
supplies shoes to more than 20,000 retail accounts in the United States. In the global market,
Nike sells products through independent distributors. The company has its production
facilities in Asia. Nike has contract with about more than 700 stores and has their offices
located in about 45 countries.



4. Promotion:
Promotion is one of Nikes strong points. The print advertisements of Nike are generally very
simple but it always sends a powerful message to their customers. Nike almost always uses a
famous player to promote their products. It targets the markets by advertising in the
newspaper and T.V. Nike has a number of players that serve Nike as brand ambassadors such
as Ronaldo, and Roberto Carlos, LeBron James and Jermaine ONeal, and Tiger Woods for
Golf.
Nike sponsors many famous events such as The Golden West Invitational and Hoop It Up.
Nikes brand images and the trademark make it one of the most reputable brands in the globe.
Nikes products and its marketing techniques contribute to take the shoe kingdom to a huge
success.
People:
Nike considers its employees as the most valuable assets of their company. Company always
introduces different programs to satisfy their customers and conducts different surveys to
know their satisfaction level. So they can improve their system. They offer different benefit
schemes for their employees.
Nike always focuses on the root of the problems and manufacturing relationships to find new
ways to define and share responsibility. They're looking end-to-end, from the first phase of
their product creation process to the impacts of decisions on the lives of workers in the
factories that bring their product to life.
Physical Environment:
Talking about Physical work environment of Nike, Nike believes in team work, innovation,
and maintaining the quality of the working environment of the employees. Nike provides
very innovative and friendly working environment to the employees. 1,005,134 employees
serve Nike globally. Nike also focuses on the best Human resources Management. The
purpose of Human resource management is to improve the productive contribution of people
to the organization. Human resource management in Nike, inc. focuses on the betterment of
the quality of life the employees.
Process:
There are three processes in manufacturing a shoe.
Step 1: The Designing Process
-establishing target prices, target audience and products features.
- produce tech package and send to subcontractors in their factories in Asia and Europe.
Step 2: Supplies
A. Raw Materials:
1. -fabric
2. -metallic
3. -rubber
4. -foams
5. -Plastic
B. Textiles and Leathers
Step 3: Manufacturing
1. -cutting
2. -sewing
3. -heeling
4. -finishing
5. -treeing
6. -stock fitting
7. -lasting
8. After the manufacturing, the shoe is then sent to distribution, retailers and trading
companies where it is then sold to consumers.

Companys marketing environment:
Micro Environment:
The Company:
Top Management:
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Companies headquarter is in Oregon, United States.
Mark Parker, President & CEO, NIKE, Inc.
Maria Eitel, President & CEO, Nike Foundation
Charlie Denson, Advisor to the CEO

Finance:
Total asset of Nike by November 2013 was $25,313 million.
And its gross profit was $11,034 million.


Research and development:

The Nike Sport Research Lab is a research and development institute located in the Oregon.
It was opened in 1980, the lab is owned by footwear maker Nike.

Engineers and Scientists work with best sportsman to collect data and use them to
manufacture for the betterment of their customers. In research center, they use different
equipment like 3D motion cameras and heat chambers. These a chambers create artificial heat
in the room and athletes are tested under different heat levels, So the information they get in
research Centre is used for decision making about the products by Nike footwear and apparel
designers.

Suppliers:
Nike is manufacturing its products from 765 factories over 43 countries. Mainly Nike is
manufacturing its footwear from Asian countries. Its biggest supplier is Sri-lanka.

Intermediaries:

The Company sells much footwear products under the NIKE brand name. Nike also sells
apparels and electronic products to other manufacturers by its subordinate. The Companys
wholly owned subordinate are Converse Inc., Hurley International LLC, Umbro International
Limited.
Recently, Nike has decided to work without their intermediaries because Nike now wants to
cooperate with the public by itself. Many competitors in the market have own social networks
such as Reebok, Puma. Nike use Facebook and twitter to communicate with their
customers. Nike thinks that online is more effective rather than advertising in the press and
on television. By doing this, Nike would have long term impact on the customer and Nike
would gain more customer attraction and more profits.
Competition:
Nikes footwear and equipment industry is very competitive in the United States. Nike
compete with a significant number shoe companies, athletic and sports equipment companies
including Adidas, Puma, and others. The strong competition and the rapid changes in
technology and consumer preferences in the markets for footwear constitute significant risk
factors in our operations. Nike contract with influential athletes, colleges, teams and sports
leagues to authorize their brands Nike believes that they are competitive in all of these
markets and in all areas.
Publics:
Wherever a company operates, the company is guided by some Code of Conduct, and binds
its business partners to the code's principles.
1. Local government regulations regarding minimum wages; overtime; child labor laws;
provisions for pregnancy, provisions for vacation and holidays etc.

2. Different rules regarding employees health and safety.

3. Laws related to health insurance and life insurance

4. Regulations for intermediaries, that suppliers and contractors can use any form of
forced labor prison etc.

5. Rules for clean water and environment. Not to release harmful gases.



Macro Environment:

POLITICAL:
Its governments responsibility direct organizations rules, regulations and activities. Nike is a
big contributor for the betterment of people in USA. Company started many programs like
Nike Go, Due to which Nike has great support by the US government like low interest
rates, the international effectiveness of the tax system and stable currency conditions,. These
all helped Nike a lot in the formation of the company.

Demographic:
Demographic means studying people around the market on the basis of age, gender, race,
occupation, income, and also on the level of education. Relating to age and income, Nike
targets people from middle to upper class. By depends on gender Nike has broadly expanded
itself nationally. Nike now also manufactures shoes for female and children.
Economic Environment:

For any organization, the biggest threat is the economic recession. The recession always
affects any company badly. As the current situation of US economy is known that its facing
a shutdown, so in this situation, the purchasing power of customers is also affected. Not only
have US, Asias economy is not going well. It too had its effects on the Nike, as many of its
products units are in the Asia.

Technological Environment:

Nike is a master shoe company and they favor all kind of technological advancement in their
production unit and in all other processes. They design their products through computer-aided
designing, computer-aided manufacturing systems. Not only for betterment of companys
internal processes, but Nike also have improved their systems for the comfort of their
customers. On the Nike website, customers can design their own shoe and purchase it in just
a short while. Company allows customers to choose the colors they want. These kinds of
easy and simple ways of serving are very favorable among consumers.
Main advantages of technology improvement:
1. New or improved technology could result in new product lines or divisions.
2. Innovations in sporting equipment would also result in new product lines.

Cultural Environment:
Three main components of Nikes cultures are innovation, expansion and advancement. Nike
loves innovation and is always engaged in launching innovative products in the market. Since
day 1, Nike introduced innovative and new products and new designs of shoes with more
comfort. All these things made Nikes product distinct from the market and today Nike is the
master of footwear in the world. Since 1961, Nike is expanding its products variety. It started
with the footwear but today they are dealing in footwear, apparels, bags, track suits and many
other things. Nike makes its system up to date with the modern world. Company always uses
modern equipment and systems. Not for the production purpose but also for maintain good
relationship with the customers it always maintain its communication system.

Natural Environment:
Nike has already proved itself as environment protector. Nike is certified company from
global environment. In different production process at factory, CO2 used to evolve in air in
large quantity which could cause serious and harmful diseases as it affects the Green ozone
layer in air. Nike tried its best to make conditions better and used advanced technology and in
a report in 2009, it proved that CO2 emission decreased by 16% as of 2007.
Firstly, Nike used to manufacture its shoes from natural resources like plastic and leather but
then as a global responsible country, Nike stopped using natural things in production, Nike
now use recycled material in production. That decrease the production price of units and its
also good for environment.





Marketing Project(After Mid)

Market Segmentation
Selecting Target Market Segments
Differentiation and Positioning
Select an Overall Positioning Strategy
Level of Product and Services
Product and service classification
Product Line Decisions
Product Mix/ Product Portfolio Decisions
Product life cycle stage
The promotion mix
Advertising objective
Execution style of ads








Market Segmentation:

Geographic Segmentation:
Geographic segmentation is actually dividing the market within different diverse
geographical parts, for example cities, countries and regions.
Nike footwear is really famous in the part of EU and Asia Pacific. The main objective is to
sell this product in those continents where some particular sports is very popular. For
example, football is popular in Europe. It is not much popular in south Asia so its footwear is
mostly advertised more generally in Europe. Nike also sponsors some of the leagues and
clubs, like entire National Football League is sponsored by Nike because Nike believes that
this kind of sponsorship help them to generate to attract more people towards their bran and
shoes.

Demographic segmentation:

Demographic segmentation is isolating the market on the basis of age, gender, race,
occupation, income, and also on the level of education.
Relating to age and income, they target peoples in variety age from young person to middle-
aged people and the income series is basically from middle to upper class. By depends on
gender Nike has broadly expanded itself nationally. Nikes target market is youth between 18
and 35 years. With the development of women and children sports, new manufacturing lines
have been developed. The products that company manufactures are modified regularly. Nike
promotes its products like shoes and clothing in a variety of ways. Teams of different sports
in the world are mainly targeted by Nike. Nike uses competitive pricing system due to which
its prices are higher than other brands thats why Nike targets the people from higher-middle
class.




Psychographic Segmentation:
Psychographic segmentation is about social class, standards, characteristics, beliefs, interests
and values of customers. Psychographics are lifestyle and personality descriptor.
Nike uses athlete where it influences consumer to be interested on their shoes and footwear.
The purpose is to trade their products to the people in which some particular sports or athletic
activities are most popular. Nike manufactures shoes for different sports like football, soccer,
basketball and Running. Nike always supports a confident attitude, and always targets those
kinds of people. There are also some consumers that wear Nike for just want to build
confident or make other feel they wearing a branded shoes but not for sport purpose. They
target peoples basically from middle to upper class. Teams of different sports in the world are
mainly targeted by Nike.










Selecting Target Market Segments:

Nikes target market is actually youth, aged between 15 and 45. People in this age people use
to or love to do jogging, exercise and play different physical games. They mainly target
athletes, players, sportsman and different sports teams. Nike uses competitive pricing system
thats why they target peoples basically from middle to upper class. And target sportsman and
athletes. Due to which Nikes most of the customers are athletes or sportsman. Nike uses
athlete where it influences consumer to be interested on their shoes and footwear. People use
different shoes for different purposes, apparels, track suits and many other things and product
to remain fit. Athletes or young people mostly prefer to buy Nike shoes because of its
comfort level and quality. Nike targets the youth and students, who have embraced the
modern culture. . Nikes target market is youth between 18 and 35 years. With the
development of women and children sports, new manufacturing lines have been developed.
Nikes Competitive market is been expanding and dominating in the international market.
Nike promotes its products like shoes and clothing in a variety of ways. Teams of different
sports in the world are mainly targeted by Nike.











Differentiation & Positioning:

Nike one of the global master in sporting equipments industry, has maintained a strong
position. Nikes images and its trademark make it the worlds one of most reputable brand.
Nikes products and marketing techniques all contribute to take the shoe company to a huge
success. Nikes Products are basically designed for sporting purposes. Its product is
considered to be highly effective and comfortable to the athletes. It is recognized for the
quality of the shoes and has gained the positive reputation all over the world. Every company
tries to develop its brand reputation; it helps the company bringing in more revenue. Nike,
which by sponsoring high-profile athletes and teams, has become one of the most recognized
global symbols. Nike also uses different strategies to distinct their products from markets and
make it almost perfect in order to increase their brand value. It's all because of successful
strategies that today Nike is number 1 shoe brand in U.S.
The athletic sports market is one that is dynamic and highly competitive. All innovative and
distinct market strategies make Nike a most preferable and differentiated brand in the market.
Nike, being the world leader in this market, makes different changes gradually in their
products styles and features that separate it from its competitors. Nike pays great attention to
quality, features and the timing of introduction of their products in the market. Nike always
plan for time of launching their new products in the market. New products like the recently
released Fly knit shoes was launched as soon as summer starts, so the more people will be
interested in them according to the season and according to peoples psyche. Nikes great
marketing techniques make it different from others. Because Nike use world's most well-
known athletes serving as spokes models, witty ads and commercials, and the "Just Do It"
slogan that is identical with the brand. Nike most certainly has a persistent competitive
advantage with these strategies in place and will continue to be an innovative market leader.




Select an Overall Positioning Strategy:

Value that people gives to a brand keeping in mind the price of that product is called value
proposition. If people are comfortable with any brand and prefer it on other brands then the
higher prices of that brand seems fair to them. Table below shows the value proposition upon
which a company might positions its products.










Nike is a famous brand in the market and is master in shoe brand. That is why it uses competitive
pricing system and its prices are comparatively high in the market. But in return it gives fine
quality, feature, and style to the customers. Before launching any brand. Nike experts make sure
the fine features in the shoe. Nike shoes are highly comfortable and easy. People can wear Nike
shoes for the whole day without pain or sore feets. Not only for sports, but people can wear it
with style. Its not required to use them only for sporting and jogging. Nike shoes got style and
comfort in one piece. Nike has a list of loyal customers who always prefer Nike on other brands.
Most of Nike customers are athletes and sportsman. Prices of Nike shoes are comparatively high
than other brands and it targets mostly elite class or high middle class people. That is why I
would place Nike in More for More position in Possible value Proposition.

Level of Product and Services:
There are three levels of any product. Which are
1. Core product
2. Actual product
3. Augmented product
Each level of a product increases the value of the product. Shoes are basically designed to
guide foot and ankle movement. It saves suffering from sore feet or painful ankles. At the
time of designing, experts make sure and keep in mind the basic need of the consumer.
People not only purchase a pair of shoe but they also buy some expectations with that. They
expect fine quality, style, feature, durability and elegant design. No one wants to buy
expensive shoe every two months coz of low quality. People invest much money on famous
brands so they can get benefits in return. Nike experts keep in mind all these needs of the
customers. Nike shoes provide a number of benefits and advantages to its consumers. Nike
shoes are very comfortable to use and people can wear it the whole day without any problem
and pain. Also, Nike shoes maintain unique features and style that attracts the customers
attention. Before launching any shoe brand, company makes sure about its weight, long-
lastingness and comfort ability. Light weight shoes help its consumers meaning that it
reduces the power that runner have to provide for better performance. Durability is very
important for consumers because mostly consumers dont want to buy a new pair after some
time and Nike shoes are expensive also. So Nike makes shoes durable enough that it would
have a long lasting life.

Nike has opened many factory stores in different cities of different countries, where people
can buy products at lower prices. Nike provides after sales services and life time warranty.
Also it gives quick claim service to its customers. In some countries Nike offers online
service where people can order their own modified shoes with different color, different logos
and get home deliveries of Nike products.


Products and service classification:
Products and services are classified into two types based on their use and type of customers.
1. Consumer products
2. Industrial products
Consumer products are those products which are bought by the final consumers for
consumption. And industrial product is those products which are further purchased for
processing. Thus, the main difference between industrial product and consumer product is
based on the purpose for which product is bought. Consumer products are bought by final
consumers for consumption. These products are further classified into convenience products,
shopping products, specialty products and unsought products.
Nike shoes fall in the category of shopping products. There is a tough competition for Nike
shoes to fall between shopping product and specialty products. But I have thought a lot, and
due to some points I would recommend it to be placed in shopping products.
1. Nike shoes faces competition in market by PUMA, ADIDAS, REEBOK etc. people
always see and think about the quality , price and style of other companys shoes
while selecting Nike. But there is a vast comparison between shoes of Nike and other
companies. Nike shoes are used by top class athletes and players which is a plus point
for Nike that attracts peoples attention.

2. Nike is a famous and renowned brand in the world and is used by all the top class
athletes in the world. So, to maintain its standard, Nike uses competitive pricing
system. Nike shoes prices are really high in the market that is why it is said that Nike
target Elite class people.


3. Nike shoes are sold out by only Nike outlets located in different cities. They do not
supply there shoes stock to other national or international retailers. It means that Nike
selectively distributes shoes with limited outlets.

4. Advertising is very strong point of Nike.
All the points above make me believe that Nike shoes fall in the category of Shopping
product rather than some other.
















Product Line Decisions:
A group of products that are closely related because they function in a similar manner, are
sold to the same customer groups, are marketed through the same types of outlets, or fall
within given price range.
The company offers 3 to 4 products in its product lines. Following are the types of products
currently available in the market:
Shoes
Apparels
Accessories
















Product Mix Decisions:

The set of all product lines and items that a particular seller offers for sale is known as
Product Mix Decision. Nike has proven itself a popular brand in the world and has created a
reputable place by selling products such as apparels, footwear and various types of sports
equipment. It manufactures basketball, soccer, running shoes, athletics accessories, baseball
and eye wears. Company also manufactures shoes for outdoor activities like recreational uses.
There are more than three product lines in Nike Company but we will be discussing only
three of them here. These are Nike shoes, Nike apparels and Nike accessories and equipment.
If we talk about the Nike shoes, there is further classification of Nike shoes into Mens and
Womens shoes. These are known as product line width. Men shoes are classified into
different sports shoes like soccer, baseball, basketball and cricket etc. Women shoes are also
classified into many sports shoes. Not only for some special kind of sport but Nike also
manufactures shoes for casual use. These are known as product line depth a chart is given
below that can illustrate the point:

It consists of four things which are given below:
I. Width
II. Length
III. Depth
IV. Consistency

Width:
Product mix width refers to the number of different product lines the company carries. Nike
has Product line width of 3 because of 3 product categories.


Length:
Product mix length refers to the total number of items the company carries within its product
line. Nikes product line length is more than 4.
Depth:
Product mix depth refers to the number of versions offered of each product in the line. Nike
offers versions of their products on the basis of style and there is no other option to provide
like this. Following analysis shows the depth in the product line of the company.

Consistency:
The consistency of product mix refers to how closely relate the various product lines are in
end use, production requirements, distribution channels or some other way.
Nike deals in shoes and offers all the products related to this. So there is high rate of
consistency in the product line as the company offers shoes for men, women and children.


Nike Product Mix:


Product life cycle stage:

When Nike Inc. was established, its R&D employees/experts were concentrated about the
point that they dont work for a fashion industry/company. Nike is about athletics, sports and
games. And to produce shoes that will create high-quality athletics performances. They
didnt get diverted and simply focused on their common and end goal. Once this focus was
clearly defined between them, there was no hurdle for the company to climbing to the top of
its game. Nike is developing day by day and its rate of profit and revenue is increasing. In its
history, Nike Inc. never faced a downfall in revenue or in its sales. Nike is in its maturity
level. And its maturity level is going up day by day.


The promotion mix:

Promotion is one of Nikes strong points. It has helped Nike in achieving its place where
Nike is standing today. The print advertisements of Nike are generally very simple but it
always sends a powerful message to their customers. Nike sponsors many famous events such
as The Golden West Invitational and also Hoop It Up. Nikes brand image and the trademark
make it one of the most reputable brands in the globe. Nikes products and its marketing
techniques contribute to take the shoe kingdom to a huge success. Nike remains one of the
only companies to have their foot print in every sports league around the world. One does not
need to be an athlete to wear their products. Nike uses athletes and sportsman in their ads and
promotion because Nike combines the life style, and slice of life implementation flairs
to create a truly memorable ad. It represents the lifestyle approach because it shows
multiple Nike products and how they fit in with various sport lifestyles, whether it is football,
badminton, martial arts, cycling, or basketball its also representative of the mood style
because it attempts to raise a variety of emotions like tragedy and then ultimately
achievement through determination.









Advertising objective:
Nike almost always uses a famous player to promote their products. Nike believes that people
love to follow some sportsperson or actor to be like him and to look like him. People copy
their fashion so Nike sponsors different sports teams and athletes so people will get inspired
and attracted towards Nikes products. Nikes main target markets are athletes and sports
lovers whom they target through ads and promotions. A reason behind Nike targeting sports
fans, is because many of the products they sell are stylish products; from shoes, to clothing,
and team jerseys. One does not need to be an athlete to wear their products. Nike uses
athletes and sportsman in their ads and promotion because Nike combines the life style,
and slice of life implementation flairs to create a truly memorable ad. It represents the
lifestyle approach because it shows multiple Nike products and how they fit in with various
sport lifestyles, whether it is football, badminton, martial arts, cycling, or basketball its also
representative of the mood style because it attempts to raise a variety of emotions like
tragedy and then ultimately achievement through determination. Nike also uses the slice of
life approach where they show regular people using their goods. These examples of
typical people can be seen in the martial artists, the acrobat, or the bull rider. Nike scatters
them with famous athletes to show that we are all part of the same movement.










Execution style of ads:

In 1978, a tennis star was the first professional athlete to sign a project deal with Nike, Inc.
1982 was the year Nike aired its first ever T.V. ad during the New York marathon. Since
then, Nike has won two Emmys in best commercial; these two commercials were "The
Morning After" and "Move".` Today Nike has a number of players that serve Nike as brand
ambassadors such as Ronaldo, and Roberto Carlos, LeBron James and Jermaine ONeal, and
Tiger Woods for Golf. Nike would not have been have become the strong competitor they
are today in the sporting goods industry. It targets the markets by advertising in the
newspaper and T.V. The tone of the ad of Nike is very positive. It challenges people to thrust
themselves. Just do it. To get across their message, they procedure a attractive melody that
communicates these values: Its not how you start, its how you finish. Its not where youre
from; its where youre at. Everybody gets knocked down, how quick are you going to get
up?.











Positioning Map:

Positioning map shows consumers perception of their brand versus competing products in the
market. The position of each product on the map shows the brands perceived positioning on two
dimension like on Price and orientation (Fashion vs. technology or performance). Size of circle
indicates the market share of the product in the market but in the given figure we cant show the
products in circle.