Project of cyber marketing

On brick and motors

Submitted by:

Urooj Ishfaq

BBA (Hons) 6th

Roll No 1506

Submitted to:

Mam Irum

National University of Modern Language

 Acknowledgement
We are very thankful to Almighty Allah who has all the powers in the world and who also give us
power to perform the assigned task, which otherwise we can’t perform.

We are very thankful to our honorable lecturer Miss. Irum for providing me an opportunity to
explore the practical aspects of the course that refined our theoretical concepts and would help
us in the practical field.
 Table of contents

Contents Page No
Executive summary 1

History of Nike 2to8

Segmentation 9 to 10

Targeting 11

Positioning 12

7cs 12 to16

Pricing strategy 17

Marketing Mix 17 to 28

References 29
 Executive summary
Thin the very start history of Nike is given it tells us who was the founder of Nike
and how it start and currently in which countries it working then after that market
segmentation are discussed and it also tell us how Nike make their segment and
which are their targeting segments and what factor they usually considered when
making and targeting the customers. Then we will see the how it position their
product .how it using the 7cs and see their pricing and marketing mix strategies.
 History of Nike
Company History:
Founded as an importer of Japanese shoes, NIKE, Inc. (Nike) has grown to be the world's
largest marketer of athletic footwear and apparel. In the United States, Nike products are sold
through about 20,000 retail accounts; worldwide, the company's products are sold in about 110
countries. Both domestically and overseas Nike operates retail stores, including Nike Towns and
factory outlets. In addition to its wide range of core athletic shoes and apparel, the company also
sells Nike and Bauer brand athletic equipment, Cole Haan brand dress and casual footwear, and
the Sports Specialties line of headwear featuring licensing team logos.

BRS Beginnings
Nike's precursor originated in 1962, a product of the imagination of Philip H. Knight, a Stanford
University business graduate who had been a member of the track team as an undergraduate at
the University of Oregon. Traveling in Japan after finishing up business school, Knight got in
touch with a Japanese firm that made athletic shoes, the Onitsuka Tiger Co., and arranged to
import some of its products to the United State on a small scale. Knight was convinced that
Japanese running shoes could become significant competitors for the German products that
then dominated the American market. In the course of setting up his agreement with Onitsuka
Tiger, Knight invented Blue Ribbon Sports to satisfy his Japanese partner's expectations that he
represented an actual company, and this hypothetical firm eventually grew to become Nike, Inc.
At the end of 1963, Knight's arrangements in Japan came to fruition when he took delivery of
200 pairs of Tiger athletic shoes, which he stored in his father's basement and peddled at
various track meets in the area. Knight's one-man venture became a partnership in the following
year, when his former track coach, William Bowerman, chipped in $500 to equal Knight's
investment. Bowerman had long been experimenting with modified running shoes for his team,
and he worked with runners to improve the designs of prototype Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS)
shoes. Innovation in running shoe design eventually would become a cornerstone of the
company's continued expansion and success. Bowerman's efforts first paid off in 1968, when a
shoe known as the Cortez, which he had designed, became a big seller.
BRS sold 1,300 pairs of Japanese running shoes in 1964, its first year, to gross $8,000. By 1965
the fledgling company had acquired a full-time employee and sales had reached $20,000. The
following year, the company rented its first retail space, next to a beauty salon in Santa Monica,
California, so that its few employees could stop selling shoes out of their cars. In 1967 with fast-
growing sales, BRS expanded operations to the East Coast, opening a distribution office in
Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Bowerman's innovations in running shoe technology continued throughout this time. A shoe with
the upper portion made of nylon went into development in 1967, and the following year
Bowerman and another employee came up with the Boston shoe, which incorporated the first
cushioned mid-sole throughout the entire length of an athletic shoe.

Emergence of Nike in 1970s

By the end of the decade, Knight's venture had expanded to include several stores and 20
employees and sales were nearing $300,000. The company was poised for greater growth, but
Knight was frustrated by a lack of capital to pay for expansion. In 1971 using financing from the
Japanese trading company Nissho Iwai Corporation, BRS was able to manufacture its own line
of products overseas, through independent contractors, for import to the United States. At this
time, the company introduced its Swoosh trademark and the brand name Nike, the Greek
goddess of victory. These new symbols were initially affixed to a soccer shoe, the first Nike
product to be sold.
A year later, BRS broke with its old Japanese partner, Onitsuka Tiger, after a disagreement over
distribution, and kicked off promotion of its own products at the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials, the
first of many marketing campaigns that would seek to attach Nike's name and fortunes to the
careers of well-known athletes. Nike shoes were geared to the serious athlete, and their high
performance carried with it a high price.
In their first year of distribution, the company's new products grossed $1.96 million and the
corporate staff swelled to 45. In addition, operations were expanded to Canada, the company's
first foreign market, which would be followed by Australia, in 1974.
Bowerman continued his innovations in running-shoe design with the introduction of the Moon
shoe in 1972, which had a waffle-like sole that had first been formed by molding rubber on a
household waffle iron. This sole increased the traction of the shoe without adding weight.
In 1974 BRS opened its first U.S. plant, in Exeter, New Hampshire. The company's payroll
swelled to 250, and worldwide sales neared $5 million by the end of 1974. This growth was
fueled in part by aggressive promotion of the Nike brand name. The company sought to expand
its visibility by having its shoes worn by prominent athletes, including tennis players Ilie Nastase
and Jimmy Connors. At the 1976 Olympic Trials these efforts began to pay off as Nike shoes
were worn by rising athletic stars .
The company's growth had truly begun to take off by this time, riding the boom in popularity of
jogging that took place in the United States in the late 1970s. BRS revenues tripled in two years
to $14 million in 1976, and then doubled in just one year to $28 million in 1977. To keep up with
demand, the company opened new factories, adding a stitching plant in Maine and additional
overseas production facilities in Taiwan and Korea. International sales were expanded when
markets in Asia were opened in 1977 and in South America the following year. European
distributorships were lined up in 1978.
Nike continued its promotional activities with the opening of Athletics West, a training club for
Olympic hopefuls in track and field, and by signing tennis player John McEnroe to an
endorsement contract. In 1978 the company changed its name to Nike, Inc. The company
expanded its line of products that year, adding athletic shoes for children.
By 1979 Nike sold almost half the running shoes bought in the United States, and the company
moved into a new world headquarters building in Beaverton, Oregon. In addition to its shoe
business, the company began to make and market a line of sports clothing, and the Nike Air
shoe-cushioning device was introduced.

1980s Growth through International Expansion and Aggressive

Marketing
By the start of the 1980s, Nike's combination of groundbreaking design and savvy and
aggressive marketing had allowed it to surpass the German athletic shoe company Adidas AG,
formerly the leader in U.S. sales. In December 1980, Nike went public, offering two million
shares of stock. With the revenues generated by the stock sale, the company planned continued
expansion, particularly in the European market. In the United States, plans for a new
headquarters on a large, rural campus were inaugurated, and an East Coast distribution center
in Greenland, New Hampshire, was brought on line. In addition, the company bought a large
plant in Exeter, New Hampshire, to house the Nike Sport Research and Development Lab and
also to provide for more domestic manufacturing capacity. The company had shifted its overseas
production away from Japan at this point, manufacturing nearly four-fifths of its shoes in South
Korea and Taiwan. It established factories in Mainland China in 1981.
By the following year, when the jogging craze in the United States had started to wane, half of
the running shoes bought in the United States bore the Nike trademark. The company was well
insulated from the effects of a stagnating demand for running shoes, however, since it gained a
substantial share of its sales from other types of athletic shoes, notably basketball shoes and
tennis shoes. In addition, Nike benefited from strong sales of its other product lines, which
included apparel, work and leisure shoes, and children's shoes.
Given the slowing of growth in the U.S. market, however, the company turned its attention to
growth in foreign markets, inaugurating Nike International, Ltd. in 1981 to spearhead the
company's push into Europe and Japan, as well as into Asia, Latin America, and Africa. In
Europe, Nike faced stiff competition from Adidas and Puma, which had a strong, hold on the
soccer market, Europe's largest athletic shoe category. The company opened a factory in
Ireland to enable it to distribute its shoes without paying high import tariffs, and in 1981 bought
out its distributors in England and Austria, to strengthen its control over marketing and
distribution of its products. In 1982 the company outfitted Aston Villa, the winning team in the
English and European Cup soccer championships, giving a boost to promotion of its new soccer
shoe.
In Japan, Nike allied itself with Nissho Iwai, the sixth largest Japanese trading company, to form
Nike-Japan Corporation. Because Nike already held a part of the low-priced athletic shoe
market, the company set its sights on the high-priced end of the scale in Japan.
By 1982 the company's line of products included more than 200 different kinds of shoes,
including the Air Force I, a basketball shoe, and its companion shoe for racquet sports, the Air
Ace, the latest models in the long line of innovative shoe designs that had pushed Nike's
earnings to an average annual increase of almost 100 percent. In addition, the company
marketed more than 200 different items of clothing. By 1983--when the company posted its first-
ever quarterly drop in earnings as the running boom peaked and went into a decline--Nike's
leaders were looking to the apparel division, as well as overseas markets, for further expansion.
In foreign sales, the company had mixed results. Its operations in Japan were almost
immediately profitable, and the company quickly jumped to second place in the Japanese
market, but in Europe, Nike fared less well, losing money on its five European subsidiaries.
Faced with an 11.5 percent drop in domestic sales of its shoes in the 1984 fiscal year, Nike
moved away from its traditional marketing strategy of support for sporting events and athlete
endorsements to a wider-reaching approach, investing more than $10 million in its first national
television and magazine advertising campaign. This followed the 'Cities Campaign,' which used
billboards and murals in nine American cities to publicize Nike products in the period before the
1984 Olympics. Despite the strong showing of athletes wearing Nike shoes in the 1984 Los
Angeles Olympic games, Nike profits were down almost 30 percent for the fiscal year ending in
May 1984, although international sales were robust and overall sales rose slightly. This decline
was a result of aggressive price discounting on Nike products and the increased costs
associated with the company's push into foreign markets and attempts to build up its sales of
apparel.
Earnings continued to fall in the next three quarters as the company lost market share, posting
profits of only $7.8 million at the end of August 1984, a loss of $2.2 million three months later,
and another loss of $2.1 million at the end of February 1985. In response, Nike adopted a series
of measures to change its sliding course. The company cut back on the number of shoes it had
sitting in warehouses and also attempted to fine-tune its corporate mission by cutting back on
the number of products it marketed. It made plans to reduce the line of Nike shoes by 30 percent
within a year and a half. In addition, leadership at the top of the company was streamlined, as
founder Knight resumed the post of president--which he had relinquished in 1983--in addition to
his duties as chairman and chief executive officer. Overall administrative costs were also
reduced. As part of this effort, Nike also consolidated its research and marketing branches,
closing its facility in Exeter, New Hampshire, and cutting 75 of the plant's 125 employees.
Overall, the company lay off about 400 workers during 1984.
Faced with shifting consumer interests (i.e., the U.S. market move from jogging to aerobics), the
company created a new products division in 1985 to help keep pace. In addition, Nike
purchased Pro-form, a small maker of weightlifting equipment, as part of its plan to profit from all
aspects of the fitness movement. The company was restructured further at the end of 1985
when its last two U.S. factories were closed and its previous divisions of apparel and athletic
shoes were rearranged by sport. In a move that would prove to be the key to the company's
recovery, in 1985 the company signed basketball player Michael Jordan to endorse a new
version of its Air shoe, introduced four years earlier. The new basketball shoes bore the name
'Air Jordan.'
In early 1986 Nike announced expansion into a number of new lines, including casual apparel
for women, a less expensive line of athletic shoes called Street Socks, golf shoes, and tennis
gear marketed under the name 'Wimbledon.' By mid-1986 Nike was reporting that its earnings
had begun to increase again, with sales topping $1 billion for the first time. At that point, the
company sold its 51 percent stake in Nike-Japan to its Japanese partner; six months later, Nike
laid off ten percent of its U.S. employees at all levels in a major cost-cutting strategy.
Following these moves, Nike announced a drop in revenues and earnings in 1987, and another
round of restructuring and budget cuts ensued, as the company attempted to come to grips with
the continuing evolution of the U.S. fitness market. Only Nike's innovative Air athletic shoes
provided a bright spot in the company's otherwise erratic progress, allowing the company to
regain market share from rival Reebok International Ltd. in several areas, including basketball
and cross training.
The following year, Nike branched out from athletic shoes, purchasing Cole Haan, a maker of
casual and dress shoes, for $80 million. Advertising heavily, the company took a commanding
lead in sales to young people to claim 23 percent of the overall athletic shoe market. Profits
rebounded to reach $100 million in 1988, as sales rose 37 percent to $1.2 billion. Later that
year, Nike launched a $10 million television campaign around the theme 'Just Do It' and
announced that its 1989 advertising budget would reach $45 million.
In 1989 Nike marketed several new lines of shoes and led its market with $1.7 billion in sales,
yielding profits of $167 million. The company's product innovation continued, including the
introduction of a basketball shoe with an inflatable collar around the ankle, sold under the brand
name Air Pressure. In addition, Nike continued its aggressive marketing, using ads featuring
Michael Jordan and actor-director Spike Lee, the ongoing 'Just Do It' campaign, and the 'Bo
Knows' television spots featuring athlete Bo Jackson. At the end of 1989, the company began
relocation to its newly constructed headquarters campus in Beaverton, Oregon.

Market Dominance in the Early to Mid-1990s

In 1990 the company sued two competitors for copying the patented designs of its shoes and
found itself engaged in a dispute with the U.S. Customs Service over import duties on its Air
Jordan basketball shoes. In 1990 the company's revenues hit $2 billion. The company acquired
Tetra Plastics Inc., producers of plastic film for shoe soles. That year, the company opened Nike
Town, a prototype store selling the full range of Nike products, in Portland, Oregon.
By 1991 Nike's Visible Air shoes had enabled it to surpass its rival Reebok in the U.S. market. In
the fiscal year ending May 31, 1991, Nike sales surpassed the $3 billion mark, fueled by record
sales of 41 million pairs of Nike Air shoes and a booming international market. Its efforts to
conquer Europe had begun to bear fruit; business there grew by 100 percent that year,
producing more than $1 billion in sales and gaining the second place market share behind
Adidas. Nike's U.S. shoe market had, in large part, matured, slowing to five percent annual
growth, down from 15 percent annual growth from 1980 and 1988. The company began eyeing
overseas markets and predicted ample room to grow in Europe. Nike's U.S. rival Reebok,
however, also saw potential for growth in Europe, and by 1992 European MTV was glutted with
athletic shoe advertisements as the battle for the youth market heated up between Nike,
Reebok, and their European competitors, Adidas and Puma.
Nike also saw growth potential in its women's shoe and sports apparel division. In February
1992 Nike began a $13 million print and television advertising pitch for its women's segment,
built upon its 'Dialogue' print campaign, which had been slowly wooing 18- to 34-year-old women
since 1990. Sales of Nike women's apparel lines Fitness Essentials, Elite Aerobics, Physical
Elements, and All Condition Gear increased by 25 percent in both 1990 and 1991 and jumped
by 68 percent in 1992.
In July 1992 Nike opened its second Nike Town retail store in Chicago, Illinois. Like its
predecessor in Portland, the Chicago Nike Town was designed to 'combine the fun and
excitement of FAO Schwartz, the Smithsonian Institute and Disneyland in a space that will
entertain sports and fitness fans from around the world' as well as provide a high-profile retail
outlet for Nike's rapidly expanding lines of footwear and clothing.
Nike celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1992, virtually debt free and with company revenues of
$3.4 billion. Gross profits jumped $100 million in that year, fueled by soaring sales in its retail
division, which expanded to include 30 Nike-owned discount outlets and the two Nike Towns. To
celebrate its anniversary, Nike brought out its old slogan 'There is no finish line.' As if to
underscore that sentiment, Nike Chairman Philip Knight announced massive plans to remake
the company with the goal of being 'the best sports and Fitness Company in the world.' To fulfill
that goal, the company set the ground plans for a complicated yet innovative marketing structure
seeking to make the Nike brand into a worldwide mega brand along the lines of Coca-Cola,
Pepsi, Sony, and Disney.
Nike continued expansion of its high-profile Nike Town chain, opening outlets in Atlanta,
Georgia, in the spring of 1993 and Costa Mesa, California, later that year. Also in 1993, as part
of its long-term marketing strategy, Nike began an ambitious venture with Mike Ovitz's Creative
Artists Agency to organize and package sports events under the Nike name--a move that
potentially led the company into competition with sports management giants such as ProServ,
IMG, and Advantage International.
Nike also began a more controversial venture into the arena of sports agents, negotiating
contracts for basketball's Scottie Pippin, Alonzo Mourning, and others in addition to retaining
athletes such as Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley as company spokespersons. Nike's
influence in the world of sports grew to such a degree that in 1993 Sporting News dubbed Knight
the most powerful man in sports.
Critics contended that Nike's influence ran too deep, having its hand in negotiating everything in
an athlete's life from investments to the choice of an apartment. But Nike's marketing executives
saw it as part of a campaign to create an image of Nike not just as a product line but as
a lifestyle, a 'Nike attitude.'
Nearly everyone agreed, however, that Nike was the dominant force in athletic footwear in the
early to mid-1990s. The company held about 30 percent of the U.S. market by 1995, far
outdistancing the 20 percent of its nearest rival, Reebok. Overseas revenues continued their
steady rise, reaching nearly $2 billion by 1995, about 40 percent of the overall total. Not content
with its leading position in athletic shoes and its growing sales of athletic apparel--which
accounted for more than 30 percent of revenues in 1996--Nike branched out into sports
equipment in the mid-1990s. In 1994 the company acquired Canstar Sports Inc., the leading
maker of skates and hockey equipment in the world, for $400 million. Canstars was renamed
Bauer Nike Hockey Inc., Bauer being Canstar's brand name for its equipment. Two years later
Bauer Nike became part of the newly formed Nike equipment division, which aimed to extend
the company into the marketing of sport balls, protective gear, eyewear, and watches. Also
during this period, Nike signed up its next superstar spokesperson, Tiger Woods. In 1995, at the
age of 20, Woods agreed to a 20-year, $40 million endorsement contract. The golf phenom went
on to win an inordinate number of tournaments, often shattering course records, and to become
only the second golfer in history to win three 'majors' within a single year, more than validating
the blockbuster contract.

Late 1990s Slippage

For the fiscal year ending in May 1997, Nike earned a record $795.8 million on record revenues
of $9.19 billion. Overseas sales played a large role in the 42 percent increase in revenues from
1996 to 1997. Sales in Asia increased by more than $500 million (to $1.24 billion), while
European sales surged ahead by $450 million. Back home, Nike's share of the U.S. athletic
shoe market neared 50 percent. The picture at Nike soon turned sour, however, as the Asian
financial crisis that erupted in the summer of 1997 sent sneaker sales in that region plunging. By
fiscal 1999, sales in Asia had dropped to $844.5 million. Compounding the company's troubles
was a concurrent stagnation of sales in its domestic market, where the fickle tastes of teenagers
began turning away from athletic shoes to hiking boots and other casual 'brown shoes.' As a
result, overall sales for 1999 fell to $8.78 billion. Profits were falling as well--including a net loss
of $67.7 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 1998, the company's first reported loss in more
than 13 years. The decline in net income led to a cost-cutting drive that included the layoff of five
percent of the workforce, or 1,200 people, in 1998, and the slashing of its budget for sports star
endorsements by $100 million that same year.
Nike was also dogged throughout the late 1990s by protests and boycotts over allegations
regarding the treatment of workers at the contract factories in Asia that employed nearly 400,000
people and that made the bulk of Nike shoes and much of its apparel. Charges included abuse
of workers, poor working conditions, low wages, and use of child labor. Nike's initial reaction--
which was highlighted by Knight's insistence that the company had little control over its
suppliers--resulted in waves of negative publicity. Protesters included church groups, students at
universities that had apparel and footwear contracts with Nike, and socially conscious
investment funds. Nike finally announced in mid-1998 a series of changes affecting its contract
workforce in Asia, including an increase in the minimum age, a tightening of air quality
standards, and a pledge to allow independent inspections of factories. Nike nonetheless
remained under pressure from activists into the 21st century. Nike, along with McDonald's
Corporation, the Coca-Cola Company, and Starbucks Corporation, among others, also became
an object of protest from those who were attacking multinational companies that pushed global
brands. This undercurrent of hostility burst into the spotlight in late 1999 when some of the more
aggressive protesters against a World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle attempted to storm
a NikeTown outlet.
Seeking to recapture the growth of the early to mid-1990s, Nike pursued a number of new
initiatives in the late 1990s. Having initially missed out on the trend toward extreme sports (such
as skateboarding, mountain biking, and snowboarding), Nike attempted to rectify this miscue by
establishing a unit called ACG&mdash⁄ort for 'all-conditions gear'--in 1998. Two years later, the
company created a new division called Techlab to market a line of sports-technology
accessories, such as a digital audio player, a high-altitude wrist compass, and a portable heart-
rate monitor. Both of these initiatives were aimed at capturing sales from the emerging
Generation Y demographic group. In early 1999 Nike began selling its shoes and other products
directly to consumers via the company web site. Nike announced in September of that year that
it would buy about ten percent of Fogdog Inc., which ran a sporting goods e-commerce site, in
exchange for granting Fogdog the exclusive online rights to sell the full Nike line. The company
finally earned some good publicity in 1999 when it sponsored the U.S. national women's soccer
team that won the Women's World Cup. With its record of innovative product design and savvy
promotion and an aggressive approach to containing costs and revitalizing sales, Nike appeared
likely to stage an impressive comeback in the early 21st century.
Segmentation:
Nike segmentation based on

Demographics: age, gender, occupations

Geographic: country, region, and density

Demographic:
Geographic:

Targeting:
Nike is using the mass but differentiated because it provides the different products like clothing.
Shoes, sportswear to mass customer base.

Positioning
Nike positioned to ourselves on the basis of priced, qualitative products, provide customizes
products, also on the basis of gender, age
.

How Nike used 7cs:

Context:
Its all about looks and feel of web site in context we discussed two thins first is
Functionality:
It focus on the core offering of sit whether product, service or information if we talk about Nike it
provide different product to different people like shoes, clothing, sportswear’s etc.
Aesthetic
In which we focus on effect of images and navigation tools. in Nike it also available .
Content :
Different content are available on the web sit and user can easily go to web after completing
there worked to other site.
Offering mix
Actually its combination of products, information and services in Nike web sit all these things are
providing in well manners. When you go to site different frames are available, for example you
want to shop for women you just click on women then all information related to collection brand,
and sportswear came to your screen.
Appeal mix
This is all about the promotional and communication message which are projected by the
company on the websitt.
Multimedia mix Yes on Nike website multimedia mix are available, you can watched
matches, and interviews of your favorite players

Offering mix
Combination of products. service and information about
Product

Community:
Community website are also available you con share videos and graphics through community
website.
You can share product vedios or images on other community website like facebook
Communications:
Is sharing of information with others There are two type of communication

First firm to users (any message projected by firm on website reared to product, services
etc.)

User to firm (any question and comment post by user)

In Nike option of feedback is available it is also a type of communication.
Customization:

Commerce:
 • Use of credit card
• Shopping cart
• Ordered status
Ordered tracking

Ordered taking:

Shopping cart and ordered status:

Connection:
in Nike website different website are available but its related to different Nike brand when we
click on it we shift to that brand site and we can see the products of that brand.

Marketing leavers
Price
Promotion
Products
Distributions

Price
Their price strategy is depends upon the region feature, and quantity of products
but mostly they charge high price from their customers.

Products
NIKE BRAND

NIKE WOMEN
Promotion

Nike used the players for the promotional activates. it also used sponsorship specially it sponsor
the football world cup.
Distribution
Each brand have its own website through which they distribute their products and others sports website
also have Nike brand on their sitesi.e kicksnike1.com.
Brand Ambassadors:
 Article on Nike Market Mix
Nike’s marketing strategy rested entirely upon a brand image, which is favorable and has
evolved into a great multinational enterprise over time. The favorable brand image has been
kept afloat due to the strong association with the Nike’s logo, which is quite distinctive, and the
slogan “Just Do It” which has been used in advertisement for quite some time. The company has
been known to invest heavily in advertisements and brand promotion

market segmentation
Most of the consumers of Nike’s products are mainly sportsmen. This is so because of the utility
that comes with the products. An athlete is more likely to go a sports shoe designed and
marketed by Nike more than a person who detests sporting and exercises. Nike targets these
consumers by agreements between Nike and athletic teams, college’s athletic teams1 etc for
product sponsorship and eventual promotion to the members of these teams. In this way, Nike is
able to reach a wide number of consumers and consumers who are more likely to buy. Even
though others are likely to buy the products, Nike pays specific emphatic targeting to the athlete
more than any group of individuals even though it also targets the youth who have embraced the
hip hop culture.

targeting strategy
Nike lays a number of strategies to target their immediate consumers; athletes and other
sportsmen. The targeting strategies include among others the sponsorship of products by
professional athletic teams, celebrity athletes and college athletic teams. This strategy is
specifically successful because of its ability to reach a large number of athletes. If the athletic
team manager prescribes a specific type of track shoes made by Nike, the trainees have no
option other than to buy them. The teams can as well buy the track shoes in bulky and supply
them to the team members.
The second strategy that Nike applies is the designing of product destination. It does this by
associating success with the product. For example, when a celebrity athlete sponsors a specific
brand of athletic shoes, the brand will be associated with success. This psychological effect is
reinforced with advertisements that affirm this position.
Finally, Nike targets the consumers who are likely to develop product intimacy; those who care
more about the utility and quality of the product than the price. In this way, the pricing is not
affected too much in a bid to accommodate a large number of consumers. However, price has
also been factored in Nikes marketing strategies as shall be seen later in this paper .

Pricing Strategies
As stated in the foregoing section, Nike targets the consumers who embrace product intimacy
and thus care less about the product. This has enables Nike to set relatively higher prices than
its competitors. This is a strategy that calls for higher pricing points so as to push the perceived
product value. It has been established that consumers who consider a product to be of high
quality are likely to pay the high price more often and consistently. Once consumers develop
product intimacy, they come to associate their person with the product and will pay whatever
price quoted on the product provided it has the Nike logo on it.
Another very important thing to note is the fact that Nike uses the vertical integration pricing
strategy in which they take ownership of the participants at channel levels that differ and they
also engage in multifarious channel level operations both in a bid to control costs and thus
influence pricing function.
Distribution Strategies
Distribution strategies embraced by an organization can either give them an edge in market or
make them lag behind the winners in the market. The more efficient the product distribution is
the more sales and thus more profits. The delivery of the right product and at the right time to
the consumer not only effects utility but also leads to high degree of consumer satisfaction and
loyalty. Nike distributes its products on level basis. The high priced premium products are given
to certain distributors while leaving the low priced to be sold at highly discounted prices at mega
retail stores such as Wal-Mart. Whereas Reebok embraced a limited distribution strategy Nike
ventured more into a global3 market capitalization

Promotional and Communication Strategies

Apart from Nike selling quality products, which have lead to a high degree of customer loyalty,
the promotional strategies that the company employs are simply superb. Nike has contracted a
number of professional and celebrity athletes who have managed to draw a considerable
attention to their products. Some of the sportsmen signed by Nike include soccer stars such as
Ronaldinho, Ronald and Roberto Carlos, Basketball such as Jermaine O'Neal and Lebron
James2, triathlete Lance Armstrong and golf superstar Tiger Woods. This has created a
relatively high degree of Nike products’ awareness. Besides the signing of celebrity sportsmen
to promote their products, Nike has also employed a great deal of advertisements through the
mass media. Nike employs a selective- demand advertisement focused on the high priced shoes
used for traditional sports
Conclusion
Nike has remained and continues to remain at the top of production and distribution of sports
gear and equipment. However, it should be noted that competitive pressure couldn’t allow Nike
to ‘sleep at the top’. The recent Reebok- Adidas merger poses a great challenge to devise new
marketing strategies to continue leading or recede to oblivion. The following recommendations
are suggested in a situation where marketing
Management is competent.
These include: Increased market share through a new product development, competent pricing
strategies, advertisement and other sound promotional activities.
Restructure market dominance by driving away competitors mainly through fierce promotional
strategy coupled by pricing function that will make the market quite unattractive for the
competitors.Increased social responsibility to strengthen the image of the company
Diversification of market through factoring the Asians and Black Americans in their product
promotion besides doing a research to establish the tastes of these groups.
Venture into new distribution channels especially in international markets
Different pricing strategy so as to open up a new market segments.

All the above show a competent marketing management can hoist organizations top become
market leaders and making the market leaders maintain their competitive edge in the market
through adherence to marketing ethics, marketing plans and well thought out and formulated
marketing strategies.