Analysis Of The Factors Of Nike’S Brand Popularity Among Consumers
Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) was that name of the multi-billion dollar company now commonly known as Nike. It was founded by track athlete Phil Knight and his coach, Bill Bowerman of the University of Oregon in 1964. Though the business started slow, by 1966 they opened their first retail outlet and launched their first Nike branded shoe in 1972. The company was renamed Nike Incorporated and went public to sell their shoes branded by its new logo, a curved check mark, now known as the “swoosh”. By the 21st century, Nike had created a brand presence all over the world, with retail outlets and distributors in more than 170 countries worldwide.
A typical buyer persona for Nike is a person in the age range of 13 to 40, middle class individuals who are athletes in various sports or have a strong interest in sports and fashion. The brand is all about fitness and staying active, majority of their customers are people who live an active lifestyle either by having a fitness routine or a healthy diet and that could also be a buying motivator for its customers because Nike wants its consumers to maintain a healthy lifestyle and enjoys helping their consumers reach their goals. Their customers usually gain fashion inspiration from the various sports and music artist ambassadors at Nike. Consumers enjoy wearing Nike because they feel like they can connect with some of the brand ambassadors they admire since they also represent the brand and perform at the highest level of competition.
Price
Nike is one of the most valuable sports brand in the world, with its high level of sales, strong brand image and exceptional endorsements from world class athletes and celebrities, Nike is able to price their products at a higher point than its competitors in the market. Their pricing strategy is focused on using a mix of wholesale, retail and online channels aimed at providing products at a premium price with the use of vertical integration. This means that Nike controls more than one stage of its supply chain, they are able to bring in previously outsourced operations in-house thereby cutting costs and improving quality. Another major strategy used by Nike is the value-based pricing strategy. By adopting this strategy Nike is able to analyze how much a consumer will be willing to pay for a particular product. Segmented pricing strategy is also used by Nike, meaning that for example; the price for men sizes and children sizes of a particular shoe will be drastically different. Nike successfully uses these pricing strategies to gain competitive advantage in the market and to maximize profits in the long run.
Range
Nike offers a huge range of products with an endless aisle approach to reaching consumer demand, using this endless aisle approach Nike is able to use in-store kiosks or technology to help customers order items that are out-of-stock or not sold in-store and ship the products to their houses. Nikes in-store and online experiences offer a significant value, by partnering with various social media platforms and online retailers like Twitter, Instagram, AmazonGo etc. Nike is able to allow customers buy products directly from the platforms. This allows the brand to have a deep connection to their customers and communities through the various medias. Nike has a list of Sub-brands, these include: Hurley, Converse & Jordan brand.
Product Data
Nike offers a wide and diverse range of products, they can be classified into 3 categories: apparel, shoes and equipment/accessories. They have a variety of products in their marketing mix focused on high quality material and detailing for sports and fashion fanatics. Nike offers apparel and equipment in various sports including; basketball, soccer, football, cricket, golf, baseball, lacrosse, hockey and athletics. They offer a special feature called NikeID, which is a sub-brand that allows customers select a shoe of their choice and customise in in anyway they like using various textures and fabrics; colours and design; and have those shoes shipped to their home. They have adapted to the new era and are now designing and selling technology prone products that can connect to your iPhone or iPod and allow you track your footsteps, heart rate and measure your overall performance as an athlete using active data.
Search and Navigation
Nikes online website offers consumers a conveniently accessible and candid online shopping experience. On the home page they have a search option that allows consumers to look up an item or category they are in search of. A very interesting feature i noticed was that for every letter you type in the search bar, the website tries to auto complete your search and give results of what you could be looking for. For example, I was looking for a pair of Air Max 90s and typed ‘Air’ into the search bar and numerous matches came up of the various shoes they had that were in the Air max category. By implementing this on their online website, Nike is able to provide recommendation and further educate consumers of the various other products they offer.
The navigation function of the Nike is very efficient and easy to use. Nike tailors their site according to each region and products available there. They have their products organized according to gender/age segments; Men, Women, Boys, and Girls. Under each of these categories there are sub-segments: Shoes, Clothing and Accessories/equipment, Shop by Brand, Shop by Sport and Shop by Sport. This allows consumers to easily access what exactly they are searching for and filter by who they are purchasing the item for.
Convenience
As we talked about earlier, Nike has 1, 182 stores worldwide. In each of these stores the process of purchasing or returning a product is seamless and easy. Nike allows customers to return any purchase made up to 30 days after purchase as long as the product or merchandise are unworn, unwashed and the tags are attached, they even accept returns of customized shoes done through the NikeID feature. As for delivery, Nike offers the opportunity of selecting your prefered delivery method either standard or express. They offer a continued promotion of free delivery for products up to $125+ using standard shipping, the product usually gets to the destination between 3-11 business days but if your order is below that price they charge a small fee of $10 for the delivery. The alternative will be express shipping which will cost the customer a fee of $40 and the product usually gets delivered within 3-7 business days
Experience
In today's world consumers are utilizing both in-store and online experiences from retailers. Nike has implemented technology so that its retail and online stores can be joined seamlessly to fully improve the customers experience. Nike has created an app to bridge that gap all through your smartphone, this furthermore brings a whole new level of service into their physical store with your smartphone being your shopping companion. By using this app, customers are now able to check whether a particular location of Nike has a shoe/product in their size and go ahead to reserve the shoe so it's ready available for you when you arrive. They are also allowed to see real time inventory levels for both in-store and online products. Shoppers who create an account under the NikePLUS app are prone to receiving the latest news on new arrivals, promotional discounts and partner rewards for shopping through the app. Members will be allowed to skip the line in-store using this app using a digital checkout and scan the mannequins in store using the Nike Scanner on the app to shop entire looks.
