Sportswear has always been a part of the fashion industry. Speaking of sportswear, the brand that has come a long way is Nike.
Nike is an American multinational company that is also one of the leading sportswear companies in the world currently. From football to other sports, Nike has been a household name for all sports lovers and players around the world.
Nike History
Nike Inc. is an American multinational company that specializes in sportswear products. The brand is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon. In 1964, the brand Blue Ribbon Sports was established by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. Bill was a sports mentor at the College of Oregon, and Phil Knight was Bill’s former student.
The initial days
In 1966, Nike opened their first retail outlet and propelled the Nike brand shoe in 1972. The organization was renamed Nike, Inc from the former Blue-Ribbon Sports in 1978. By 1980, Nike went global with its products and entered the global markets.
Soon, Nike had retail outlets and merchants in more than 180 nations, and its brand logo was perceived worldwide.
The rise of Nike
From the late 1980s, Nike consistently extended its business and broadened its product offering through various acquisitions, including the shoe organizations Cole Haan and Converse. The athletic gear maker Canstar Sports, Inc, which was later known as Bauer, and the athletic attire and gear organization Umbro were part of the Nike brand.
In the year 1996, the organization made Nike ACG, which marketed items for sports such as snowboarding and mountain biking. Gradually, Nike started selling sports-tech goods and wrist compasses.
The present-day
Some portion of Nike’s prosperity is due to the endorsements done by Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, and Tiger Woods. In the year 1990, the NikeTown chain stores opened, and it paid tribute to these Nike icons.
The customers were provided with a wide range of items produced by Nike. The brand has now become the leader in sportswear in the world and currently operates in more than 190 countries as of 2019.
Nike Brand Value
In 2020, the Nike brand value was estimated to be around USD $ 35 billion, which was an expansion of more than two billion U.S. dollars from 2019.
Nike’s footwear generated the majority of the income, netting more than USD $ 24 billion in the year 2019. Among U.S. customers, Nike was the most well-known sportswear brand, front its primary rivals Adidas.
Nike has managed to pull out such a brand value, and that is because it has invested heavily in advertising. The organization had invested more than USD $ 3.8 billion in 2019.
Nike has tailored some memorable advertisements, and the tagline “ Just Do It” has helped the brand in attracting customers. Nike was the most followed athletic clothing brand on YouTube, and currently, it has more than a million subscribers. The brand has a massive following on social media platforms and has become a part of the footwear culture.
Nike Brand Strategies
Product Strategy
Nike offers a wide scope of items, including shoes, attire, and gear. Nike is known for its high-quality sportswear goods and mainly for manufacturing sportswear for professional players. It holds the leading market in the sportswear industry and gets its major income from the sale of sports shoes.
Nike has come up with various product lines and manufactures shoes for various sports events. A recent collaboration between Nike and Apple has combined the markets and led to a sales boost.
Other than these, NIKEid is a sub-brand of Nike that permits its clients to structure and redo the highlights of their ideal items according to their necessities, and this has successfully pulled in a massive customer base. Nike additionally offers the help of fitness coaches to its shoppers for different sorts of sports.
Pricing strategy
Nike has taken up a value-based pricing methodology which has helped the brand become the global leader in the sportswear and accessories segment. By this methodology, Nike gauges the worth a client is eager to pay for each item.
The brand benefitted from this pricing methodology, and in the last five years, the brand was able to earn a surplus profit. The pricing strategy has also taken the premium buyers into consideration. Some premium buyers are willing to invest a large sum to buy Nike’s premium products.
So, Nike has accurately segmented the market and priced its products according to the product type and market demand.
Distribution strategy
Nike utilizes three channels to offer its wide assortment of items to its buyers:
- Retailers
For a brand like Nike, the retailers are the largest source of distribution. In the USA, Nike has more than 205,000 retailers, and currently, the brand has its operations running in more than 190 countries.
The brand has set up its manufacturing units in almost all the countries it operates in and has also created a distribution channel for them. The motto was to facilitate the supply chain with the production units. For sportswear brands such as Adidas and Reebok, Nike has posed to be trouble due to this innovative concept of supply chain and retail distribution strategy.
- Nike online stores
Nike has set up several online stores. Customers can go to the official Nike websites according to their regions and browse through the product line. Customers can create their own accounts on the Nike website and can buy products seamlessly.
By doing this, Nike gets to feature its pretty much every item and connect with a huge number of clients over the web.
- Nike selective disconnected stores
Nike selective stores are prevalent in pretty much every city and suburb in the nation. There are factory outlets as well where certain discounts are given at a given time period of the year.
- Online deal through Internet business
Nike uses eCommerce sites to sell out their products. In major markets such as the USA, India, and other countries, the income coming in from online stores is by far the greatest in terms of revenue. Sites like Amazon and Flipkart have been selling Nike shoes in some major markets.
Marketing strategy
Nike, as a brand, is known for its solid marketing and advertising campaigns. The brand often described its marketing strategy as an aggressive one and has used all the media sources for the promotion of its products.
Nike runs its advertising campaigns on social media and video-sharing platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. The brand has roped in sports icons and stars for the promotion of its sports products as this kind of marketing has a huge impact on the customer base.
Nike officially sponsors many sports events and is the official product manufacturer for many clubs and national teams in the sports segment. The brand has spent a huge sum of money for brand promotion by appearing in the football kits for different football clubs.
Nike has cleverly marketed itself through electronic, social, and print media. The promotional stuff and discounts are being circulated by the brand through various media sources, and this has proved beneficial for the brand in terms of sales.
Conclusion
In spite of the brand that there are several other famous brands in the market in the sportswear segment, Nike has successfully established itself as the leader in sportswear brands. The brand faces a tough and challenging market, but with its unique branding strategies, it has been able to overcome the hurdles.
Marketing | Branding | Blogging. These Three Words Describe Me in The Best Way. I Am the founder of Burban Branding and Media, a Self-Taught Marketer with 10 Years of Experience. Helping Startups/ Companies/ and Small Businesses to Enhance Their Business Through Branding and Marketing. On A Mission to Help Small Businesses to Be a Brand.
