| BA (Hons) Global Management |
| Marketing Report |
| MKT 6B5 – Marketing Strategy |
| Overwrite this text with your tutor’s name |
| Overwrite this text with your name and your student number |
| Overwrite this text with the date of submission |
To create your proposal submission, please complete ALL the sections of this template and submit on BB first by the formative deadline Friday, 12th November 2021 to get feedback and then final submission on Friday, 3rd December 2021 via Blackboard. Work will not be accepted or marked via emails. Use the guidelines for each section below.
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Please include HERE your 300 words response to the above guidelines.
Nike manufactures products for the sports industry, including footwear, apparel, and other sports equipment. The company has a global brand awareness due to its involvement in significant sports activities and the production of high-quality products; this report discusses Nike’s marketing strategies by assessing three market issues: its marketing objectives, segmentation, positioning, and targeting. The report also provides recommendations to enable the company to achieve its objectives and solve the marketing issues. In addition, the report offers environmental scanning through three tools: SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, and Ansoff tool to assess the marketing strategies, opportunities, and challenges. The three marketing issues faced in the company have high competition, a high number of lawsuits, and the threat of counterfeit products. Nike faces stiff competition from other established companies in the industry, such as Adidas and Reebok. The companies have high marketing and advertising budgets which threatens to acquire Nike’s market share. Nike also faces marketing issues resulting from the increased number of lawsuits. These lawsuits and legal battles, which include accusations of employee sexual harassment and propriety battles, threaten the company’s reputation and customer loyalty. In addition, the company faces the marketing issue of the presence of counterfeit products. Retailers offer counterfeit Nike products to customers at lower prices, threatening brand reputation and customer trust. The company’s marketing objective will include increasing its marketing and advertising budgets, increasing brand loyalty, increasing product development and innovation discussed in the report. This report also provides Nike’s segmentation types, including geographic, psychographic, and demographic. The company uses a superior brand positioning method to establish itself as a leading footwear company and targets different consumer groups discussed in the report. The report recommends that the company pursue diversification through product and market development, increased marketing and advertising, and innovation to solve the marketing issues. These measures will enable Nike to outdo the competition, a significant marketing challenge, produce unique products, and avoid legal battles.
Please note that the task is not to conduct analysis only, the task is to use these tools to be able to draw a bigger picture that helps you identify key challenges/opportunities. Based on the Environmental scan you should identify THREE challenges/opportunities that the chosen company faces within both its external and internal marketing environment. It is very much possible that you identify a range of issues. The following prompts should help you to rank three key issues as well as critically assess their significance.
You should refer to your offline/digital marketing analysis (appendices) wherever necessary in the main report. |
Please include HERE your three key marketing issues in 1000 words responding to the above guidelines.
High Competition
The company’s most significant marketing issue is high competition from other established companies. The apparels industry has gained many entries, resulting in great competition. Companies that produce athletic wear such as Adidas pose a significant threat to Nike due to their established brand in global markets. Nike faces competition in product innovation, product development, and marketing strategies. The company depends highly on a single market to gain its revenue, limiting its ability to compete with companies with a high global presence. Its concentration on the United States market has led to more market share competition with companies such as Adidas, which sell to other markets. Large athlete apparel producers in the United States pose significant competitor threats since the market accounts for about 41% of its total sales (Nike 2021). In addition, companies in the apparel industry have diversified their products, which has worsened competition in the industry. Reebok, Adidas, and Anta are Nike’s most significant competitors in the footwear division. However, other companies producing apparel are an excellent source of competition since all the companies have established brand names and high revenue sources. The competition levels have increased customers’ ability to switch brands due to high-quality availability in most brands.
The company has invested in online marketing and sales to win larger markets and achieve higher profitability. During the covid-19 pandemic, the company invested heavily in its digital platforms through selling channel restructuring and closure of various physical stores. This strategy led to increased sales and revenue to a tune of thirty-five percent (Rowland 2017).
Other companies such as Adidas have increased their advertising and marketing budgets significantly. They have increased their online and digital marketing by using celebrity endorsements and extensive sporting activities. This strategy can work for Nike. Although the company uses celebrity endorsements and sponsors sporting events, its involvement faces threats from other industry players with extensive marketing budgets.
The existence of trade tensions between China and America exposes Nike to more competition since it relies on China for production and America to sell its products. These tensions imply that Nike should rethink its marketing strategy through the diversification of markets and products. Its heavy dependency on footwear sales is also a challenge due to emerging competitors, implying that Nike needs to act swiftly to maintain its market position. If Nike does not increase its marketing budgets and product development, it may not survive high competition since it experiences other challenges outside its market. Increased market penetration in the industry establishes extremely competitive environments due to online selling platforms, which reduces market entry costs.
High Number of Lawsuits
The company faces marketing issues due to a high number of lawsuits, which could interfere with its reputation and customer brand loyalty. Nike faces accusation from its employees of sexual harassment, which expose them to harsh working conditions (Perner 2010). These accusations are published in national newspapers and stream media, which reach a global market. The allegations by employees expose it to poor brand reputation, which could reduce customer loyalty and reduce sales and revenue. In addition, the company faces accusations of child labor in its production plants. The company, which manufactures its products in China, uses child labor to reduce production costs (Perner 2010). It is also accused of poor wages among workers to benefit from reduced costs, which affects its brand reputation. It is a marketing issue since customers may shun the brand and opt for brands, which have fair employment and compensation policies. These accusations affect consumer brand perception in foreign countries, leading to a call to boycott its products. Therefore, the poor brand perception among large consumer bases affects its sales and revenue.
Nike has responded to the accusations by a commitment to conduct investigations. It has also refuted child labor claims in manufacturing plants in foreign countries. However, the company continues to engage in lawsuits, which affect its reputation and increase its expenditure in legal battles. In addition, Nike faces a legal fight with Adidas concerning product patents.
Other companies in the industry have maintained high communication with consumers on the integrity of their business processes and working conditions, such as Reebok. However, Adidas and Nike are engaged in a propriety battle, which affects their brand reputation and consumer trust in their products. If Nike does not take more action to eliminate lawsuits, it will continue to experience reduced revenues, reduced customer loyalty, and may lose its productions in foreign countries. Therefore, investigations on such matters should be swift to show commitment to product quality.
Threat of Counterfeits
The company has experienced marketing issues due to the presence of counterfeit products. The company has its production in a foreign country; hence, it does not manage all the manufacturing processes. In addition, its effects are shipped to the United States for sale through retailers, which creates complex distribution channels. These elements expose consumers to the purchase of counterfeit products unknowingly. There is increased imitation of products in the apparel and footwear industry, which exposes brands to counterfeit products to consumers. Due to the high price of products, customers also purchase the branded product at lower prices from retailers, exposing other unsuspecting consumers to such trends. Nike’s foreign production also poses challenges to the possibility of imitations. The oversee companies are involved in imitating products to benefit from such sales due to low employee wages.
Other companies in the industry also face the challenge of imitations, such as Adidas. Nike has introduced high innovation to develop its products through new launches and improved features. The company has an in-house design team to create products that are hard to imitate. It has also invested in research and development programs to produce better and unique products that match consumer needs to outdo the competition and become a fast-mover. However, it will need to increase its product features to distinguish it from counterfeit. If the company does not solve this issue, it could lead to saturation of counterfeit products in the market, which will affect customer trust, loyalty, and brand preference.
This section should include excellently identified (3-5) SMART marketing objectives (3-5) which are aligned with the preceding analysis, aim to address the key issues within 12 months and offer convincing justification. . |
Please include HERE your 200 words response to the above guidelines.
1. To increase marketing and advertising by 40% in 6 months
The company will increase its marketing, advertising budget significantly to facilitate online and offline marketing. These measures will enable the company to gain a competitive edge due to high competition in the industry. The funding will increase celebrity endorsement across all age groups to ensure that consumers identify with them to increase sales. The budget will also increase digital sales across all digital platforms to reach online customers in the target market.
2. To increase product development and innovation by 70% in 1 year
The company will commit to increasing product development and innovation in its target markets. It will reduce the number of counterfeit products in the markets due to unique products. Through advanced research and development programs, it will do so to develop products that are hard to imitate and appeal to the target market. In addition, it will increase participation in significant sporting activities such as the NBA through sponsorships and provision of quality products to athletes to identify consumer needs and satisfaction levels with their products. Nike will also increase its current marketing strategy that produces unique products inspired by top athletes.
3. To increase brand loyalty by 40% in 1 year
The company will commit to increasing its brand loyalty by reducing its lawsuits by providing good working conditions and fair compensation. It will investigate accusations swiftly to provide good brand perception among consumers. In addition, Nike will seek an amicable resolution to its legal battle with Adidas to enhance customer trust and brand loyalty.
This section should present excellent evaluation of your chosen company’s existing STP strategy. It should be further clarified if it is aligned with the objectives of this report and if not what needs to be changed and justify why. It should further include the application of recent emerging thought in the field of marketing. |
Please include HERE your 1000 words response to the above guidelines.
The company has segmented its customers by serving specific consumer groups. It uses demographic, psychographic, and geographic aspects to segment its consumers. The company has divided its customers on demographic backgrounds, which include age, gender. It serves in different age groups between fifteen to forty who include both men and women. Hence, the company produces products for male and female customers and consumers on the specified age bracket. It segments customers based on geographic location such as United States and foreign markets. Most of its products are manufactured for the American market. In addition, the company segments its customers based on psychographic element such as lifestyle, which segments them, based on their physical activities such as athletics, competitive sporting, or active physical activities.
Nike has established a niche market by offering high quality and innovative products that meet style and needs of the target consumers. Nike target customers include those aged fifteen to forty who have an active lifestyle such as physical activities and fashionable. The company has increased its focus on the teen customers by producing products that appeal to the age group to increase customer loyalty. Nike has a large customer base in the United States who is its major target customers. This strategy limits its competitive powers hence increases competition in the domestic market (SuccessFlow 2016). Nike should develop new markets to become more competitive and acquire global dominance through its innovative products.
Nike has positioned itself as a leading footwear company in the United States. It uses the brand leadership positioning built on innovation. It dominates approximately forty-eight percent of the market. It also dominates about ninety-six percent of the basketball footwear. The company has positioned itself as a highly innovative brand in footwear through high quality and stylish products that prevent athlete injuries. Nike is a leader in innovative athlete footwear. Its dominance in footwear worn by basketball athletes has established a niche market in the United States. In addition, its footwear reflects the style of athletes and dis designed to suit their needs and preferences. Consumers identify the company as a pioneer in innovative sports apparel and accessories, which is a key element in its brand identification. However, it should develop more innovative features to enable customers identify genuine brand products in the market to eliminate sale of counterfeits by some retailers. It should also have conduct intensive research to avoid issues of propriety battles.
Addressing each SMART objective (3-5), develop clear, commercially aware and action-oriented recommendations. This should be a combination of offline and digital solutions against each SMART objective. This section should explicitly relate to comprehensive knowledge of the marketing and digital marketing. There should be sufficient evidence of evaluation of current knowledge and professional practice. To target a higher grade, include the application of recent emerging thought in the field of marketing.
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Please include HERE your 1000 words response to the above guidelines.
Diversification
Nike’s major marketing issue is competition. The company faces stiff competition from established brands and new market entrants. As such, it is crucial that it expands its market and introduces new products through diversification. Nike’s has an established strategy to continuously innovate. However, it concentrates on the footwear division, which increases its level of competition. The company’s major competitors are Adidas, Anta, and Reebok, which produce similar products. Therefore, its footwear products, which contribute to its largest revenue sources, may threaten its sustainability. Although it has invested in other sports products such as accessories and apparel, these market are small. It should invest more in developing the products in these segments a well as their markets. It should also expand its product range to gain a competitive edge. It will benefit from increased sales and revenue due to more product lines, which will solve its marketing issue of high competition in the footwear market.
In addition, although Nike produces high quality products, it concentrates on one market. Despite its global consumer presence, the company concentrates on the United States market. Nike should diversify its markets by introducing it products in more markets. It should establish itself in other markets to serve its target consumers in those markets. It will align with its objective to increase product development and innovation. The company has a global consumer base who is not well served. These consumers are likely to purchase counterfeit produces due to obstacles to accessing genuine product, which are overpriced in foreign countries. Nike should use this as an opportunity to serve their global customers by offering their products at fair prices as those in the United States markets. However, the continued concentration on a single market could be an obstacle to Nike’s growth potential. Its established brand name will provide easy access to global markets hence, diversification to new markets with existing and new products is ideal to gain competitive advantage and better brand positioning on the global market.
Marketing and Advertising
Marketing and Advertising is essential for brands to grow (Kryscynski 2015). Nike faces marketing issues due to increased marketing and advertising from competitors such as Adidas. These competitors threaten Nike’s market share due to increased sales and better marketing strategies. Nike should invest more resources in marketing and advertising to outdo competition, grow it market share and increase sales. By investing heavily in marketing and advertising to a tune of 40% in 1 year, the company can maintain its consumer segments and grow new markets since extensive marketing influences customer’s brand perceptions. The company should increase its partnerships with influential athletes to increase endorsements. Since it has dominated the basketball footwear, it should collaborate with such athletes to increase sales and enhance brand loyalty. In addition, it should take advantage of digital platforms to increase brand engagements. As such, it should collaborate with digital influencers to push the brand since they influence purchase decision of their followers. They can also be beneficial in introducing new products to new and existing markets, which will enable the company, acquire more customers, and increase sales (Thompson et al. 2020). These influencers are also essential in enhancing brand reputation among customers through changing their perceptions. Due to Nike’s increased accusations of harassment and poor employment practices, customers may develop poor brand perceptions, which affect their purchase decisions. Nike should use influencers to change brand perception and create high customer loyalty through such digital platforms.
Moreover, Nike should increase its involvement in large sporting activities. The ongoing major sporting activities such as the NBA are an opportunity to increase brand awareness. The company should introduce new products to the market during the season by increasing its sporting involvement. It should provide better quality products to athletes, which increases its brand awareness and reputation globally. Due to the high injuries experienced by athletes in the previous season, the company should introduce better products during the sports activities to gain large visibility, which will increase sales and revenue. It is an effective offline marketing opportunity, which also contributes to digital marketing through game streaming. Their products will reach a large geographical region, which creates more opportunities for growth and reducing presence of counterfeit products. It also improves the company reputation among current and potential consumers.
Innovation
Nike faces the threats of counterfeit products in the markets and high competition. It should innovate through new and improved products. The company has invested in research and development programs. It also has an in-house design team to facilitate product design ad ensure they meet customer needs. However, there is need to conduct customer surveys to identify the changing needs of consumers. These surveys help companies develop customer personas, which are crucial in product development and innovation. Therefore, the company should conduct frequent customer surveys in their target market to identify customer needs, perceptions, and changes in preferences. It will also help to determine the level of brand loyalty among customers, which presents an opportunity to serve them better with improved products.
The company should develop new designs of products without limiting itself to footwear. The company is highly innovative in the footwear division. However, other product lines do not experience as such innovation, which increases competition. It should develop its product lines through innovative features which are hard to imitate and better than competitors. Such innovations will appeal to the high-end sports customers such as professional athlete who have the buying power. It will also appeal to younger people who are fashion-oriented and stylish.
Nike should take advantage of the growth of innovation sensitive customer groups which desire products with new features and different from other brands. Thee customers have high buying power and high economic and social influence which can push new products to such markets. However, there is need for special features that differentiate counterfeit to maintain brand reputation among these consumer groups. The use of advanced technology in production will be critical to creating high quality product. Such products should aim at solving some existing problems in the industry such as reducing injuries among athletes through comfortable and flexible footwear and apparel. These innovations will create unique designs, which will rid the company of propriety battles.
In the final section, you should list all the references you have included in the previous three sections. Please make sure they are properly formatted using Harvard referencing style. |
Please include HERE all the references cited in the proposal.
Kryscynski, D., 2015. What is Strategy?. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD7WSLeQtVw> [Accessed 2 December 2021].
Nike. 2021. About Us. Nike, https://www.nike.com/
Perner, L. 2010. Consumer Behaviour: The Psychology of Marketing. Marshall, http://www.marshall.usc.edu/msmrk
Rowland, C. 2017. Nike Inc. Five Forces Analysis (Porter’s Model). Panmore Institute, http://panmore.com/nike-inc-five-forces-analysis-porters-model
SuccessFlow, 2016. Digital Week – Smart Insights – How to Drive Digital Marketing Success. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2kO6EQkwYw> [Accessed 2 December 2021].
Thompson, A., Peteraf, M., Gamble, J., et al. 2020. Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage. Mc-Graw Hill, New York.
The key marketing issues should be supported by appendices which should include 3 fully developed analysis/audits at an excellent level of detail using specific tools. 2 analytical tools form a range of SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, Porter’s Five Forces, Porter’s Generic Analysis, Industry Analysis, Customer Analysis, Competitor Analysis, Technology Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis, Internal Capability Analysis, VRIO/VRIN Analysis, Ansoff Matrix, BCG Matrix and many others and 1 analytical tool for digital strategy assessment from a range of Digital 7Ss, 5Ss, RACE framework and many others.
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Please include HERE fully developed 2 offline marketing and 1 digital marketing tool supported with references.
SWOT ANALYSIS
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Strengths Strong brand awareness Large consumer base In-house designers for product development. Low manufacturing costs |
Weaknesses Poor working conditions Accusations of child labor Low wages Many lawsuits Dependency on a single market Lack of diversification |
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Opportunities Opportunity for market and product development An opportunity to increase customer experience through direct sales
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Threats Stiff competition in the industry Pressure from competitors such as Reebok and Adidas due to high investment in marketing and advertising. Threat of trade tensions between China and the United States Threat of counterfeit products |
PESTEL ANALYSIS
| PESTLE Factor | Your notes | Potential impact | Implications and Importance | ||||
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About your organisation and how the factors listed on the left might impact on marketing for your organisation/SBU
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H = High M = Medium L = Low U = Undecided |
Time Frame: Short/Medium/Long |
Type: Opportunity/Threat |
Implication: Increasing/ Reducing/ Not yet determined |
Relative Importance: H = High M = Medium L = Low |
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P Political Trade tensions between China and United States |
Affect Nike’s product manufacturing and sale. | H | Medium | Threat | Not yet determined | ||
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E Economic Covid-19 pandemic |
Restrictions on sporting activities Reduced sales | M | Medium | Threat | Not yet determined | ||
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S Sociological Increase in sneaker preference |
Growth of Nike in various global markets | H | Long | Opportunity | Increasing | ||
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T Technological Nike Sport Research Lab |
Product development
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H | Long | Opportunity | Increasing | ||
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E Environmental Pollution
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Negative environmental impact |
M | Long | Threat | Reducing | ||
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L Legal Lawsuits Propriety legal battles
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Affects company reputation | H | Medium | Threat | Reducing | ||
Your marketing report should be maximum 2500 words with +/- 10% .