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How nike is using analytics to personalize their customer experience.

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When you think of sports apparel, the first brand that comes to mind is likely Nike. The company’s commitment to innovation and alignment with superstar athletes like Michael Jordan has made it an industry powerhouse for more than 30 years. That’s what makes it so interesting that a brand as well-known as Nike has shifted its business model in recent years.

For decades, Nike has operated with a retail-first model, where the vast majority of its revenue comes through wholesale. That hasn’t changed necessarily, as wholesale still represents the bulk of Nike’s sales, but Nike Direct — the company’s direct-to-consumer initiative —  contributed $10 billion in sales  during 2018. By 2020, that’s projected to increase to $16 billion.

Why is Nike having so much success going direct to the consumer, and how are they using analytics to deliver a better customer experience? What can other brands learn from Nike's approach? That’s what we’ll explore in this article.

Nike is hyper-focused on the customer.    

Nike is using an app to deepen its relationship with customers. The app provides access to the Nike Plus rewards program, which offers exclusives and early access to new products. The differentiation starts with access to Nike experts for whatever sport you play. Need a new baseball glove? Let the experts recommend one for you. Nike also offers personalized workouts through the app, as well as priority access to its events.

Another piece of Nike’s direct-to-consumer efforts is its 30-day wear test for shoes. Now customers don’t have to worry if their shoes will fit when ordering them online.

On top of the wear test, customers can use the  Nike Fit app to snap a picture of their feet using their phone and get the perfect shoe size for every style of Nike shoes. According to Nike , The app uses “computer vision, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and recommendation algorithms” to measure “the full shape of both feet, offering the ability to know your truly perfect fit.” This sizing data is stored on your Nike Plus profile, so you know the right size wherever you’re shopping.

Nike is also  leveraging its supply chain  to get closer to personalization. Last month, Nike selected 28 designers in New York City to create new shoes. The “NYC By You” project leveraged Nike’s distribution channels to produce new designs in small quantities.

Nike has always been world-class at mass-producing each of its shoes. But once they master making one shoe one time, it’ll represent a new frontier for this industry-leading innovator.

Acquisitions have given Nike deeper insight.

Nike has been able to build out these capabilities in large part due to a key acquisition they made. Last year,  Nike acquired  a leading data analytics company called Zodiac. What Zodiac allows Nike to do is crunch together its data points from customers using the Nike app and other connected devices like Fitbits to know customer habits and predict purchasing decisions.

Using these analytical insights, Nike has improved its customer acquisition and retention by identifying which customers to target and knowing when to target them. If a customer usually buys shoes every six months and it’s been 12 months since the purchase, Nike will know to reach out and prompt that customer to resume their purchase cycle. Going on offense in this regard will help Nike reduce churn, cutting down a huge expense for the company.

As more startups disrupt various apparel industries, Nike is defending their turf by investing in data science to better understand the customer journey. Nike Direct is not just an app. It reflects the company’s mission to know its customers and offer them better products and services.

That’s where the idea originated to start a shoe subscription service for kids (once called EasyKicks, now called Nike Adventure Club). Everyone knows kids outgrow their shoes, but analytics show Nike how often kids need new shoes and when parents typically look to buy them. Kids tend to be brand agnostic, but by removing the headache of going out to buy new shoes, Nike has engendered serious customer loyalty amongst parents.

What can brands learn from Nike?

Nike never waits for competitors to come along and disrupt their business. They are constantly disrupting themselves, which is a great lesson for companies large and small. Innovation is happening too fast to sit still. You should always aim to reinvent certain parts of your business model. Nike is still looking to win with its product, but now it’s looking to differentiate its brand based on service and offer a superior customer experience than its competitors.

That’s not the only lesson we can take away from Nike’s efforts. Every company needs to be investing in not just data science, but the business-driven part that links the customer with the insights team. Customer preferences and tastes are always changing, which means you need data to stay on top of the changes. Be intentional about building a small, focused team that can foster that connectivity. That’s what Nike has done since launching Nike Direct in 2017: hiring hundreds of people to join its team and drive this initiative forward.

Investing in data science also means being unafraid to make acquisitions when necessary. Nike purchased Zodiac. Its competitor, Under Armour, purchased MyFitnessPal in 2015 and began a collaboration with IBM Watson in 2016. Both companies understand that buying businesses can help close the gap between them and their customers by leveraging customer data.

Finally, after you’ve invested in your team and built out the connective piece to them and your customers, use that data in every aspect of your decision making. Nike is a huge company with millions of moving pieces and they’re paving the way in this regard. Everything from using a smartphone camera to get people the perfect-sized shoe to timing the next shoe delivery for growing children of busy parents — Nike is leveraging customer data on all fronts.

Why? Because they know their future success depends on a strong connection between business and data.

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Nike brand profile in the United States 2023

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Apparel & Shoes

Nike's global revenue 2005-2023

Global sales of the top performance apparel, accessories, and footwear companies 2023

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Footwear segment revenue of Nike, adidas & Puma 2010-2022

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Market overview.

• Premium Statistic Value of the global footwear market from 2018 until 2028
• Premium Statistic Wholesale sales of athletic footwear in the U.S. 2008-2022
• Premium Statistic Wholesale sales of sports apparel in the U.S. 2008-2022
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Value of the global footwear market from 2018 until 2028

Footwear market revenue worldwide from 2018 to 2028 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Wholesale sales of athletic footwear in the U.S. 2008-2022

Athletic footwear wholesale sales in the U.S. from 2008 to 2022 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Wholesale sales of sports apparel in the U.S. 2008-2022

Sports apparel wholesale sales in the U.S. from 2008 to 2022 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Value of the leading global apparel brands 2023

Value of the leading 10 apparel brands worldwide in 2023 (in million U.S. dollars)

Sales of the biggest athletic apparel, accessories and footwear companies worldwide in 2023 (in million U.S. dollars)

Global sales growth forecast of top athletic wear companies 2023

Sales growth forecast of the leading athletic apparel, accessories and footwear companies worldwide in 2023

American customer satisfaction index: athletic shoe companies 2010-2022

The American customer satisfaction index scores for athletic shoe companies in the U.S. from 2010 to 2022

Financial performance

• Basic Statistic Nike's global revenue 2005-2023
• Basic Statistic Global revenue share of Nike in 2023, by product type
• Basic Statistic Domestic sales share of Nike worldwide from 2016 to 2023
• Basic Statistic Global revenue of Nike from 2016 to 2023, by sales channel
• Basic Statistic Global gross profit of Nike from 2014 to 2023
• Basic Statistic Gross profit margin percentage of Nike worldwide from 2014 to 2023
• Basic Statistic Nike's net income worldwide 2005-2023
• Basic Statistic NIKE Direct revenue worldwide 2009-2023
• Premium Statistic nike.com: E-Commerce net sales from 2014 to 2024
• Basic Statistic Revenue of Converse worldwide 2010-2023

Nike's global revenue 2005-2023

Nike's revenue worldwide from the fiscal years of 2005 to 2023 (in million U.S. dollars)

Global revenue share of Nike in 2023, by product type

Revenue share of Nike worldwide in the fiscal year of 2023, by product category

Domestic sales share of Nike worldwide from 2016 to 2023

Nike's revenue share of U.S. and non-U.S. markets from the fiscal years of 2016 to 2023

Global revenue of Nike from 2016 to 2023, by sales channel

Nike's revenue worldwide from the fiscal years of 2016 to 2023, by sales channel (in million U.S. dollars)

Global gross profit of Nike from 2014 to 2023

Nike's gross profit worldwide from the fiscal years of 2014 to 2023 (in million U.S. dollars)

Gross profit margin percentage of Nike worldwide from 2014 to 2023

Nike's gross margin rate worldwide from the fiscal years of 2014 to 2023

Nike's net income worldwide 2005-2023

Nike's net income worldwide from the fiscal years of 2005 to 2023 (in million U.S. dollars)

NIKE Direct revenue worldwide 2009-2023

Nike brand's direct-to-consumer revenue worldwide from the fiscal years of 2009 to 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

nike.com: E-Commerce net sales from 2014 to 2024

E-Commerce net sales of nike.com from 2014 to 2024 (in million US dollars)

Revenue of Converse worldwide 2010-2023

Revenue of Converse worldwide from the fiscal years of 2010 to 2023 (in million U.S. dollars)

Revenue by region

• Basic Statistic Nike's revenue worldwide 2017-2023, by region
• Basic Statistic U.S. revenue of Nike from 1988 to 2023
• Basic Statistic Nike's North American revenue 2009-2023, by segment
• Basic Statistic Nike's revenue in EMEA 2016-2023, by segment
• Basic Statistic Nike's revenue in Greater China 2009-2023, by segment
• Basic Statistic Nike's revenue in Asia Pacific & Latin America from 2016 to 2023, by segment

Nike's revenue worldwide 2017-2023, by region

Nike's revenue worldwide from the fiscal years of 2017 to 2023, by region (in million U.S. dollars)

Nike's revenue in the United States from the fiscal years of 1988 to 2023 (in million U.S. dollars)

Nike's North American revenue 2009-2023, by segment

Nike's North American revenue from the fiscal years of 2009 to 2023, by segment (in million U.S. dollars)

Nike's revenue in EMEA 2016-2023, by segment

Nike's revenue in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) from the fiscal years of 2016 to 2023, by segment (in million U.S. dollars)

Nike's revenue in Greater China 2009-2023, by segment

Nike's revenue in Greater China from the fiscal years of 2009 to 2023, by segment (in million U.S. dollars)

Nike's revenue in Asia Pacific & Latin America from 2016 to 2023, by segment

Nike's revenue in Asia Pacific and Latin America from the fiscal years of 2016 to 2023, by segment (in million U.S. dollars)

Key figures

• Basic Statistic Number of Nike stores globally 2009-2023
• Basic Statistic Number of Nike's retail stores in the U.S. 2009-2023
• Basic Statistic Number of Nike's non-U.S. retail stores 2009-2023
• Basic Statistic Total number of employees working for Nike 2009-2023
• Basic Statistic Nike's marketing expenses worldwide from 2014 to 2023

Number of Nike stores globally 2009-2023

Total Nike retail stores worldwide from 2009 to 2023

Number of Nike's retail stores in the U.S. 2009-2023

Number of Nike's retail stores in the United States from the fiscal years of 2009 to 2023

Number of Nike's non-U.S. retail stores 2009-2023

Number of Nike's non-U.S. retail stores from the fiscal years of 2009 to 2023

Total number of employees working for Nike 2009-2023

Number of employees of Nike worldwide from the fiscal years of 2009 to 2023

Nike's marketing expenses worldwide from 2014 to 2023

Nike's advertising and promotion costs from the financial years of 2014 to 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Competitors

• Basic Statistic The adidas Group's net sales worldwide from 2000 to 2023
• Basic Statistic Global share of adidas retail sales in 2023, by region
• Basic Statistic Share of adidas' net sales worldwide in 2023, by product type
• Basic Statistic Global revenue of Puma 2000-2023
• Basic Statistic Share of Puma's sales worldwide in 2023, by region
• Basic Statistic Share of Puma's consolidated sales worldwide in 2023, by product category
• Basic Statistic Under Armour's net revenue worldwide 2008-2023
• Basic Statistic Under Armour's net sales share worldwide in 2023, by region
• Basic Statistic Under Armour's net sales share worldwide in 2023, by product category

The adidas Group's net sales worldwide from 2000 to 2023

The adidas Group's net sales worldwide from 2000 to 2023 (in million euros)

Global share of adidas retail sales in 2023, by region

Global distribution of adidas retail net sales in 2023, by region

Share of adidas' net sales worldwide in 2023, by product type

Net sales share of adidas worldwide in 2023, by product category

Global revenue of Puma 2000-2023

Global consolidated sales of Puma from 2000 to 2023 (in billion euros)

Share of Puma's sales worldwide in 2023, by region

Puma's sales share worldwide in 2023, by region

Share of Puma's consolidated sales worldwide in 2023, by product category

Share of Puma's net sales worldwide in 2023, by segment

Under Armour's net revenue worldwide 2008-2023

Net revenue of Under Armour worldwide from the fiscal years of 2008 to 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Under Armour's net sales share worldwide in 2023, by region

Net revenue share of Under Armour worldwide in 2023, by geographical region

Under Armour's net sales share worldwide in 2023, by product category

Net sales share of Under Armour worldwide in 2023, by product category

Nike brand profile

• Premium Statistic Nike brand profile in the United States 2023
• Premium Statistic Nike brand profile in the UK 2023
• Premium Statistic Nike brand profile in Germany 2024

Nike brand awareness, usage, popularity, loyalty, and buzz among sneakers owners in the United States in 2023

Nike brand awareness, usage, popularity, loyalty, and buzz among sportswear owners in the United States in 2023

Nike brand profile in the UK 2023

Nike brand awareness, usage, popularity, loyalty, and buzz among sneakers owners in the UK in 2023

Nike brand awareness, usage, popularity, loyalty, and buzz among sportswear owners in the UK in 2023

Nike brand profile in Germany 2024

Nike brand awareness, usage, popularity, loyalty, and buzz among sneakers owners in Germany in 2024

Nike brand awareness, usage, popularity, loyalty, and buzz among sportswear owners in Germany in 2024

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Nike Target Market Segmentation – Customer Analysis & Marketing Goals for 2022

Over five decades, Nike has built itself into one of the most iconic global brands, instantly recognized by its ‘Just do it’ tagline and ‘swoosh’ symbol. The company is the world’s leading sportswear brand, edging out competitors like Adidas, Puma, and Under Armour.

Nike achieved its legendary status through innovative product development and marketing tactics, emotion-based messaging, celebrity endorsements and sports sponsorships.

The brand also invests heavily in advertising. Since 2014, Nike global ad spend has reached over $3 billion annually, with $3.11 billion invested in advertising and promotions in 2021.

Source – Statista

Adidas Group , one of Nike’s toughest competitors, spent $688 million on US-based advertising in 2019. By comparison, Nike ad spend in the US that year was over double the amount, reaching nearly $1.5 billion.

Most of Nike’s ads don’t explicitly focus on a product; the Nike target audience responds most effectively to emotive advertising . This strategy helps create a brand image that reflects the aspirations of Nike customers, increasing brand loyalty, engagement and sales.

So, who are the Nike demographics? What are their aspirations and how has the brand succeeded in building such a loyal fan base? Let’s begin with a Nike customer analysis and find out.

Want to learn more?

Who is the target market for nike.

The Nike target market is located worldwide, and the Nike age range is broad, from young teens through middle age . While the brand has a strong focus on marketing to athletes and sports enthusiasts, Nike’s strategy has expanded in recent years to attract several specific market segmentations, such as women, young athletes, and runners .

Even so, the men’s customer segment remains the largest by far: in 2021, sales of men’s Nike products accounted for over half of wholesale revenue worldwide.

Nike positions itself as a brand for athletes but pulls every consumer into the fold with its fundamental pitch: if you have a body, you are an athlete. This has led to Nike’s outstanding financial success, generating over $44.5 billion in worldwide sales 2021 .

Nike Target Market Segmentation and Marketing

The key component for any advertising or marketing strategy is a thorough customer segmentation, including demographic, geographic, behavioral, and psychographic attributes. Let’s explore the Nike target market profile from each of these viewpoints.

Nike Demographic Segmentation 

Nike demographics include a wide range of users, aged roughly from 15 to 45 years . By spanning the generations, Nike taps middle-aged consumers who have disposable income and develops its relationship with younger audiences to ensure future growth and build life-long brand enthusiasts. 

The company targets both male and female consumers, however, it continues to make significant investments in its women’s line , focusing on leggings, sports bras and ‘athleisure’. 

Nike also strongly targets the youth demographic, noted as the favorite footwear and apparel brand for teens in 2019 in the US . 

Nike Geographic Segmentation

The target market for Nike is located worldwide, mostly in urban centers. Nike consistently generates more revenue from North America than any other region.

In 2021, 39%, or $17.2 billion, came from North America, while revenue from the EMEA region totaled $11.5. Nike earned $8.3 billion from Greater China, $8.3 billion, and $5.3 billion from the LATAM and APAC regions.

Nike Behavioral Segmentation

The Nike target audience tends to be from the higher-income socio-economic group , reflected in the premium brand image and pricing of Nike products. The average Nike customer is a sports enthusiast, interested in leading an active and healthy lifestyle.

Besides the sporty behavioral traits of the Nike audience, they are also image-conscious and tech savvy, looking to be ahead of the trends and up-to-date with the latest in fitness fashion and footwear technology.

Nike Psychographic Segmentation

As part of a strategy to widen its target market, Nike often focuses on breakout psychographic segments . These include ‘weekend runners’, who enjoy keeping fit on weekends and even training for a half marathon, and ‘style shoppers’, 20-something women who want to wear the latest sports fashion trends before, during and after workouts.

All Nike consumer segments are made up of ‘aspirers’ and ‘succeeders’, people who are motivated to be fit and stay on trend.

Nike Marketing Strategy

Beyond the sports clothing and footwear market, Nike is in fact the world’s leading apparel brand, with a brand value of $33.18 billion . When considering how to create a successful marketing strategy, look no further than Nike.

The STP of Nike informs a wide-ranging set of marketing goals and objectives. For example, Nike leverages behavioral segmentation to build brand affinity and loyalty with consumers.

This can be seen in their personalized email and social media campaigns. When people engage with and show ongoing interest in the brand on any platform, Nike retargets them on other channels.

Here’s a look at how they connect with the two most dominant age groups (18-24 and 25-34) on Instagram:

Although Nike targets a global audience, it uses geographic segmentation for its product lines and marketing campaigns, adapting for local cultural and weather trends that impact consumer behavior. For example, the brand’s warmest winter items aren’t available in countries with more moderate temperatures. 

Another example of how the brand connects with different geographic regions can be seen in the athletes featured in ad campaigns. In the US, for example, the Nike “Stopocalypse” ad features American sportspeople and celebrities, such as Kobe Bryant, Kevin Hart and Simone Biles:

In the UK, the well-received ‘Nothing Beats a Londoner’ campaign targeted the hyper-local London youth market, featuring upcoming London athletes and real-life citizens.

The campaign combined user-generated social media content, local events, swag and more, to encourage young audiences to become involved in sports and realize their potential.

Product innovation and a show-stopping approach to marketing sets the Nike brand apart from the competition in all regions. Check out the remarkable OOH 3D billboard promoting Nike Air Max in Japan:  

The Nike company markets at a grass-roots level with a wide range of corporate responsibility  programs and charitable activities.  In 2019, Nike contributed close to $82 million towards community development, including women’s empowerment, sustainability and diversity initiatives.

Sports Enthusiasts in United States

US-based consumers who fall into the Sports Enthusiasts category share many of the traits of the Nike target market. Like Nike, the demographics represent both sexes, with men outranking women 67% to 33%.

The Nike target market age group is also similar to the Sports Enthusiasts segment, of which 84.5% of consumers are between 18 and 44. 

Although Nike hasn’t released data around its device targeting segmentation, Start.io insights reveal that among consumers identified as Sports or Running Enthusiasts , there is an overwhelming preference for Android devices. 

For a marketing campaign to be successful, it must reach the right audiences. For companies marketing to sports enthusiasts, understanding the Nike target audience is a big step in fine-tuning campaign messaging and targeting to get the best results.

For these kinds of data-driven insights for Sports Enthusiasts, Runners, and 500+ other consumer segments and audience locations around the world, visit the Consumer Insights and Audiences Hub.

What demographic buys the most sneakers?

Data shows that the target market for Nike shoes includes Millennials (24–39-year-olds) and Gen Z (9–24-year-olds). Presumably, many Millennials are buying sneakers for their young children. Men still buy more sneakers than women, but the gap is closing.

What demographic buys the most Nike products?

Consumers between the ages of 15-40 buy the most Nike products, including sneakers, apparel, and sporting goods.

Who is Nike's competition?

Nike’s biggest competitor is Adidas, but others include Asics, Puna, Under Armour, Fila, New Balance, and Sketchers. In terms of athletic apparel, Nike’s competition includes Lululemon, Athletica, and VF Corporation.

Who makes more sales Nike or Adidas?

Nike generates more sales than Adidas. In 2020, Nike was valued at $34.4 billion, while Adidas was valued at $12.07 billion.

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Where Nike’s Marketplace Strategy Is Going Next

Peter verry, senior news and features editor, athletic and outdoor.

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Many athletic brands have followed Nike’s lead  and created an omnichannel playbook to win over consumers. But if you ask Daniel Heaf, VP of Nike Direct, there’s a clear difference in the Swoosh ecosystem.

“Everybody knows that what you need are physical and digital touch points. It’s not stores and digital or direct and wholesale. What makes Nike unique is the scale and diversity of our marketplace strategy,” Heaf told FN.”There’s no other brand that operates at the scale that we do. The direct business that we’ve built — particularly over the last five or six years — combined with the strength of our wholesale partners and points distribution, it’s unmatched in the industry.”

In its last reported quarter, Nike Direct sales climbed 22% to $5.3 billion, with Nike brand digital sales increasing 24%. Also during Q3 for its fiscal 2023 , the company’s wholesale revenues grew 18%, a notable mark given Nike’s emphasis on its direct-to-consumer business.

From Nike’s S23 Studio in New York, Heaf addressed select media and shared how connection and community is at the heart of the athletic giant’s marketplace strategy.

The exec stated much of what Nike has learned comes from its robust membership of 160 million members.

“We understand what their needs are, and we’re able to take that and use it in product creation and the process of personalizing marketing, merchandising and marketplace experiences across both our own channels and across the marketplace,” Heaf said.

Speaking with FN after his presentation, Heaf highlighted membership as one of the company’s most profound successes.

The Membership Formula

“We have the ability to know, serve and contact members individually. Three years ago, almost all the demand through Nike Direct was from new members. Today, most of the demand is through repeat purchase,” Heaf said. “What we’ve done is we’ve created this ecosystem that means consumers interact with us more frequently, they buy with us more frequently and they’re more loyal to the brand. That is a really meaningful change to the way that business has ever operated.”

The learnings Nike acquired through membership, Heaf explained, have also informed its approach to its owned retail locations. The highlights of its store fleet include House of Innovation, which is the company’s flagship concept that showcases innovation in both product and storytelling, and Nike Live, which specifically serves the woman consumer.

But Heaf said Nike is aware that its consumers don’t just live in its own channels.

Arguably its most notable recent experiment from a retail partnership perspective was a connection forged with Dick’s Sporting Goods, which was announced in November 2021. This partnership allows Dick’s Scorecard and Nike Membership accounts to connect through the Dick’s mobile app, resulting in an easy-to-use platform for customers to seamlessly shop an expanded selection of Nike footwear and apparel.

“We’re just focused on making it easier and a richer experience,” Heaf said.

What’s more, Foot Locker CEO Mary Dillon confirmed in late-March during the retailer’s investor day that the company is “revitalizing” its partnership with Nike. The exec stated the two were focusing on key strategic areas including basketball, kids and sneaker culture, and were sharing insights to plan their strategies together.

Beyond the transactional interactions, Heaf said Nike has made “goosebumps-worthy storytelling” and experiences through its digital platforms a priority. He said the ambition that Nike has with stores business is matched by that of digital.

“We went from a pretty small digital business three or four years ago, to now if not the biggest but one of the largest footwear and apparel apps in the world. This requires a whole enterprise to get to that,” Heaf said.

Just like with its stores and retail partners, Nike has also been able to experiment digitally.

Heaf highlighted the deployment of Nike Training Club content through Netflix , which launched in December 2022, as one of the more notable wins as of late. “Tens of millions of new consumers are now engaging with our content through Netflix,” he said.

The exec also made note of its partnerships with gaming companies, such as EA Sports with its soccer and “Madden” franchises, as well as Epic Games through Fortnite and with Roblox and its own .Swoosh platform of digital collectibles .

The experiences are arguably the most pronounced via the SNKRS and NBHD platforms, which Nike is using to fuel inclusive, fair and engaged communities.

“SNKRS was always meant to be both an opportunity for us to launch our incredible, highly-coveted product, but also be a community hub for this incredible crew of sneakerheads,” Lucy Rouse, VP and GM of SNKRS , said addressing media at S23 Studio.

Rouse also offered a deep dive on NHBD (pronounced neighborhood), which she described as an ecosystem that includes an inclusive network of community change-makers, creatives, retail partners and cultural authenticators.

“NHBD enables us to contribute to these incredible progressive and inclusive communities and cultures all over the world. Our NHBD partners are the ones that are driving systemic change across multiple issues, whether it’s racial injustice, whether it’s social injustice, whether it’s LGBTQIA+,” Rouse said. “They are shining a light on those issues, and us being able to work with them enables us to make sure that we are moving the world forward.”

Women’s Focus

Nike brought three women’s NHBD partners to S23 Studio to highlight how issues are being addressed. The trio included Abby Albino and Shelby Weaver, owners of Toronto-based boutique Makeway, and Stine Lindholm Pedersen, co-founder of Copenhagen-based retailer Naked.

“The main thing is inclusivity. Women just want to be on the same level of men in this industry,” Pedersen said of the most pressing issue women in sneakers are facing at the moment. “The most important thing right now is having full size ranges. We don’t want to be told that a shoe was for women and then there’s this shoe for men. We want gender fluidity if anything at the moment, and that’s definitely for the future as well.”

Weaver agreed and added, “Women just don’t want to be boxed in. We don’t want to be told to buy this particular silhouette because it’s only available in these types of shoes. We want to have access to everything and then be able to choose the things that speak to each of us for whatever our individual identities are.”

As for Albino, the issue she believes is at the top of the list is safety.

“One of the things that I’ve heard often is when women go to men-owned sneaker boutiques or sneaker boutiques with employees that are men, they just don’t feel as safe,” Albino explained. “There’s bullying and harassment and want to make sure that we actually have a really safe space for women to feel like they can be who they are and engaged and have access to sneakers in a way that is welcoming.

Although Nike is winning with its ecosystem, Heaf told FN that there’s plenty of room to grow.

“Some of the products that we offer, women’s bra and leggings for example, we have built amazing digital experiences for those particular products and we have also built bespoke experiences in our stores for it. The bras and leggings fixtures that we now see across our Nike Rise and Nike Live stores have been really successful in driving the launch of our bras and Zenvy leggings. But are we that good in every single classification?” Heaf explained. “I want to get to that level of distinction where we’re as good for basketball shoes as we are as good for women’s fitness and men’s lifestyle footwear. That requires not a one size fits all approach. We have to differentiate how we tell stories and how we surface these products to consumers.”

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Nike, Inc., the world-renowned sports apparel powerhouse, owes much of its worldwide success to its well-executed segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP) strategy. Within this article, we shall take an intensive exploration into the company's market strategy and offer an exhaustive look at how this multinational corporation utilizes these tactics to retain its place at the pinnacle of its industry.

A Mind Map of Nike’s STP Strategy: Unraveling the Intricacies

In order to gain a clearer understanding of the intertwined elements within Nike's marketing approach, we offer a detailed mind map of its STP strategy. This map graphically represents Nike’s processes of market segmentation, its targets within those segments, and how it successfully positions its vast array of products for maximum attraction to these targeted customers.

Dissecting Nike's Market Segmentation: A Game of Strategy

The first and most critical step of Nike’s three-pronged marketing approach is market segmentation. Market segmentation involves grouping consumers into specific categories, each representing a distinct market segment. The delineation of these segments is typically based on a combination of shared attributes such as demographics, psychographics, behavior, and geography. By adopting such an approach, Nike has been able to understand its customer base more deeply and cater to their unique needs with laser-like precision. Let's dissect this strategic play in more depth.

Demographics Segmentation: Targeting the Right Age and Gender

Nike's demographic segmentation primarily targets males and females aged between 15 and 40 years, ensuring a wide but specific consumer segment. The company realizes that this age group is most likely to be involved in sports, fitness and also has a propensity to follow fashion trends. Accordingly, Nike develops sports apparel and equipment suitable for different age groups, ensuring they capture as many potential customers within this category as possible.

Geographic Segmentation: Reaching Out Globally

The brand also executes geographic segmentation, tailoring its products to the specific preferences of consumers in different regions. For example, Nike creates lightweight running shoes for tropical countries while ensuring availability of thermally insulated sports gear in colder regions. By doing so, Nike maintains its relevancy across the globe.

Psychographic Segmentation: Connecting with the Consumer’s Mind

Another interesting angle to Nike’s market segmentation strategy is its focus on psychographic aspects. The company is not just selling sports equipment; it sells an attitude, a lifestyle. By marketing the idea of ‘achievement' and 'performance', Nike has been able to resonate with individuals who are driven by these values. Hence, they target segments who value athleticism, performance, and strive for personal success.

Behavioural Segmentation: Understanding Consumer Patterns

Lastly, through behavioral segmentation, Nike identifies patterns in consumers' purchase behaviors, usage, knowledge, and response to products. This segmentation helps Nike understand the consumers’ attitude towards their brand and accordingly devise products to boost customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Nike’s comprehensive approach to market segmentation demonstrates a deep understanding of its consumer base. The diverse yet specific targeting enables them to serve their customers' unique needs effectively while also offering tailored marketing messages that resonate strongly with each group. Consequently, this fine-tuned strategy is instrumental in maintaining Nike’s stronghold in the highly competitive sports apparel market.

Targeting the Segments: Bullseye for Success

Once Nike has effectively segmented its market, it then embarks on the vital step of targeting those segments that present the most opportunity. Let's unpack this strategic element in greater detail.

Appealing to the Active Athletes and Aspiring Athletes

Nike sets its sights on the segment of athletes and those who aspire to athleticism. This target group includes individuals engaged in various levels of athletic activity - from high-performing professional athletes to those who enjoy a good game during the weekends. Through endorsements by sports celebrities and involvement in sporting events, Nike strategically aligns its brand with performance and accomplishment, thereby appealing to this segment's values and aspirations.

Winning Over the Fitness Enthusiasts

Another significant target for Nike is fitness enthusiasts. These are individuals who prioritize maintaining their health and fitness and are inclined towards regular exercise routines. Nike caters to these consumers by offering an extensive range of fitness clothing and equipment. The brand further reaches out to this segment by promoting fitness-related content and supporting health and wellness initiatives, thereby building a strong affinity within this group.

Enticing the Style Savvy Consumers

While the majority of its product offerings are functionally athletic, Nike also scores big among fashion-conscious consumers. The brand’s commitment to stylish design has allowed it to penetrate the casual wear market successfully. From classic sneakers like Nike Air Force 1 to exclusive collaborations with designers and celebrities, Nike ensures it stays on top of the fashion game. This has attracted a large segment of consumers who purchase Nike products purely for their aesthetic appeal.

Nurturing Brand Loyalty Among Repeat Customers

Nike also targets repeat customers by offering personalized products and experiences. This includes services like NikePlus membership, which provides members with exclusive products, early access to new releases, and customized workout plans. Such initiatives work to foster brand loyalty among their existing customer base.

By targeting each of these segments with tailored products and marketing initiatives, Nike effectively draws a diverse range of consumers under its brand umbrella. This not only broadens their customer base but also allows them to maintain a robust market presence across various categories - be it athletic wear, casual fashion or fitness equipment. Therefore, the 'targeting' aspect of Nike's STP strategy plays an instrumental role in its worldwide success.

Positioning the Brand: Uniqueness in a Crowded Marketplace

Positioning, the third cog in Nike's powerful STP machine, is arguably the most visible and impactful of all. Once the company has identified and targeted its key segments, it focuses on positioning its offerings in a way that distinguishes Nike from its competitors. To understand how Nike excels in this, we will delve deeper into its positioning strategies.

Quality and Innovation: Positioning as a Market Leader

Nike’s key positioning strategy has always centered on providing high-quality and innovative products. Nike positions itself as a premium brand that incorporates the latest technology and design elements into their offerings. Its continuous innovation and commitment to quality are effectively communicated to consumers through their product features and marketing campaigns.

Emotional Positioning: Inspiring Consumers

One unique aspect of Nike's positioning strategy lies in its emotional connection with consumers. The brand consistently positions itself as a source of inspiration and motivation. The renowned "Just Do It" slogan is a prime example of this approach, acting as a rallying cry for people to push their limits, fostering an emotional connection between the brand and its consumers.

Celebrity Endorsements: Leveraging Star Power

Nike also leverages celebrity endorsements as a crucial element of its positioning strategy. By associating with well-known athletes across a wide range of sports, Nike enhances its brand image and positions its products as performance enhancers used by the pros. The consumers, seeing their idols using Nike products, perceive them to be of high quality and superior performance.

Social Responsibility: Positioning with Purpose

In today’s conscientious consumer market, Nike understands the importance of ethical branding. It has made strides in positioning itself as a socially responsible brand by implementing eco-friendly production methods and championing social causes. This helps them appeal to a segment of consumers who place significant value on corporate responsibility.

Nike's success in positioning itself as a leading, inspirational, and responsible brand in the sports apparel industry is pivotal in maintaining its competitive edge. Its well-crafted positioning strategies not only make Nike products desirable to consumers but also create a powerful brand identity that resonates with its audience on multiple levels. The synthesis of these strategies ensures that Nike stands tall and distinct in an otherwise crowded marketplace.

Nike’s STP Cheat Sheet: All You Need To Know At A Glance

We further ease your understanding by distilling these insights into an accessible cheat sheet summarizing Nike's STP strategy. The concise guide aims to provide marketing professionals or business enthusiasts with a quick yet comprehensive reference point.

Key Takeaways: Learnings from a Market Maverick

In conclusion, Nike's STP strategies are an amalgamation of precise planning and astute execution which has markedly contributed to the brand's esteemed status globally. For aspiring brands and marketers seeking to emulate this model of success, Boardmix’s pre-built Market Segmentation Template and STP Analysis Template come highly recommended. They serve as excellent resources that provide you with effective frameworks that can help shape your own robust marketing strategies.

Join Boardmix to collaborate with your team.

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How Nike Runs The Sportswear Game

Table of contents.

We enjoy the "behind-the-scenes" stories of successful companies because there is so much to learn from them at every stage of their development. Nike's challenges in the early years are similar to the problems many small businesses face today, while there are some important lessons to be learned about how they approached marketing and sales as a multinational company.

Nike's market share and key statistics:

• Nike's market share is nearly 30% in athletic footwear
• Revenue of $46.7 billion for Fiscal Year 2022
• Number of Nike's employees: 79,100 as of 2022
• Market cap of $1877.77 billion as of Feb 2023
• Nike's total asset value as of 2022: $39.6 billion

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The Greek Goddess of sneakers - How it all started?

Nike is one of the most famous sneaker brands in the world. The famous logo, the iconic models from the Air Force to the Air Max generation, the countless collabs are all pointing towards one direction, even though the founders had no clue back then how powerful a brand they have created.

Did you know that the company wouldn't be called that if it had been up to its founder? Or that the sole of their first running shoe was made in a waffle iron? If you're interested in how the brand's story began and how Nike has made it to become the market leader in sports apparel today, read on to find out.

The Japanese Blue Ribbon

The brand, or its predecessor Blue Ribbon, was founded in 1964 by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman. Knight had the idea of marketing Japanese-made running shoes in America: An academic paper he wrote demonstrated his belief that the distribution of cost-effective, high-quality Japanese running shoes would be profitable in breaking the German monopoly.

So he traveled to Japan that year to negotiate with Kiharchiro Onitsuka (later the founder of Asics). Knight was so surprised to be treated as a serious negotiating partner by the Japanese that he coined the name Blue Ribbon on the spot. The company's seed capital was just $1,200.

After successful negotiations, Tiger shoes began exporting to the United States the following year - the first shipment consisted of 200 pairs of shoes. The launch was financed by $500 each raised by Knight and Bowerman. Knight sold Tiger shoes at local and regional athletic competitions in his spare time for the first two years out of the trunk of his car. By the end of the year, the company sold all 200 pairs of shoes, had one full-time employee, and a sales volume of $20,000, resulting in a profit of $3,240.

The Nike Swoosh and the first sneaker

From the beginning, Bowerman was obsessed with shoe development. As a first step, he tried making the uppers lighter. In 1967, he created the famous "Marathon" model from nylon. For the shoe soles, the brand's co-founder found inspiration in a rather odd way. Bowerman and his wife were eating breakfast when he exclaimed over the waffle iron: Eureka! No, that probably didn't happen, but Bowerman was reportedly inspired by his wife's waffle iron. He then poured hot rubber into the oven to make the soles of the first Nike running shoes (and probably bought a new oven for the kitchen...)

Their first warehouse was opened in Santa Monica, CA, in 1966. In the years following, Nike expanded rapidly across the country, opening store after store. With 20 employees, the company had revenue of $300,000 by 1969. Within two years, it had 250 employees and sales of $4.8 million, thanks to the Waffle Trainer shoe's market success. By 1972, it had 45 employees and sales of nearly $2 million.

The organization adopted the name Nike in 1971. Originally, Knight wanted to rename his company "Dimension 6", but at the end (thankfully) an employee's idea, Jeff Johnson, prevailed. Nike is the god of victory in Greek mythology, hence the inspiration. It was also in 1971 that the brand's logo, the Swoosh, was born. It was designed by a student at the Portland Graphic Arts University for only $35. The amount paid out would be worth about $234.80 today because the cumulative inflation rate between 1971 and 2021 is a whopping 570.9%. Her work was recognized 12 years later by Nike when it awarded Carolyne Davidson an undisclosed amount of stock and a diamond ring with the Nike logo she designed.

The Air Cushioning technology was first used by the brand in 1979 in its Tailwind Stride. However, unlike today's air-cushioned shoes, it was not yet visible as the technology innovation was built into the inside of the sole of the shoe. Nike's sales peaked at $270 million by the end of the 1970s.

Key takeaway #1: understanding market demand drives growth

It’s easy to misunderstand the big picture as two founders having luck and starting their operation of a not-yet-matured market. The truth is that sports apparel was sold before Blue Ribbon and Nike, in fact, this was the main reason that Bowmann went to Japan to find a manufacturing partner in the first place.

Nike had multiple strong differentiators throughout its journey to becoming a market-leading company:

• The founders had a strong vision.
• They started with reselling another manufacturer’s products, which enabled them to have deep market knowledge and understanding of demand.
• They only pushed towards developing their own product after the company has been financially profitable

How Nike became the market leader

Heavy growth fuelled by the 80s.

The NKE IPO debuted in December 1980 at $10.50 per share. Nike's initial public offering (IPO) would have given you nearly $180,000 by June 2021 if you had invested $1,000 without reinvesting dividends.

When we talk about Nike’s world of sneakers, 1984 is one of the most important milestones for the brand. It was the year when the then 21-year-old star Micheal Jordan was signed. The young basketball player didn't want to hear about Nike at first, preferring Adidas or Converse, but eventually decided to go for the swoosh, and the first Jordan 1 was released. Since then, the model's success has continued unabated and it has become one of the most iconic silhouettes in sports.

The visible air shoe was born eight years after the aforementioned Tailwind model, in 1987, courtesy of Tinker Hatfield and David Forland, and debuted in Air Max 1. The innovation was a major novelty at the time. Today, the visible Air sole continues to make its mark on the sneaker world, albeit in a much more modern form compared to the past decades.

The next milestone in the Nike story was the motto "Just do it." being coined by Dan Wieden in 1988. According to the man, he was inspired by the last words of the serial killer Gerry Gilmore, who said before his execution, "Let's do it!"

During a storm in the Northeast Pacific in May 1990, more than 60,000 pairs of Nike sneakers fell into the ocean. Despite being accumulated with dirt, shells, and seaweed, the shoes were still wearable after they were cleaned, and fishermen who discovered the shoes organized meetings for matching them.

Everyday business life in a healthy enterprise

In 2000, they introduced their new cushioning technology Nike Shox, while the Nike Free, introduced last year, attempts to give the wearer a barefoot running experience with a deep-ribbed cross-sole design.

2003 was also a successful year for the company, as they signed such big stars as Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. That same year, they acquired one of their competitors, Converse, for $305 million. Besides signing Jordan, a major sneaker milestone is The Ten collection, a collaboration between Nike and Virgil Abloh's Off White.

Key takeaway #2: Nike became a pioneer in marketing

Since the 70s, Nike has always put a lot of energy into building a strong brand image. The naming, the logo, the tagline - they're all parts of a big marketing machine that contributed to growth even before the internet existed. In each decade, Nike pioneered the field of marketing.

Nike’s Acquisition Strategy

The company has purchased and sold several sports apparel and footwear companies throughout its history. In 1988, the company purchased the high-end shoe company Cole Haan, followed by the purchase of Bauer Hockey in 1994. From Hurley International's founder Bob Hurley, Nike purchased the surfwear company in 2002. Converse was acquired by Nike for $309 million in 2003. During 2004 and 2007, the organization acquired Starter and football jersey maker Umbro.

As Nike refocused its business interests in the 2000s, it began divesting some of its subsidiaries. In 2007, it sold Starter and in 2008, Bauer Hockey, followed by Umbro and Cole Haan. As of 2020, Nike owns only one subsidiary: Converse Inc.

In February 2021, Nike restarted its acquisitions in light of the new strategy, lead by CEO John Donahoe. The company acquired Datalogue, a New York-based company focused on digital distribution and machine learning technology. The ultimate goal is to further develop Nike’s e-commerce capabilities and fuel revenue growth utilizing heavily on this segment. As a result of this move, digital sales for the fiscal year rose nearly 50% to $5.5 billion, softening the blow of COVID-19.

The Converse acquisition

Nike acquired Converse for $315 million in 2003 - two years after Converse had filed for bankruptcy. The annual sales of Converse at the time of the acquisition exceeded $200 million. Converse had sales of approximately $200 million, so Nike paid $315 million for the brand in 2003, giving it a PE multiple of 1.6.

16 years later, Converse's sales hit nearly $2 billion in Nike's 2019 fiscal year. Converse's revenue growth of ten times over the years is just one of several indicators that Nike's acquisition of the athletic wear company was an excellent deal for the company. Nike's acquisition of Converse was a perfect match - it helped diversify its portfolio and gave Nike's footwear division a new slant.

With year-over-year revenue growth of 18%, Converse was among Nike's fastest-growing segments. Sales for the classic sneaker brand again fell below $2 billion, hitting a low point in 2017-18. Converse's sales declined 8% to $1.886 billion, below the results of 2014-15, and the company hasn’t been able to get in shape ever since. To be fair, in 2018-2019 Converse finds its way en route to increased revenue, however, COVID-19 pushed back sales.

Key takeaway #3: acquisition as the engine of growth?

Let's face it, Nike is not the most successful company in the history of mergers and acquisitions. It began acquiring niche competitors in the 1980s, which seemed like the right approach at the time, and that mindset is still found in many similar-sized companies today. However, investors forced Nike to clean up its portfolio of companies, as none of the acquired businesses were bringing in the projected additional revenue over the years.

Acquiring slowly and with a clear strategy in mind is the key to finding the right value and ultimately profit within these partnerships.

Nike Market Share - Understanding Positioning

Nike financials in the last closed fiscal year (2020).

The revenue for the fiscal year 2020 was $37.4 billion. According to the company, the COVID -19 pandemic was responsible for the 4% drop. In comparison, the revenue in the fiscal year 2019 was $39.1 billion.

Nike's subsidiaries include Converse and Hurley. Convers is a manufacturer, marketer, and seller of athletic lifestyle apparel and footwear. While Hurley designs, markets, and distributes products for surfers, youths, and young adults.

According to Nike's fiscal 2020 sales distribution, the company had sales in the following areas:

• The North American market accounted for 41% of revenue with $14.5 billion.
• 6% or $9.3 billion from Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
• The Greater China area accounted for 19% of all revenues with $6.7 billion.
• The APAC region made up 14% of total sales or $5.0 billion

As a result of the company's revenue growth, increased gross margin, and lower effective tax rate, the company's net income rose to $4 billion in fiscal 2019 compared to $1.93 billion in fiscal 2018. A dividend increase of 88 cents to 98 cents per share was approved by the corporation's board of directors. This represents a more than 20% increase from 22 to 24.5 cents per share. Company revenues for fiscal 2020 were reduced by $2.5 billion as a result of the pandemic COVID-19.

Fierce market

Sportswear is a fiercely competitive industry. There are several companies providing athletic and casual footwear and clothing across the world in addition to Nike. There is stiff competition across all aspects of the business, including product offerings, technologies, marketing, pricing, manufacturing costs, and customer service. Despite strong competition, Nike has managed to remain the leading brand.

A major competitive pressure Nike faces is the location of its stores. A store's location is critical to be successful, which means companies are constantly looking for a store location that will generate the most sales. No matter whether it's a department store, retail store, big sporting goods store, or online, these businesses all cost money and need to compete for the best space.

A competition for celebrity endorsements is another competitive pressure Nike has to deal with. Despite Nike's dominance, there are many companies with superstar endorsements that create competition among the companies. Adidas sponsors events such as the FIFA World Cup and has endorsement deals with celebrities like David Beckham.

In addition to the constant battle for the lowest prices, Nike faces the pressure of consumers, who can now access many different kinds of stores and find a cheaper and better deal other than Nike with the technology available.

Comparing Nike competitors

When it comes to revenue, profitability, market cap, number of employees, and other similar metrics, Nike is the absolute leader. Its revenue is more than the revenue generated by Adidas, Puma, Reebok, and Under Armour combined.

Revenue from footwear segment of Nike, Adidas, and Puma from 2010 to 2020 (in USD Billions)

Nike's North American market is one of its most important, as half its global revenue in 2020 will come from the sale of shoes there. The company’s success is highly boosted by the brand popularity, marketing campaign, and sponsoring deals with both event organizers, professional sportspeople, and teams.

Nike versus Adidas

Adolf and Rudolf Dassler founded Gebrueder Dassler Schuhfabrik, which became Adidas and Puma. Two widely recognized sports brands were created from a disagreement between the two brothers. There are 20 billion euros in sales by Adidas every year and a brand value of $16.5 billion, making it the largest sporting goods company in Europe and the second-largest in the world, behind Nike. In 2020, Adidas employed 62,285 people worldwide. Adidas, like Nike, is most known for its footwear, and the Nike competitor generated nearly half of its net sales in 2020 through the footwear business.

Over the past few years, Nike has grown at a faster rate than Adidas. The average growth rate for the last five years has been 6.5%. Both companies spent a large amount of money marketing their products. Approximately 10% of Nike's sales were retained for marketing, resulting in a $3.8 billion budget.

Nike versus Puma

By 2020, Puma expects to generate nearly 75 percent of its consolidated earnings from Europe and the Americas. Adidas, which describes itself as the "blue mountains," has collaborated with celebrities such as Sergio Rossi, Alexander McQueen, and Rihanna to add more edge, creativity, and uniqueness to its designs.

Key takeaway #4: pioneering or following competition?

Many first-time entrepreneurs believe that there is no competition at all in their market, which is rarely true. Nike didn't start innovating right away, spending millions of dollars on research and development, but looked for opportunities that became revenue streams.

Once profitable, the company invested heavily in creating strong differentiators in its brand, products, and overall customer experience. An important lesson from Nike's story is the importance of creating revenue streams by following already successful companies while preparing for future investments.

A wide variety of products

Nike offers 643 products online and manufactures around 500,000 different product variations (differed by size and color). The company offers its products for women, men, and children. The main types of products are:

● Shoes ● Clothing ● Accessories & Equipment

The legendary Nike sneakers - Nike Cortez

The Cortez was Nike's first running shoe and is considered the key to the brand's success. The sneaker was the brainchild of Nike co-founder and Olympic track coach Bill Bowerman, who felt that runners needed something more comfortable and durable than the shoes they had at the time. His claim was proven after the 1972 Olympics, as success was reflected not only in the fact that the majority of athletes trusted this model, but also in the 100 percent increase in sales in the first year.

As a running shoe, the Cortez doesn't have a glorious history aside from its success in '72, but it has enjoyed a renaissance and, as it should, made its mark on pop culture. West Coast legends Dr. Dre and Eazy-e from N.W.A, or the fabulous singer Whitney Houston, who performed on Super Bowl in Nike's first running shoe in 1991, have breathed new life into the shoe.

The legendary Nike sneakers - Nike Air Max

The first Air Max was launched by Nike in 1987. The shoe was the idea of Tinker Hatfield, who originally worked as an architect for the company, designing offices and stores. Nike Air Max shoes are known for the cushioning in the midsole and heel area, which is visible on the outside of most models: the design was based on the sole solution of 1978 Nike Air, which was further developed by the specialists.

Since 1987, the company has released numerous models, more than fifty in total, such as the Air Stab and Air Max Light in the 1980s, and Air Max Turbulence since 2000. The distinctive cushioning of the Nike Air Max shoes has changed slightly over the years. The 1993 model was the first to have cushioning on the heel and side of the shoe, while the 1995 model now has cushioning on the front. The 1997 version was the first to have full cushioning.

In 2006, the Air Max 360 was launched, with the Max Air cushioning running through the midsole of the shoe. In the same year, the three popular classic models Nike Air Max 90, Nike Air Max 95, and Nike Air Max 97 were revised, with the original sole being replaced by the 360.

The legendary Nike sneakers - Nike SB Stefan Janoski

Nike was unwelcome, to say the least, in its first attempt at the skateboarding world. However, through hard work and perseverance, they have built the Nike SB sub-brand, which is specifically designed to meet the needs and lifestyle of skateboarders. There was also the Nike 6.0 series, which has since been discontinued, but was more popular with BMX riders. But back to skateboarders: American skateboarder Stefan Janoski signed a deal with the brand in 2009 and the first model named after him was released. The advantages of the shoe are that it is simple, can be worn with everything, and is affordable.

The legendary Nike sneakers - Air MAG

This model stands out a bit from the rest of the shoes on the list because, unlike the others, we probably won't see many of them on the streets. And that won't be the case in the future either, because this is a thing of the past! The "Back to the Future" movie-inspired shoes was released twice, in 2011 and 2016, and both times they were limited editions, with 1,500 being produced in 2011 and only 89 in 2016. Accordingly, the shoes are also more expensive than a flying DeLorean, with the first series costing around $10,000 and the second series costing around $25,000-30,000.

The legendary Nike sneakers - The Air Force 1

The Air Force 1 is Nike’s most popular product of all time, including all sports apparel. Named after Air Force One, the plane that carries the US President. "Uptowns" refers to Air Force 1s originally worn by inner-city youth, particularly at Harlem, New York's Upper West Side residents.

It was introduced in 1982 and quickly discontinued in 1984. The shoe was reissued with the new cursive Nike logo in 1986, and a swoosh was added to the bottom on the back. Although the original stitching on the side panels of the Air Force One is no longer visible in modern versions, little has changed on the shoe since its creation in 1982. The company has since produced 1,700 colorways, generating an estimated $800 million in sales per year. Nike previously prohibited online sales of Air Force Ones by some retailers due to supply restrictions, which is now lifted.

While limited edition releases and exclusive collaborations may have given the AF1 prestige and widened its appeal to younger generations, it was the monotone colorways that kept sneaker fans interested over time.

Key takeaway #5: product or service portfolio

Nike has chosen a path of pioneering product design, pricing, and retail strategy, slowly building a strong product portfolio that is so much more than just running shoes. The company has only been able to do this through constant testing, surveys, face-to-face conversations with customers - aka gathering market knowledge. Follow this path and build your growth engine(s) on products or services that serve a clear demand.

A pioneering approach to manufacturing

Nike shoes are almost exclusively made outside the United States. China and Vietnam are the leading producers of Nike shoes, taking up 36% of the total production worldwide. Nike produces 22% of its shoes in Indonesia and 6% in Thailand. Overall 500,000 different products are manufactured by 785 contract factories employing more than 1 million workers. Nike's contract plants employ many more women than men (in China, 77.4% of workers are female, and 80.3% in Vietnam).

Among the first market players to completely outsource manufacturing was Nike. Several factors boosted cost saving through this strategy:

Nike outsources manufacturing into developing countries, where the workforce is extremely cheap.

• Nike is not in direct contact with this tremendous amount of workforce (estimated around 1 million people), hence safety, regulation, payment, and many other types of related costs and risks are pushed on the contractors.
• On the other hand, Nike utilizes the latest optimization and lean manufacturing techniques, enabling the supply chain to be as effective as possible in 2021.
• Outsourcing the manufacturing process allows the company to quickly adapt capacities to its current needs, which has been one of the key factors in Nike’s ability to grow.

While apparel is manufactured in almost all Nike countries, footwear is only produced in Asia and Latin America (in total in 14 countries by a total of 623k workers).

Nike sweatshops

The Nike, Inc. sweatshop scandal dates back to the 1970s. The model was built based on locating the lowest labor costs, which resulted in child labor and exploitation. Jeff Ballinger published a report in 1991 detailing poor working conditions and inadequate pay for workers.

A decline in sales resulted from the negative perception of the brand caused by forced labor. Rather than continue to promote their model's competitive nature, Nike had to reassess its business and focus on ethics. It has vehemently denied all allegations of factory abuse in the past, saying it has very little control over the factories of its suppliers. Since 2002, Nike has audited its factories to ensure worker safety and health.

Distribution centers

There are six Nike U.S. distribution centers. There are four of them in Memphis, Tennessee, and two in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Dayton, Tennessee. Third-party logistics providers operate the latter distribution centers. A total of 67 distribution centers were located outside the United States at the end of the fiscal year 2019.

Key takeaway #6: outsourcing manufacturing

Nike had gained a serious competitive advantage by pioneering the outsourcing of the production process. Shoe production is done in Asian and Latin American countries where labor is much cheaper compared to the US.

While this business model brought financial benefits to the company for the first 2 decades (from the 1970s to the 1990s), Nike's reputation was seriously damaged when the public was informed about the disastrous working conditions in these factories.

The key takeaway from Nike's production model is that while outsourcing can be financially beneficial, one must ensure that the quality produced is consistent and sustainable while the working environment is also acceptable by today's standards.

The robust marketing strategy of a market leader

A very strong marketing strategy is part of Nike's success. In the sporting goods industry, they are the #1 brand and it is the 14th most valuable brand in the world. To succeed, Nike invests in building its brand through emotional marketing and celebrity endorsements, develops products with market-leading technology, and makes strategic acquisitions.

Nike commercials

The new advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy (W+K) created the first three Nike national television commercials during the broadcast of the 1982 New York Marathon. As the first company to win the award twice, Nike was recognized as the Advertising Medium of the Year at the Cannes Advertising Festival in 1994 and 2003. Both in 2000 and 2002, Nike won an Emmy Award for Best Commercial.

Strong online presence

The company was an early adopter of online marketing tools and techniques. Due to the new e-commerce focused strategy, marketing is also shifting heavily towards being digital.

Nike’s strong online presence consists of the following elements:

• A strong website with almost 200 million monthly visitors.
• More than 46 million backlinks pointing towards nike.com.
• Paid advertising on Google Ads and across all social media platforms. Google Ads provides 6.7 million monthly paid views.
• Remarketing on both Google and Facebook.
• Frequent email marketing campaigns: 3.34 emails/week, 15% of the emails
• Nike sends includes a discount or promotion, Sunday is the most popular day Nike sends emails, 32 characters is the average subject line length of Nike emails.
• Nike is one of the most followed brands online as it has 318 social media profiles catering to a variety of products and geographies. All major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn have Nike profiles. Separate pages were created for each of the brand's products to cater to different target audiences. For quite some time now, Nike's Facebook page has not been active.
• Undoubtedly, Nike has some of the biggest sports stars as spokespersons. Nike is associated with sports legends such as Roger Federer, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Cristiano Ronaldo, just to name a few. Nike has earned its place in the sports world by personifying the brand and putting these sports legends' faces on their products.

• Social media influencers: Nike is one of the earliest adopters of using the power of social media influencers. They took the concept of brand ambassadorship by popular sportspeople and adapted it on average people who are only known by a smaller number of follower base (still speaking about tens of thousands of people). You can find the list of top 10 Nike influencers here.

Nike’s marketing campaign highlights from 2020

• "Heroes" is a Nike campaign created by Wieden & Kennedy's Amsterdam division based on real stories from real people. An inspirational three-minute film focuses on a new generation of German athletes - individually and collectively - advancing society through sport.
• This song makes people cry: "Mamba forever" (a tribute to Kobe Bryant), "Don't do it" is an advocacy song against racism.
• Kylian Mbappé's first Nike collection features the tagline, "Love your dreams until they love you back."
• A campaign to honor Women's History Month: "Further than ever". With its advertisement from Wieden & Kennedy Shanghai, the agency is taking on the stigma that Chinese women cannot be ambitious.
• Delhi's very first "Just do it" campaign, "Da Da Ding," garnered three million views for its music video that fuses sports with culture. Ishita Malaviya and national hockey player Rani Rampal star in the video set to a track designed by French DJ Surkin especially for Nike.

The present-day strategy driving revenue

The story dates back to 2017 when the company unveiled a new strategy called "Consumer Direct Offense" that focused on cultivating direct relationships with customers through various digital portals such as apps, websites, and official stores around the world.

In June 2020, this strategy was taken up and reimagined by CEO John Donahoe, who introduced a new and improved strategy called “Consumer Direct Acceleration”.

At its core is a three-component focus:

• The first is a marketplace essential for the future that is transparent and much more relational with consumers.
• The second is building a buying structure that differentiates not between elite and amateur athletes, but between men, women, and children, allowing for more specific targeting.
• And third, a tightly integrated technology platform to accelerate digital transformation.

This new strategy has been a breakthrough for Nike since June 2020. Not only has it given stability to the stock, but it has also instilled confidence in investors, encouraging people to buy more shares, which has further boosted the stock price - somewhat even countering the downward pressure of the global pandemic.

Key takeaway #7: strong marketing, strong brand

While Nike has a nearly unlimited marketing budget, you too can embrace their "quality over quantity" approach and create compelling stories that make your company image stand out in the marketplace.

HR is an engine of growth too

Since 2018, Nike is reportedly working on removing the bias from hiring and tries to balance the gender ratio within the company. By enabling blind resume reviews and eliminating the collection of salary histories, the company began eliminating bias from critical stages of the hiring process. Additionally, all employees will receive mandatory training on unconscious bias.

The company realized that if it wants to keep the market-leading position, hiring methodologies should be updated. As part of the process, there was a change in multiple senior executives roles during the second half of the 2010s.

As Nike manufactures in 477 factories around the world and offices in 49 countries, it was important to set up internal regulations about payment equality. The Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Dongguan shoe factory, which produces shoes for Nike and others, was the scene of one of the largest strikes ever seen in mainland China in April this year. For 20 years in a row, workers at the factory have been significantly underpaid.

More and more enterprise companies realize around the world that gender balance, payment equality, and fair treatment of employees are much more than simple words. A company can only thrive if there is strong loyalty, powerful employee retention, and an unbiased hiring policy in place.

Key takeaway #8: healthy HR leads to strong revenue

Multiple studies are confirming that organizations that aim for gender balance on all levels of employees have a higher chance for success. Nike is on the road to change its biased processes, which is one of the most important takeaways. Unfortunately, there is much more work to be done, as in early 2021, women made up only 5.8% of CEOs and a mere 26.5 % of officers and managers at senior levels at Fortune 500 companies.

Key Takeaways of Nike's Growth Story

To achieve its business goals, Nike takes a unique approach to its markets, products, manufacturing, and marketing. Bowerman and Knight's clear vision has allowed the company to thrive from the beginning. It has grown from a reseller of Japanese footwear to a powerful sportswear giant in the US, leading and pioneering the market in every way. With the rapid shift of commerce towards online, the challenges and opportunities for Nike in the next decade will be different, for which they are already prepared through their new direct-to-consumer strategy.

Growth by numbers

Key takeaways from nike’s story:.

• Founders with a vision: the vision of founders must go beyond dreaming of a hefty profit after the first year of business. If the goal is to build a profitable, long-term business that employs lots of talent and provides a living for many families, the vision of the business is paramount.
• Start by following others and become a pioneer later: most entrepreneurs find early on that their market is fragmented, crowded, and busy. However, to stand out in a noisy market, you need a substantial budget, so it makes sense to follow your competitors and start generating revenue early. After the business is profitable, you can move from being a reseller or selling a Minimum Viable Product to coming up with innovative ideas.
• Data is king in e-commerce: It's no surprise that Nike, despite selling most of its previously acquired businesses, has invested heavily in data analytics. In e-commerce, you can only grow if you understand the underlying drivers.
• A strong brand is the ultimate goal in marketing: all your marketing efforts must be focused on building a recognizable, strong brand for consumers and employers. Prioritize quality over quantity.
• Only a well-balanced team can adapt to change: As Nike slowly evolves into a gender-balanced company, you need to adopt this mindset from the start.

As Phil Knight summarized perfectly, “Ultimately, we wanted Nike to be the world’s best sports and fitness company. Once you say that, you have a focus. You don’t end up making wing tips or sponsoring the next Rolling Stones world tour.”

Nike Marketing Strategy: How Nike became a market leader and you can "just do it" too!

Learn about nike's iconic marketing strategy and advertising campaigns. read how nike aces the 4ps of marketing mix - product, price, promotion & placement..

• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="history">Revolutionary history
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="first">Nike's First Shoes
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="mix">Nike's Marketing Mix
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="strategy">Nike's Marketing Strategy
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="noteworthy">Noteworthy Marketing Campaigns
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="key">Key Takeaways

When you hear the word Nike, it’s impossible that you don’t see the Swoosh logo right in front of your eyes along with the words “Just Do It”. This is the result of Nike’s exemplary marketing and brand positioning since its inception in 1964. Today, Nike has established itself as the undisputed leader in the sportswear industry.

Being a consumer brand, Nike has managed to develop a competitive advantage of customer loyalty and strong brand recognition. What marketing strategy did Nike use to be the top-valued brand worth USD 176 billion in the sportswear industry? Let's find out!

Revolutionary history and innovation of the first Nike shoes

Inspiration and innovation are Nike’s deeply rooted core values. To understand this better, we need to know Nike’s history to understand why it is the way it is.

Foundation of Nike as a company

Nike Inc, previously known as Blue Ribbon Sports, was founded in the year 1964 by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. Nike is an American sportswear company headquartered in Oregon.

Fun Fact - Bill Bowerman was a track and field coach at the University of Oregon, and Phil Knight was his former student.

Source - Business insider

The jogging revolution

Jogging wasn’t mainstream in the early 1960s. It was believed to be only for athletes. 

On a trip to New Zealand in 1962, Bill discovered jogging and its benefits. He published a pamphlet on jogging in 1966, which was then turned into a book the next year. Bill is credited for bringing the jogging craze which swept America in the late 1960s. Jogging was then seen as a means to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

First shoes by Nike – Waffle Trainer

Nike’s first retail outlet was opened in 1966. Once, while having breakfast, Bill looked at the waffle and said the top part would be perfect for the track field. He got the materials for making the shoe soles and poured them into the waffle iron. This is how Nike created its first shoe, Waffle Trainers. Nike launched them in 1973.

Where did Nike derive its name and logo from?

Blue Ribbon Sports was renamed Nike Inc in 1979 and went public in December 1980. Nike derived its name from the name of the Greek Winged Goddess of Victory. The logo represents the wings, symbolising motion and speed.

Nike’s first content marketing strategy

In Nike’s case, content marketing came before the product. The customer base was built before the idea of the product was even thought of. Which marketing strategy did Nike use in its initial days?

Customer awareness

In the 1960s, people were unaware of the benefits of jogging. Selling shoes in a market that didn’t know it needed them would have been a fool’s act. Nike sold shoes only when customer awareness was shifted from Unaware to Solution aware.

Existing pain point 

Nike solved an existing problem which is ‘how to get fit’. It didn’t try to solve a non-existing pain point. 

You must develop products keeping your customers in mind.

Benefit-centric marketing

Nike shoes were sold as a means to support a healthy and sporty lifestyle. It didn’t boast about its product features. It used a benefit-centric marketing plan instead of a product-centric one.

Sell products you believe in

Bill Bowerman invented shoes that were lighter and faster. This shows how passionate he was about them. Nike’s belief in providing the highest customer value originates from its founders themselves. Nike truly believes in its products. This reflects in Nike’s customer perception as well.

Nike Marketing Mix - The four P’s of marketing

Nike uses its marketing mix to determine the strategies to be applied to execute its marketing plan. Nike’s marketing mix focuses on high-quality sportswear sold through online or offline mediums at a premium price while using customer-centric promotion strategies.

Nike Product Strategy

Although Nike shoes are the MVP, it’s a sportswear brand. Nike's products range from sports shoes, clothes, backpacks, sports equipment, and accessories. 

Nike has positioned itself as a leader in the sportswear industry. It focuses on high-quality products that are durable, visually appealing, and trendy. 

Nike produces distinct shoes for different sports like running shoes, basketball shoes, tennis shoes and ice hockey skates. Air Jordan is the most valued Nike shoe brand. Modern technology and innovation are the core elements of the creation process of Nike products.

Nike’s Pricing Strategy

Nike charges a premium price for its product quality, the value it provides, and the intensive technology investment.

Nike's strategy consists of the below two pricing plans:

Value-based pricing strategy

In this pricing strategy , Nike analyses the consumer perception that is the maximum price the consumers are ready to pay for its products and charges value-based prices.

Premium pricing strategy

Nike charges premium prices to establish itself as a premium brand amongst its competitors. Premium branding is done by partnering with high-profile sports celebrities and sponsoring them as brand ambassadors as well as being a sponsor of sports events like being an Olympic sponsor. This establishes Nike as a brand with premium products.

Nike’s Distribution channels

Nike sells its products through online and offline mediums for higher market reach.

Retail stores

Nike uses retail stores to sell its products to a wider target market without spending extra costs on infrastructure. These are strategically located to be easily accessible to consumers. This includes local stores as well as shopping malls. 

Online store

Nike’s online store website offers a wider range of choices along with the convenience of place and time. It offers an effortless and fun user experience through vibrant pictures, detailed filters, and smart product recommendations. Online store product prices are lower because other than delivery and manufacturing cost, there isn’t any added cost.

Nike-owned retail stores

Nike-owned retail outlets are called NikeTown. In these stores, only Nike athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories are sold. This allows them to control the sales process and provide customers with a brand-focused user experience. As of May 2022, Nike owns 1,046 retail stores all over the world. 

Source - Nike Website

Nike Promotion Marketing Strategy

Nike uses a highly influential promotion marketing strategy to maintain a strong brand image and bring in maximum sales.

It uses every possible marketing trick in the book to amp up its reach like Banner Advertising, placing a sales team for personal selling through retail outlets and direct marketing via website, emails, and social media networks. Nike also spends a ton of money on sales promotions by offering discount codes. It's also heavy with its Public Relations activities and ads via digital marketing strategy to improve its brand value.

As of 2022, Nike's global ad spending amount to USD 3.22 billion alone, minting them USD 46 billion in revenues!

Nike's Marketing Strategy

Nike has adapted well to the ever-changing trends and dynamic technology without losing its core identity, brand message, and voice. Their approach is still consumer-centric and benefit-driven. Even in a fiercely competitive market, Nike manages to be the talk of the town with below methods:

Brand positioning

The Nike marketing strategy operates in a focused target market which is the sporting goods industry. Nike’s target audience is professional athletes, sportspersons, and people who want a healthy and sporty lifestyle.

Focused marketing helps the Nike company be at the top of the mind of its consumers. When people think of sportswear, they automatically think of Nike. 

It uses a customer-centric approach. Instead of boasting about the product and its features, Nike focuses on their consumer’s pains and problems and how a Nike product can solve them. Few companies are doing it like Nike.

As a brand, you must  define your ideal customers and serve only them. If your marketing message doesn’t target a specific group of people, or you are serving multiple vertical markets, you are writing your doom. 

Your consumers don’t care about the brand-new features of your product. They care about how it can make their life easier. Don’t sell products, sell benefits.

Emotional storytelling 

Nike is the ace of brand storytelling. Through Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ campaign, it tells stories to encourage and inspire people to achieve their fitness and sports goals.

Authentic stories build trust and a strong connection with the brand. Nike helps people to dream big and customers feel like they belong. This builds a strong community and unshakable consumer loyalty, which is rare to find in other brands.

Nike’s very first commercial shows a shirtless 80-year-old man running across the Golden Gate Bridge. He runs 17 miles every morning. The core message is, if an 80-year-old can do it, you can too!

Nike - Just Do It (1988) - Very first commercial

Nike’s Find Your Greatness campaign conveyed the message that greatness isn’t for a select few. It’s in every single one of us. This ad shows people from various parts of the world and ages overcoming their fears and achieving greatness.

Nike: Find Your Greatness

By taking inspiration from the Nike marketing strategy, you must use storytelling in your content marketing strategy. Take your potential customers on a Hero’s journey where they are the protagonist fighting their way through obstacles and achieving victory.

The Nike social media strategy

Nike’s consumers are the younger generation between the ages of 15 and 45.

The company depends on this data to find out on which social media platforms Nike users hang out and develops a marketing plan to provide value to them on those platforms.

Social media marketing channels help Nike improve its brand recognition and be at the top of its target customers’ minds.

Nike differentiates itself based on the value it provides instead of price or any other factor.

Nike’s social media content types include:

Sports celebrity endorsements

Nike collaborates with high-profile faces in the sports industry and uses emotional marketing and storytelling to celebrate their achievements and talk about their failures.

Endorsements by famous athletes like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Ronaldo, Serena Williams, LeBron James, and many more establishes Nike as a premium brand.

In this Instagram post, Olympian and gold medallist Simone talks about how becoming the first Black swimmer to win gold impacted the future of the next generation of Black swimmers.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ClboXHrrVMj/

Joining customer’s social conversations

Nike joins existing customers' conversations on social media where it is mentioned. This ensures direct communication with Nike customers. Nike’s audience feels heard and valued, further solidifying its relationship with its customers.

Source - Twitter

Affiliate marketing by influencers

Nike developed an affiliate marketing program through which influencers can earn commission by promoting the line of products Nike sells. This enables the brand to earn mentions across various social media channels in the form of product unboxing, reviews, or use case videos. Nike reaps the benefits of influencer marketing without spending extra costs on advertisements.

Nike’s Email marketing strategies

Email marketing is at the core of the Nike marketing strategy. Nike sends 3 - 4 emails every week to its customers to keep them engaged and eager for more.

The emails are automated responses to various touchpoints like signing up, leaving reviews, successful purchases, product delivery, and newsletters. Their email marketing strategy enables them to be in direct contact with their target consumers and stay consistently connected.

4. Ensuring a simple, fun, and hassle-free online shopping experience

Nike ensures a smooth user experience for online shopping through its strategic eCommerce marketing strategy

Nike website theme - bold, vibrant, and youthful

Nike uses youthful, fearless, bold, and athletic pictures on its website to align with its brand image. Nike positions itself as a sports brand that is unique, youthful, and vibrant.

Source - Nike website

The detailed product filtering process

Customers can filter products on the basis of type, gender, price, colour, brand, sport, athletes, weather, and collaborator. This detailed filtering helps customers to find exactly what they want, fast!

Product recommendations

Nike's website recommends relevant products to the product the user is viewing. This makes the buying process easy, quick, and effortless for the buyer.

Nike membership

Nike membership provides members exclusive products, Nike by you customization, and special offers to its members.

5. High-quality, unique and innovative products

Nike puts its customers first. It collects data on its target customer behavior to optimize its products and services to meet its needs.

Nike uses advanced and innovative technology for constant improvement in its products.

One of the most innovative Nike products is HyperAdapt 1.0. A Shoe with adaptive lacing technology that laces itself when you put your heel in.

Source - Amazon Website

Noteworthy Nike Marketing Campaigns

Nike’s creative advertisements are at the centre of the Nike marketing strategy. They deliver impactful messages that stay with the viewer long after seeing them. Nike is well known for its campaign ‘Just Do It’ which encourages people to go after their dreams and just do it! 

Ten of Nike’s most noteworthy advertising campaigns:

I am not a role model - Charles Barkley, 1993

Nike’s controversial ad sparked an uproar about whether   athletes   should be looked at as role models.

Nike "I Am Not a Role Model" commercial w/Charles Barkley - 1993

Hello World - Tiger Woods, 1996

This advertisement introduced Woods to the world when he was just starting his career in golf. Nike claimed Woods will be influential in the future, and its predictions came true.

Failure - Michael Jordan, 1997

In this Nike ad, Michael Jordan talks about his failures. This is a retrospective ad on his Basketball career.

Love me or hate me - Kobe Bryant, 2006

This ad was crucial because it was Nike’s first ad with Kobe Bryant after he was faced with sexual misconduct allegations. While others didn’t want anything to do with him, Nike stood their ground and supported him.

I feel pretty - Maria Sharapova, 2006

This ad was aimed at eliminating the “Pretty Girl” label Maria was given despite taking the tennis world by storm.

No excuses - Matt Scott, 2007

Matt Scott, an American wheelchair basketball player, points out excuses people use to not do something in this powerful ad.

Bottled Courage - Olympics, 2008

This Nike ad’s message is that the courage you are seeking on the outside is already within you.

Equality - 2017

Nike aimed at fighting the prejudice and discrimination against Black people with this ad.

What are girls made of? - 2017

This stunning Nike ad starts with the girl stating the general stereotypes about girls and then goes on to share that girls are made of iron, resilience, dreams, and dedication.

One day we won’t need this day - 2020 

On International Women's Day in 2020, Nike honoured women’s achievements by featuring women athletes in its ad, hoping that someday we won’t need a day to celebrate women.

Key takeaways from the Nike Marketing strategy for entrepreneurs 

Nike’s marketing strategy is a gold mine to learn from and grow your brand. These are the key takeaways you must apply to your brand to see exponential growth.

Identify what your target customers want from you

Nike identified its target customer’s need to become fit. It smartly positions itself as a brand that helps its customers reach their fitness and sports goals.

Identify your target customer’s problems, pains, concerns, fears, and doubts and help them overcome them. You can build brand authority by answering your target customer’s most prominent concerns. Provide them value instead of boasting about your product and being salesy.

Instead of putting all your focus on product features and competitor strategy, identify what your customers want from you and give them that. 

Research the best medium to reach your customer

Determine your target customer, know where they hang out and how best you can reach them. 

Don’t be on a platform just because everyone else is. If your target audience is below 25, they will be hanging out on Instagram way more than on Facebook. If you are on Facebook instead of Instagram, then you are doing it wrong. Create content with your audience in mind and share them on the right platform at the right time.

Bonus tip: Provide consistent value to stay on the top of your target audience’s mind.

Create customer-centric content

Whatever form of content you create - blog, social media posts, videos, white papers, they should all be customer-centric. That is, they must provide the best content to solve your customer’s problems.

If you provide high-quality content, then you’ll be seen as a market leader. Your content will be widely shared and spread.

The biggest key takeaway from the Nike marketing strategy is that your customer must be your hero and included in your brand image . Everything you create and share must be done keeping them in mind. If you're building a retail product, we would also recommend you read our marketing case study on Jockey which also uses similar product-focused marketing tricks.

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Is Nike past its peak? A look at the company's current slump

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Juana Summers

NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Chris Burns, footwear analyst and founder of ARCH (Art & Research, Culture-Hype) about Nike's shoe sale slump, inventory excess and colorway reliance.

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Between the shelves full of unsold product, last week's senior leadership shakeup and a lot of the same old models being offered again, just in different colorways, industry insiders are not so bullish these days on Nike. Have we hit peak Nike? - writes Chris Burns. He's a footwear business analyst, and he also runs a sneaker resale platform on his website, which is called ARCH. So we asked him to explain. Chris, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.

CHRIS BURNS: Thank you guys for inviting me.

SUMMERS: All right, Chris, let's just start with the clarification here. Nike is still the big name in the sneaker market. I mean, there's a big movie that just came out about the creation of the Air Jordan. What leads you to raise this question if the company is post-peak?

BURNS: Nike is so big and so powerful in the sneaker industry that me saying peak isn't the same thing as saying a smaller company just lost a great share of the marketplace. But for Nike, who's hopefully trying to hit $50 billion a year, it seems that Nike has finally maxed out its potential. In my view, COVID was such a disruption. Nike is now in a place where demand and supply are even. Nike itself - when you walk into the stores, the Nike wall is just cluttered. Where a shelf used to have one shoe turned to the side where you can see it really well, there's three or four shoes on one shelf at a time.

SUMMERS: Wow.

BURNS: So it's just cluttered. You walk into a Foot Locker, and there are boxes inside of the store space in some instances because there's so much inventory.

SUMMERS: One of the things I'm wondering is - is this a situation in which we just saw Nike release a whole lot of retro shoes and new, different colorways that just in some ways oversaturated the market?

BURNS: So in the last six years, since 2017, there's what I call a three-to-five-year window to see what's really happening with a brand. For Nike, that 2017 changed the direction of the company. They grew. Nike was opening stores, but they introduced a program called edit to amplify. Edit to amplify made Nike focus on the product that was selling the best. And in the process of focusing on the product that was selling the best - Air Jordan 1, Nike Dunk, Nike Blazer - they began to make those shoes in a lot of different colorways, but the problem was they were no longer innovating. Nike used to be revolutionary. In the last few years, though, it's just Dunks, Jordans, Air Force 1s.

SUMMERS: Yep.

BURNS: That doesn't mean that it's not selling. They're still selling, but it doesn't have the same brand heat. It doesn't create the type of emotion that it used to.

SUMMERS: So this is not the first time in recent history that you and other analysts have seen Nike undergoing a bit of, say, a slump. Tell us about what happened the last time.

BURNS: The last time the slump took place, it's 2014, 2015, and Nike rolled out a lot of product. They produced too many Jordan brand shoes. They flooded the market. At the exact same time that Nike kind of flooded the market, Adidas started to rise. They signed Kanye West, so Adidas was on the rise. Nike was just kind of coasting. It seemed that Nike was going to pick up steam, but they didn't have any newness or research and development that was happening. In 2017, they offset the lack of newness in the scale of sport. So the scale of sport introduced Nike React, Air Max 270 and 360-degree Flyknit. So Nike was kind of flatlining from 2014 to 2016. And in 2017, they were able to kind of turn the corner, and they fixed that problem. This time it's a little bit different, and I don't think it's going to be fixed this time around.

SUMMERS: What do you expect that the response will be from Nike? What do you think the company's next move is going to be?

BURNS: I don't know if they have a move to make. At that scale of sport, there were 10 speakers on that day. Five of those people are gone. There's a talent drain at Nike. In the last year, those tech people are gone, those data people are gone. I think Nike has to focus on inventory so much that they can't innovate. I think they're operating off of legacy more than they are off of controlling everything the way they used to.

SUMMERS: Footwear analyst Chris Barnes. His website is called ARCH. Hey, thank you.

BURNS: Oh, no problem. Thank you.

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How Is The Market Feeling About Nike?

Nike's NKE short percent of float has risen 4.55% since its last report. The company recently reported that it has 17.92 million shares sold short , which is 1.84% of all regular shares that are available for trading. Based on its trading volume, it would take traders 1.26 days to cover their short positions on average.

Why Short Interest Matters

Short interest is the number of shares that have been sold short but have not yet been covered or closed out. Short selling is when a trader sells shares of a company they do not own, with the hope that the price will fall. Traders make money from short selling if the price of the stock falls and they lose if it rises.

Short interest is important to track because it can act as an indicator of market sentiment towards a particular stock. An increase in short interest can signal that investors have become more bearish, while a decrease in short interest can signal they have become more bullish.

See Also: List of the most shorted stocks

Nike Short Interest Graph (3 Months)

As you can see from the chart above the percentage of shares that are sold short for Nike has grown since its last report. This does not mean that the stock is going to fall in the near-term but traders should be aware that more shares are being shorted.

Comparing Nike's Short Interest Against Its Peers

Peer comparison is a popular technique amongst analysts and investors for gauging how well a company is performing. A company's peer is another company that has similar characteristics to it, such as industry, size, age, and financial structure. You can find a company's peer group by reading its 10-K, proxy filing, or by doing your own similarity analysis.

According to Benzinga Pro , Nike's peer group average for short interest as a percentage of float is 7.47%, which means the company has less short interest than most of its peers.

Did you know that increasing short interest can actually be bullish for a stock? This post by Benzinga Money explains how you can profit from it.

This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and was reviewed by an editor.

© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Added on   2020-03-07

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Nike’s success is attributed to its excellent global marketing strategies, for example, the use of professional teams and athletes to promote and advertise products to its target consumers in various markets across the globe. This company has dominated the US footwear and apparel markets with athletics products, and therefore, it needs to expand its market share and improve its sales in other international markets. This paper is going to carry out research and analysis of a new potential market in Australia, by focusing on the marketing environment , market segmentation and consumer behaviour. 

   Added on  2020-03-07

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Assignment on Marketing Communication- NIKE lg ...

Assignment strategic management(sm) lg ..., marketing plan for nike: opportunity analysis, market analysis, competitor analysis, swot analysis lg ..., management economics: nike's market structure and optimal position lg ..., marketing and service management lg ..., brand management of nike lg ....

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Adidas Beat Nike in the First Quarter, Warburg Says

Adidas's strong first-quarter figures suggest sales at the German sneaker and sports-apparel maker grew faster than at rival Nike, Warburg Research analyst Joerg Philipp Frey says in a research note.

The company raised its guidance for the full year after first-quarter sales grew 8% excluding currency movements, outgrowing Nike by about eight percentage points, Warburg said.

The first-quarter performance and expectations that currency headwinds will abate somewhat and that its product mix will have positive effects in the second half give Warburg confidence that Adidas's gross margin will substantially beat expectations, the analyst says. Adidas shares jumped 8.15%.

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Nike Bosses Plan 'Biggest' Olympics Spend as Marketing Ramps Up

Nike Bosses Plan 'Biggest' Olympics Spend as Marketing Ramps Up

FILE PHOTO: Athletics - London Marathon - London, Britain - April 23, 2023 Adidas and Nike running trainers are seen during the race REUTERS/Andrew Boyers/File Photo

By Helen Reid

PARIS (Reuters) - Nike is spending more on this Olympics than any previous Games, top executives said on Friday, as the U.S. sportswear brand embarks on a marketing push it hopes will revive flagging sales and help compete with upstart rivals.

Sportswear makers are looking to reignite demand on the back of Paris 2024, which represents a return to normalcy after Tokyo 2020, delayed to 2021 and held without spectators due to the global pandemic.

Sponsored athletes including U.S. sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson and Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge modeled Nike's Olympics kits at a show in Paris on Thursday, where the brand also unveiled 13 futuristic shoe prototypes developed with athletes.

"This Olympics will be our biggest ... it will be our largest media spend," Heidi O'Neill, president of consumer, product and brand at Nike said in an interview. "This will be the most investment and the biggest moment for Nike in years," she added, without putting a figure on the amount of spending planned.

In Nike's latest quarter, total marketing expense was $1 billion, up 10% on the same period last year. Asked whether spending will continue to ramp up, O'Neill said marketing was "the number one priority investment" for the company.

Nike in general is focusing on "fewer, bigger" marketing campaigns, she added. The $139 billion company hired a new chief marketing officer at the end of last year as it seeks to bolster its brand in an increasingly competitive sportswear market.

Newer running brands such as On and Hoka are taking market share from Nike, while a trend away from chunky basketball sneakers is benefiting its closest rival Adidas and its low-profile "terrace" shoes.

Nike's plans contrast with those of Adidas. The German brand has been cutting back on marketing spend and spent 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) on marketing in 2023, down 8.5% from the previous year. Nike's spend over its latest four quarters was $4.3 billion, an increase of 6%.

Nike's investment should help stimulate demand despite pressure on consumers globally, executives say.

"Consumers are challenged in just about every market we do business in," said Craig Williams, Nike's president of global geographies and marketplace.

Despite that, consumers continue to respond "very positively" to the Olympics as an event, Williams said, adding it is still seen as "the epitome of sport".

(Reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by Matt Scuffham and David Holmes)

Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters .

Tags: United States , The Olympics

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DocuSign (DOCU) is Attracting Investor Attention: Here is What You Should Know

DocuSign ( DOCU Quick Quote DOCU - Free Report ) has recently been on Zacks.com's list of the most searched stocks. Therefore, you might want to consider some of the key factors that could influence the stock's performance in the near future.

Shares of this provider of electronic signature technology have returned -2.5% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -0.9% change. The Zacks Technology Services industry, to which DocuSign belongs, has lost 3.1% over this period. Now the key question is: Where could the stock be headed in the near term?

While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.

Earnings Estimate Revisions

Rather than focusing on anything else, we at Zacks prioritize evaluating the change in a company's earnings projection. This is because we believe the fair value for its stock is determined by the present value of its future stream of earnings.

We essentially look at how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to reflect the impact of the latest business trends. And if earnings estimates go up for a company, the fair value for its stock goes up. A higher fair value than the current market price drives investors' interest in buying the stock, leading to its price moving higher. This is why empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

For the current quarter, DocuSign is expected to post earnings of $0.78 per share, indicating a change of +8.3% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +9.7% over the last 30 days.

For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $3.23 points to a change of +8.4% from the prior year. Over the last 30 days, this estimate has changed +6.5%.

For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $3.50 indicates a change of +8.5% from what DocuSign is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed +0.3%.

Having a strong externally audited track record , our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, offers a more conclusive picture of a stock's price direction in the near term, since it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. Due to the size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates , DocuSign is rated Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:

12 Month EPS

Revenue Growth Forecast

Even though a company's earnings growth is arguably the best indicator of its financial health, nothing much happens if it cannot raise its revenues. It's almost impossible for a company to grow its earnings without growing its revenue for long periods. Therefore, knowing a company's potential revenue growth is crucial.

For DocuSign, the consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $705.99 million indicates a year-over-year change of +6.7%. For the current and next fiscal years, $2.92 billion and $3.1 billion estimates indicate +5.8% and +6.3% changes, respectively.

Last Reported Results and Surprise History

DocuSign reported revenues of $712.39 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +8%. EPS of $0.76 for the same period compares with $0.65 a year ago.

Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $698.05 million, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +2.05%. The EPS surprise was +18.75%.

The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters. The company topped consensus revenue estimates each time over this period.

Without considering a stock's valuation, no investment decision can be efficient. In predicting a stock's future price performance, it's crucial to determine whether its current price correctly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects.

Comparing the current value of a company's valuation multiples, such as its price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), to its own historical values helps ascertain whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, whereas comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of how reasonable its stock price is.

As part of the Zacks Style Scores system, the Zacks Value Style Score (which evaluates both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics) organizes stocks into five groups ranging from A to F (A is better than B; B is better than C; and so on), making it helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.

DocuSign is graded C on this front, indicating that it is trading at par with its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.

Bottom Line

The facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about DocuSign. However, its Zacks Rank #2 does suggest that it may outperform the broader market in the near term.

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Air Jordan 4

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