Marketing: A Case Study Of Nike's Marketing Strategy

Tori Smoode

Retailing

Dr. Kidder

February 25, 2018

Since I can remember Nike has been considered one of the most popular and largest American suppliers of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment, holding a global market share of approximately 37 percent (ReferenceForBuisness). Nike, named after the Greek winged goddess of victory, and originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports, was first created by University of Oregon track athlete Phil Knight and his coach, Bill Bowerman in 1964, to provide athletes with better athletic shoes.

Nike quickly set themselves apart from other companies due to the fact of their rapid growth and development. The first year sales of their company totaled around $8,000, and in the first decade signed Steve Prefontaine,

Nike has done this by providing great customer service through all selling channels and resolving any issues in a timely manner. There are multiple other critical decisions that need to be made along the way that can create a positive result in customer satisfaction, that not only Nike needs to do but all companies as well. This includes things like pricing products, what merchandise is sold, how to advertise, store design, store locations, and what promotions or sales to run and when. This is important because it goes beyond just retailers now, this leads to the involvement of vendors, competitors, store associates, and customers. Retailers need to work with vendors to get these products to manufacture inventory and stock these items to sell. Once the items have reached their store location retailers decide on prices for each item, this is where competitors play a large role. Nike’s pricing strategy is considered to be more competitive than other athletic retailers (ReferenceForBuisness). Their prices are typically based on the basis of target consumers as a prime factor. Creating a pricing strategy makes use of vertical integration when evaluating trends and knowing how to price products. Nike has become so well known that most people will pay more for quality and popular products. They also decide which items they need to go above and beyond to promote or advertise, these typically would include newly released products or products that are trending at the time. Next, company retailers will have to work with each individual store associates to create a store layout that is appealing to customers from that area in the location. For example, a store in North Dakota or Maine isn’t going to display sandals year round like Florida or California might. Store associates also