A Complete Marketing Plan of Nike Shoes

Every business, whether small or big, must have a business plan in order to be able to achieve the goals that it was established to meet. The plan acts as a guide on the progress of the business in all major aspects of the business. The plan also gives an overview of the business strengths and weaknesses, as well as identifies some of the major competitors and the threats they pose to the business.

In the year 1962, two-business men came together to form a firm that would import Japanese shoes. The founder of the firm Bill Bower and Phil Knight at the time labeled it Blue Ribbon Sports. The firm later changed its name to Nike the name, which is famous all around the world. The firm has since then grown to become the number one producers of sports shoes and other sports products (Nike Inc, 2013).

Currently, Nike is one of the leading brand names not just in shoes but other sports equipment. The firm products are divided into four categories, equipment, footwear, and apparels. Some of the sports equipment that is produced by Nike includes Nike Golf, Nike+, Nike skating boarding, and Nike Pro. Nike products are sold all over the world, thus giving it an edge against its competitors in the business. The firm currently has its products being sold in more than 160 countries worldwide. In the United States of America alone, the firm has over 22,000 retail outlets. According to a fiscal report in the year 2008, all the products sold by Nike came to about $18.6 billion. Footwear products accounted for 52%, equipment 6%, apparel 28%, and others 14%. The firm also sponsors some of the world best and renowned athletes (Micheletti, 2004).

Situation

The firm is currently the number one supplier of sports equipment, shoes, and sports apparel; it currently controls about 47% of the athletic shoes market. The firm sells its products to over 100 countries in the word and its major target markets include Europe, the Americas, United States of America, and Asia Pacific. The firm has so far been able to secure their position in the major target areas through keen marketing strategies, and production of quality products (Blackwell, 2008).

The firm currently has about 800,000 who make its products in the 700 factories based in about 52 countries. The factories are based in China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. About 80 % of all the workers in the factories are women who are aged averagely 18-24 years. Labor rights have been a major concern in the firm for some time, but some reforms are being implemented, for example, no employee under 18 is allowed to work in any of the factories. The issue of employing persons less than 18 years has been given the highest priority after it emerged that some of the factories had employed children thus flouting the labor laws (Blackwell, 2008).

Nike has also allowed the labor authorities in countries where their factories are based to conduct regular inspection, to look at the working conditions, and any other labor laws that have been flouted. The labor authorities have also been given the permission to verify the ages of the employees by looking at their documents (Nike Inc, 2013).

In the past, workers who complained about the poor working conditions were fired. Those who were found to have spoken to journalists about the poor working conditions, mistreatment, or any other violation of their rights was victimized. However, the situation has since changed and the workers are at liberty to express their views on anything that they might think is not fair to them (Parkinson, 2006).

Customer

Nike has customers all over the world who cherish its products; however, there are some notable major customers. Nike’s biggest clientele cherish sports products and they are drawn from basketball, aerobic, tennis, and jogging. All the major clients buy products in all the four categories of products produced by Nike. Some of the other major customers are soccer related firms who kit and sponsor various teams across the world (Nike Inc, 2013).

Competitors

In every business venture, competition is bound to exist and sports products business in not an exception. Some of the major competitors of Nike include Reebok, with a market share of 16%, Adidas 6%, and New Balance 3%. Converse also held a market share of about 3%, but Nike bought the firm and made it an affiliate brand. Nike still controls the highest share of the market with about 47% (Nike Inc, 2013).

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT)

Strength

Nike is a global brand that is well known for their excellent quality, their logo and slogan are familiar among millions of people across the world. Nike has a very reliable and efficient research and marketing team, thus the department is able to advise the management on any issue that can help in the improvement of the firm’s sales. The products are produced in Far East countries where the cost of production is low, therefore, more energy is spent on marketing (Nike Inc, 2013).

Weakness

The firm spends a lot of money in advertisement and loyalties. It has a lot of different sports product, but unfortunately, only one of the foot wear section is doing well compared to other sections such as sports equipment, and apparels. Such a situation can be abused by some of the major competitors, who might decide to focus on producing goods that are not doing well in term of sales at Nike (Parkinson, 2006).

Threats

Threats are always in business and cannot be fully eliminated. The most viable solution is to reduce their effects by use of any appropriate means. One of the major threats is the ever-increasing competition because some of the major competitors have been growing stronger in the recent years. The other threat is the overflow of counterfeit products. The fake products especially is the continent of Asia has led to the firm losing millions of dollars. The last threat is cost as most of the products sold by Nike have prices that are higher than the ones produced by other firms. Most of the people feel that Nike should reduce the price of their goods (Parkinson, 2006).

Opportunities

Nike should take advantage of the internet, which is the avenue for meeting more potential clients. Nike can allow their clients to order and pay for their products online then they can later pick them up at the nearest retail store or let them delivered to their doorsteps. The firm can also put up a database that can be able to get the feedback of their clients, and have them post their views on various products (Micheletti, 2004).

Conclusion

A business plan is a very vital part of any firm that is involved in business. It guides the business on various issues that affect the firm, such as marketing of products and the strategies to be followed to ensure efficient sales. The plan also gives a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the firm. Therefore, the firm can improve on the weaknesses to ensure better sales. It also gives the firm the opportunity to improve on its strength.

Reference

HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item” Blackwell, E. (2008). How to prepare a business plan (5th ed.). London: Kogan Page.

HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item” Micheletti, M., Føllesdal, A., & Stolle, D. (2004). Politics, products, and markets: exploring political consumerism past and present. New York: Transaction Publishers.

HYPERLINK “../../GOERGI/Downloads/Nike Inc (n.d.). Nike Inc. Retrieved November 23, 2013, from http:/sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/32018″Nike Inc (n.d.). Nike Inc. Retrieved November 23, 2013, from http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/32018

HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item” Parkinson, M. G., & Ekachai, D. (2006).International and intercultural public relations: a campaign case approach. New York: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.