Fahim ShahMarketing Mix of Nike (4Ps of Nike)
This article aims to examine the marketing mix of Nike (4Ps of Nike). Nike is an American company, headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, the USA. It officially became Nike Inc. in 1971 though it started its journey in 1964 as ‘Blue Ribbon Sports’.
Product strategies of Nike
Nike is the world’s largest supplier and manufacturer of athletic shoes, apparel, and other sports equipment. Its products are organized in five categories i.e. new release, men, women, kids, sale, back to school, and collections (Nike, 2021). Demographic segmentation strategy is clearly evident in its products.
The product portfolio includes shoes for running, gym and training, basketball, tennis, football, golf, and skateboarding. Nike also offers the option of customized shoes and football jerseys. The clothing category includes hoodies, sweatshirts, shorts, tracksuits, t-shirts, trousers, leggings, skirts, dresses, sports bras, socks, maternity wear, swimwear, jackets, baby sets, baby clothing, and many more.
Accessories include but not limited to bags, backpacks, and the Apple Watch Nike. It should be mentioned that though shoes are the most popular products from Nike Inc., some other items have not seen similar traction. Likewise, the company suffered a failure in 2019 when the shoe of one of its star college athletes imploded mid-match, forcing Zion Williamson to leave the NCAA game and resulting its stocks falling badly shortly afterwards.
Pricing strategies of Nike
Pricing plays an important role in the marketing mix of Nike (4Ps of Nike). Nike uses the value-based pricing strategy to price its products. This method considers the maximum value a customer is willing to pay to purchase a particular product. This pricing strategy has helped the company raise profits over the years.
Nike has the advantage of charging higher prices due to the brand image it has created and for producing premium quality products. However, it faces heavy competition with competitors also providing good quality products at affordable prices. Customers have a variety of choices, and this affects the pricing strategy of the company as well.
Place/Distribution channels of Nike
Nike sells its products via retail stores, online, and its own retail stores. Its products are available in over 150 countries. It had over 1000 retail stores around the world including over 300 in the USA (Tighe, 2021). As consumer behavior has dramatically changed in the last few years because of lockdowns, and online shopping, the company may reduce the number of its own retailers in the future.
Nike started selling directly on Amazon in 2017; however, decided to stop shortly afterwards in 2019. It decided to reach out to more customers directly via its own website than via a third party (Thomas and Cosgrove, 2019). This would help it save money charged by Amazon; however, would lose the Amazon exposure.
Promotion strategies of Nike
Nike promotes its products through many campaigns and promotions. It offers 10% student discount at nike.com. It advertises via tv, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other similar platforms. However, some of its adverts did not do well in the past.
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Nike engages with celebrity sport stars to promote its products. Kobe Bryant, Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Tiger Woods, and Michael Jordan are some of the famous celebrities that promote its products. It should be mentioned that these celebrities are paid large amounts of money and sometimes loyalty fees for wearing and promoting the products. However, this method helps it gain more recognition and thereby increase sales revenue.
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Last update: 04 August 2021
References:
Nike (2021) Our mission, available at: https://about.nike.com/ (accessed 03 August 2021)
Tighe, D. (2021) Number of Nike stores globally 2009-2020, available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/250287/total-number-of-nike-retail-stores-worldwide/ (accessed 04 August 2021)
Thomas, L., and Cosgrove, E. (2019) Nike won’t sell directly to Amazon anymore, available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/13/nike-wont-sell-directly-to-amazon-anymore.html (accessed 02 July 2021)
Author: Fahim Shah
Fahim Shah has been working in the UK as a visiting lecturer in Business and Tourism for the last 10 years. After completing a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Marketing, he went on to gain an MBA from the University of Bradford, the UK. He is a Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA) and a full member of the Association of Business Executives (ABE).
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