Nike's products are typically consumer products, as they are for personal use and consumption rather than used for a business. Nike makes shoes and clothes and other items that are all consumer products and are used for those purposes only. Technology is used in the form of Nike + and the Nike Fuel Band but it would inno way shape or benefit an overall company in anyway, as none of their products are considered business products by any means. Most of Nike's products are for specific athletic use and have differing uses, as they make products for many different sports. Nike also sells their products through many different retailers and companies such as Macy's, Sears, JCPenney, Modell's and other types of places. The good thing about that is that wherever these stores are the Nike brand is always seen and is always available to you, and it being sold in these stores always has it in the sight of customers. As for manufacturing, Nike has many contact factories throughout the world, and estimated more than 800 factories world wide that manufacture their products, and even have an interactive manufacturing map on their official website. Nike being one of the best companies in practicing e-commerce through B2B tactics takes huge advantage in the effectiveness of their marketing, as other companies related to them struggle more with B2B .
Sal Mattaliano Nike Inc.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets
Friday, November 29, 2013
Chapter 11: Developing And Managing Products
Nike "Easter" Basketball shoes released for Easter 2013. (LeBron's, Kobe's and KD's) |
Nike "Elite" Basketball Series sneakers released in time for the NBA Playoffs of the 2012-2013 Season. (LeBrons, Kobe's and KD's) |
One thing Nike does well in terms of product development and management is the use of Test Marketing its products. I personally was apart of a Nike test market when a father of a team mate of mine who worked for Nike as a sales rep at the time was chosen to test market 2 different types of baseball cleats and batting gloves that they had been deciding on on our team. We were each given a mix of the two pairs of cleats and batting gloves, got to use them for the better part of our season and at the end were asked to and offered our feedback and experience in testing them with him to give to the company for further study on which ones to release. It was a real good experience for us and a good way for a consumer to experience how Nike does its business and gathers valuable information on a product.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Ch. 18 -Social Media and Marketing
Nike's Instagram page |
Nike Inc being a large brand on the market understands the importance of a lot of things that contribute to the companies success such as customer service, product concept and retailing, but not to be forgotten, Nike is a brand that fully understands the importance of using Social Media to market themselves. Nike brand has done a great job with creating an outlet in social media for themselves. Nike has teamed up with social media mega sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others to make themselves more well known and recognizable throughout the entire world. One thing Nike does is that they don't only have one single Nike page available to people on social media on each site, but they have multiple ones that represent a different aspect or sport in the Nike brand. Nike has the general Nike page and then gives the consumer an array of more specific and targeted pages on these Social Media sites such as Nike Football, Baseball, Basketball and Running pages, which helps them communicate specifically with the consumers and athletes of that given sport. You as the consumer are able to find out new information and up to date news on a specific product made by Nike for whichever sport you play or buy products for. Nike on these pages also offers information on upcoming events, product releases and even contests for customers. Through this, Nike allows their consumers to collect and gather specific information about their products, and also is able to allow the consumer to give feedback to them directly through communication on the page(s) Nike has to offer.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Ch. 10 - Product Concepts
LeBron James posing with his newly released "LeBron XI". |
Kobe Bryant discussing design concepts with Nike a design team member. |
Nike through its sale of sneakers is probably the biggest of products for them, as they draw the most attention and bring in the most revenue for the company. Nike preaching innovation is well applied as Nike is able to instill and put forth the best and latest fashionable, technological and design trends and patterns and directions that are "in" in today's world and today's consumer base. One thing Nike does well is having a series of numerous top athletes being represented by them, and having them design apparel and especially sneakers for them to sell. The Nike basketball shoes sold by them that are designed by and represent stars such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Durant sell especially well. They have these super star athletes sit down with a designer and they then go ahead and design the sneaker and select the color ways and everything from the laces to the sole of the sneaker and put it out for the concumer. The fact that Nike has these athletes design these sneakers personally not only makes the sneaker more appealing to consumers, but gives it more reason to be purchased.
The designs of these players are very unique as most of their designs have a story or a meaning behind them as well as a direction for the consumers, which most other athletes from other companies do not have or really apply. The personal ties and stories and the personalization done by them is huge for Nike's product concepts. Kevin Durant especially always has a personal tie and a back story and a direction for the consumer's feeling to why and how he designed a certain sneaker and gave it certain colors and features, and offers his personal story to it. As all these factors play in, Nike's shoes I would consider to be a shopping product, as consumers are constantly looking up info on them and are willing to spend more on them, as these products are more expensive than others and are not found in all stores or are hard to find or only have limited availability. Nike is always updating and modifying and improving their products on a regular basis, and releasing new sneakers as often as possible. For example,every winter Nike will release a newly designed line of sneakers for the winter season, and does the same for the summer season as well. They are constantly making new and improved designs available for a consumer. As well as the actual design of the shoe Nike keeps intact the idea of using environmentally safe and beneficiary materials when making sneakers, as most of the materials they use in the designing are from recycled sneakers.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Ch.17- Personal Selling and Sales Management
As most of the top companies in a market would act, Nike Inc. does all it can possibly to maximize and expand its sales in their market and through their numerous retailers. Through Personal Selling, Nike is able to go the less expensive route (in comparison to advertisement) and the more direct and convincing route when dealing with customers and trying to sell their brand products to consumers. Nike generally makes most of its money from selling its products to many retailers to go and sell in their stores, such as Foot Locker, Modell's, Champs, Finish Line and other large athletic sneaker and apparel stores. These retailers are all usually very well knowledgeable in Nike products and really help sell the product to a customer based on their employees' impressive knowledge of the products rather than just the actual consumers loyalty to the Nike brand. Besides the in person, in store impact, the websites of Nike and their retailers offer a very well presented and put together place for the consumer to research and look at what they may want to purchase before actually entering a store in person and being taught about the product. This is very important in today's world since most people go online and shop around and look at different retailers and websites for information on a specific product rather than go to numerous stores in person to conduct research. Online options offer these customers more of a variety and size of stock to look at and consider purchasing. Nike's brand and its "Swoosh" logo is the way how Personal Sales emphasizes to the customer of Nike products. Nike does this through its own website as mentioned above, but most importantly through its employees in their stores and the other employees at various retailers of theirs. Whether in the Nike store or in a Nike retailers, these employees are always available and are always able to offer the best and quickest information of a product. There is always someone available to personally and correctly inform you as a customer of the product you are interested in, whether it be an actual sales representative in the stores/retailers, an online chat operator or a telephone operator. Nike being able to offer all of these different types of personal sales tactics, not only saves money for them, but also helps sell more products of theirs and makes the consumer feel good about their purchase, as a consumer is usually more willing to buy a product if they are well informed of the product by a representative or expert before they go to purchase it.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion
Nike billboard in Times Square featuring Kobe Bryant |
As the use of the Super Star athlete continues to play as an advantage in their advertising schemes, Nike continues to find new ways to make great commercials that lead to successful consumer reactions. The most recent commercial came from the hands of the Nike Basketball group. Nike in the past has done very well with the basketball marketing and advertising schemes they implement in their commercials, print and billboard ads, and the most recent one featuring LeBron James is another big hit for the advertising department at Nike Inc. They were able to shoot this commercial of LeBron and fans biking, swimming and running freely through the city of Miami, and in the background were able to sample a new song by artist John Legend that hasn't even been released to the public yet, as it has only been made available through the bits and pieces that play in the background of this single commercial. Nike yet again has successfully made a much criticized, hated and controversial super star athlete look like a very likable and adored figure in the city he or she represents. Nike not only preaches innovation in its product development but implements it and preaches it in its advertising schemes, leading to successful advertisements with great consumer reaction.
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