Nike Case Study

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Even with its current success, Nike still has a long way to go in conquering the sportswear industry. The fact is that some of its competitors, big or small, are also adapting their marketing strategy in order to compete with Nike. Nike’s main competitors are Adidas, Reebok, and Puma. With the three competitors, the that most poses a great threat to Nike is Adidas. The two are in the same industry but different approach to attracting consumers. Their difference lies on the fact that Nike is primarily focused on footwear for men and women between the age of 15 to 35, meanwhile Adidas is focused on footwear for younger children and adult alike. Furthermore, the two companies tend to operate in different markets. Nike is predominantly holds its dominance in US market, while Adidas is focused on the European markets and each gear their marketing strategy accordingly in this regions. Therefore, if Nike wants to have more success, it should also designate product line for children and it should expand into these regions that Adidas is operating in, by possibly making an acquisition in this regions to gain quick traction.

For Adidas to compete with Nike, it should not continue with its luxury footwear, but instead it should focus on casual and active footwear. Adidas should make Reebok more widely available at the department stores that are seeing more traffic and sales such as K Mark. Adidas tends to focus mainly in European Markets where it thrives off the succes of such sports as soccer, with it constantly collaboration with the soccer hosting leagues as FIFA and UEFA and its star players. Since Nike focuses mainly on local market, Adidas can capitalize of this Nike weakness by expanding into emerging markets, which it seems to doing fairly well in this regions such India, Japan, and China. It’s these places that will sustain Adidas long term growth prospect, for these places have high population and high growth, which is central to a company trying to gain dominance in the footwear industry. It should also try to change its product designs in these regions to reflect the cultural consumer taste and consumers buying pattern. A successful implementation of these marketing strategies will surely make Adidas dethrone Nike a footwear giant.

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