1 Strategy and Positioning Paper Danyell Bradbury, Ronald Hayes, Nicole Turner, Arsenio Evans, Shannon Miller MKT/421 August 10, 2015 Stephen Grothe 2 Strategy and Positioning Paper As an athlete, they have 3 main concerns; performing, staying ahead by practicing becoming better than the next guy or girl, and mainly staying injury-free. Staying free of injuries or keeping the injury rate down is where our team came up with an amazing idea that would change the way every athlete; young and up to professional perform. We call it, SmartFIT by Nike. This organization was founded by five creative individuals that wanted to minimize injuries from happening in sports around the world. We saw that these athletes would be wearing all this gear to protect themselves and it look like they were constantly adjusting and fixing it, which distracted them from the game. So we wanted to create a garment that would keep the all athletes comfortable, mind on the game and have a piece of mind that they will be safe while playing. We also wanted to make this garment to be compatible with sports including water sports to even arm wrestling. We sent our proposal to Nike, Adidas, Jordan, Under Armor and a few generic sponsors to this idea and Nike loves it. We created this garment that is a under armor material with smart technology built in that protects the athlete’s temperature, keeping their temperature stable, having the ability to set to any athlete body structure; skinny or muscular, it’s water-proof to protect massive amounts of sweat and water and also to protect the tech in the garment using Dri-fit . The most important part of this garment is the toggle touch screen function. This function sets the ability to target areas of the body to protect from small minor injuries such as any strains, twists, pulling of the joints, and muscles. This garment is a full body shirt, pant, with ankle, hand and wrist support lightweight, aero dynamic to creating an air flow, so the athlete didn’t overheat. It comes in three colors: black, white and grey. This garment is a low cost at around 100 dollars to 250 dollars to make affordable to younger athletes. Our prices are 3 based on garment you buy. You can buy the garment without all the bells and whistles for the 100 dollars to having the toggle touch screen features. The SmartFIT garment will be marketed throughout the world uses by professional athletes, and the goal is to have all the athletic associations to have lower injury rate and create a more productive, comfortable lifestyle for all sports throughout. Strength Brand Product – Global Creativity Uniqueness Low cost Price Team Weakness Delay in product Reduced Capital Lack Of Direction Product Demand Durability Opportunities Market growth Increased Contract Increased Revenue Threat Lack of interest Future Demand Duplicate Product Decreased Revenue Loss of customer A SWOT analysis of the organization and offering The SWOT chart allows you to see the challenges that Smart Uniforms may face. Smart Uniforms is a product of one the most highly recognizable names for sports apparel. Nike has continue to grow because of its uniqueness, brand, durability, and market. Nike products are durable for the sport they are designed for. Nike products leads the industry and when Smart Uniforms are released consumers will see just why Nike has remained above its competition. Smart Uniforms team is determined and dedicated to remain number one. The uniqueness of Smart Uniforms allows any user to feel free and light on their feet without feeling weighed down by all the gadgets that one in training can use. At Nike all the products are tested to make sure they will live up to the name and performance status, the only sign of failure is that the product does not seem sensible. 4 A competitive analysis of the organization and offering using Porters five competitive forces model Competitive rivalry within the industry has the potential to restrict Nike at all levels. The competition has increased from both established companies, as well as upcoming and local sports-apparel. Unless Nike is able to adapt to changing trends, its growth could be impacted. The whole athletic industry is wide-open to continuous changes in consumer preferences and technology and if Nike is unable to adapt to these changes quickly, it could suffer losses in its market share. By using Porters Five competitive Forces model we can see were Nike stacks up overall. Porters Five competitive Forces model is a business unit strategy tool that is used to make an analysis of the attractiveness or value of an industry structure. This analysis is made by the identification of five fundamental competitive forces: • Threat of New Entrants • Power of Suppliers • Power of Buyers/ Customers • Availability of Substitutes • Competitive Rivalry Porter Five Forces Intensity Low To Medium: Significant capital The Threat Of New Entrants Industry resources are required for creating a new 5 brands as large investments are needed. Nike enjoys a great degree of brand recognition and loyalty, and it will be a difficult for a new player to match its level. Low: no single supplier holds significant bargaining power. Nike’s footwear and apparel products are manufactured by third-party manufacturers outside the U.S. in various countries, including Bargaining Power Of Suppliers Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil, India and Mexico. No single footwear factory or apparel factory accounted for more than 6% of total Nike brand footwear production and Nike brand apparel production Low To Medium: Nike caters to its customers through both the wholesale Bargaining Power Of Customers and direct-to-consumer channels, which accounted for 80.6% and 18.9% of total Nike brand’s sales. Customers could also 6 choose other brands owing to factors such as price, advertising, product sponsorship, and changing styles. High: Counterfeit products represents the biggest threat in this area The worldwide demand for athletic footwear, apparel and equipment is expected to grow in the future as Threat Of Substitute Products customers cannot substitute these products. The quality of counterfeit products has been improving and this could threaten the company’s sales in emerging markets and could also potentially dilute Nike’s brand value. Medium to High: Rising competition from companies such as Under Armour pose a threat to Nike’s share of selected Competitive Rivalry markets. Nike also faces rising competition from local competition who have increasingly improved their product 7 quality. Criteria used to segment the market target including geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral factors The industrial market is the area of focus to market the smart uniforms to in order for professional athletes and sports organizations. The major manufacturer of sporting equipment typically bases their marketing on segments, meaning by gender and the type of sport, which allows them to promote separately. Geographically we want to promote nationally and not just by state or region. Professional athletes are within all major cities along with the industrial market we want to focus on. Demographically we would want to focus on factors where major athletes are able to purchase the product and rally around large cities that product such teams. We also want to focus on the customer size, number of employees, and annual revenue that could potentially be raised. The psychographics of the business should focus on the cutting edge material that the smart uniform offers and the appearance it will provide the athletes. The smart uniforms will be designed to be sleek and stylish but also provide the sense of security from injuries, which is the most critical feature of the uniform. The uniforms will be distributed through Nike, therefore there is a loyalty of consumers that follow the company. Not only are consumers or athletic organizations follow a name they can trust but they also know that Nike would deliver a product they can rely on, therefore there is a sense of security in the name as well as the product. 8 Description of the target market The Smart Uniforms target market will includes male and female athletes from coast to coast. Professional athletes need a competitive edge to remain calm during the competition and to stay healthy to remain in the game. Providing a marketing strategy to target specific athletic organizations, and working to effectively position the smart uniform among the competition. The smart uniforms will be designed to show the competitive edge each athlete will contribute to the team. Penetration of the market at a lower organization level, such as high school should be the first element to show the success of the uniforms. By offering a discount purchase at the lower level organizations and documenting the use of the uniforms will be a beneficial tool when marketing to professional athletes. The target market would be Athletes of all ages and background and the reason behind this is to make sure that the company is maximizing on as much profit that it can. This is anything from the shoe ware, shirt, shorts, or any workout gear. Since people are becoming more self-conscious about tracking there work out it best for Nike to stay up with the trend. When they target kids who are playing any type sports this push the parent to buy the item that the kid need for their sporting events. As the kids get older and grow up with Smart Uniform products they will continue to use the products and the company will continue to profit from it so their target is anyone who is athletes. Needs that cause your target market to buy including emotional and logical drivers? The needs that drive purchase is that you have many sport that need some type of gear that is use for that sport. Like basketball, Nike provide a wide range of shoes and uniform for the people who play that sport. Who is going to buy? Anyone who doesn’t want to play that sports in 9 some plants or boots. People want to be as free as they can and move like air and not feel like they are tide down because they don’t have the right gear on. This goes for any sport which will drive up the need for purchase of any item that is going to make them play there sport in a better fashion. How your organization solves the target's needs by making sure that the products that they are selling fit the needs of the people. So they may have one brand of shoe that might cost more than have another brand of shoes that cost less but made a little different but do the same job as the other. This is how they solve the needs of their buyer who want their product but might not be able to afford it. There are also other ways they need the needs of their target such as making product that keep track of foot step, heart rates, and on. Positioning statement With the name Nike or any of its subsidiaries, consumers tend to be emotional shoppers. Due to the brand name and its ability to live up consumer’s expectation, Smart Uniforms will prevail just as all others. With Smart Uniforms capability the first target market will be young athletes. The children are the future so we must build to protect with them in mind. Smart Uniforms will be global and affordable for all. Consumers must have an attraction to the product in order for it to be successful regardless of the name. Once consumers gets a visual of the product through commercial, word of mouth, or trail they will began to see that, Smart Uniforms is a fit for longevity and increase safety and performance the need to invest in the apparel will be urge shoppers to buy on am emotional and logical level. Some of organization's competition would be Adidas and Under Armor are two companies that make athletic uniforms and market to the same group of people. Adidas is well 10 known for making the gear that the NBA currently use right now, and Nike is in the middle of trying to outbid them for the contract that they have with the NBA. Under Armor have been in existence since 1996 selling the same products as Nike and Adidas. All three companies make work out gear that fit the sport of their customer or just anyone who is trying to work out in a gear that make the person feel more free to move around in. So this pushes Nike to make their gear different from it competition. What makes your organization different from its competition? One of the advantages that Nike have over it competition is branding, the reason this is, branding allow a company to be known to it buyer all around of the world. Sometimes company like to use athletes like M.J to help build their brand. Then you have the scale, which is the cost of savings associated with the larger corporate size. This allows any company to continue to grow while at the same time save money. “Nike also have close to 29 billion in revenues this is almost twice what it closet competitor, Adidas has made.” (Nikecom, 2015) The third advantage would be the scope that this company has they save so much money by offering different products by a single corporation, unlike other corporation who out source there product to be produce by another company. This takes money away from any company that is trying to grow in a market that is always changing. A forth advantage is “NikeID customer-tailored. NikeID is where customers are allowed to customize their Nike’s.” (Nikecom, 2015) While every company’s situation is unique, Nike knows from continuous success that there are common measures for a company’s success in reaching and winning a market. Positioning a brand and keeping it successful is serious business. Understanding where the brand is currently positioned against competition, Nike needs to continue to keep up with trends and 11 being the leader in sports appeal. By offering products not offered by competitors Nike will continue to show what makes our products different from competitors, what benefits the products offer to consumers and how relevant the product is to the consumer’s needs and requirements. References Nikecom. (2015). Nikecom. Retrieved 9 August, 2015, from http://about.nike.com/pages/company-profile Uabizcom. (2015). Uabizcom. Retrieved 9 August, 2015, from http://www.uabiz.com/company/history.cfm Adidas-groupcom. (2015). Adidas-groupcom. Retrieved 9 August, 2015, from http://www.adidas-group.com/en/group/profile/ Team, T. (2013, December 2). Nike through the Lens of Porter's Five Forces -- Trefis. Retrieved August 10, 2015, from http://www.trefis.com/stock/nke/articles/217421/marynikethrough-the-lens-of-porters-five-forces/2013-12-02
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