Introduction
The report analysis will be examining the brand Nike. How people feel about Nike, and does that affect their decision to buy Nike products? What, if anything, about the Nike brand keeps customers coming back? An important focus of this research is on the role that consumers’ own sense of identity plays as an antecedent factor in their opinions, behaviors, and brand allegiances. In the final analysis, consumers decide what kind of image they project when they wear Nike.
Sport’s cultural significance and Nike’s dominance in the athletic apparel industry motivate the study. In recent years, Nike has stated that much of its advertising is aimed at members of Generation Y. (Cendrowski, 2012). Those born between the late 1970s and early 2000s make up Generation Y, commonly known as millennials (Business Dictionary, 2014). This period came of age with readily available, constantly evolving technological tools at their disposal. In an interview, Douglas Main remarked that young people today have a “more materialistic values” (Main, 2013). The same source claims that members of Generation Y care more about material things than about principles. They have gained both self-assurance and an increased willingness to try new things (Main, 2013). To an extrinsic generation like today’s, it’s all about how they look and how their friends perceive them. Therefore, the Theory of Reasoned Action serves as the overarching theoretical foundation for this investigation of a specific market—generation Y.
Involvement and Motivation Analysis of Nike
In the beginning, Phil Knight’s car was home to a modest distribution business where the Nike athletic machine was born. Despite these shaky beginnings, Knight’s idea eventually blossomed into the footwear and sporting goods giant that has come to symbolize multiple facets of contemporary youth culture and a wide range of “cool.” A combination of Bill Bowerman’s need for faster and more lightweight racing shoes for his Oregon runners and Phil Knight’s desire to make a career without abandoning his passion for sports gave birth to Nike. While at Oregon, Phil Knight ran track for Bowerman in 1959. It’s obvious that Bowerman’s demand for higher-quality running shoes affected Knight’s quest for a promotional plan. The foundation for the largest and most powerful sports organization was laid by the two of them.
In order to advertise and sell a product or service, marketers must work together to highlight the benefits to consumers. Methods and expertise in marketing include researching and segmenting potential markets to focus on, understanding consumer preferences and needs, and effectively communicating the benefits of a product to the public. Investing in marketing is the single most important thing one can do for the growth and success of their business, and it’s also a bet that will pay off.
Customer Profile and Positioning Analysis of Nike
In 1979, Nike launched its retail business, offering consumers a variety of sportswear, backpacks, and other accessories. Cole Haan is a well-known fashion label that distributes trendy apparel and accessories for men, women, and children. They also provide helmets for motorcycles and bicycles under the Nike Team manufactures brand. In addition, they give away jerseys, protective gear, ice skates, and roller blades. The customer’s reactions can be analyzed to reveal concrete data on their true preferences when making purchases based on their emotional investment in the business. A company’s reputation can rise or fall based on how it treats its most valuable asset—the consumer. Deeper insight into consumer behavior can be gained by evaluating demand and interest in a given location. Improved customer service is a primary objective for Nike, and the company is making progress to better understand what its current and potential customers want. The unique qualities of Nike sports shoes could entice buyers and encourage them to stick with the company for the long term. The customer’s primary concerns are the product’s superior quality and its ability to complement their individual style.
Marketing Strategies and Tactics Analysis of Nike
Message structure and Characteristics
As a result, Nike’s prices are set to be affordable in comparison to other merchants selling sporting goods. Many criteria are considered before settling on a selling price, with the affluent clientele as the main feature of the pricing strategy. In terms of markup, Nike is a household name. Nike employs a perpendicular combined pricing strategy, in which customers from different channel levels or who engage in many channel level operations are targeted. This factor can regulate prices and impact product turnover.
What sets this product apart, and what makes it trustworthy in the eyes of the consumer, are its distinctive qualities. An individual’s demographic profile raises a number of barriers that could impede an informed decision when shopping for Nike sports shoes. When presented with Nike’s product lineup, consumers make logical decisions. It is crucial for Nike to persuade its target customer base because this is the fundamental concept that will lead to client retention through the provision of excellent feature products. Understanding the buyer’s motivation before they even set foot in a Nike store is crucial. Customers typically care more about the brand name than they do about the price of a product.
Routes of Persuasion
Nike’s upper management realized that consumers’ habits fluctuate over time. A customer’s decision to buy is influenced by their intentions and preferences. The customer has a strong tendency to get distracted into making repeated purchases of Nike sports shoes, and the company can capitalize on this customer’s ingrained loyalty by providing timely encouragement to buy the product and generating positive word of mouth to bring in more buyers. It has been shown that competitors’ “product-focused advertising” has a greater impact on Nike consumers’ decisions than Nike’s own “mood and athletes” advertisements. In reality, Nike let Reebok and Adidas gain a sizable portion of the market.
Perception Aspects
Customers make purchases based on the valuable knowledge they have gathered from a variety of sources. The customer’s primary goal is to compare the brand’s quality features. The final consumer’s decision to buy is heavily influenced by the attitudes and actions of those around them. A consumer’s internal, nonverbal process of reflection could serve as an early warning that they should reconsider their intention to buy a name brand. Over the past few decades, Nike has gone from a little sportswear company to a global powerhouse. Nike spends a lot of money on market research to determine how long an item is likely to be popular with customers and how often they repurchase it.
Brand loyalty and positive consumer perceptions are the results of a well-known and high-quality sports shoe brand. After doing an in-depth analysis of the market, Nike’s designers implement fresh concepts and original designs into their products. Nike’s primary objective is to create a consumer-friendly, performance-enhancing close-loop sports shoe. Keeping customers happy and interested in buying Nike products is essential to the company’s marketing strategy. Nike’s upper management has been working on a solution to the unpopular price, which has been noted by new customers. Save money on athletic footwear by reusing worn out pairs.
Memory and Learning Issues
To paraphrase Sirgy and Samli: “Store loyalty is possibly the sole most significant idea for the merchant” (265). Consumers show brand loyalty when they consistently choose one product or service over others (Sirgy & Samli, A Path Analytic Model of Store Loyalty Involving Self-Concept, Store Image, Geographic Loyalty, and Socioeconomic Status, 1985). According to Sirgy and Samli, “customer loyalty” is defined as “the propensity of consumers to shop again at a specific store” (271). The relationship between brand loyalty and intent to buy has also been well-documented (Macintosh & Lockshin, 1997).
Brands that claim to increase the user’s performance can influence how well they do on tasks connected to the brand in ways that go beyond the user’s own opinions of their own abilities. Based on someone’s implicit theory inclination, customers “build confidence regarding their capabilities in various ways” and, as such, brand consumption can favorably promote identity for entity theorists leading to greater comprehensive (applicable) task performance (Jain & Weiten, 2020). (Jain & Weiten, 2020). Entity theorists believe that the things they use provide assurances that they will perform well on certain tasks, in contrast to incremental theorists who build self-efficacy by learning and doing (Jain & Weiten, 2020). This idea operates via the definition of brand promise, which refers to the claims a brand makes about the value it provides to its target market (Jain & Weiten, 2020). To that end, if Nike were to make a claim like “helping consumers succeed in hard athletic exercise,” entity theorists would be able to meet or exceed the performance of their incremental theorist counterparts on the relevant task.
Attitudes and Models
One can classify people’s attitudes based on whether they prioritize hedonic or pragmatic factors (Voss et al., 2013). Many use products in two ways, they can either utilize material possessions not only as markers of social standing but also as means to an end (Voss et al., 2013, p. 235). Despite their differences, utilitarian and hedonic factors can coexist. Consumers frequently consider both hedonic and utilitarian values while purchasing a purchase. One consideration may carry more significance than another depending on the specifics of the circumstance (Batra & Ahtola, 1990).
Hedonic Attitude; “the hedonic dimension derives from experiences derived from the experience of utilizing items,” (Voss et al., 2013, p. 310). An individual’s sensory characteristics are the source of their hedonic outlook. It’s also been referred to as the parts of consumer behavior that link a person’s feelings to their interaction with a product (Voss et al., 1997). Consumers’ hedonic attitudes can be defined as their positive or negative evaluations of various brands (Batra & Ahtola, 1990). It’s obvious that a consumer’s self-concept coincides with their hedonic attitude toward a product or service.
As was previously established, the principles of utilitarian mindset align with many of the same concepts as functional congruity. The utilitarian function of attitude, as described by Sharaon Shavvit (1989), is to ensure the continuation of rewarded behavior (125). The benefits that customers gain from a product give rise to its utilitarian qualities (Voss et al., 2013). How practical or helpful is it for a specific buyer demographic and the customers’ likelihood to buy a product or service (Sirgy, 1985). Foreseeing consumer actions in light of their attitudes and normative ideas is the goal of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Southey, 2011). The approach has been used to assess various customer choices, as stated by Southey (2011). (Southey, 2011, p. 44). Values, opinions, internal standards, plans, and actions are all highlighted in the theory (Southey, 2011). The results of these research show that TRA may be used to investigate customer behavior. As a result, TRA is used to learn why people buy Nike products.
The Theory of the Self and Self Enhancement Theory
According to one’s own sense of identity (congruity), “Consumers assess the features of brands and products and that those are of undeniable symbolic significance” (Beerli et al., 2007). Self-concept congruity relies on this fundamental idea (Beerli et al, 2007, p. 573). Every person has preconceived notions of how they should look and act, and their own choices should be consistent with those notions. Furthermore, there are less complicated ways to define self-concept. Some of these beliefs include that “performing this action is a natural extension of who one is. For instance, one is the kind of person who would do this activity, “doing this activity is consistent with my self-conception,” and “how they see themselves as the kind of person who would do this activity” (Fitzmaurice, 2005, p. 929). When a consumer’s sense of identity and the proposed action are consistent, the consumer is more likely to take the recommended course of action (Fitzmaurice, 2005). How a customer thinks other people view them is another aspect of their self-concept (Malhotra, 1987). Customers go to great lengths to ensure that others categorize them in a certain way, as Malhotra puts it (Malhotra, 1987, p. 3). Although one’s self-concept includes their own evaluation of themselves, it also influences how others view them. Consumers’ brand valuation, intent to buy, attitude, and loyalty have all been predicted using models of self-concept (Sirgy, 1991).
Cultural Influences
Marketing managers, who should execute a wide variety of choices based on preconceptions about how customers will react in various settings, can benefit greatly from gaining a deeper understanding of the situational and contextual factors that influence consumer behavior in relation to brands. To get a more detailed portrayal of how customers actually believe, perceive, and act towards brands within certain situations or in particular situations, it is crucial to identify initial conditions in this and many other ways. Lastly, this study highlights the necessity to thoroughly analyze mediator variables that can alter the direction and magnitude of branding impacts, as well as the dependent nature of the consumer understanding of brands.
Brands, in theory, can serve numerous purposes for buyers. Brands, at their most fundamental level, can facilitate positive changes in consumers’ daily lives. In addition, customers can use brands as a way to express their identity and values to the world (or to themselves). It’s important to note that not every consumer agrees with the mainstream consensus on the benefits of brands; in fact, there are some who actively despise them. It remains a constant area of interest in consumer research to investigate the positive and negative fundamental forces connected to brands.
Recommendations
Consumers’ purchasing decisions and actions are collectively referred to as “buying behavior.” The term “consumer buying behavior” is commonly used to describe the actions of the end user. The success of a business is heavily dependent on the emotions of its customers, thus studying their purchasing habits is essential.
Nike company needs to examine the who, what, where, and when of consumer purchasing in order to develop a marketing mix that will appeal to and retain customers, as this is central to the marketing concept. Marketers now have a better idea of how their efforts will be received by the public. The degree to which a customer is invested in making a purchase influences the type of buying behavior they exhibit. value and enthusiasm for a product under specific conditions. The interest a buyer has in a particular product or brand, as opposed to others, is a function of the buyer’s level of interaction with the market. Influences from others and internal motivations both have a role in consumers’ decision-making and behavior when it comes to making goods purchases and uses.
References
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