Tripp's Blog

I chose Nike for this project because of the company’s overwhelmingly dominant position in both the athletic apparel and street fashion markets, which is a market I find very personally appealing. It is also a company whose product I own and use on a day-to-day basis. Nike pushes an image of fitness at all levels, with “just do it” being their main slogan. In their marketing, they use professional athletes, the idea of innovative and new technology, and play to the emotions of the consumer. The public expects a lot from Nike and has voiced its dissatisfaction with some of their business practices in the past, but they are expected to deliver high-performance and durable apparel that looks and feels good. They are also expected to be held to a standard of environmental integrity and responsibly source their labor and materials. The portion of the market that they appeal to is people everywhere who are into fitness at any level, from the beginner to the professional, and anyone who finds fitness appealing.

With all that said, I believe that Nike is missing out on a key consumer demographic. I live in Northern Michigan, where we experience snow and freezing temperatures for half the year. I wear my Nike shoes for only about 6 months of the year before I have to put them away for winter. I believe that Nike could appeal more to people 18-35 who live in colder climates and enjoy fitness.

Following that logic, my suggestion is a winter tech line of boots and shoes. Although Nike has dabbled in this concept through their ACG line, as well as some quiet releases, and an attempt, I believe a line built for traditional winter performance would be very successful if executed correctly. This line would have Gore-Tex and Vibram technology for insulation, durability, and comfort, as well as Boa-system fastening/lacing systems, both for ease of use and for a form fit. The design would fit comfortably with both heavier winterwear as well as casual clothing.

The target audience consists of people 18-35 living in areas that experience cold climates and who lead an active lifestyle. This is a growing demographic due to the trend toward better health in recent years within people of this age group. The goals of our research include understanding how consumers currently meet their footwear needs for cold environments, finding the key decision-making points such as comfort, durability, sustainability, and price, and learning how consumers feel about current winter footwear options and what improvements they want.

The biggest competitors for Nike would be Salomon and Hoka, as these two are very popular in the tech/fitness apparel market. For our market research, we would focus on identifying the key factors in the 4-P’s: product, pricing, place, and promotion. Key product features, competitive pricing, distribution channels, and marketing strategies. Obtaining valuable information on these points will be critical to the success of the product.

External factors will always be influential in product strategy. A big one I want to research is inflation and consumer sentiment. We are in an interesting time in the US marketplace, and I believe it’s important we take that into account. Another external factor is trends in fitness, which could shape the way a new product in the space performs.

In terms of research, I plan on using primarily secondary research to gather market information, supplemented by some online surveys to get my own data. This research should give a solid idea of how to position this new product.