For Nike to get their message across they will need to communicate with the customers. Nike must discover how to get the message across about the new product, this could be through several ways of advertising, such as, leaflets, radio stations or even television, Nike must chose the best advertising method to suit the target market and actually promote the product.
Understanding customer needs is another of the activities Nike carries out. They do this by carrying out research through questionnaires. The results Nike hopes to gather by doing this is find out what consumer buying patterns are this would allow them to design a product suitable for them. Nikes aim would be to increase sales. Also knowing what consumers disposable income would give them a great advantage because they would know how much consumers have to spend so they should sell products for the amount consumers can afford.
Understanding and keeping ahead of the competition is very important. Nike does this by advertising their products through various media such as television where it reaches a large audience. Consumers see the difference products advertised by Nike’s competitors so Nike has to persuade the m to buy their product and not their competitors. To become the market leader Nike must provide better products and services which they are doing. Nike also carriers out competition analysis, doing things like process checks regularly, this allow them to be more competitive and lower their prices or offer special offers to consumers.
Communicating effectively with customers is vital for Nike to succeed. This allows Nike to understand and satisfy customer needs and expectations. Advertising is one of the main forms of communications, these needs to be done very carefully because the consumers get an image of Nike, which Nikes wants to be a positive image. Other forms of communication that Nike does with its consumers include websites, where it reaches a huge amount of audience. E-mails are also sent out to many of its customers, this keeps them informed of special promotions and offers making the customer feel appreciated. Nike also carry out questionnaires, this is a good way of finding out customer views as it is more likely people will respond to these not only are they quick but also easy to fill in and have results instantly.
Nike communicates with the customers is by endorsing a celebrity to advertise their product this is an excellent way to increase sales as many people are influenced by famous and well known people. Also by sponsoring football teams, which is another way of getting Nike well known. Nike claims themselves to be fun, affordable, healthy and clean. Nike gives a message that they produce quality and professional products because that is what Nikes research has told them.
Marketing is all about satisfying customers and meeting their needs and wants. For Nikes aims and objectives to be most effective they must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time based. Nike must co-ordinate its functions to achieve marketing aims such as making sure everything is organised to meet objectives. Nike also needs to create a strategy; Pest and SWOT analyses can be used for this, as well as other marketing tools. Nike would also produce detailed plans for marketing activities with SMART objectives. In order for Nike to become successful everything must b organised to meet objectives. The business must create a strategy on what the organisation needs to achieve. Nike must decide on tactics and tasks, detailed plans for marketing should be done. The strategies that must be considered should be:
• What product Nike will be introducing,
• Where the product is going to be sold,
• What price the product will be,
• How the product will be promoted.
Once the marketing objectives have been agreed, it is necessary to develop marketing plans to achieve the goals. The marketing mix provides an excellent framework for developing marketing plans. The marketing mix is made up of a number of parts- product, price, place and promotion.
Product means the combination of goods and services that is offered to the target customer e.g. Nike offers a wide range of products such as shoes, gym bags and clothing. The products arrive with a guarantee, which is very much part of the package.
Price is the amount of money customers have to pay to acquire the product of their choice. This can vary considerably from the advertised price e.g. Nike can offer discounts, which will combine to alter the price individual customers pay.
The place describes where and how the consumer can obtain the product, Nikes products now can be bought over the telephone and internet. Businesses such as Nike have to choose the best method to ensure consumers can find their products in an appropriate place when decided to purchase.
Promotion describes the activities undertaken to ensure the consumer knows about the product and its capabilities. It is usually made up of advertising, sales promotion, public relations and personal selling.
Common law and statutory law protect the consumer and ensure marketing is carried out in a responsible manner. The makers and suppliers of products owe a duty of care to consumers. If a consumer feels that an advert is harmful in anyway then the consumer can bring a claim against that company. Various acts of parliament have strengthened consumer protection.
Nikes business plan needs to be well planned out and followed by Nike to be more effective. Nike constantly checks to see if their plan is being followed by all areas of Nike, this helps them to achieve its aims. The cash flow forecast in the business plan allows Nike to be aware of times when positive cash flow could be a struggle. At times like this Nike may decided to arrange other short term sources of finance such as overdrafts or leasing parts of their premises. By Nike coordinating its functions it helps them to achieve its aims.
The advertising standards agency closely follows what businesses are doing to make sure all rules and regulations are followed. They check if the adverts are clean, legal, decent, honest, truthful, accountable and fair to the audience.
Legal constraints include many laws that affect how marketers can behave. The sales of goods act 1979 protects consumers as products have to be of satisfactory quality, suitable for its purpose they are designed for and be as the product is described e.g. Nike claim that they products will last for 6 months and if they don’t they are complying with sales of goods act 1979. the trade description act 1968 prohibits false, misleading statements about products e.g. if Nike says their trousers are waterproof they must not let water soak in. the data protection act 1998 has been more specific to consumers recently as many marketers are using direct mail to communicate with their consumers. They cannot misuse the information and it should be obtained fairly. The information is collected and protected form unauthorised use. E.g. name and address should not be passed on to other business without the permission of the person’s who’s information it is. Consumers also have rights when buying products such as:
- Right to be heard,
- Right to safety,
- Right to choose,
- Right to be informed.
While some businesses may view consumerism as a threat, more enlightened businesses recognise it as an opportunity to identify and respond to changing customer needs and wants. Nike try and meet customer needs and wants by doing questioners to find out what type of product customers want to buy.
OFCOM (office of communication) is a government watch dog which monitors television and radio adverts. This will effect Nike when the produce an advert because they have to thoroughly check to see if all the rules and regulations are being met before the advert is published.
Voluntary constraints include code of conduct, the rules that Nike follow. These include some of the following rules I have listed below:
- No swear shops
- No forced over time
- No child Labour (zero tolerance)
- Legal working age for that country.
- 1 day off in 7.
Pressure groups watch businesses activities to protect people or animals. E.g. save the children protect children and want to pit an end to sweat shops. They also investigate businesses and if they find any business that have seat shops they will try their best to put a stop to this as soon as possible. This is very important to Nike as they say they don’t operate no sweat shop policy. As Nike manufactures many of their products abroad it needs to ensure all the rules and regulations are being followed abroad to. These have been concerns by pressure groups that suspects that Nike isn’t following their code of conduct abroad, in the factories that are producing their products, however their isn’t no sold evidence. Consumers are very concerned that products they are purchasing are produced ethically and when they start doubting businesses they may start to boycott and purchases alternative products form their competitors.
Consumers have a right to know how the products are being made that they produce, there is also a UN agreement the ethical constraints for Nike are no child Labour or unfair pay, but the employees get £8 a week and it would take them a whole month to buy on of the shirts they are producing without spending any of their money on food, water etc. some people would consider that to be unfair but compared to other local jobs they are being paid a lot more. Also hour’s Nikes employees were required to work are 14 hour shifts which Nike also still denies.
