INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM

Since the late 1980s, Business School marketing professor Itamar Simonson has looked for ways to understand how consumers make choices. Much of his work debunks the accepted theory that giving consumers what they want and making a profit are the most basic principles of marketing. Customers may not know what they want, and second-guessing them can be expensive, says the professor who teaches MBA and PhD marketing and consumer decision-making courses. In Simonson’s words, “The benefits and costs of fitting individual customer preference are more complex and less deterministic than has been assumed.” That’s because “customer preferences are often ill-defined and susceptible to various influences, and in many cases, customers have poor insight into their preferences.” In one of his recent papers, Simonson tackles the issue of one-to-one marketing and mass customization. Supporters of these marketing approaches have suggested that learning what customers want and giving them exactly what they want will create customer loyalty and an insurmountable barrier to competition.

In an example taken to the extreme in the 2002 movie Minority Report, Tom Cruise’s character runs through a shopping mall past talking billboards that recognize him by name and urge him to buy products he had earlier expressed an interest in such as jeans and Ray-Bans, the ultimate in personalized advertising. But Simonson has this to say: “The fact that consumer preferences are often fuzzy, unstable, and manipulatable is unlikely to change. So, the effectiveness of methods to give customers exactly what they (say they) want has been grossly exaggerated.” His take on the long-held assumption that individual marketing will supplant targeted marketing is “not so fast.” In studies, he has learned that “even when customers have well-defined preferences and receive offers that fit those preferences, it is far from certain that the response to such offers will consistently be more favorable than those directed at larger market segments.”

It’s all psychology. Consumers with well-defined preferences may be skeptical that a marketer could match expectations. Those who don’t know what they want may not ever see the fit with what the seller wants them to buy. So, individualized offers depend on customers’ preferences &; how the offer was extended &; and on trust. “Effective individual marketing requires not only an understanding of individual preferences and matching offers to those preferences, but also a thorough familiarity with the various factors that impact customers’ responses,” Simonson writes. This is a tall order, one that some companies have been able to fill, at least to some extent. For example, Amazon keeps track of customers’ purchases and suggests other books they might like. Dell builds computers from mass-made parts to customers’ specifications. But Simonson argues some companies can take the concept too far, like the Custom Foot chain of shoe stores that took detailed measurements and specifications from each customer to design one-of-a-kind shoes. Custom Foot didn’t take into account that some customers were put off by the individualized attention, Simonson says, and felt obligated to buy the shoes because the store went to so much trouble. They often didn’t come back. So knowing only the customer preferences is not enough. It is required to understand other aspects of customer behavior. Kipping this in mind, present study will find out and analyze consumer behavior of Nike shoes with reference to ladies segment.

ABOUT THE NIKE INDUSTRY

In sport, visual acuity and protection can mean the difference between winning and losing. Light conditions have a dramatic effect on how the human eye perceives and, subsequently how the body reacts and performs -- in the sun glinting over the upper deck, shallow contrast on a putting green, or quickly adjusting from shadows to light on a tennis court or mountain bike single track.

Nike knows that in athletic competition, even small advantages are critical to performance. Nike has spent the last eight years exploring the human eye to understand the science of vision in the development of the new Nike MaxSight Sport-Tint Contact Lens, available August 2005.

WHAT IT IS

Nike MaxSight, developed in partnership with Bausch & Lomb, is a tinted soft contact lens that behaves like sunglasses, reducing glare and filtering out 95% of UVA and UVB and more than 90% of blue light. But because the lens rests directly on the eye, there’s virtually no distortion as with standard sunglasses. Athletes get the same clear view at all angles.

Plus, Nike MaxSight eliminates the environmental effects that plague sunglasses like fogging, scratching, additional weight, or nosepieces and frames to obstruct vision. There’s no obstruction from the edge of the lens, the frame or the nosepiece, because they don’t exist. And there are no pressure points and no slippage. Max Sight also eliminates light leakage, reducing the need to squint, allowing the eye to relax and perform more naturally.

Nike MaxSight is, in effect, one giant visual sweet spot.

Nike Maxsight

HOW THEY WORK

Nike’s patented Nike MaxSight Light Architecture™ selectively alters specific wavelengths of light within the visual spectrum to enhance key elements in sport. The athlete gets crisp, clear vision without anything getting in their way. By removing most of the blue light, contrast and clarity are enhanced — a decided advantage for any competitor. For sports not conducive to eyewear, such as golf, tennis and soccer, athletes will see marked improvement, even on days where the sun’s not at its brightest.

Nike MaxSight provides through-and-through tinting (unlike cosmetically tinted lenses), so there’s no bending or scattering of light. Plus there’s limited incidental light or peripheral flickering creeping around the sides, as with sunglasses. Athletes tested in Nike MaxSight lenses found they squinted less, were able to relax more, and had exceptional views of contours and movement.

Marco Materazzi of Italy’s Inter Milan football club and Baltimore Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts are among the pro athletes wearing Nike MaxSight. “It has been a lot of fun to start the season this hot,” said Roberts early in the MLB season. In fact, he became one of the first true fans of Nike MaxSight after impressive initial results. During a spring daytime game, Roberts said, “I wore the lenses and went 2 for 4. They are so awesome.”

With Nike MaxSight, there’s minimal squinting in bright light, and quicker visual definition when going from bright light to shadows.

Wearers will also discover a game-day benefit – the look. “It makes the eye look distinct, the large-pupil effect,” says Alan Reichow, Nike Vision Consultant. “It looks competitive.”

ROLL OVER PHOTOS FOR A MAXSIGHT LENSE SIMULATION

THE WEAR

Nike MaxSight is a 30-day lens, though most athletes will wear them selectively and for short durations. Lenses come in six-pack packaging. Nike MaxSight is available with or without a correction, thereby making it accessible to athletes whether they wear contacts or not.

THE HISTORY

Nike began exploring the Nike Max Sight technology in 1997, conducting an initial clinical project, then subsequent research projects using collegiate athletes. Oregon’s Pacific University baseball players were the first athletes to undergo testing. Coach Greg Bradley requested that he be allowed to try them before his players. “He’d never worn contacts,” says Dr. Reichow. “He took two pitches and turned around and said, ‘I’ve never seen a ball that distinct and clear. Put them on anybody who wants them.’

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

Bill Bowerman said this couple of decades ago. The guy was right. It defines how he viewed the world, and it defines how Nike pursues its destiny. Ours is a language of sports, a universally understood lexicon of passion and competition. A lot has happened at Nike in the 30 years since we entered the industry, most of it good, some of it downright embarrassing. But through it all, we remain totally focused on creating performance opportunities for everyone who would benefit, and offering empowering messages for everyone who would listen.

We feel lucky to have a genuine, altruistic reason to be: the service of human potential. That's the great benefit of sports, and we're glad to be in the middle of it.

What started with a handshake between two running geeks in sleepy Eugene, Oregon, are now the world's most competitive sports and Fitness Company. The World Headquarters is in Beaverton, Oregon. The Pacific Northwest is Nike's hometown, but like so many ambitious souls, we have expanded our horizons to every corner of the world. Nike employs around 23,000 people, and every one of them is significant to our mission of bringing inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.

Along the way Nike joined up with some great partner companies that help extend our reach within and beyond sports.

Cole Haan offers casual luxury footwear and accessories out of New York City and Yarmouth, Maine.

Bauer Nike Hockey, based in Montreal, Quebec, is the world's leading manufacturer of hockey equipment and a wholly owned subsidiary of Nike, Inc.

Nike partnered with Hurley International, a premium teen lifestyle brand founded by 20-year industry veteran Bob Hurley based in Costa Mesa, California.

In 2003, Nike completed the acquisition of Converse, the globally recognized footwear brand with nearly a century of sports heritage, and home of the perennially popular Chuck Taylor All-Star and Jack Purcell footwear.

Exeter Brands Group: In August 2004, Nike created the Exeter Brands Group, a wholly owned subsidiary, dedicated to building athletic footwear and apparel brands for the value retail channel. This portfolio of brands includes the Official Starter Properties LLC and Official Starter LLC which are the sole owners and licensors of the Starter, Team Starter and Asphalt brand names as well as master licensee of the Shaq and Dunkman brands, a line of athletic apparel, footwear and accessory products for the value retail channel.

Separate business units within the Nike brand include The Jordan/Jumpman 23 brand and Nike Golf.

As small as we feel, the Nike family is a fairly vast enterprise. We operate on six continents. Our suppliers, shippers, retailers and service providers employ close to 1 million people. The diversity inherent in such size is helping Nike evolve its role as a global company. We see a bigger picture today than when we started, one that includes building sustainable business with sound labor practices. We retain the zeal of youth yet act on our responsibilities as a global corporate citizen.

If you have a body, you are an athlete. And as long as there are athletes, there will be Nike.

PRODUCT TREND

Bovine skin was by far the most preferred leather material, followed by goat/kid/lamb/sheep skin and crocodile skin.

Respondents overwhelmingly preferred the color black and, to a lesser extent, dark brown. For handbags/briefcases, popular colors included light brown, white and red. Consumer Segments with the Biggest Spending Power Male professionals, managers and executives are the segment with the biggest spending power for now and in the coming three years. Other major consumer segments include male office workers; sole proprietors/business owners; female office workers; and female professionals, managers and executives.

The Competitiveness of Hong Kong Brands/Suppliers of Leather Consumer Goods. Most retailers consider Hong Kong brands to be either very competitive or quite competitive in both high-end and mid-range segments, but less competitive in the low-end segment. The competitiveness of Hong Kong brands mainly rests on their product style/design and quality, with most respondents picking those as the major reasons behind the attractiveness of Hong Kong brands in the high-end and mid-range segments respectively.

PRODUCT PROFILE

Apart from delivering a pair of comfortable sports shoes Nike also provides a number of value-added features with its products. The features that are a part of every Nike sports shoe are as follows.

High Performance Sports Shoes: Nike has patented the “Air” system and has made it into a regular feature in most of its models. Many models feature an air pocket in the shoe that reduces the weight of the shoe and reduces pressure on the heels. Besides the overall design and compactness of the shoes have made it a favorite of many professional athletes around the world.

Comfort: Nike shoes are renowned all over the world for the comfort they provide. Well padded and cushioned, they provide a tremendous level of comfort to the wearer and reduce the strain to his feet while playing.

Lightweight: This attribute is in line with the two described above. A lightweight shoe provides greater mobility and eases the pressure on the feet of the wearer.

Durability: People purchasing a pair of shoes at such a high price often feel that they have made an investment. They would obviously want to see their shoes last a long time. To prove this point we draw the example of the authors of this marketing plan. All of us own a pair of Nike’s and have been wearing them for well over two years – a symbol of the durability of Nike shoes.

Style: Nike’s designs are considered to be the most stylish in the industry and beat all others as far as looks are concerned. Attractively packaged, it is a delight to bring a pair home. Add to this the “Swoosh” – the most recognizable symbol in sports and you have a product that would give the user a definite sense of pride.

Nike shoes also come with a guarantee card that enables the owner to return it in case of manufacturing defects. However, owing to the fact that the company implements strict quality control measures, coming across a defective pair in a store are a rarity. The most recent additions to their line are the Nike 6.0 and Nike SB shoes, designed for skateboarding. Nike has recently introduced cricket shoes, called Air Zoom Yorker, designed to be 30% lighter than their competitors'.[ Nike positions its products in such a way as to try to appeal to a "youthful....materialistic crowd".[5] It is positioned as a premium performance brand.

NIKE 6.O

NIKE SB

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research comprise defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organizing and evaluating data; making deductions and reaching conclusions; and at last carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating Hypothesis.

In short, the search for Knowledge through Objective and Systematic method of finding solutions to a problem is Research.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

 To study the tastes, preferences, and buying behavior of consumers in case of footwear of Bata.

 To analyze buying behavior of ladies segment of consumers.

 To recommend strategies to Nike to increase sales in ladies segment.

The main objectives of this study are:

 Working of Insurance Plans

 SWOT analysis of the product sold

 Comparative study with the competitors

RESEARCH DESIGN

TYPE OF RESEARCH: -

Descriptive research

Descriptive research includes Surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds. The main characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over the variables; he can only report what has happened or what is happening.

DATA SOURCES

There are two types of data.

Source of primary data for the present study is collected through questionnaire and answered by consumers of Nike shoes. The secondary data is collected from journals, books and through Internet search.

PRIMARY DATA

The data that is collected first hand by someone specifically for the purpose of facilitating the study is known as primary data. So in this research the data is collected from respondents through questionnaire.

SECONDARY DATA

For the company information I had used secondary data like brochures, web site of the company etc.

The Method used by me is Survey Method as the research done is Descriptive Research.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

Selected instrument for Data Collection for Survey is Questionnaire.

QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN FORMULATION

Under this method, list of questions pertaining to the survey are prepared for marketing staff of consumers of Nike shoes.

Questionnaire has structured type questions as well as unstructured type questions. Structured objective type questions are prepared for the respondents with fixed response categories. Some of the questions are of multiple-choice type. The questions have more than one alternative.

Questionnaire: - A questionnaire consists of a set of questions presented to respondent for their answers. It can be Closed Ended or Open Ended

Open Ended: - Allows respondents to answer in their own words & are difficult to Interpret and Tabulate.

Close Ended: - Pre-specify all the possible answers & are easy to Interpret and Tabulate.

TYPES OF QUESTION INCLUDED:

DICHOTOMOUS QUESTIONS

Which has only two answers “Yes” or “No”?

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

Where respondent is offered more than two choices.

IMPORTANCE SCALE

A scale that rates the importance of some attribute.

RATING SCALE

A scale that rates some attribute from “highly satisfied ” to “highly unsatisfied “ and “very inefficient” to “very efficient”

SAMPLING UNIT: -

Who is to be surveyed? The marketing researcher must define the target population that will be sampled.

The sample Unit taken by me; General public of different age group, different gender and different profession

EXTENT:-

Where the survey should be carried out?

I have covered entire residential area of Delhi city for the survey

TIME FRAME:-

When the survey should be conducted?

I conducted my survey for 8weeks from 10th may to 10th July

SAMPLING FRAME:-

The source from which the sample is drawn

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE: -

How should the respondent be chosen?

In the Project sampling is done on basis of Probability sampling. Among the probability sampling design the sampling design chosen is stratified random sampling.

Because in this survey I had stratified the sample in different age group, different gender and different profession

SAMPLE SIZE

Consumers of shoes, 50 nos

STEPS FOLLOWED IN COMPLETING THE STUDY

(i) Libraries at (a) Indian Council for Applied Economic Research (ICAER), (b) Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Delhi, (c) Council of scientific and industrial Research (CSIR) (d) PHD chamber of commerce, are visited. Management / marketing books, journals are consulted.

(ii) Internet sites containing information on Nike shoes & marketing are browsed.

(iii) Sample survey was conducted.

(iv) Data was thoroughly checked for error.

DATA PROCESSING METHODOLOGY

(i) Once the primary data have been collected, they are (I) edited – inspected, corrected and modified.

(ii) Tabulation – bring similar data together and totaling them in meaningful categories.

Questionnaires are edited both in the field and later in home. Field editing took place just often the interview. Generally editing is required for open type of questions. Brief notes or symbols are frequently used during the interview to initially record the interviewer’s response since it was not desirable to interrupt the flow with lengthy note taking. Then immediately after the interview, brief notes are respondent. The responses are thoroughly checked in home for incorrect, inconsequential or contradictions categories are developed only often the replies has been reviewed. This review provided a feel for the pattern of answers and thus determine what categories best represent the answers.

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The collected data are placed into an order. Percentages of respondents answered similarly are calculated and placed in a table. Then this is interpreted. This involved drawing conclusion from the gathered data. Interpretation changes the new information immerging from the analysis into information that is pertinent or relevant to the study.

CONCLUSION WAS DRAWN BASED ON THE SURVEY FINDINGS

Finally recommendation was made to improve the sales strategy of Nike shoes to increase the sales volume in ladies segment.

SAMPLE DESIGN

THE BASIS OF SAMPLING: -

Consumers of Nike shoes are chosen randomly, so that unbiased, ...

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