Abstract
The research aims to study Nike in Canada and provide marketing analysis for its products, focusing on footwear. Using various marketing tools, the analysis focuses on market research on the target customers and develops recommendations to improve value for and from the buyers. Nike is a global company with a reputable brand in athletic wear, such as shoes and clothes.
It is one of the largest brands in the field, occupying a favorable position in the market due to its competitive strategies. Besides, Nike has invested in sports, collaborating with popular sports personalities and organizations, which has elevated its status. The study is motivated by the need to investigate the company’s activities and enhance its positioning for greater efficiency and productivity in marketing AF1. The research will use a target segment of young urban professionals aged 18-35 with high disposable income and active lifestyles in its market analysis.
Introduction
In the past, Nike Canada focused entirely on selling their product and making a profit without paying much attention to customer needs and relationships. The company prioritized the production of goods, overlooking the critical aspect of satisfying the need. Similarly, traditional customers were less active in the market as their responsibility was limited to purchasing.
However, contemporary businesses require Nike to do more than sell a product. Modern managers must research their market and learn more about their customers since buyers increasingly engage in marketing. As a result, customer relationships are becoming an essential tool in marketing strategy.
With a change in the practice characterized by a new concept of exchange that inclines towards customer knowledge and relationship, Nike Canada is inclining towards engaging the buyers through creating value and satisfaction. By researching the target market and creating a fictional customer persona, the paper demonstrates the importance of customer knowledge and relationships in the modern exchange concept (Hendrikx, 2022). Nike Canada is targeting the youth as its primary market base.
Using a 26-year-old, Kyle, a famous Canadian fashioner, the study focuses on his customer persona profile, such as his daily life, information search, values, and market experience, among other areas, in conducting market analysis. The research will analyze the available 7Ps marketing matrix and how they are used in value addition. It will conclude by recommending the 4Ps marketing strategies to improve customer service and outsmart rival companies.
Target Market Persona
As a fashion-affiliated organization, particularly an athletic wear-inclined company, Nike Canada Company must consider youth as the industry’s target market. Globally, most young people demonstrate their love for trendy fashion. They follow fashion personalities and emulate their popular dressing trends. Over the years, Nike’s sneaker Air Force (AF1) has remained relevant following its modification to suit the emerging trends in the market.
AF1 sneaker has a rubber outsole, herringbone pattern, and low-cut design, making it attractive to sports and casual wear. The shoe consists of different colors and materials, giving it a significant style with a high level of comfort and support for the users. The features of AF1 attract the majority of wearers who value designer brands (Lehnert, Goupil, and Brand, 2021). In the era of globalization, youth from various regions can interact and exchange their fashion styles. With increased competition in the market owing to the many companies dealing with similar products, Nike Canada must be inclined towards the youth as the target market, considering the high population, activity in fashion-related matters, and enthusiasm for body collections.
Semi-Fictional Character
Kyle is a popular Canadian fashioner who enjoys a large following in the country and globally through his social media pages. The 26-year-old is a previous winner of the best fashioner of the year in his backyard. Through his unique and quality collections, the male youth is one of Canada’s notable popular trend influencers, known for his authenticity and uniqueness in footwear. He calls himself the “Red” to show his love for the red color and fashion enthusiasm in general.
Apart from dresses, Kyle also demonstrates a great love for designer footwear, with his trademark shoe being AF1. The popular trend fanatic has several fashion teams and leads various groups of designer fans locally and globally through social media platforms (Armstrong et al., 2021). Due to his popularity supporting fashion and other popular trend-related activities, Kyle is a household name on many social media platforms, especially among modeling fans.
Day in Life
As a popular fashion content creator and influencer, Kyle is a regular customer of Nike’s trendy products. With his intense enthusiasm for popular trends, he possesses numerous Nike footwear items, proving himself a reliable client. Kyle is known for his unique and authentic shoe collections, which have increased his popularity. After becoming Canada’s top fashion content creator, Kyle aspires to grow, become the best fashioner in the world, and be the pacesetter for all fashion work.
The 26-year-old, youthful model hopes to become more famous as a fashioner through his massive social media influence. He is likely to favor and purchase quality Nike AF1 footwear. Kyle runs numerous popular social media accounts with millions of subscribers, mainly fashion lovers, and updates his fans on new collections, with his primary focus on footwear and clothing. Kyle is motivated by the authenticity and uniqueness of the product when making brand decisions.
Demographic
Kyle is a 26-year-old male, youthful fashioner with an inclination towards footwear. He is known for his peculiar and quality shoe collections. With a massive following on his social media accounts on various platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, he earns from subscriptions.
Kyle is fairly educated and works as a delivery guy and partly as a model (Armstrong et al., 2021). He has won some awards, such as the Canadian fashion content creator of the year, in his backyard after an impressive show of significant popular trends through his trademark Nike AF1. In addition, he was nominated as one of the most influential young models in Canada, elevating his status among youth. Besides his charisma in his backyard, Kyle is an admirable fashion enthusiast globally, confirmed by his massive following on social media accounts.
As a top fashioner, Kyle is motivated to demonstrate his understanding of footwear to his followers by owning the most unique and quality classic shoe collections. He regularly changes his shoes in his numerous fashion shows. To decide on the new fashion collection and where to obtain it, Kyle conducts a study on social media, where he compares notes with colleagues (Armstrong et al., 2021). Most of his associates are spread worldwide and only get the opportunity to interact virtually through the available media platforms.
Value
As a fashioner, Kyle is motivated by the desire to have an authentic and unique look. When conducting market research for shoe collections, he looks for the brand with the best quality footwear that depicts originality and peculiarity that will give him both an authentic and unique look. He understands that authenticity in the fashion field and quality characterize footwear, particularly in the texture and material of whatever shoe one puts on.
Nike Canada focuses more on their product quality by improving uniqueness and durability (Armstrong et al., 2021). The footwear that forms the firm’s primary product is durable, presentable, and unique. As a result, they are ideal for fashioners such as Kyle, whose consumption is driven by quality and uniqueness. Being a popular fashioner whose fame revolves around his trademark quality shoe collections, the company can satisfy his need through unique footwear.
Pain Points
Since Kyle often visits his mother’s rural Manitoba village, he is frustrated by the stores’ lack of quality and unique footwear. Most of the dealers in shoe collections and clothing generally do not have enough stores in the rural parts of the country, and for the existing ones, the stores are undersupplied. In Manitoba, however, his demand for shoe collection typically ends in disappointment, as there are no stores. Some of the available stock is local sneakers that do not satisfy his fashion needs (Armstrong et al., 2021). Kyle, whose personality and livelihood are cemented on popular trends, suffers much as he is forced to order the products from the urban area, which takes much time before delivery.
In addition, most of the companies that have successfully penetrated the Canadian rural and Manitoba markets, in particular, have failed to initiate proper communication, as important information about their products, location, and prices is not provided. The respective firms are failing to use the growing online marketing platform. Most consumers often hope for delivery and virtual marketing, which the companies have failed to initiate.
Information Search
The persona is a fashion star whose lifestyle revolves around social media platforms. He derives his livelihood from there and builds his personality on the same. Besides, his fashion interactions and most of his information are drawn from the media. Known for his quality and unique fashion, he conducts market research in the public media (Armstrong et al., 2021). As a modeling enthusiast who interacts with various players in the field of fashion drawn from all over the globe, Kyle conducts his essential research on the new popular trends on social media and borrows and shares ideas on the same.
Ideal Purchase Experience
Kyle purchases his fashion collections online and physically by visiting retail stores. Since many companies are beginning to adopt virtual trading options, the young fashioner is inclined towards online business, making his orders virtually and waiting for delivery. Since his fashion activities are mainly done virtually, the popular trendiest is fond of media platforms where he conducts market research (Armstrong et al., 2021). In addition, Kyle occasionally visits retail stores in search of some products. Not all firms conduct business online; however, fashion mogul prefers those doing their business virtually. Most of Kyle’s products are primarily for his use in his fashion.
Common Objections
Even though Kyle has shown some liking for Nike Canada’s products and AF1 in particular, his loyalty to Adidas inhibits his move. Adidas Company has been at the forefront of sponsoring fashion games and awarding top performers, as in the case of the previous competition, where the winner, who happened to be Kyle, was given 1500 dollars. This has made most fashion enthusiasts regard and pledge loyalty to Adidas products.
Marketing Mix Analysis and Evaluation
In conducting a marketing mix analysis, the company will use the 7Ps to assess the product in terms of customer value and satisfaction. Nike Canada is facing competition from rival firms such as Adidas, which deals in the same line of footwear offering a substitute for the Nike AF1, and a range of local companies that manufacture sneakers, hence the need for strategies to navigate the market (Hollensen, Kotler, and Opresnik, 2022). Using the 7Ps analysis, Nike Canada can assess the areas of strength and weakness that require adjustment to have a competitive advantage in the market.
Product
The aspect of product forms the first and most crucial component of the 7Ps. Representing the product defines the core factor in the exchange. Nike Canada must invest in its products to develop the best quality goods (Jasin & Firmansyah, 2023). With possible competition from rival firms such as Adidas and local counterfeit sneakers, Nike Canada must lead in quality and uniqueness to attract and satisfy the needs of the fashioner.
Pricing
The price of a product defines its affordability and, consequently, its interest. In dealing with a youthful target market, the company must ensure that prices are adjusted accordingly to accommodate young adults’ financial strength and consumption rate (Avilla, 2022). With an attractive quality, Air Force, Nike Canada must look into its pricing model to make it favorable for the target market. Since the youthful population enjoys high income, lowering the prices will increase their purchasing power, thereby increasing sales, considering they constitute the majority of fashioners and potential customers for Nike AF1. Product, as a component of the 7Ps, is a necessary factor to consider.
Places
The emergence of the internet has made the globe easily accessible to the location of an individual. To reach their target customers, Nike should use contemporary online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and their official website. Since Nike’s market target is young people, the company should consider investing effectively in social media (Takwim et al., 2023). For Nike to solve Kyle’s problem of accessing the products from a remote region in Manitoba, the entity should set up several distribution channels, such as retail stores in various parts of the country.
In addition, the firm should develop an effective and efficient e-commerce channel where clients can purchase goods online. By having retail stores in different regions of the country, Nike can deliver products to its customers, especially those who buy online. Therefore, Kyle will order commodities online, and the firm will pick from one of its stores located near Manitoba and then deliver accordingly.
Promotion
Promotion should concentrate on the media platforms that popularize the product. The firm should create and focus on media platforms to publicize the good and enhance Nike’s brand value (Niazi, Rashid, and Shamugia, 2021). With a market target of youth, online media has become the ideal alternative for doing promotions.
AF1 is a fashion among young people active on various media platforms for information and interaction. Most of these customers turn to online media for product information and market research, giving online marketing an area of interest (Chambhare & Anute, 2022). Besides, Nike Canada can use fashion influencers such as sports and music personalities to hype the product strategically.
Physical Evidence
Young people and fashion lovers, particularly highly regarded brands, are highly regarded. Products, especially footwear without branding, are not much appreciated, regardless of the quality. The target youthful market is known for identifying with brands (Magrath, 1986). Therefore, Nike Canada should invest in proper branding and developing captivating logos for the product.
Nike AF1 is a better name and brand for the product and will enable the company to reduce the values of other players in the market (Niazi, Rashid, and Shamugia, 2021). In addition, processes that represent the company’s internal organization are another essential factor in the 7Ps. The organization must have the proper internal mechanisms, including technology, to enhance quality and production.
People
This aspect refers to the internal players, such as the management and workers, who should be skilled to facilitate the competitive production of the shoes. Employees should be innovative and skillful to enhance quality and uniqueness (Hendrikx, 2022). In addition, the company must have the right personnel to facilitate incorporating the social media marketing strategy (Ruchika & Nilesh, 2022). Similarly, the partners should collaborate to avoid negative cases, such as delayed supply, that can derail the company’s efforts. Nike Canada should also seek to ally with new partners, such as modeling organizations and other youth-affiliated fun groups that may be necessary for the journey.
Processes
For business success, the internal processes must be favorable. In the case of Nike Canada, where quality and uniqueness are required to satisfy the needs of youthful fashioners, the processes in terms of technology, the right raw materials, and innovative labor are required (Hendrikx, 2022). The firm must invest in the necessary technology and source the desirable raw materials to ensure the end products are of fine quality.
Recommendations
With competition from reputable rival global brands such as Adidas and Puma, among others, Nike Canada finds itself in a tricky competitive market position, contending with customers from rival companies. To gain market advantage, the company must use the 4 Ps of marketing to add value for its customers (Avila, 2022). The strategy will help solidify the market and instill brand loyalty, which iscritical in a business setup with intense rivalry.
4Ps of Marketing
Product, as one of the components of the marketing mix, is critical in value addition. Nike Canada should ensure its products are of high quality and unique. The firm should invest in producing highly durable and unique AF1. Additionally, the company should practice diversity in color and designs to satisfy the needs of the fashion-trendy target market (Djohannes, 2022).
Nike Canada should look at the environmental aspect, as they can consider using more degradable materials in their products to promote environmental conservation. In addition, the company may consider introducing a ‘Go Green’ Campaign that encourages the use of environment-friendly footwear made of degradable material. Price is another critical component of the marketing mix that the company can adopt in addition to creating customer value. Since the target market is mainly the youth with middle income and an excessive spending appetite, the company should introduce a favorable pricing model to facilitate affordability.
Promotion is another area that provides an opportunity for value addition and creation. Considering the target market, the company should invest in its communication department by employing bloggers and other information experts. Using new media platforms such as websites and social media, the company can popularize the product to attract the target market’s attention (Svatošová, 2020). Platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram provide marketing opportunities for the company.
In addition, for Nike to retain and attract more clients to purchase its products, the company should advance its loyalty programs. For instance, the company should invest heavily in gamification programs (Noorbehbahani, Salehi, and Jafar Zadeh, 2019). The approach has the potential to lure more youths who are fans of gaming to engage and earn points for purchasing Nike’s products.
The unique nature of the reward will enable it to beat the reward tactics utilized by Adidas, which include personalization. Since the market target is young people, the reward method will have a significant impact by attracting more youths to play it. According to Nabila and Suryani (2022), loyalty programs facilitate brand allegiance. In addition, Nike offers a more user-friendly platform than Adidas, which makes it easier for clients to participate in gamification.
Conclusion
Generally, understanding customers’ needs is essential for businesses to formulate effective marketing techniques. The tactical marketing plan is vital since it gives Nike’s management proper insight into the target market population. Customer knowledge and relationships are essential factors for Nike Canada in contemporary business; thus, there is a need to conduct market research using techniques such as customer persona to understand the needs of their target market. This knowledge will help the company to use the 7 Ps of the marketing matrix effectively to satisfy its customers. While the paper has recommended the 4 Ps of marketing strategies for enhancing customer service, further studies should focus on emerging artificial intelligence systems and how they can impact the marketing sector.
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