UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

PROJECT REPORT ON “CONSUMER

BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS NIKE SHOES”

T.Y.B.M.S. (SEMESTER VI)

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2020-2021

SUBMITTED BY:

AASHNA NAGPAL

THIRD YEAR BACHELOR OF MANAGEMENT

STUDIES

ROLL NUMBER 178

PROJECT GUIDE

MRS. KANU PRIYA SHARMA

H.R. COLLEGE OF COMMERCE AND ECONOMICS

VIDYASAGAR PRINCIPAL K.M. KUNDANI CHOWNK

123, D.W. ROAD

CHURCHGATE, MUMBAI- 400020

2020-2021
1
 PROJECT REPORT ON

―CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS NIKE SHOES‖

SUBMITTED

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

AWARD OF DEGREE THIRD YEAR BACHELOR OF
MANAGEMENT STUDIES

BY

NAME: AASHNA NAGPAL

ROLL NUMBER: 178

T.Y.B.M.S. (SEMESTER VI)

H.R. COLLEGE OF COMMERCE AND ECONOMICS

VIDYASAGAR PRINCIPAL K.M. KUNDANI CHOWNK

123, D.W. ROAD

CHURCHGATE, MUMBAI- 400020

2
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Miss Aashna Nagpal, student of H.R. College of Commerce &
Economics studying T.Y.B.M.S. (Semester VI) has successfully completed her
project report on Consumer Behavior Towards Nike Shoes in the academic year
2020-2021. The information submitted is true and original to the best of my
knowledge.

________________________ ____________________

(Signature of Project Guide) (Signature of Principal)

_________________________ ______________________________

(Signature of Internal Examiner) (Signature of External Examiner)

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I acknowledge the value assistance provided by H.R. College of Commerce &

Economics, for three-year degree course in BMS.

I specially thank the Principal PROF. POOJA RAMCHANDANI, the coordinator of

BMS and project guide Mrs. Kanu Priya Sharma, for guiding me in the right direction
to prepare the project and giving their valuable time, knowledge, and guidance to
complete the project successfully.

My family and friends were a great source of inspiration throughout my project, their
support is deeply acknowledged.

4
 DECLARATION

I, Miss Aashna Nagpal the student of H.R. College of Commerce & Economics,
studying in T.Y.B.M.S. (Semester VI), hereby declare that I have completed the
project report on ―Consumer Behavior Towards Nike Shoes‖ in the academic year
2020-2021.

The information submitted is genuine and practical to the best of my knowledge.

Date: April 2021

Place: H.R. College, Mumbai

NAME: AASHNA NAGPAL

ROLL NUMBER: 178

5
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

S. NO. PAGE
TOPIC
NO.
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 8
2. INTRODUCTION 9
3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 11
4. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 14
5. HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY 15
6. SCOPE OF THE STUDY 16
7. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 16
8. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 17
9. LITERATURE REVIEW 21
10. PRIMARY DATA 39
(A) DATA ANALYSIS 57
(B) INTERPRETATION 57

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 11. SECONDARY DATA 59
12. CHAPTER 1: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 59
TOWARDS NIKE SHOES
13. CHAPTER 2: COMPANY BACKGROUND 61
14. CHAPTER 3: SWOT ANALYSIS 66
15. CHAPTER 4: NIKE‘S MARKETING MIX 69
16. CHAPTER 5: BUYER DECISION 75
PROCESS
17. CHAPTER 6: FACTORS INFLUENCING 78
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS
NIKE
18. CHAPTER 7: SEGMENTATION, 84
TARGETING, AND POSITIONING OF
NIKE
19. CHAPTER 8: 86
NIKE‘S MARKETING STRATEGIES

20. CHAPTER 9 92
ANALYSIS OF NIKE‘S ADVERTISING
ACTIVITIES
21. CHAPTER 10 93
NIKE OUTRANKS ADIDAS, UNDER
ARMOUR & LULULEMON
22. CONCLUSION 97
23. FURTHER RESEARCH 97
24. BIBLIOGRAPHY 98

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Marketing research project has been written keeping in mind the Indian
operations of Nike Inc. - the global sports shoe giant. It aims first, at analyzing the
sports shoe industry of Indian and finding a place in it for Nike. It then sets out to
describe the largest audience for the product range and finally suggests a host of
marketing strategies and activities that will help Nike to achieve its target of
becoming the number 1 sports shoe brand in India.

The project report begins with a brief overview of the product category being deal
with, namely premium quality sports shoes. It also dwells briefly on the history of the
company, its current position, and its activities. The project moves on to the crux of
the matter- the marketing plan to be followed by Nike in India. Firstly- the objectives
behind this plan and the core strategy are stated customer targets. After Stating the
objectives and reasoning behind them, the actual marketing programs are described in
detail. This includes aspects such as pricing, advertising, promotions, sales, channels,
and the company website. Suggestions are made on each and every one of these
aspects- improvements and innovations are recommended.

The project focuses on attitudes and behavior on the concept of the consumers buying
behavior towards branded shoes different consumers have got a different decision-
making process. The buyer‘s ultimate goal is to buy the product of qualitative,
quantitative with low/best affordable price. In order to identify different kinds of
consumer‘s behavior towards buying Nike sports shoes.

The project report then goes on to the customer analysis section. The customer base is
identified and various segments are pointed out. Various criteria and factors have
been taken into consideration while segmenting the market. I have also tried to
ascertain why customers buy these products, how they choose, and what factors
matter the most when making their decisions.

The last few pages of this research project deal with the various ways in which the
recommendations, once implemented, can be monitored and controlled.

I have carried out buying behavior of consumers and different kinds of consumer
behavior models, literature and theory of consumer behavior; finally, I analyzed and
concluded with research based on questionnaire of Nike shoes and case studies of
Nike sports shoes.

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 INTRODUCTION

Introduction:

Studying the consumer buying a very complex process, as it involves not only the
economic factors but also the emotional factors. However, marketers need to study the
consumer behavior, as it helps them position their products better and develop
effective marketing strategies.

Consumer buying behavior is influenced by the culture and subculture. Habits, likes
and dislikes of the people belonging to a particular culture or subculture can affect the
marketing efforts of a firm to a great extent. The social class to which the individual
belongs talks about the type of products the individual prefers. Other factors that
influence the buying behavior are social factors like reference group and family,
personal factors like the age, life cycle and occupation, and psychological factors like
motivation, perception and attitudes of the customers.

Why to study consumer buying behavior?

The modern marketing management tries to solve the basic problems of consumers in
the area of consumption.

To survive in the market, a firm has to be constantly innovating and understand the
latest consumer needs and tastes. It will be extremely useful in exploiting marketing
opportunities and in meeting the challenges that the Indian market offers. It is
important for the marketers to understand the buyer behavior due to the following
reasons:

• The study of consumer behavior for any product is of vital importance to

marketers in shaping the fortunes of their organizations.

• It is significant for regulating consumption of goods and thereby maintaining

economic stability.

• It is useful in developing ways for the more efficient utilization of resources of

marketing. It also helps in solving marketing management problems in more
effective manner.

9
• Today consumers give more importance on environment friendly products.
They are concerned about health, hygiene and fitness. They prefer natural
products. Hence detailed study on upcoming groups of consumers is essential
for any firm.

• The growth of consumer protection movement has created an urgent need to

understand how consumers make their consumption and buying decision.

• Consumers‘ tastes and preferences are ever changing. Study of consumer

behavior gives information regarding color, design, size etc. which consumers
want. In short, consumer behavior helps in formulating of production policy.

• For effective market segmentation and target marketing, it is essential to have

an understanding of consumers and their behavior.

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 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Consumer has been elated with the kind of reception; they are getting from various
companies these days. The reason behind a drastic change in consumer behavior is
because the consumer is no more treated as a hire purchaser but, he is treated as the
decider of the company‘s fortune. Companies or marketers cannot hire any
fortuneteller to guess the consumer‘s attitude. Guessing or measuring the consumers
attitude is not a cake walk but this is because predicting consumers attitude is as tough
as predicting consumer‘s mind (Bheri, 2004).

Consumers are continuously choosing among the various products though they are not
aware of the products and usage, even though they are intentionally purchasing the
various new brands without any knowledge about the new products, furthermore if
new company enters into the market, for every consumer it is very difficult to
understand the features of the news products and this makes confusion among the
consumers to obtain the information. For example: If one local company enters into
the market then to gain the knowledge about the features of the new product, it will
take long time for the consumers to understand (Nelson, 1970)

The term ‗consumer‘ can be described as a person who acquires goods and services
for self-satisfaction and his often used to describe two different kinds of consuming
entities: the personal consumers and organizational consumers.

The personal consumers buy goods and services for his/her own use. In this context,
the goods are bought for final use by individual, who are organizational consumers,
they encompass for profit and not for profit business, government agencies,
institutions, all of them must buy products, equipment and services in order to run
their organization (Hawkins, Best and Coney 1998). The consumer will respond
according to the product quality and reliability, the fundamental understanding of
products is necessary to understand the product features, products reliability and
product benefits (Baker, 2004).

The consumer is the end user for the product; consumers buy the products in market;
in order to perform successful sales operations in the market an effective distribution
channel and networks are required for the organizations.

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Distribution channels and networks play an important role in the consumer goods
industry.

Consumer is the ultimate user of every product, without any consumer there is no
market as such (Baker, 2004). Every region wise the different consumers are using
different kind of products. Every consumer has their own tastes and preferences. So,
every consumer‘s opinions and preferences are different from one another. The local
marketers have good idea about, what the local consumers are using (region wise).

For example: The south Indian food habits and tastes and preferences are different,
when compared to north Indian food habits (Thomas, 2004).

Based on above paragraph, direct marketing activities have big impact on every
consumer, because through direct marketing every company knows about the
behavior of every consumer in the market.

Manufacturing companies, retailer and suppliers do not have an idea about the
consumer behavior in the local market. So, author suggested that direct marketing
activities should be left to the local market leaders, because the local market leaders
have best idea of local market and local consumer behavior.

This theory helps for the organization and sub-organizations to know the consumer
behavior in different market environments, taste and preferences of the consumer
behavior (Thomas, 2004).

For perspective of globalization, we cannot change the system of tastes and

preferences of Consumers. Another instance demonstrating the ignorance of local
tastes in the wake of globalization features the multinational mobile phone makers,
Nokia had tasted success with its soap-bar designed phones and ceased producing the
flip phones that consumers found irritating to use (Zaccai, 2005).

Finally, they want the advertisements with traditional and patriotic values of Chinese
culture (Zhou and Belk, 2004).

The consumers mind is different from one another in this as author said in the
definition that according to the human psychology, demographical differences, age &
sex and to understand people needs. (Kotler, 2004)

12
To assess the influences of every consumer approach is different, in theory explained
that consumer is treated as decider of the company, whatever the product comes to the
market and the consumer is the ultimate purchaser for every product.

Sometimes the consumers are choosing, selecting and going for family decision
making to choose differently, in one point of time the consumers differentiated and
explained that they are going for personal and some of them are using products for
profit. Demographical differences make new food habits for every consumer. The
choice of variation for every consumer (Kotler, 2004).

The example of above paragraph, two countries, therefore Chinese consumers are
giving respect to traditional and patriotic values, whereas Indian consumers are more
religious when they are using the products. These are influences that make the
consumer to purchase different products; mostly those influences are more related to
the physiological, demographical, social, cultural, economic, family and business
influences.

According to Kotler (1994), consumer behavior is the study of how people buy, what
they buy, when they buy and why they buy. It is a subcategory of marketing that
blends elements from psychology, sociology, socio psychology, anthropology and
economics.

It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in
groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics,
psychographics, and behavioral variables in an attempt to understand people needs. It
also tries to assess influences on the consumer from group such as family friends,
reference groups, and society in general (Kotler, 1994) for example while consumers
purchase the shoe, then they go for family decision, comfort, satisfaction, price and
quality.

Every family member doesn‘t have the same opinion to buy the same product;
different family members have different choice to buy the product. So, in one family
consumer behavior is different (Kotler, 1994). Keeping this in mind, present study
will find out and analyze consumer behavior towards Nike footwear.

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 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to a better knowledge of consumer

buying behavior towards purchasing the sports shoes. The aim of the thesis is to find
out the factors influencing the youth in purchasing sports shoes.

The purpose of the study could be expressed by the following research question.
Assessment factors, which influence the consumers to buy sports shoes.

• To study the customer buying behavior towards Nike shoes.

• To assess the level of importance given to the certain factors such as price,
quality, comfort, design, etc.

• To study the tastes, preferences, and buying behavior of consumers in case of

footwear of Nike.

• To recommend strategies to Nike to increase their sales.

• SWOT analysis of the products sold by Nike.

• Compartitive stud with the competitors.

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 HYPOTHESIS

Hypothesis is a testable prediction, which is expected to occur. It can be a false or a

true statement that is tested in the research to check its authenticity. The Hypothesis
should be clear and precise. It should be limited in scope and must be specific.

There are two types of hypothesis, they are:

• Null Hypothesis (Ho)

• Alternative Hypothesis (Ha)

Following are the Hypothesis of the Study:

• Ho: Majority of the consumers buy Nike footwear

Ha: Majority of the consumers do not buy Nike footwear

• Ho: Younger people purchase Nike footwear

Ha: Younger people do not purchase Nike footwear

• Ho: Purchase of Nike footwear is directly related to consumer preferences

Ha: Purchase of Nike footwear is not directly related to consumer preferences

• Ho: Quality of Nike footwear is better than local footwear brands

Ha: Quality of Nike footwear is not better than local footwear brands

 Ho: Marketing and branding campaigns increase the sales of Nike shoes
Ha: Marketing and branding campaigns do not increase the sales of Nike shoes

 Ho: Nike customer services are better than its competitors

Ha: Nike customer services are not better than its competitors

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 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

• The scope of this research project is to identify the consumer behavior and
preferences while purchasing Nike products.

• With the help of this study, we can analyze why customers prefer to buy Nike
footwear over other footwear brands, and what features of Nike products are
attractive to customers.

• It also develops a detailed understanding of the marketing mix of Nike Inc.

I.e., product, price, place, and promotion.

• The research serves the purpose of finding ways to increase the sales of Nike
shoes by attracting more customers.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

• The sample size was limited to 104 respondents.

• The sample was taken from the population residing in India only. The results
are not applicable to the whole world.

• The paucity of time and resources was a major constraint.

• My research is biased towards citizens in the Metropolitan and urban regions

and not the rural areas.

• Resource survey was conducted for a period of 15 days.

• Since the survey was conducted in the google form thus improper response
from respondents.

• Being an opinion survey, a lot of subjectivity is involved in the study.

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODS

Primary as well as Secondary research was employed in this project.

• Primary research is the first-hand research that the researcher collects, by

interacting with the sample population and the conclusions and analysis he/she
draws from the data that has been obtained.

• Primary research in this project involved interacting with 104 individuals to

understand and comprehend if they use fundamental analysis in their daily
investments.

• Secondary research is the background research done by the researcher on

already existing information regarding the topic.

• This helps the researcher in determining whether the previous research papers
have been written on that particular topic and if how new ground on that
particular topic can be covered.

• It also helps the researcher in building a base for the question to be asked to
the sample population and to construct an informative questionnaire and ask
all the right questions.

• Secondary research in this project involved reading and examining various

research papers, articles, case studies to understand the Consumer Behavior
towards Nike shoes.

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QUANTITATIVE DATA: SURVEYS

• This method captures information through the input of responses to a research

instrument containing questions (such as questionnaire).

• Information can be put either by the respondents themselves (E.g., An Online

Survey) or, the researcher can input the data (E.g., a phone survey, a one-on-
one survey, a mall intercept, etc.)

• The main methods for distributing surveys are via a website, postal mail,
phone, or in person.

• However, newer technologies are creating additional delivery options

including through wireless devices, such as smart phones and technologies
wherein the information gets recorded in real time and can be viewed and
intercepted very easily through pie charts and graphs.

• Survey for this study was undertaken via an online questionnaire. Questions
included views of people from different backgrounds.

QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION

• Qualitative data collection requires researchers to interpret the information

gathered, most often without the benefit of statistical support. If the researcher
is well trained in interpreting respondents‘ comments and activities, this form
of research can offer very good information. However, it may not hold the
same level of relevancy as quantitative research due to the lack of scientific
controls with this data collection method.

RESEARCH DESIGN

• The research design comprised a method of primary data collection using a

survey given to 104 respondents. The design also included secondary data
expressed through a review of past literature in the concerned area, indicating
that a certain segment of the study was exploratory in nature.

• The design used descriptive tools such as pie charts and bar graphs to
highlight the data analysis.

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SURVEY STARTED: APRIL 1, 2021

SURVEY ENDED: APRIL 10, 2021

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

The research tool was that of a survey comprising 14 questions as well as personal
interview that covered different areas of the research problem. The questions were
multiple choice in nature (open and close ended). It was compulsory for all 104
respondents to answer all questions. The survey was anonymous but certain
demographic details such as age and gender were asked for. The questionnaire made
is enclosed in the annexure.

SAMPLE SIZE

Sample size is the number of respondents who have been surveyed or the number of
people who have filled up the questionnaire.

The sample size of my research project is 104 respondents.

SAMPLING UNIT

A decision has to be taken concerning a sampling unit before selecting samples.

Sampling unit may be a geographical, one such as state, district, village or a
construction unit such as house, flat, etc.

In my research project, the sampling unit consists of respondents who can purchase all
India.

SAMPLING DESIGN

The study used the technique of random sampling for this survey.

19
This refers to a basic sampling design where a sub set of the population is randomly
selected to be a part of the sample.

The sample of this study was limited to 104 respondents.

STATISTICAL TECHNIQUE

The study employed the use of bar graphs and pie charts to interpret and express the
data in the form of percentages. Graphs allow for descriptive secondary analysis of
data.

The survey had a total of 104 responses. The responses to each question were
expressed as percentages, and then a pie chart was prepared for each question,
excepting a few. For those exceptions, a bar graph was prepared.

Each bar graph was accompanied by a key that contained the response options for the
specific questions and the color corresponding to each response in the chart. The
graphs allowed for interpretation of the responses from the point of view which
response option had been chosen by the majority of respondents vs a minority.

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 LITERATURE REVIEW

Definition:

Consumer-buying behavior according to Kotler (2004, p.601) is defined as ―The

buying behavior consumers – individuals and households who buy goods and services
for personal consumption.‖

The term ‗consumer‘ can be described as a person who acquires goods and services
for self-satisfaction is often used to describe two different kinds of consuming
entities: the personal consumers and the organizational consumers. The personal
consumers buy goods and services for his/her own use. In this context the goods are
bought for final use by individual, who are organizational consumers, encompasses
for profit and not for profit business, government agencies, institutions, all of them
must buy products, equipment and services in order to run their organization (Kotler,
2004).

Peter and Olson, (1993) mention that interactions between the people‘s emotions,
moods, affection and specific feelings is called consumer behavior, in other words in
environmental events which they exchange ideas and benefits each is called consumer
behavior. Buying behavior of people, who purchase products for personal use and not
for business purposes (Peter and Olson, 1993).

The Physical actions of consumers that can directly observe and measured by others,
by influencing behavior profit can be earned (Kotler, Armstrong and Cunningham,
1989). The study of consumer behavior has evolved in early emphasis on rational
choice (microeconomics and classical decision theory) to focus on apparently
irrational buying needs (some motivation research) and the use of logical flow models
of bounded rationality (Howard and Sheth 1989). The latter approach has depended
into what is often called the ‗information processing model‘ (Bettman 1979). The
information processing model regards the consumer as a logical thinker who solves
problem to make purchasing decision (Holbrook and Hirschman 1980).

Compares the four major approaches to create successful inter-organizational

relationships and integrates them into a single prescription for managing important
inter - firm relationships (Palmatier, Dant and Grewal, 2007). Service fails, in
satisfying the customers and developing customer loyalty over time in business-to-
business markets.

21
Cyert (1956) may have been the first to observe that a number of managers in addition
to the purchasing agents are involved in buying process, and the concept was labeled
‗buying behavior‘ and popularized by Robinson (Faris and Win 1967). Webster and
Wind (1972) famously identified five buying roles, they are:

1. Users

2. Influencer

3. Buyer

4. Decider

5. Gatekeeper

Further categories have been suggested as the ‗initiator‘ (Bonoma, 1981), and the
‗analyst‘ and spectator by Wilson (Wilson, 1998).

The product purchase decision is not always done by the user. The buyer necessarily
purchases the product. Marketers must decide at whom to direct their promotional
efforts, the buyer or the user. They must identify the person who is most likely to
influence the decision.

If the marketers understand consumer behavior, they are able to predict how
consumers are likely to react to various informational and environmental cues, and are
able to shape their marketing strategies accordingly (Kotler, 1994)

The consumer behavior influences are follows:

The consumer behavior influences in 3 aspects, they are acquiring, using and
disposing. The acquiring means that how the consumer spends money on the
products, such as leasing, trading and borrowing. Using means some of the consumers
use the high price products and some of the consumer sees the quality. Disposing is
nothing but distribution, order or places a particular product (Hoyer, Deborah, 2001).

By understanding consumer behavior deeply, different authors have given different

information about the consumer behavior, how consumer buys the products, it
involves four steps they are: need recognition, information search, evaluation of
alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase behavior, the marketer can pick up
many clues as and how to meet the buyer need and develop an effective program to
support an attractive offer to the target market (Kanuk, 1990).

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Types of consumer buying decision behavior:

Consumer buying behavior decision-making varies with the type buying decision.
There are different types of buying behavior decisions.

• Complex buying behavior: Consumers undertake complex buying behavior

when they are highly involved in purchase and complex buying behavior and
perceive significant difference among the brands. Consumers may be highly
involved when the product are expensive, risky, purchased in frequently and
are highly expensive (Kotler, 1994).

• Dissonance – Reducing buying behavior occurs when consumers are highly

involved with an expensive, infrequent or risky purchase, but sees little
difference among various brands (Kotler, 1994).

• Variety – Consumers undertake variety seeking buying behavior in situations

characterized by low consumer involvement, but significant perceived brand
difference. In such cases, consumers often do a lot brand scrutiny (Kotler,
1994).

• Habitual buying behavior - Habitual buying behavior occurs under condition

of low consumer involvement and little significant brand difference.
Consumers have little involvement in product category they simply go to the
store and reach for a brand.

• If they keep reaching for the same brand, it is out of habit rather than strong
brand loyalty. Consumer appears to have low involvement with most low
costs, frequently purchased products.

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24
MARKETING MIX

The marketing mix refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to
promote its brand or product in the market.

Definition: The marketing mix refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a company
uses to promote its brand or product in the market. The 4Ps make up a typical
marketing mix - Price, Product, Promotion and Place. However, nowadays, the
marketing mix increasingly includes several other Ps like Packaging, Positioning,
People.

4P’s of Marketing:

Price: Price refers to the value that is put for a product. It depends on costs of
production, segment targeted, ability of the market to pay, supply - demand and a host
of other direct and indirect factors. There can be several types of pricing strategies,
each tied in with an overall business plan. Pricing can also be used a demarcation, to
differentiate and enhance the image of a product.

Product: Product refers to the item actually being sold. The product must deliver a
minimum level of performance; otherwise even the best work on the other elements of
the marketing mix won't do any good.

Place: Place refers to the point of sale. In every industry, catching the eye of the
consumer and making it easy for her to buy it is the main aim of a good distribution or
'place' strategy. Retailers pay a premium for the right location. In fact, the mantra of a
successful retail business is 'location, location, location'.

Promotion: Promotion this refers to all the activities undertaken to make the product
or service known to the user and trade. This can include advertising, word of mouth,
press reports, incentives, commissions and awards to the trade. It can also include
consumer schemes, direct marketing, contests and prizes.

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Importance of marketing mix:

All the elements of the marketing mix influence each other. They make up the
business plan for a company and handled right, can give it great success. But handled
wrong and the business could take years to recover. The marketing mix needs a lot of
understanding, market research and consultation with several people, from users to
trade to manufacturing and several others.

THE BUYING DECISION PROCESS

• Introduction of buying decision process

Consumers make many buying decisions every day. Mostly large companies do
extensive research on consumer buying decision, to answer questions like what does
consumer buy, where they buy, how they buy, how much they buy, when they buy
and why do they buy a product, for this question to reorganize the decision different

26
stages needed they are, information search, and evaluation of alternatives, purchase
decision and post purchase decision etc., The consumer passes through all five stages
with every purchase, but in more routine purchases, consumers often skip or reverse
some of these stages (Hawkins, Coney, 1998)

• Need recognition:

The buying process starts with need recognition, whereas buyer recognize the need.
The buyer‘s decision is depending on his/her internal & external stimuli of consumer
behavior. The internal and external stimuli of consumer behavior means that the
consumer, which product should purchase, how much wants to purchase and
externally which products are more reliable and usable. According to this internal and
external stimulus‘s the buyer will take the decision (Hawkins, Coney, 1998).

The consumers are searching the information from the various sources those are
information search, personal source, commercial sources, public sources and
experimental sources; this is also process of the buying decision process before
purchase of the product (Hawkins, Coney, 1998).

• Information search:

The consumer can obtain information from any of several sources, which includes:

Personal source: family, friends, neighbors, acquaintance etc.

Commercial sources: advertising, sales people, dealers, packaging, displays. Public

sources: mass media, consumer-rating organizations etc. Experimental sources:
handling, examining, using of the product. Consumers receive most of the information
about a product from commercial sources, which are controlled by the marketer. The
most effective source however tends to be personal. Personal sources appear to be
even more important in influencing the purchase.

• Evaluation of Alternatives:

The consumer evaluates all the alternatives available to him/her to arrive at a brand
choice. The consumer will see the product as a bundle of attributes with varying

27
capacities, which satisfies his or her needs. The consumer will pay more attention to
those attributes connected with their needs. The consumer is likely to develop a set of
brand beliefs about, where each brand stands on each attribute. These of beliefs held
about the particular brand is known as brand image, according to the beliefs and
preferences of the consumer, evaluates the alternative products instead of using
existing products (Kotler, 2004).

• Purchase decision:

In the evaluation stage, the consumer ranks all the brands and makes a purchase
intention. Generally, the consumer purchase decision is to buy the most preferred
brand, when purchasing a product, consumer will think about two things, which can
be, purchase decision and purchase intention. The attitude of others and unexpected
situation factors both directly or indirectly effects the consumer‘s final decision to buy
a particular brand. (Kotler, 2004).

• Post purchase behavior:

The buyers‘ job does not end when the product is brought. After purchasing the
product, the consumer will be satisfied or dissatisfied and will be engaged in post
purchase behavior. The satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the purchase of a particular
product depends on the relationship between the consumer expectation and the
consumer disappointment, if it meets the consumer expectations, the consumer can
get satisfied. And if it exceeds, he/she is delighted (Gilly and Gelb, 1986).

28
THEORETICAL FRAME WORK:

• Consumer Involvement Theory

The consumer involvement theory means that, how the consumer involving the
purchase of various products in the market, after purchasing the product, how the
consumer responding towards the products called consumer involvement theory. The
consumers get the information through advertising, for that they purchase, use, and
react that they see and hear about the products that they buy (Barry, 1987). Level of
involvement an individual‘s intensity of interest in a product and the importance of
the product for that person, those are enduring involvement and situational
involvement (Homewood IL & Irwin, 1987). Routinized response behavior is that the
process used when buying frequently purchased low-cost items that requires little
search-and decision-effort (Homewood IL & Irwin, 1987).

The consumer involved in purchasing of products and usage and, also, various aspects
like high involvement and low involvement in process of purchasing of products. The
consumer sometimes involves high and low in purchasing products, so, theory of
involvement is explaining that the consumer recognizes the importance of the
purchase and it considers that the degree of perceived risk, moreover, it reflects on
self-image perhaps information processing may be different from one another (Ray,
1973). The low involvement theory is explaining that the consumer would accept
wide range of products with positive attitude with do-feel-learn strategy, firstly the
consumer selects any kind of product, use the product, if they are not sure about how
to use the product, and they learn how to use the product. To purchase a new
computer in market and using of the computer, if they are not satisfied then they go

29
for learning of how to use the computer. The low involvement of consumer will be in
manner that do-feel-learn strategy (Ray, 1973). In one of the consumer article authors
explained about the consumers, are influenced by television commercials and their
relationship effectiveness of advertisements (Krugman 1987).

High involvement theory is rational and emotional, and it is explaining about the
consumer‘s participations in the context very actively without any hesitation,
moreover, they look after extensive problem solving. In this theory of involvement,
the consumers learn about the product, use the product, if they are feeling that the
product is comfortable to use it, and then they go for buying the product, so this is
called high involvement because after usage, they definitely buy the products. The
high involvement theory is reversible order to low involvement theory like learn-feel-
do strategy (Debruicker, 1979).

How the involvement theory is useful, the emotions, specific feelings, learning of
every product and involves when they want to use it and when they want to purchase
it. So, this theory helps when the consumer purchasing any kind of product or after
using the product.

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 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR MODELS

Introduction & Intergradations of three models

There are three types of models, which will explain about consumer‘s process of basic
needs to selecting one particular product, in order to process consumer behavior, the
following three models are important

Hierarchy model of consumer behavior

In this model the author said that, without any basic needs the consumer cannot
survive, so, the consumer should have some basic needs, which have been explained
below, secondly the consumer behavior model. In this model author mentioned about
research and planning, in this process, the researchers are taking samples from
consumer before manufacturing the new products in the market. Finally, lens model
has been explained that in order to choose/select a product by the consumer. Most
early psychologists studied people who had psychological problems, but Maslow
Hierarchy needs tells us about the needs of consumer behavior.

Hierarchy needs of consumer behavior model (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987)

Maslow believes that people seek to fulfill five categories of needs.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

The five levels of needs that humans are motivated to seek and satisfy (Simons, Irwin
and Drinnien, 1987).

Physiological needs— for ex: food, water, clothing, shelter

Safety needs— for ex: security, freedom

Social needs— for ex: love, affection, belongingness.

Esteem needs— for ex: respect, recognition, and self-worth.

Self-actualization needs— for ex: personal growth.

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 • Maslow hierarchy needs model:

Maslow‘s given the hierarchy needs for consumer behavior, before starting about the
consumer behavior, the consumer needs are important; usually every consumer have
some hierarchy needs, they are; self-actualization needs, esteem needs, belonging
needs, safety and security needs and psychological needs (Simons, Irwin and
Drinnien, 1987).

The self-actualization needs:

The term actualization means that the intrinsic growth of what is already in the
organism, or more accurately, of what the organism is called self-actualization needs.
For example: one can play the music, he is called musician or artist, and one can paint
the art is called painter, one can write the poems, is called poet. For surviving in
competitive world one profession is important, this profession is not only for

32
surviving, but also one kind of need for human being. In small words to understand
simply one individual potentiality develop him by doing something; it is called the
self-actualization (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987).

The author suggests that the self-actualization need is important when the consumer
wants to survive, consumer came with new professions, and it is one kind of need, it
will help the consumer to survive in this competitive world (Simons, Irwin and
Drinnien, 1987)

Esteem needs:

The term esteem means that need for things that reflect on self-esteem, personal
worth, social recognition, and accomplishment, for example one can travel in the bus,
motor bike, and car respectively, depends on his/her financial position they can travel.
In this case travel is a need, so, in smaller words, if one can economically sound, then
he/she arranges the esteemed need according to their financial possession (Simons,
Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). The author said that, if she/he needs the esteem needs,
then they should have good economic possession, if not no necessary to maintain the
car or motor bike, it is very easy to use the public bus or walk (Simons, Irwin and
Drinnien, 1987).

Social needs:

The social needs include love of family or friends, for example, the boy loves his
girlfriend, the relationship between husband and wife, one child belongs to one family
This is called belongingness or love (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987). This is one
kind of need for every consumer, because every consumer has their personal
belongingness and love.

Safety needs:

The safety might include living in an area away from threats. This level is more likely
to be found in children as they have a greater need to feel safe. For example, one
wants to live safe and secure life in the society. Finally, always consumer wants to
live a life, which is safe and secured (Simons, Irwin and Drinnien, 1987).

33
Physiological needs:

It includes the very basic need air, warmth, food, sleep, stimulation and activity.
People can die due to lack of biological needs and equilibrium common needs like
food, water, oxygen and other common minimum needs are wanted for everyone to
survive in the world. This is also a basic need of consumer (Simons, Irwin and
Drinnien, 1987)

FAMILY LIFE CYCLE

Researchers have studied the consumption behavior across the various stages of the
family life cycle. They have attempted to study the various peculiarities, tried to relate
these to the stages in the FLC, and drawn generalizations. The family life cycle has
been defined as a series of stages through which most families‘ progress, with varying
characteristics across varies stages; these characteristics relate to marital status, size of
the family, the age profile of the family members (focusing on the age of the oldest
and/or youngest child), the employment status of the head of household, the income
level and the disposable income at hand. The amount of THE FAMILY LIFE CYCLE
disposable income is usually inferred from the stage in the family life cycle. While the
tradition FLC has undergone change and newer forms have appeared, the concept still
draws attention from consumer researchers and practitioners. It has been used by
marketers to segment families on the bases of varied criteria that have been mentioned
above.

Traditional Family Life Cycle:

Traditionally the life cycle, illustrated a progression of stages through which families
passed; it comprised stages, starting from bachelorhood (single), to married (couple),
to family growth (parenthood: birth of children), to family contraction (grown up
children leaving home for studies or employment) to post parenthood (all children
leaving home) to dissolution (single survivor: death of one of the spouses). Based on
these, the traditional FLC can be synthesized into five basic stages, which may be
mentioned as follows:

Stage I: Bachelorhood: Young single adult (male/female) living apart from parents
and into a livelihood.

Stage II: Honeymooners: Young married couple.

34
Stage III: Parenthood: Married couple with at least one child living with them at
home.

Stage IV: Post parenthood: An older married couple with no children living at home.
Children have left home for studies or for employment.

Stage V: Dissolution: One surviving spouse.

These stages, consumption patterns and the product preferences are explained below:

Stage I:

Bachelorhood: The stage comprises a young single adult (male/female) living apart
from parents and into a livelihood. While incomes are low as they have just started a
career, financial burdens and responsibilities are also low. As such bachelors have a
high level of disposable income.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: They tend to spend their money on house rent,
basic furniture and kitchen equipment. They are recreation oriented and like to spend
on purchase of automobiles (particularly motor bikes), travel (trekking and holidays),
adventure sports (motor racing, bungee jumping etc.), health clubs, clothes and
fashion accessories).

Implications for Marketers: Marketers realize that bachelors possess large disposable
income; they find in them an attractive segment for sports, travel, entertainment and
fun.

Stage II:

Honeymooners: The stage comprises a newly married couple and continues till the
first child is born. One of the spouses may be working or both may be working. They
are financially better off than they would be in the next stages. If both are working,
income is higher.

If both are working, the couple has discretionary income at hand that permits a good
lifestyle, and provides for purchases or savings. Priorities and Preferences of
Purchase: They tend to spend on creating a home for themselves. They spend on cars,
furniture, curtains and upholstery, electronics, kitchen appliances and utensils, and
vacations. Implications for Marketers: They form an attractive segment for the
marketer as they form the highest purchase rate amongst segments. The highest
average purchase of durables takes place in this stage.

35
Stage III:

Parenthood: The stage comprises married couple with children. This stage extends
for about a long 20–25-year period; and could be further broken up into three stages,
viz., Full Nest I, Full Nest II and Full Nest III. Throughout these stages, the size and
structure of the family gradually changes, so does income and expenses with varying
priorities. The financial expenses increase rapidly with children being born in Full
Nest I and gradually decrease as children become independent and self-supporting as
one reaches Full Nest III.

Full Nest I: The youngest child in the family is six or below.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: While liquidity of cash is low, expenses are
high. The family spends on baby food, diapers, medicines for cough and cold, doctor
visits, child toys and games, school admissions and fees and insurance policies. There
are increased expenses on child care.

Implications for Marketers: At this stage, purchasing is at the peak, and so this is an
attractive segment for the marketer. The children in the family begin to impact family
purchases, and are a huge potential for future.

Full Nest II: The youngest child in the family is six or above. Generally, the stage
comprises children aged 6-12 years.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: Financial position gets better as one begins to
rise up the ladder. If the wife is also working, children are ―latchkey kids.‖ The family
spends on food, clothes for children, education of children, insurance policies and
investments. They also pay for medical expenses and particularly, dental treatment.
They go in for deals; buy larger-size packages, and economy packs. Junk food,
fashion clothing and accessories, video games etc. are prime demands.

Implications for Marketers: At this stage, purchasing is still at the peak, and so this is
also an attractive segment for the marketer. The children, as also teenagers continue to
impact family purchases. The latchkey kids are a potential for home delivered junk
food like pizzas and burgers.

Full nest III: They are older married couples with dependent and/or independent
36
children but staying together at home. Children reach the higher educational level;
one of them may start earning too.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: The family income continues to increase and
so do expenses. The family continues to spend on food, clothes for teenagers, higher
education of children, and also repeat purchase of durables that were bought in
honeymooning stage or Full

Nest I-The family buys new furniture, electronic goods and appliances and cars.
Thus, there is high average purchase of durables. The family also invests in real estate
and property and/or flats. They continue to spend on medical expenses, particularly
dentists and visit general physicians for regular checkups.

Implications for Marketers: At this stage, income begins to increase as one of the
children begins to earn. As expenses see a rise, the stage offers a potential for
marketers.

Stage IV:

Post parenthood: This is a stage that occurs once children have left home. They
leave home first for education, and then for employment. As they complete their
education, and find employment, they gradually leave home one by one, thus, leaving
the nest.

Thus, this stage has also been broken into two stages, viz., Empty Nest I and Empty
Nest II. As one moves across Empty Nest I and II, the size and structure of the family
changes (quite similar to the Parenthood stage and the Full Nest I, II and III).

Empty Nest I: This is a stage that occurs when at least one of the children has left
home. He/she has completed education, taken up a job and has left home to start
his/her home. He/she is independent and can manage on own. While children are
managing to start up on their own, parents are still working.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: The family size gradually begins to shrink.
Parents are still earning; expenses gradually reduce, and so there is highest level of
savings and disposable income at hand. The family spends on food, installments for
real estate/house, higher education of the dependent children, and, medical expenses
on dentist, physiotherapy and heart. They have leisure time in hand, and watch
television, movies, and may even go on a vacation. 10
37
Implications for Marketers: At this stage, the couple beings to again have disposable
income in hand. Financial responsibilities towards children begins to decrease. This
stage offers potential for marketers who are involved in providing services like
leisure, travel and holiday.

Empty Nest II: In this stage, all the children have left home, and the couple has
retired from occupation. They live on pension and other social security investments. If
health permits, they take up part-time jobs.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: The couple has higher disposable incomes
because of savings and investments, and they have fewer expenses. They decide to
spend on all that they had been thinking to spend on but had not been able to because
of familial responsibilities.

They spend money on food, travel and holidays, watch TV and form hobby clubs.
They refurnish their home or may even move to newer homes after retirement.
Medical expenses also see a rise. However, for those older retired couples who do not
have much income from adequate savings and investments, the situation is much
different. There is a sharp drop in their income.

Implications for Marketers: The stage is lucrative for those involved in the
entertainment industry. Many industries provide special discounts in travel and stay as
―Senior Citizen benefits, for example, hotels, airlines and railways. Banks and
financial institutions also have special facilities for those above 60, especially higher
rates of interest on deposits.

Stage V:

Dissolution: This stage in the FLC occurs when one of the couple dies, and leaves
behind the other surviving spouse.

Priorities and Preferences of Purchase: When one of the spouses is still earning, or
earns money from savings and investments, things are little easier. However, if he/she
is not earning, he/she follows a lifestyle that is economical. The primary expenditure
is on medicines, checkups with doctors and restrictive diet.

Implications for Marketers: The stage is characteristic of a widow/widower with

lower income and least shopping and expenses.

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 PRIMARY DATA

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF QUESTIONNAIRE

QUESTION 1:

ANALYSIS:

Around 104 people were asked to fill the questionnaire, out of which majority of the
people are Males (58.7%) and about 41.3% of the females participated in the survey.

There isn‘t a vast difference in the gender of the respondents.

39
QUESTION 2:

ANALYSIS:

Most of the respondents are in the age group of 40 years and above (45.2%), followed
by respondents in the age group 18-25 (33.7%) and 32-40 (9.6%). The least
percentage of respondents are in the age group 25-32.

The diversification in the age group highlights the different perception of people of
various age groups ensuring that it covers as many differentiations of opinions
between those age groups.

40
QUESTION 3:

ANALYSIS:

Majority of the respondents are students (37.5). Following closely are respondents
who are self-employed (26.9%) and entrepreneurs (15.4%). Least percentage of
respondents are home makers (9.6%).

This showcases that the questionnaire is highly influenced by the younger generation
which consists of students and what their preference and perceptions are towards Nike
shoes.

41
QUESTION 4:

ANALYSIS:

Majority of the respondents earn an income under Rs. 2 lakhs p.a. (33.7%), followed
by the respondents who earn an income of Rs. 20 lakhs and above (26.9%). Least
percentages of respondents earn an income between Rs. 5-10 Lakhs p.a. (14.4%) and
Rs. 2-5 Lakhs p.a. (9.6%).

According to their incomes, the respondents purchase goods.

42
QUESTION 5:

ANALYSIS:

Out of the sample size of 104 respondents, majority of the respondents (94.2%) buy
shoes from Nike Inc and only 5.8% of the respondents do not buy Nike footwear.

43
QUESTION 6:

ANALYSIS:

Out of the sample size of 104 respondents, majority of the respondents (51%)
purchase Nike shoes less than once in a period of 6 months, followed by 46.2% of the
respondents who purchase Nike shoes one or two times and then followed by 2.8% of
the respondents who purchase Nike shoes three of four times.

44
QUESTION 7:

ANALYSIS:

Out of the sample size of 104 respondents, majority of the people (68.3%) purchase
Nike shoes from the Nike stores whereas, 31.7% of the respondents purchase Nike
shoes online.

45
QUESTION 8:

ANALYSIS:

According to this, majority of the respondents (59.6%) buy shoes from Adidas, if not
Nike, followed by Puma (32.7%) and Reebok (19.2%). The least number of
respondents buy shoes from Woodland and Gucci I.e., 1% respectively.

46
QUESTION 9:

ANALYSIS:

According to this, the most important elements that the respondents take into
consideration while selecting footwear are comfort (86.5%), design (67.3%) followed
by quality (56.7%) and brand (50%). The least important element according to the
respondents are packaging (0%) and durability (1%).

47
QUESTION 10:

ANALYSIS:

The main factors why the respondents switch to buy the footwear of another brand are
comfort (61.5%), quality (56.7%), followed by design (48.1%) and price (43.3%). The
least important factor according to the respondents is Marketing and Advertising
(3.8%).

48
QUESTION 11:

ANALYSIS:

According to the survey, 37.5% of the respondents have not bought any footwear
influenced by any ways of marketing or branding campaigns whereas, 36.5% of the
respondents have bought footwear influenced by marketing and brand programs and
26% of the respondents might have bought footwear influenced by marketing and
branding programs. ‗

49
QUESTION 12:

ANALYSIS:

According to this, 51.9% of the respondents didn‘t know that Nike offers
personalized/customized footwear whereas, 48.1% of the respondents knew that Nike
offers personalized/customized footwear.

50
QUESTION 13:

ANALYSIS:

According to this, more than 40% of the respondents are indifferent to costly shoes,
around 30% disagree buying costly shoes whereas approximately 25% agree buying
costly shoes. More than 40% of the people prefer to buy shoes that are liked by their
families. More than 55% of the respondents like to buy shoes that are stylish and
trendy and 30% of the respondents disagree or are indifferent towards celebrities
endorsing shoes. Lastly, more than 40% of the respondents don‘t like to spend too
much time deciding on which shoes to buy or not.

51
QUESTION 14:

ANALYSIS:

According to this, 40% of the respondents rate the price range of Nike shoes 3 out of
5 and more than 30% of the respondents rate the pricing of Nike shoes 4 out of 5.
More than 50% of the respondents, rate the quality of Nike shoes 4 out of 5 and more
than 25% of the respondents rate the quality of Nike shoes 5 out of 5. Now coming to
design, more than 45% of the respondents rate the design of Nike shoes 4 out of 5.
Majority of the respondents rate the comfort of Nike shoes 4 out of 5 followed by
25% of the respondents rating the comfort of Nike shoes 5 out of 5. 30% of the work
more and improve its packaging. Almost 50% of the respondents rate the personality
and innovation of Nike shoes 4 out of 5 and more than 40% of the respondents rate
the marketing and advertising of Nike shoes 4 out of 5. respondents rate the
packaging of the Nike shoes 3 and 4. This shows that Nike needs to

52
 INTERVIEW

• Interviewee: Aaditya Chopra (AC)

Co-founder

Dripworks.in

Interviewer: Aashna Nagpal

Interview Type: Telephonic

AA- Good evening. Thank you so much for taking the time out to speak with me for
my research paper. Without wasting much time, I‘ll ask the first question. When and
how did you start Dripworks.in?

AC- So I started Dripworks during the lockdown in August. I had nothing to do

during the lockdown and I used to keep thinking about how much scope there is in
sneaker reselling. So, my friend Jayant told me he‘s planning to source a couple of
pairs and some T-shirt‘s and he‘d thought of opening an Instagram page and selling
through it. So, I got really intrigued and thus we just started dripworks.

AA- Oh, that‘s great! So, what inspired you to start Dripworks.in?

AC- I was personally very fond of Yeezys and Air Jordan 1s but as we all know, if
you fail to get them on retail you‘ve to pay hefty amounts to get the pair and my
father wouldn‘t let me spend much on all this so the main inspiration behind this was
to earn just enough to buy myself all the sneakers I want.

AA- Alright. So, being a sneakerhead, what is your preferred athletic brand?

AC- Being a sneaker head, I‘ve access to mostly all kinds of street wear brands from
Off white to Supreme, Bape, ASSC etc. Personally, for me Bape and Essentials are
my preferred streetwear brands because they‘re not too expensive but hype enough. I
love Off White styling and quality but it‘s a tad bit expensive in my opinion.

53
AA- What are your thoughts about Nike shoes?

AC- Nike has always dominated the Sports Shoe domain, there‘s no doubt about that.
If I‘ve to buy a pair of shoes for any kind of sports whether it‘s running or football,
I‘d go to Nike. But now, with the Air Jordan‘s and Dunks they‘ve penetrated the
fashion industry as well. Today, people choose to wear a pair Jordan‘s or Dunks when
they‘ve to go out for a party and that includes me so I guess that pretty much
summarizes my thoughts about Nike shoes.

AA- What do you feel about the various icons of Nike sneakers like, Air Force,
Jordan, Air Max, Blazer etc.?

AC- Okay so all brands have different silhouettes and designs in their collections but
the thing about Nike is that they‘ve created an equal hype about all their silhouettes
namely Air Jordan, Air Force, Air Max, Dunks and many more. They keep coming up
with different collaborations, designs and colors in all variants of their shoes. So, what
really happens eventually is that the consumers get so many options to choose from.
You don‘t like Air Max? We have Air Force. You don‘t like white? We have 30 other
color options for you to choose from. So, you end up buying something.

AA- What are your thoughts on the design, quality and comfort of Nike shoes?

AC- I‘d personally give 10/10 for design to Nike but when it comes to quality, those
numbers go down. So, I‘m a reseller and part of the job requires us to examine all
shoes very thoroughly and most of these pairs come from Nike directly. There‘s a pair
in like 20-30 pairs which has some kind of a mark or a dirty spot on the mid sole or
the outsole. There might be a thread of the lining coming out or something so I feel
Nike can do something to brush up its quality check. Talking about comfort, they‘re
as comfortable as any other sneaker. I won‘t say they‘re VERY comfortable like the
350s but I think the designs compensate for all of this and that is why people are crazy
about them.

AA- How do you feel about the various collaborations of Nike with celebrities
and various luxury brands?

AC- I feel Nike has been way too smart about all its collabs. The list of their
collaborations is as diversified as it could be. They have used some of the biggest

54
names in all kinds of industries. From Music, there‘s Travis Scott, Drake, Kanye
West. Streetwear, there‘s Supreme and Off white. There are about 25-30 pairs under
Nike x Off White and around as many pairs in the pipeline for 2021. If we talk about,
Designer Wear, they‘ve done it with Dior and created one of the most hyped pairs of
tall time, which is the Air Dior. Other than that, they‘ve collaborated with Heineken,
Eminem, Levi‘s, Fragment, Sacai, Civilist and so many more. All this really adds to
the concept of ‗hype‘ that they‘re trying to build around these shoes by dropping such
limited pairs.

AA- Do you think Nike as a brand caters to both the middle class and upper
class?

AC- Absolutely, Nike casual sneaker prices start from Rs. 2500 thus making it
affordable for all. But if you‘re talking about the other silhouettes like Air Jordan and
Air Force, etc. I feel more than half of the middle-class segment is not able to afford
those so they have to settle for cheaper alternatives.

AA- Do you think Nike needs improvement in any of its elements? If yes, can you
suggest how it can improve?

AC- Yes, there are actually a few things which I feel Nike needs to improve on big
time. Mind you, I‘m only talking about India and no other countries. So firstly, we
need a Snkrs App here to make things easier for us because we‘ve to go on the
website to cop these pairs which is a little slow. Secondly, they need to work on their
retailers which include VegNonVeg, SuperKicks, Myntra, Ajio etc. Superkicks and
VegNonVeg, which get almost as many pairs as are dropped on the Nike site, are
openly distributing pairs to their friends and family instead of conducting fair drops
and raffles. The big resellers get their hands on pairs before the drops which makes it
even harder for the general public to access these shoes at good prices. Resellers take
all the pairs and set a market price which is pretty high sometimes making v hard for
the people

55
 OVERALL ANALYSIS OF THE STUDY:

In literature review author said that the consumer having two types of buying decision
processes one is complex, it is nothing but highly involved (Kotler, 1994). When the
consumer is highly involving then it will be very risky so, this point has matched with
the literature review and empirical implication. Even in high price and highly
involved in particular product. In literature review author said that the buying process
starts with need recognition, whereas buyer recognize the need. The buyer will take
decision is depends on his or her internal stimuli, according to the internal and
external stimuli the buyer will take the decision (Hawkins, Coney, 1998). At the same
time in the empirical findings, they will purchase for their own personal use and also
it is depending on his/her internal and external stimuli to buy the products

More over the literature is saying about the consumer are different type
demographically, gender wise, tastes and preference wise, buyers having different
opinion when they will purchase any kind of product in the market. Sometimes they
will go for family decision and sometimes they will take the decision individually.
Depends on the buyer's behavior product will be chosen. (Dash, 2005) In empirical
findings the students are satisfying at the same time they are using the branded shoes,
but not always, sometimes they are going for others shoes also family decisions.
Ultimately the student or consumer is giving preference to brand. This point is
matched with literature review. Finally, the brand makes the real difference. In
empirical findings the buyer will take the decision, when he/she need, so in one point
of view the consumers are using Nike product often, so whatever reasons are, so it
depends on internal and external stimuli.

The Consumers are different types so in literature review when categorized the
Complex buying behavior of consumers will react about the products like the
consumer feels expensive, risky to purchase frequently and are highly expensive.

he dissonance consumers always think that reduces the risk of buying. The variety
seeking consumers will behave differently and their involvements reference to context
(Kotler, 1994) in empirical findings students are thinking in different way that they
responded the price of Nike shoe are high, so, they are purchasing infrequently,
finally they are saying to decrease the cost.

56
The Consumers take the decision while they purchase the product, this decision
process differs from consumer to consumer, first they recognize the need or want then
they search for information in the existing market to purchase more effective product,
while purchasing the product they use the personal and public sources to purchase the
product, finally evaluate the alternative product to purchase. The consumer‘s behavior
will be different when they purchase the product and after purchasing the product
(Gily and Gelb, 1986) in empirical analysis the students are saying that before
purchasing the shoe they are looking for the personal (friends & family) and public
(media) sources, if it is not available in the market, they go for alternative shoe
products.

57
 SUGGESTIONS AND FINDINGS

Some general observations, got by the consumer buying behavior always not same;
according to the time and usage of the sports shoes the decision will be changed.
Generally, some specific aspects of the buying behavior which is supported by one or
two pieces of evidence. All qualified results in research.

This sportswear has been urbanized and is confined to metropolitan or some big cities.
Therefore, the need of the hour is to spread the culture of sportswear in the interiors of
the world either by some extensive advertisements, promoting sports, so that these
rural areas can form a substitute at times of market saturation. People have been
reluctant for wearing shoe in the summer season, mainly because of heat conditions.
Hence there should be continuous formulas are to be applied to invent such sports
shoe, where there is a scope for free air movement and better ventilation.

58
 SECONDARY DATA

CHAPTER 1

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS NIKE PRODUCTS:

CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS

NIKE SHOES

In this century, customers are the potential buyer of products. Most of the companies
are focusing on improving the relationship between with customers. The result shows
that improving the relationship between companies and customers can retaining
customer‘s loyalty and attracting new customers, this relationship is importance to

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most businesses. If a company having good relationship with customer, they
understand customer needs and wants and to satisfy the customers.

Example: Nike Company have provided good customer services, when customer
facing problem of Nike product customer can send e-mail with question relating to
purchases and Nike Company will solve the problem within 1 working day or contact
to Nike Company telephone lines of customer service to get the solution. Customer
can log in Nike website to check the latest Nike products, make ordering, shipping
and returns. Customers can solve the problem easily by send e-mail or calling and
without going any outlet customers can buy their products through Nike website.

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 CHAPTER 2

COMPANY BACKGROUND

Nowadays, Nike Inc. is the world largest markets of athletic shoe and apparel, also the
world leading company of supplier athletic footwear, accessories, sportswear, and
main manufacturer of sports equipment‘s. Nike is worldwide brand and the products
that sold in about 110 countries, Nike Company had more than 30,000 employees
around the world.

In 1962, Philip Knight was track athlete of middle-distance runner team member as an
undergraduate at University of Oregon. Philip Knight travelling to Japan
communicates with Onitsuka Tiger to import some athletic shoes to United States;
Philip Knight believed that Japanese athletic shoes would break the German athletic
shoes dominance in United States with Japanese product. In 1964, Philip Knight
partnership with Bill Bower man was track coach at University of Oregon. Bill
Bowerman and Philip Knight was the founder of Nike, at the time Nike originated
known as Blue Ribbon Sports.

In 1968, Bowerman had worked long time to designs and modified of prototype Blue
Ribbon Sports, his designed shoe was successful which known the shoe as Cortez. In
1972, Blue Ribbon Sports was manufacturing the products overseas by their own line
by themselves and import to United States. At the same time, the company introduced
the new symbols with Swoosh trademark and the brand name Nike it means the Greek
goddess of victory. In 1978 Blue Ribbon Sports had rename the company name to
Nike Inc. In 1988, Dan Wieden who created the slogan called ―Just Do It‖ for 1988 ad
campaign and nowadays this slogan had become the recognized trademarks. In 1999,
Nike had begun selling athletic shoes and other products by used e-commerce and
directly selling products to consumer through company website.

Nike, the number one manufacturer of footwear and apparel, has become a household
name on the same level as mogul companies McDonald‘s, Coca-Cola and Budweiser.
Nike was founded in 1964 by track coach and runner duo Bill Bowerman and Phillip
Knight as Blue Ribbons Sports, later becoming Nike, Inc. in 1978. The name Nike

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was chosen in reference to the Greek Goddess of victory. Nike, the Greek goddess of
victory, helped others succeed in times of war. NIKE, the world‘s #1 shoemaker, does
more dominating than assisting, to capture a hefty share of the athletic shoe market. It
designs and sells shoes for a variety of sports, including baseball, cheerleading, golf,
volleyball, hiking, tennis, and football. NIKE also sells Cole Haan dress and casual
shoes, as well as athletic apparel and equipment. In addition, NIKE operates
NIKETOWN shoe and sportswear stores, NIKE factory outlets, and NIKE Women
shops.

Nike didn‘t run TV ads until 1982. Previously, Nike concentrated on sponsorships and
celebrity athletes‘ endorsements – including both professional athletes and college
teams. The first professional athlete endorser was Ilie Natase – a Romanian tennis
player. The first track and field athlete to endorse the brand was Steve Prefontaine.
Nike has signed top athletes in the sports of Football, Basketball, Soccer, Baseball,
Cycling, Golf, Tennis, Skateboarding, Boxing, Track and Field and Formula 1
Racing. One of Nike‘s best PR decisions was signing Michael Jordan as a celebrity
endorser in 1984.

Nike‘s steady competition in the 1980s was Reebok. To break any similarities they
had to Reebok, Nike began promoting its shoes as fashion accessories. Reebok had
cornered the younger, aerobics audience, so Nike started concentrating their ads
around the person wearing the product rather than the product itself. In the 80s, Nike
grew to hold 50% of the market share in the athletic shoe market.

In 1988, Nike employees met with advertising agency Wieden and Kennedy (formed
in 1982). In the midst of the meeting, Dan Weiden turned to the Nike employees and
said, ―You Nike guys, you just do it.‖ And so the infamous Just Do It tagline was
born.

Nike currently enjoys a 47% market share of the domestic footwear industry, with
sales of $3.77 billion. NIKE sells its products in more than 180 countries, for over
twenty-five years and there are over 500,000 people today directly engaged in the
production of their products. They utilize an outsourcing strategy, using only
subcontractors throughout the globe. Their majority of their output today is produced
in factories in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam, but they also have factories in Italy, the
Philippines, Taiwan, and South Korea. These factories are 100% owned by
subcontractors, with the majority of their output consisting solely of Nike products.
However, Nike does employ teams of four expatriates per each of the big three

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countries (China, Indonesia, Vietnam), that focus on both quality of product and
quality of working conditions, visiting the factories weekly. They also developed their
code of conduct in 1992 and have implemented it across the globe, as its goal is to set
the standard for subcontractors to follow if they wish to do business with Nike.
However, due to a manufacturing network of this magnitude, they have faced
numerous violations involving factory conditions and human rights issues, which
have been widely publicized.

Nike, Inc. is engaged in the design, development and worldwide marketing of

footwear, apparel, equipment and accessory products. Nike‘s athletic footwear
products are designed for specific athletic use, although some of its products are worn
for casual or leisure purposes.

The Company creates designs for men, women and children. Running, basketball,
children‘s, cross-training and women‘s shoes are the Company‘s top-selling product
categories. Nike also markets shoes designed for outdoor activities, tennis, golf,
soccer, baseball, football, bicycling, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading, aquatic
activities, hiking and other athletic and recreational uses. Nike sells active sports
apparel that covers most of these categories, athletically inspired lifestyle apparel and
others.

Nike‘s mission is to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world, and
the company says further that ―If you have a body, you are an athlete. The firm‘s
overall vision includes providing a full range of high-quality, performance-oriented
and technologically sophisticated athletic shoes and a variety of accessories targeting
individuals of all ages, in all market segments.

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The basal concept leads towards the customer retention via offering the quality feature
product, thus essential part for Nike is to influence the targeted customer. Consumer
intention plays a vital role for better analyzing the whole scenario of purchasing Nike
sports shoes. Most of the time consumer prefer branded products and pay less
attention towards the price issue.

An observer can measure the responses of the customer and find the actual
information in regard of selection preferences that are based on the brand attachment.
Reputed organizations pay worthy attention towards studying their valued customer
due to his/her response towards the product selection. Consumer behavior needs to be
understood at deeper level by analyzing the need and wants at a place where product
is displayed.

Consumer buying process is largely based on the valued information, which gathers
from several sources. Analyzing the brand with its quality feature comes on the top
priority of the customer. Attitude and behavioral changes of others directly effects the
purchase decision at the end of consumer. Non-verbal reflection may alert the
consumer to revise the decision for purchasing branded product.

Nike become a corporate brand from last few decades, and captures the market on the
basis of sports goods manufacturer. Nike invests a huge amount in their research
departments for statistical measurement of consumer behavior on the basis of their
purchasing decision and how long it can generate the effective results.

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More focused to recognize the need of existing and new customer comes on the top
priority of the Nike products. Distinguish feature of Nike sports shoes may attract the
customer and build an intention to attach with product for a longer period i.e., brand
loyalty. Most preferable factors for the customer are the quality and design of the
product which gives a unique look in his/her personality.

Brand recognition and quality in sports shoes divert the negative approach of
customer into positive ones and create a link with loyal customers. Nike‘s designer
brings the innovative ideas and creativity in products after critical evaluation of the
consumer demands. The main focus of Nike is to design the close loop sports shoe
that is comfortable for the consumer and give edge in sports activities.

Nike‘s strategies are based on the customer satisfaction and keep them motivated for
purchasing the branded products. Nike management has also worked on the price
issue which is not warmly welcomed by the new customers. Minimize the cost of
sports shoes by recycling of defective items.

Management of Nike recognized that, consumer behavior is not constant all the time.
The intention and preference factor create the difference in purchase decision by the
customer. The habitual nature of the particular customer highly focused to divert into
regular purchase of Nike sports shoes and timely encourage the customer to purchase
the product and create a word of mouth for attracting new customer.

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 CHAPTER 3

SWOT ANAYLSIS

STRENGTHS:

• Strong Core Brand-

The Nike brand itself is one of the strongest — if not the strongest — names in the
entire sportswear industry. Across much of the world, Nike is one of the first
companies that come to the public‘s mind when they think hip, sporty footwear.
Overall, this extremely powerful core brand is one of Nike‘s biggest strengths, and
you can bet that helps them rake in billions in additional revenue every year.

• Diverse Brand Portfolio-

Although the Nike brand itself is incredibly strong, the company has a diverse brand
portfolio beyond that. Most notably, this brand portfolio includes Converse as well as
dozens of other Nike-centric sub-brands such as Nike Shox, Nike Blazers, and Nike
Tiempo. This suggests that Nike has its foundations well spread across the footwear
industry, allowing it to painlessly weather changes in preference.

• Low Product Cost-

As many of Nike‘s products are manufactured in developing South East Asian

countries such as Indonesia and Thailand, Nike has extremely low labor costs. What‘s
more, Nike also uses relatively inexpensive materials for many of its shoes. Together,
these two factors — labor cost and material cost — allow Nike to manufacture its
footwear for extremely low prices.

WEAKNESSES:

• Dependence on US market-

In 2018, over 40% of the Nike‘s revenue came from the US. This demonstrates a huge
dependence on the US market as part of Nike‘s business model. If American tax or

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legal policies were to change, in any way affecting Nike‘s ability to sell on the US
market, that would significantly hurt the sportswear giant‘s profits.

• Outsourced Manufacturing-

Despite the low cost associated with manufacturing products abroad, there are
indeed downsides to doing so. For one, manufacturing abroad requires you either to
set up dedicated manufacturing operating in your chosen country or to outsource
your work to existing manufacturers. Nike has chosen to do the latter, which means
that their products aren’t always top quality.

• Footwear Focus-

Although Nike is relatively diversified within the footwear industry itself, Nike has
not diversified itself much across other industries. Although the footwear industry is
probably here to stay, Nike may consider broadening their horizons.

OPPORTUNITIES

• Growing Market-

There are only more and more people in this world, and many of them (especially in
developed countries) are becoming gradually more active. Together, these two factors
compound to create a constantly growing footwear market. If played correctly, Nike
should be able to capture much of the business of this growing market, allowing the
company to further grow its profits.

• Emerging Market-

As countries across the world become wealthier and wealthier, citizens in developing
countries have more disposable income. In areas such as South East Asia, growing
disposable incomes present an opportunity for new markets in which to sell products.
If Nike is able to market themselves in these emerging markets, they could grow their
reach and reduce dependence on the US market.

• Responsible Manufacturer-

In many Western countries, there is a growing trend of knowing where products have
come from and how the environment and workers have been treated. This presents
another opportunity for Nike. If they are able to brand themselves as a responsible

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manufacturer of sportswear goods, they may be able to increase their market
penetration among more ethically and environmentally conscious consumers.

THREATS:

• Tax Clampdowns-

Like many other big companies, Nike has its tax strategies optimized down to the
dollar. This has for many years allowed Nike to avoid paying large amounts of tax,
even on its billion-dollar profits. However, there is growing controversy about the
amount of leeway large organizations are afforded when it comes to tax matters, and
their freedom to pay low amounts of tax may one day come to a close. This would
afford Nike significantly smaller net profits.

• Competition-

Nike is competing in the fiercely competitive sports apparel market, with other big
names such as Adidas, PUMA, and Reebok ready to pounce on any new
opportunities. As such, Nike needs to tread extremely carefully to ensure it isn‘t
replaced by one of these, or — somewhat less dramatically — doesn‘t lose out on
potential revenue.

• Counterfeiting-

Like many valuable branded goods, Nike apparel is subject to large amounts of
counterfeiting. Counterfeit Nike goods are available everywhere — even on the
internet. Nike needs to develop a strategy to ensure that the counterfeiting of their
goods doesn‘t affect their core business model, perhaps by taking legal action against
counterfeiters or with a clever marketing campaign that encourages consumers to buy
the real thing.

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 CHAPTER 4

NIKE’S MARKETING MIX

Nike is one of the pioneers in marketing and the marketing mix of Nike is one of the
strongest. Depending mainly on pull strategy, it has established its hold in face of
major competitors like Adidas and Reebok.

• Nike’s Products (Product Mix)

This element of the marketing mix enumerates the organizational outputs offered to
target consumers. These outputs are known as the product mix. Nike Inc.‘s growth
comes with changes in its product mix. For example, the business continues its
investment in research and development to produce new products and enhanced
versions of its current products. Originally a distributor of shoes, the company now
manufactures various shoes, apparel, and equipment for different sports. Based on
Nike Inc.‘s generic strategy and intensive growth strategies, the business integrates
new technologies into its product lines to improve product effectiveness and customer
satisfaction. The following broad categories represent Nike‘s product mix:

• Shoes

• Apparel

• Equipment and accessories

Shoes are the most popular products from Nike Inc. The business gradually adds more
product lines in this category. For example, the company now offers running shoes,
tennis shoes, and shoes for a variety of other sports, including cricket. Nike also sells

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apparel, such as jerseys, shorts, and related products. In addition, the company‘s
product lines include accessories and equipment, such as golf clubs. These products
are available under a number of the company‘s brands, including Air Jordan, Hurley,
and Converse. Based on this element of the marketing mix, Nike expands its product
mix to address the needs of its target markets and market segments.

• PRICE

This element of the marketing mix identifies the prices that the company applies to
maximize profits while attracting the desired share of the multinational market. Nike‘s
investments in technology is linked with a strategy to offer its products at a premium.
Still, the company considers current market conditions in setting its price points and
price ranges. Based on these considerations for this 4P variable, the following pricing
strategies are applied in Nike Inc.‘s business:

• Value-based pricing strategy

• Premium pricing strategy

In using the value-based pricing strategy, Nike Inc. considers consumer perception
about the value of its products. In the context of the marketing mix, this value is used
to determine the maximum prices that consumers are willing to pay for the company‘s
sports shoes, apparel, and equipment. In relation, the premium pricing strategy
involves high prices, based on a premium branding strategy that establishes Nike
products as higher in quality and value than competing products. The company‘s use
of advertisements involving high-profile celebrity endorsers is indicative of such
emphasis on premium branding. In 2014, the business successfully increased its
selling prices and generated higher sales and revenues. This trend continues, as the
company enjoys increasing sales revenues while gradually increasing its prices. Based
on the PESTEL/PESTLE analysis of Nike Inc., such trend is linked to the socio-
cultural and economic changes in the industry environment. The business adjusts its
price ranges according to such changes. In this element of the marketing mix, Nike
Inc. successfully uses its pricing strategies to maximize its profits while emphasizing
high value in promoting its products and brand.

• PLACE

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This element of the marketing mix outlines the venues where the company‘s products
are sold, accessed or distributed. Nike Inc. sells its sports shoes, apparel, and
equipment through a large number of outlets worldwide. For example, these products
are available at major retail stores. The following places/venues form Nike‘s
distribution strategy, arranged according to significance:

• Retail stores

• Nike Online Store

• Niketown retail outlets (company-owned)

Retail stores are the most significant places where Nike products are sold because
these venues are strategically located and easily accessible in various markets around
the world. These retailers include large firms like Walmart, as well as small local and
regional stores. This 4P element also shows that customers can purchase Nike‘s sports
shoes, apparel, and equipment through the company‘s online store. In addition, the
business operates its Niketown retail outlets. These outlets are company-owned and
allow access to business and market information that supports corporate strategic
management with regard to marketing strategies and tactics for current, new, and
emerging products. Based on this element of the marketing mix, Nike Inc. controls the
distribution and sale of its products, especially through its online store and Niketown
retail outlets. However, the company has limited control on the distribution and sale
of its products via other retail outlets.

• PROMOTION

This element of the marketing mix is also known as the marketing communications
mix, and involves the tactics that Nike uses to communicate with its target markets.
The company depends on the effective promotion of its products to maintain a strong
brand image, which is one of the strengths determined in the SWOT analysis of Nike
Inc. The company uses promotional tactics to communicate with target customers
about its products, and persuade these consumers to purchase the products. The
following are Nike‘s promotional activities, arranged according to significance:

• Advertising

• Personal selling

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 • Direct marketing

• Sales promotions

• Public relations

Advertising is one of the biggest contributors to Nike‘s ability to attract customers.

The company heavily relies on advertisements, especially those that involve high-
profile celebrity endorsers, such as professional athletes and sports teams. This
element of the company‘s marketing mix also includes personal selling through sales
personnel who persuade target consumers to buy the company‘s products. For
example, sales personnel at Niketown retail outlets are trained to use such persuasion.
The company‘s direct marketing activities involve direct communications with
colleges, local sports teams, and other organizations. In the context of the 4Ps, direct
marketing refers to direct contact with organizations for the purpose of promoting
products to the members of such organizations. In addition, Nike occasionally applies
discounts and special offers to attract more customers and generate more sales. These
discounts and offers form the company‘s sales promotions tactics. Moreover, in
public relations, the company sponsors and provides financial support to other
organizations, such as community-based networks, to promote its athletic shoes,
apparel, and equipment. Based on the tactics included in this element of Nike‘s
marketing mix, the business depends on its relations with high-profile endorsers to
succeed in promoting its business and products to the international sporting goods
market.

• PEOPLE

Human resource management has emerged as a critical area in the 21st century.
Companies need to focus on managing their human capital strategically to maintain
their competitive advantage. It is because their people are their primary source of
competitive advantage on which a firm‘s other critical competitive advantages are
based. The growth of a company depends on the skills and knowledge of its people as
well as their performance. As of 2020, the company employed 75,400 people. Nike
invests in its people to help them find faster career growth and development. Apart
from offering them training and better career management tools, Nike also involves
them in its CSR programs. The company has formed human resource policies that
maximize job satisfaction for the employees. Apart from competitive salaries and

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benefits packages, it also uses modern training tools and techniques to offer its
employees opportunities for improving their performance.

• PROCESSES

Nike has outsourced nearly all of its production to external suppliers. It leaves the
company free to focus on all the other essential business processes. The faster growth
and business expansion of the company is because of its focus on marketing. The
company is primarily involved in marketing, distribution, and store operations. Nike
has optimized its value chain for maximizing output and faster growth. It invests a
significant sum each year in marketing as well as research and development to
achieve more growth. The company‘s focus on higher efficiency of business
processes has also helped it maintain its growth momentum.

• PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

Nike is a global business that sells its products in nearly all corners of the globe.
Apart from its products and the physical infrastructure of the organization, the
company‘s packaging is also the physical evidence of its business operations. Nike is
a physical business, and therefore, you will come across a lot of physical evidence
when navigating its business system.

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 CHAPTER 5

Buyer Decision Process

Buyer decision making process is the decision-making process undertaken by

consumers in regard to a potential market transaction before, during, and after the
purchase of a product or service. (Buyer Decision Process- Definition, no date) is the
buyer decision making process:

Need recognition

Information Search

Evaluation of Alternatives

Purchase Decision

Post Purchase Behavior

CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS

The consumer decision process (CDP) model is important for making marketing
decision; CDP is the stage of consumer goes through before, during, and after buying
the product or service in decision making processes.

NEED RECOGNITION

In first stage of CDP starts with need recognition, the buyers understand what their
problem or need in between current motivation state and desired motivation state.

For example, I saw a commercial for brand new series pair of Nike shoe, to stimulate
me that I need a new Nike shoe. Customer may need to pass through the stage step by

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step in every purchase. However, in daily purchase customer can skip the stage of
information search and evaluation straight to purchase decision. For example, I
feeling hungry need to buy food and I straight forward to make purchase decision to
buy my favorite food McDonald.

INFORMATION SEARCH

The next stage of CDP is information search; under information search consumers can
search information according to internal or external sources of information. Internal
sources of information are the information retrieved knowledge from memory and the
information may be based on a person past experience, past conversation, or articles
read previously. External sources of information can get from environment can be the
new sources of information and include friends, family, salesperson, advertisements,
brochures, websites, and media article.

The marketers will identify which target markets of information sources are most
influential, the impact of these sources of information will depend on the products and
customers. For example, I want to buy new pair of shoes and before I buy, I will take
advice from my friends of their experience on different brands of shoe and search
information about the company brand product quality.

EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES

The third stage of CDP model is evaluation of alternatives, which the consumer
evaluation alternative bounds in the choice set by using information. Evaluation is an
important determinant of the degree is whether the customers feel ―involved‖ in the
product. By involvement, that means the extent of perceived relevance and
importance that accompanies with the own choice.

The involvement had categories into low-involvement purchases and high

involvement purchases

. Low-involvement purchases mean have simple and low expenses in evaluation

process. For example, buying soft drink and food in the supermarket is under low-
involvement purchases.

High involvement purchases are usually branded goods and involve in high expenses
or personal risk.

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For example, doing business, making investment, buying house and car are under
high-involvement purchases. Nike shoe is categorizing in high-involvement purchases
because is branded goods and comparing with other brands Nike much more
expensive than usually brands.

PURCHASE EVALUATION

The fourth stage of CDP model is purchase, the stage that consumer actually buy the
product. For example, after I read the advertisement Nike shoe, I consider buy the
Nike shoe to satisfying my need or want. The buying decision may take place
immediately or in few weeks later. The seller may need to attributes the product by
compared with the competition with own advantages and giving trial or sampling of
the product hope the sale increasing.

POST PURCHASE EVALUATION

The final stage of CDP model is post-purchase evaluation, after customers buy the
product and used, the customers will compare it with expectation on their past
experience either the product is satisfied or not.

The ―cognitive dissonance‖ concept will commonly occur when the customers
experience concerns after making purchase decision. Cognitive dissonance means the
customers buy new product is preferable than the product is using and customers may
not repurchase the product is using or switching other brands.

For example, before I bought Nike shoe, I was wearing Bata shoe, I feel like Nike
shoe is more comfortable and good quality so I may not repurchase Bata shoe and
changing the mind to purchase Nike shoe. To manage the experience success is the
job of the marketers to persuade the potential customers to purchase the product will
satisfy their needs, for the customers that purchased the product should be encouraged
that their decision making is right to repurchase the product and avoid them changing
their mind to choose other product.

For example, I had bought Nike shoe and wearing it, I feel that Nike shoe giving more
comfortable and good quality than other shoe. In future purchase decision I will
repurchase the Nike shoe because it satisfies my needs.

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 CHAPTER 6

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

TOWARDS NIKE

Memory and Learning

When it comes to Nike and how it portrays itself to its potential and current customer,
it comes across very well and easy on the eye. As most of its advertising and
promotion is done solely online, this enables them to reach a wide and broad-based
community across the globe. They have launched numerous viral campaigns to
promote their new products, more recently the Nike fuel band which is their latest
innovation to catch the consumer eye. All these campaigns are backed up complete
online marketing and promotion.
Nike ads are simple, memorable and very informative on how the product works.
Their website uses bright colors to attract the attention of the reader, using dark texts
with a bright background. Through their products they have created an online
community where people can share their experiences and give each other learning tips
on how they can improve and become better at what they do. Groups influence buying
in two general ways. First, they may influence the purchases made by individual
consumers. Second, group members must sometimes make decisions as a group.

Culture
Viral Community are collections of people whose online interactions are based upon
shared enthusiasm for and knowledge of a specific consumption activity. Nike online
community is also a viral community as they each share an interest in their chosen
form of exercise

Word of Mouth
This refers to an exchange of comments, thoughts, or ideas between two or more
consumers, none of whom is a marketing source. Word of mouth communications
have an extremely strong impact on consumer purchase behavior.
There has been extremely strong WOM communications about Nike as it is

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completely new technology which has the potential to revolutionize how people
engage in their activity. This has brought about positive WOM communications about
the brand and created a buzz amongst the athlete community.

Opinion leaders
Professional opinion leaders are target people who are paid to give their expert
opinion I think in the case of Nike opinion leaders refer to the celebrities who Nike
pay to endorse their Nike products as many of these are sporting icons who are who
everyday athletes look up to and will respect what they have to say about the product.
People love the interactive nature of the Nike community, and they all share 2 things
in common: (1) They own Nike+ sneakers and (2) they‘re physically active. Nike has
collected a slice of their target market interacting with each other in one space that
they can monitor– a very valuable marketing tool.

Attitude
An attitude is a learned predisposition to respond to an object or class of objects in a
consistently favorable or unfavorable way‘ (Allport). An attitude is a lasting general
evaluation of people, objects, adverts, or issues. People use attitudes to help them
interact more effectively with their environment's perception

Perception
Out of Katz functional theory of attitudes the value expressive attitude most applies to
Nike and its products. This is due to how the product enhances how the person
experiences the sport or activity they enjoy doing by providing real-time data and the
opportunity to compare and contrast statistics with friends. Active people believe that
Nike adds value to what they are participating in. The products and services we buy
are often intended to make sure other people know what our social standing is – or
what we would like it to be. Products are frequently bought and displayed as markers
of social class, they are valued as status symbols
Katz functional theory of attitudes is the one that appeals most to marketers. Very
simplistic offering three obvious options. People all over the world can share various
amounts of information and motivate friends to take that extra step and also challenge
them to beat their results.

Social class & buying behavior

The concept of beliefs- How product attributes and other factors influence the
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formation and change of beliefs, attitudes and behavior is perhaps the most important
set of consumer behavior ideas
different social classes will buy different products. Upper class tends to value things
like fashion appeal
Here we can see the Nike app where it allows you to set your route, sync up with the
Nike website and also connect with friend's lower-class values price. Experiential
hierarchy. In the case of Nike, they tend to offer their products relatively cheap but
the majority of their products need to be coupled with products that can be perceived
as ones targeted more towards upper class such as apple iPods or iPhones.
Consumers act on the basis of their emotional reactions.
How the product will make them feel is the key thing. And so, the mood a person is in
when they see the ad influences how the ad is processed. Social classes also are
different in how much research they do before shopping. Middles and upper-class
people tend to do more research prior to making a purchase. Lower class people tend
to rely more on in shop displays and sales people

Experiential hierarchy most relates to Nike as it gives the user a new way of
experiencing an activity, they regularly engage in. The user is taking part in
something they enjoy but in a completely fresh way, this can give the person a
different outlook and provide them with the positive attitude needed to achieve certain
goals. Nike makes the customer feel as if they are getting more from their activity and
therefore, they will enjoy it more. This is extremely important to active people as it
allows them to see if they are improving and whether they have achieved certain
accomplishments.

Shopping cart option

Once again, the Nike products are targeted towards the middle and upper class, as it is
a product designed to meet a certain need. In their advertising Nike try to explain
what the product is and why it is so useful, and on their website, they go into much
more detail on all the benefits of the products.
People who are grouped into the same social group tend to work in similar jobs, have
similar lifestyles and often have the same taste

Involvement
This in itself creates a lifestyle as people can keep track on their friends, see how well
they are doing and maybe try to better themselves as time goes on.

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In the consumer domain most researchers conceptualize involvement as the degree of
psychological connection between an individual and the stimulus object. (Hupfer and
gardener 1971)
Consumer Behavior
"If you have a body, you're an athlete" - Bill Bowerman
Target Market envelopes everyone.
Core Customer: 17-year Olds who spend 20% more than average on footwear.

Consumer behavior refers to the selection, purchase and consumption of goods and
services for the satisfaction of wants. Besides that, the consumer behavior included
three factors which can influence the consumer decision making. The three factors
are:

• Cultural factors

• Social factors

• Personal factors

Cultural Factors

Cultural is the most basic cause of the person‘s wants and behavior. It is also part of
the external influences that impact the consumer. Besides that, culture represents
influences that are imposed on the consumer by other individuals. For example, a
consumer will buy the NIKE shoes because the culture of buying a NIKE shoes is
passed down by consumer parents, family or influences by the other individual.

Social Factors

Social factors also cast a significant influence on the consumer‘s buying behavior.
Some of the primary social factors are family and roles and status. For the social
factor of family, a family member can influence the other family member buying
behavior.

For example, the children of the family want to have or want to buy the NIKE shoes,
the father or mother will try to buy for the children to fulfill the satisfy.

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Personal Factors

Personal factor is the factor that can affect or influence by the consumer personality.
The example of the personal factors influences the consumers are age, lifestyle,
occupation, economic situation, personality, and etc. The one of the personal factors
that can influence the consumers was life style. For example, a NIKE consumer does
not wear the others brand of shoes. This is because it is the life style of the NIKE
consumers.

Types of Buying – Decision Behavior

The types of buying – decision behavior includes four types which are:

Complex Buying Behavior

Dissonance – Reducing Buying Behavior

Habitual Buying Behavior

Variety – Seeking Buying Behavior

The types of buying – decision behavior that has been choosing for the NIKE shoe
was dissonance – reducing buying behavior. This is because the dissonance –
reducing buying behavior which is the consumer highly involved with the purchase
and the product is expensive. Besides that, the product was brought infrequently.
(Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong, 2006). For example, when the consumer buying a
pair of NIKE shoes, the consumer will highly involve making the decision because
the shoes is expensive and self- expressive and the NIKE shoe was brought
infrequently.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR – Psychological Factors

1- Motivation

• Slogans and headlines that Nike uses include victory, freedom, change, adapt
and such words that gives customers the sense to Just Do It. There are no
limits; everything is possible once you wear Nike Shoes.

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 • Famous athletes from all around the world are participating in advertisements
for Nike Shoes; some examples are Tiger Woods, Cristiano Ronaldo, and
LeBron James. Each athlete gives customers the feeling that they are the best
in their fields, so you can also do it, you can wear the same shoes with the
basketball player you admire.

2- Perception

• Entering a Nike shop, customers see all the motivational headlines, with
famous athletes or strong-, healthy- and good-looking models, and these shape
the perception of customers, they act in order to be like them.

• Nike Shoes create the perception that if anybody can do it, you can also do it,
so pushes customers to buy shoes and start the change.

3- Learning

• Nike Shoes is already a well-known brand through the world, with effective
advertisements and word of mouth, since customers tend to share their positive
views with their friends and family.

• After buying Nike Shoes, consumers learn about the brand, and experience the
quality and see themselves that they got what they expected.

4- Beliefs and Attitudes

• Consumers enjoy running in Nike Shoes, the feeling that it gives to them.
Everyone is and athlete, as Nike argues. Beliefs of becoming a motivated
healthy person are accomplished.

• Consumers‘ formed attitudes about the brand are buying a shoe that is
comfortable, makes you feel good, and also look cool in it and Nike Shoes
satisfy them all.

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 CHAPTER 7

SEGMENTATION, TARGETING, AND POSITIONING OF NIKE

Nike has been in the market for a long period of time now. Thus, it has already sorted
out the STP analysis that it would use to promote and sell its products. ‗

MARKET SEGMENTS:

The market segments that Nike can mainly differentiate are high, medium and low-
end customers with varying income levels. Thus, Nike needs to segment on various
fronts such as economic, demographic, geographical differentiations.

ECONOMIC SEGMENTATION:

High, medium and low-income levels that can be clubbed with their lifestyles of high,
medium and low-end customers.

DEMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION:

The company can segment the market into age, gender, and class segments.

GEOGRAPHICAL SEGMENTATION:

The company can segment the market into segments of North, West, East and South.

TARGET MARKET:

The company needs to target the markets as per the brand image and equity in
different markets. Thus, the company has targeted the market of high-end, high
income level between the age of 16-55 with a pan India location. Thus, the market
segment it is targeting is quite essential to differentiate itself from its competitors I.e.,
Reebok, Puma, Fila, Etc.

POSITIONING:

The brand Nike has positioned itself in the minds of consumers as a high-end product
which is costly but gives the value for money with its service, quality and designs.

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BRANDING: THE ESSENCE OF THE BUSINESS:

Many people view branding as purely a logo or a name, however, branding is far
more than this. A brand should capture the true meaning of the business and is created
jointly by the efforts of business and through customer‘s perceptions. Many of these
perceptions will be given to the consumer initially by the business. However, in some
situations the perceptions can arise from situations outside the business‘s control, for
instance through bad press.

Branding: Powerful marketing Mechanism used by Nike

• Leads to higher and more consistent product quality

• Increases innovation by giving producers an incentive to look for more new

features that can be safeguarded by the patent.

• Branding results in more product variety and choice for consumers.

• Branding provides consumer information about products and where to find

them.

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 CHAPTER 8:

NIKE’S MARKETING STRATEGIES

Nike Inc, is a global sports brand based in the United States that focuses on footwear,
apparel and other services in the sports industry. Nike was originally known as the
Blue-Ribbon Sports, and was founded by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman in 1964.
Since its foundation, the organization has become America‘s leading sportswear
brand and in 2018 was the ―most valuab-le apparel brand in the world‖
(Brandirectory.com, 2018). Nike is a global brand and has adapted and been the
pioneers towards change in the market. Nike‘s marketing decisions and strategies
have led the way for other sports brands to imitate, as they are the leading in market
share in the world with global revenues of ―more than 34 billion U.S dollars‖ (Nike
News, 2018) in the year ended May 2018. Nike‘s closest challengers are long-time
rivals Adidas. They are based in Germany and in recent years have shown signs of
catching up with Nike (Garcia, 2018). Nike in 2018 spent 3.5 billion U.S dollars on
advertising and promotion, this just shows how important marketing is for them
(Statista, 2018). The goal of a marketing strategy/campaign is to ―teach the buyer the
ideas and values of any given brand‖ (Milan, 2016).

This report will be evaluating the marketing strategies used by Nike and draw upon
key consumer research theories. Lastly recommendations will be given for its
marketing strategies.

The Nike Brand

The ‗Nike‘ brand is a very useful strategy that Nike have, it is powerful and as it is
one of the world‘s most valuable brands (Brandirectory.com, 2018), that means it is
known throughout the world. The ―Nike swoosh is a commercial symbol that has
come to stand for athletic excellence, determination and authenticity, the logo carries
the weight of the currency‖ (Goldman and Papson, 2004). Kazi mentioned that,
brands are ―built in the mind and bought by the consumer‖ (Kazi, 2011). The brand is
associated with high quality products that are durable and is built with the end user in
mind. Nike has used emotional branding in order to persuade customers and create
some sort of emotional attachment between the consumer and Nike. ―Emotional

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branding is widely heralded as a key to marketing success‖ (Thompson, Rindfleisch
and Arsel, 2006). ―Emotional branding is defined as the engagement of consumers in
a deep, long-term, intimate emotional connection with the brand‖ (Morrison and
Crane, 2007).

Sponsorship

A marketing strategy that Nike use is sponsorship. ―Corporate sport sponsorship is

becoming increasingly attractive in the United States and Europe because the value
that these cultures place upon entertainment, competition, and accomplishment‖
(McCook, 2004). Nike sponsor some of world‘s biggest sports stars in order to ―gain
brand awareness and affinity‖ (Cave and Miller, 2016). Cristiano Ronaldo (Football)
and Lebron James (Basketball) are the biggest starts on Nike‘s books at the moment.
Both have signed ―lifetime‖ deals with Nike which means their partnership will be in
place even after they retire (Nike News, 2016). No other company can match Nike‘s
spending on sports sponsorships (Isidore, 2015).

Ronaldo (Soccer Player)

Although a sponsorship can be negative and affect the brands image. Being associated
with someone who has for example done something wrong, or is having negative PR
can have huge effects on the brand that is sponsoring them or when information
comes out regarding the sponsorship. ―Negative sponsorship information released
after the sponsorship announcement unfavorably affects the sponsor´s brand image‖

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(Schnittka et al, 2013). Nike have been quick to pull out of sponsorship deals when
this has happened, for example when Lance Armstrong (Cycling) was caught using
drugs, Nike immediately pulled out (Nike News, 2012). Nike‘s brand image was
associated with a negative story therefore they had to pull out. Sponsorships affect
consumer‘s attitude towards the brand and is linked with the Theory of Reasoned
Actions as mentioned before, however this time for a consumer there is another
factor, which is the sponsored athlete. A positive image of the athlete can mean a
positive image of the brand. This is what Nike are aiming to do, and when a consumer
is choosing the product to buy this can be very critical. A consumer can choose to buy
the product in a matter of seconds and this is also known as Impulse Buying.

Using the Nike brand for collaborations

Nike is in an ever-changing industry. Nike as well as its competitors needs to keep up

to date with consumer taste especially in a market as volatile as the fashion industry.
In recent times both Nike and Adidas have teamed up with high-end fashion brands
such as Off-White, Yeezy and Raf Simons to build up their brand in those markets
(Nike, 2018), (adidas-group, 2016). Nike should continue collaborating with these
high-end brands as it can be an efficient way of marketing for the Nike brand. Brands
have power, which can dictate a consumer, Nike is the same bracket as Google and
Apple in which the brand itself can be classified as being alive. Consumers can ―feel
the brand as a singular, monolith entity, for example Nike, Google, Samsung etc., and
in life speak of it in third person singular‖ (Milan, 2016). Brands play a big role in the
lives of many, ―brands are omnipresent in human environment and it is expected that
people react and identify with them‖ (Milan, 2016). Nike must use its brand
power/image to engage with other brands, like they have done recently.

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Nike/Off White collaboration

Nike can possibly enter new markets such as high-end fashion. As mentioned by Han
in 1991, fashion is a reason for Impulse Buying, ―fashion orientated Impulse Buying‖
(Han et al, 1991). Therefore, Nike to increase its marketing activity should increase
their collaborations, but not only focus on one market. Perhaps look at engaging with
other brands from different sectors, this will increase their brand awareness, and
market share.

As mentioned by Kotler and Keller, in the purchase decision, two factors can affect
the process — which are the attitude and unanticipated factors (Kotler and Keller,
2009). Therefore, it is key for Nike when choosing to collaborate with other brands
that they have a positive image. Brand collaborations do not always work, such as
Lego and Shell, which Lego drew negative reception for being a toy company which
partnered with an oil corporation (Vaughan, 2014) as it was deemed unethical. In the
end Lego decided not to renew its contract with Shell.

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New/Emerging Markets and using social media

A sport which is undermined by Nike is cricket. Cricket has over one billion fans, and
although 90% are from India alone, it is a global sport. Matches between India and
Pakistan can command viewing figures in the hundreds of millions. Nike and Adidas
have been competing in the Chinese market — where there is huge potential but if
Nike could infiltrate the Indian/Pakistan market they could potentially increase their
foothold as the number one sports brand in the world. Currently Adidas are the
number 1 sports brand in India (Adidas-group, 2018). India is an emerging economy
and is tipped to be one of the biggest by 2050 (Hawksworth and Audino, 2017). India
is a very attractive market, from instore shopping to online, by ―2025, online spending
will be $550 billion‖ (Singhi et al, 2017) and that is just online itself. Also,
consumption is increasing in India, affluent households are increasing, meaning more
is available for spending. ―Emerging cities will be the fastest growing, while
consumer spending in India‘s biggest cities is increasing at about 12% a year‖ (Singhi
et al, 2017). Therefore, Nike must make the most of the opportunities it has.

India also has the ―Indian Premier League‖ which commands higher average
attendances than Spanish‘s La Liga Football (TOTAL SPORTEK, 2016). With
around over 100 million online consumers in India (Statista, 2017), Nike should focus
its attention on social media, consumers like to engage with their brands and can be
pivotal in the decision-making process. Social media is all about ―giving out,
receiving and exchanging information‖ (Smith and Zook,2011). Important to note, in
recent times, and referring to Table 1, Adidas have chosen to close down stores and
shift towards selling more online (UK Reuters, 2018). Millennials are heavy users of

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the internet, and ―47% of millennials are influenced by social media in their
purchases‖ (Lobaugh et al, 2015). As mentioned before, online is where Impulse
Buying can take place, as all it takes is a few clicks. This shows the usefulness of
social media. As well as the ―hero‖ theme in Nike‘s marketing projects, if it could
bring this to the social media side, it has the potential to be compete with Adidas in
India. Nike has an excellent marketing strategy in place and are the pioneers for their
sector, every year they release new ideas and at the time of writing this report, Nike
opened a new concept store in Los Angeles. The new store utilizes the Nike app and
makes judgements on the consumer behavior in the local area using algorithms from
the app. Nike is focusing on ―reinventing itself as a data-driven, direct-to-consumer
brand‖

Nike has the resources to be the best in its sector for a long time to come, but must
continue to look forward at the new challenges ahead. The recommendations made
are in line with what they can do and have the knowledge and expertise to implement
these marketing strategies.

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 CHAPTER 9

ANALYSIS OF NIKE’S ADVERTISING ACTIVITIES

• Advertising strategy: Strategy consists of two elements; message and media.

Its message is to show its target segment (young customers that we interested
in sports and healthy living) that they did not need a hero to believe in
themselves, to boost their confidence, they needed a pair of Nike Shoes.

• Ad objective: Nike‘s objective is to remind and persuade the customers. They

needed to be reminded how wearing Nike Shoes felt like, and how it will
boost their confidence, therefore persuade the customers.

• Ad appeal: Nike‘s appeal in their ads is emotional, each different player in the
ads express their feelings and how Nike Shoes change their performance,
linked with their ambition and anger.

• Message structure: Their message structure is one-sided only; no opposing

ideas are expressed in the ads.

• Brand positioning of their products in the ads: They aim to position their
brand that it is the only thing their target segment need in order to fully believe
themselves, boost their confidence, and achieve what they are aiming for.

• Target segment in the ad: The target segment in the ads is young people (16-
27 years old) who are not necessarily professional athletes, but who are
interested in healthy living and playing sports, including students and working
people, who are playing basketball after work, for example.

• Their slogan: ―JUST DO IT‖

• Mission of the organization: Mission of Nike in their ads is to reach young

consumers, by showing them to believe in themselves with the help of Nike
Shoes. Brand promise of Nike is always concentrated around ―just do is‖,
―find your greatness‖.

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 CHAPTER 10

NIKE OUTRANKS ADIDAS, UNDER ARMOUR & LULULEMON

Nike ranks No. 14 on Forbes Hyper list, while Adidas comes in No. 61. By contrast,
fellow Forbes.com contributor Panos Mourdoukoutas recently reported ―Adidas
Steals the Buzz from Nike And Under Armour.‖

But for my money, the opinion that matters most is the consumers. On that score,
Nike is way out in front of Adidas, Under Armour and Lululemon.

Nike ranks No. 1 in consumers‘ perception of innovation and fashion/style and most
importantly on purchase intention, according to a survey among 1,400+ recent athletic
apparel purchasers in the U.S., conducted by investment firm Canaccord Genuity in
March. Among the sample, there was a near equal distribution between men and
women.

Let‘s break it down:

Nike is most innovative hands down

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Among both men and women, Nike is in the lead in innovation, named by 42% of
men and 39% of women as most innovative. Under that women and men diverge in
opinions.

Women rank Under Amour as number two (29%) with Adidas (17%) and Lululemon
(9%) trailing. Men, on the other hand, put Adidas in the number two slot at 35%,
followed by Under Armour at 18% and Lululemon (4%) is barely mentioned.

For Nike, innovation is one of the cornerstones of its Triple Double Strategy (2X)
announced in 2017. At that time, it promised to double its ―cadence and impact of
innovation,‖ double its speed to market and double its ―direct connections with
consumers.‖

That 2X Innovation strategy is paying off particularly among higher-income men

($60,000 to $150,000 range), with Nike‘s innovative brand perception in that
demographic increasing from 38% in the December 2018 survey to 44% most
recently.

Among young women, aged 25-34 and 35-49, Nike‘s innovation efforts also are
gaining ground, while Adidas‘ is losing among this demographic.

Nike views the women‘s market as a key opportunity, since women‘s generates only
about one-fourth of company revenues compared with men‘s, yet the total market for
women‘s apparel is one-and-one-half times larger than men.

In its most recent third quarter earnings call, Mark Parker, chairman president and
CEO, reported women‘s growth is now over-indexing men‘s and added, ―We‘re
putting particular emphasis too on the women's innovation agenda in apparel as well.‖

On the other hand, Adidas makes a poor showing in innovation among women. And
Under Armour is in a steep innovation decline among men, especially those with
incomes in the $60,000 to $150,000 range.

Under Armour‘s erosion in perception among men is particularly troubling, since it is

reported to generate about 75% of total sales among men.

The report states, ―This suggests that [Under Armour] brand‘s once premium status
has faltered among higher earners, likely due to its channel expansion decisions and
poor segmentation.‖ And since only 4% of men and 9% of women rank Lululemon as
most innovative, that points to more work that it needs to do to gain status as a
performance brand, rather than a fashion brand.

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Nike leads on the fashion front too

Looking fashionable on the court or field, when jogging or in the yoga studio is
another key factor that drives athletic apparel sales, and on that score, Nike wins, too.
For 42% of men and 31% of women, Nike is the top ―fashionable/on trend‖ brand.

While Lululemon scores much higher with women (26%) than men (6%) in fashion,
Nike‘s efforts to get the fashion right for both men and women is paying off. Nike is
―editing our product portfolio while amplifying the styles that consumers love most,‖
said Andy Campion, CFO, in the recent earnings call.

The study, however, indicates that Nike should put more emphasis on millennial
women, ages 24-34, who increased their rating of Lululemon as most fashionable
from 20% in December to 31% in the March survey. But since Lululemon is investing
in growing its men‘s business, it has even more work there to raise its appeal with
men. Coming in second in the fashion ranking among men is Adidas (37%) and it is
especially strong among millennial men, 18-24 and 25-34 years of age.

On the other hand, Adidas lost fashion appeal among women aged 25-34 years,
dropping from 26% in the last survey to 16% most recently. Overall, 19% of women
consider Adidas most fashionable.

Under Armour‘s fashion status is lagging against the competition, particularly among
higher-income men and women, ―a disconcerting proposition if the company hopes to
maintain its premium positioning,‖ the report states.

Further, while Under Armour is in fashion free fall among younger consumers, its
fashion appeal is growing among the 50–64-year-old men, which is not the most
desirable demographic for most fashion brands.

Nike’s hold on consumers’ brand loyalty is undisputed

In the final question in the survey— ―Which apparel brand are you most likely to buy
from within the next six months?‖—Nike was named by 40% of the total consumers
surveyed, as compared with 31% who chose Adidas. While Adidas‘ purchase intent is
stronger among men (39%) to Nike‘s 41%, women are far less likely to plan to buy
Adidas next, 22% as compared with 38% for Nike. Under Armour simply doesn‘t cut
it, with only 18% of all consumers (15% of men and 22% of women) saying it will be
their next brand purchase. And Lululemon barely registers, with 7% of women and
3% of men choosing it for a new purchase.

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Nike keeps doing it

The results of this consumer survey show that Nike continues on a roll in the
measures that matter most to athletic apparel customers – innovation and fashion—
which translates into strong purchase intent. While Adidas is holding its own against
Nike, it is not advancing and Under Armour is rapidly losing ground. Lululemon
hardly matters, except for women.

These findings give credence to Parker‘s claim in Nike‘s third quarter report: ―Our
business momentum is being accelerated by our ability to scale innovation at a faster
pace and expand new digital consumer experiences around the world.‖

His promise to invest in key capabilities that will ―fuel strong profitable growth into
next fiscal year and beyond,‖ is right on track.

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 CONCLUSION

The conclusion is based on empirical data and whole research, no differences in

attitudes among the respondent regarding the concept of consumer buying behavior
towards sports shoe. There is similar type of answers given by people after
performing the study the result shows that the opinions actually different and quite a
bit. The most significant difference is how the respondents value their spare time.

Ultimate result is, probably every company‘s aim is to popularize in market with new
brands and attract the customers with offering varieties. The customers are every time
asking the satisfaction. If manufacturing company satisfies the consumer needs, then
behavior is no matter. The result of the study also shows that the concept of consumer
buying behavior towards sports shoes has become a profitable service. In order to
achieve profitability, the quality of the service has to outperform that of the regular
shopping experience, also Nike company will have to reduce their costs and focus
more on outsourcing and on global markets.

FURTHER RESEARCH

In Further research it would be interested to carry out this study at other brands in the
world. For example, the research may focus upon Nike brands in the youth buying
behavior to observe, if they have the same need for marketing and creating a strong
relationship to attract the buyers from different segments. Since this study was
conducted at one university, a comparison between national & international students
and exchange students as well which, carry different buying behaviors towards sports
shoe like Nike. This research is focused on the youth buying behavior towards sports
shoe market. It would be more interesting research at Halmstad University with
different students with different theories of the study and different models of the
study.

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