Nike Product Differentiation

Nike

Product Differentiation: Stand out from the crowd.

When you are willing to do the hard work first, anything is possible. Nike is the world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and a major manufacturer of sports equipment. One of the most valuable brands with a with revenue of US $24.1 billion in the year 2012 and valued at 19 billion. Bill Bowerman’s spirit still blows change into every corner of Nike. He believed everything could be lighter, he wasn’t after perfection he was after performance which made his shoes differentiated from rest of the shoe companies at that time.

Product attributes: Nike could offer a much sophisticated and lighter shoe for athletes and filled more needs of the customers better than its competitors. With the focus on research and development from years they could always provide better versions of products like Nike Air Jordan, Nike pro, Nike+, Nike pro.

Firm: Customer Relationships:  There single-minded focus on giving the best athlete equipment to customers made them build a good relationship with their customers.

Customization: Nike apparel are made of natural and synthetic fibers, water and heat resistant fabrics and its shoes are made of rubber, foam cushioning material, nylon and many more. Nike is constantly in front of competition by maintaining high level innovation.

Firm Linkages: There were able to build an efficient network among manufacturers and suppliers who can supply high quality material. To serve the best to their customers Nike made Partnership with Apple for fitness training.

By this unique rareness of product, they have high volume of customers and premium prices.

There are many other sports brands like Adidas, Under Armour, Sketchers trying to imitate the product, but Nike is making all the efforts to still differentiate its products by innovative ideas and giving comfortable products. Nike is one of the best examples Cost Leadership and Product Differentiation since there products are priced higher than many other similar brands.

Industry: When Nike entered it was an emerging industry for light weight shoes.