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Nike readies rush to harness ‘thunderous energy’ around women

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By Seb Joseph | News editor

December 21, 2014 | 4 min read

Nike is prepping a barrage of marketing initiatives aimed at exploiting the “thunderous” energy in women’s health and fitness it hopes can add $2bn to annual sales by 2017.

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The company is boosting spend to make its athletic gear more appealing to women in the hope of encouraging them to incorporate the brand into other aspects of their lifestyle.

Nike says the category, which is worth around $5bn, is on track to meet its goal of becoming $7bn business by 2017 following strong sales in its latest quarter.

A rise in the number of women participating in sport propelled the upswing, according to the company, pushing sales in the three months to November up 15 per cent year-on-year to $7.4bn.

The trend, which Nike refers to as a cultural shift, will be exploited through a bigger focus on retail and digital in 2015.

The sportswear maker has pulled together a roster of all-star ladies including world record marathoner Paula Radcliffe and sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce to push its spring/summer collection. Nike is stressing the fashion elements in communications and marketing for the range as it looks to ward off the advances of Under Armour’s female-focused drive in the US and Europe.

Growth will also be driven through Nike’s women only stores in the US and Asia. Earlier this year it promoted senior marketer Helen O’Neill to the newly-created vice president and general manager of stores role to introduce new in-store innovations worldwide.

Mark Parker, president and chief executive of Nike, told analysts on a conference call last week (18 December), that the company is “bullish” on the “women’s opportunity”.

“We’re seeing a big shift in women’s, just in terms of their participation in sports and being more physical. We’re seeing that online with the number of women we have participating in our Nike Plus and our training applications online,” he said.

“We were also there to spotlight an important cultural shift that’s happening, and sport is powering women’s lives like never before. We see it every day in our digital community of 65 million women, and women are driving a larger global movement of health and fitness. They’re running in record numbers, they’re engaging in new kinds of workouts and athletic activities at a rapid pace, and that means they have new needs, which are creating new insights and inspiring new products and services."

Digital will play a key role in Nike’s charm-offensive on the lucrative category moving forward, Much of this will focus on community management and software development after the business axed its Fuelband unit earlier this year.

Ecommerce updates can also be expected after the company said it is “one of our biggest and most important growth opportunities”. Ecommerce sales rose 65 per cent in the quarter.

Parker said: “We see digital as an integrated ecosystem of digital communication with consumers, digital products and services to inspire and motivate, and of course ecommerce. All three dimensions work together to deliver premium personalized experiences for our consumers and drive growth for Nike."

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