Under Armour is a leading athletic clothing line directed towards the overall athlete who is looking for the most comfort during extracurricular activities. The mission of the company is, "to provide the world with technically advanced products engineered with exclusive fabric construction, supreme moisture management, and proven innovation. In short, every Under Armour product is doing something for you; it's making you better."
Founded in 1996 by University of Maryland graduate Kevin Plank, Under Armour has become the leading supplier of the athletic performance apparel industry. Under Armour began with simple idea to create a t-shirt that would enhance athletic performance by regulating body temperature and removing perspiration without absorbing it. Under Armour was based out of Plank's grandmother's basement in D.C. until he moved the headquarters to, and built a manufacturing plant in, South Baltimore.
Initially, Under Armour focused on selling their products to Division I college football programs. As a former captain for the Maryland Terrapins football team, Plank got tired of wearing heavy cotton t-shirts under his football pads in the hot summer months, and multiple turtlenecks under his pads during the cold late fall months. As a business major at College Park, Plank developed the idea of Under Armour for a management class.
After graduation, Plank traveled to New York City's garment district to test various materials and eventually designed a material out of spandex and lingerie to be worn under the football pads of athletes. Under Armour's product lines include HeatGear, ColdGear, TurfGear and LooseGear, which can be found in more than 8,000 retail stores and on Under Armour's website. The idea was a major suc...
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...ng luxury, not many people want to wait two weeks to receive their product. When an item is ordered, it is needed immediately, and if it is received immediately then it not only improve the relationship to the customer. But it will also add value to the purchase which makes that customer that much more likely to buy the product again in the future, as opposed to your competitors. If you have customers in remote areas you do not have the luxury to send their shipment in a large batch of items, you must pay more to have that item shipped individually, which is costing more money.
By putting the warehouses in strategic locations, you provide better access to those customers in more remote locations. By taking advantage of this, Under Armour will not only expose itself to new customers, but will be able to continue to dominate the athletic performance apparel industry.
Per Kalogeropoulos (2016), the company is better able to ensure product availability while managing their costs because of their latest logistics initiative. They have recently created a network of deployment centers that reduces the time between when the product leaves a supplier to when it hits the shelf at the Home Depot store which drives profits higher. Parnell (2014), relays that companies who use low-cost strategy seek distribution channels that minimize cost. Home Depot’s new logistics initiative provides the company with economies of scale and a market advantage because it adds to their low-cost
Overall, Under Armor did an outstanding job targeting young, aspiring athletes to do what they want to do with their life. They used logic to show how hard the athletes work along with emotion to show how serious they take their training. Finally, Under Armor used the credibility of the athletes to sell their new training shoe. This commercial will make anyone want to purchase a pair of shoes and workout themselves. Since the commercial is on such a serious level, viewers emotionally connect with it which makes Under Armor seem like the best brand
"Nike." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition 1. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 6, 2009).
Lululemon Athletica, Inc. (Lululemon) is renowned for its technical, high-quality yoga-inspired apparel for women. However, the company is growing beyond this niche market and is therefore altering its competitive strategy. Lululemon utilizes a broad differentiation strategy because its target market is broad and its product line is varied, it stresses product innovation, and its community-based marketing and retail experience sustain its differentiation from competitors.
Under Armor is a leading developer and distributor of athletic gear. The product line consists of a wide variety of apparel, footwear, and accessories. Over the past few years, the company has grown at an impressive rate due to their increased product line, expansions to the international market and direct- to- consumer business. Analyzing Porter’s Five Forces will aid in understanding what the company will face and potentially overcome moving forward.
Under Armour’s target market is consumers that are involved in physical activities. The demographic age groups that they cater to varies from youth to adults. Their products can with stand any weather condition from cold weather to warm weather, which means their product can be used in any geographic location. These consumers can be either light user like walkers or heavy users like football players.
The second recommendation for Under Armour is that they should develop a shoe line and marketing campaign for women, based on the idea of everyday athlete. Focusing on the fact that women want to compete and have the same performance benefits that everyone wants, but also have a shoe that is stylish enough that she can wear straight
The sports apparel and accessories industry has a highly competitive market. Businesses are constantly competing for elite athletes to sponsor, raw materials, and every opportunity to expand. Under Armour is able to not only survive but thrive in this market because of their ability to think outside of the box. They are constantly creating new and exciting products that help athletes everywhere.
Place (channels of distribution), refers to the point of sale (POS). The method of which a product is assessable to the consumer is a crucial part in the distribution of goods. Retailers pay top dollar for prime real-estate, one of the most popular saying in business is “location, location, location”. Location is key in the retail market and Victoria’s Secret understands that very well, they offer a number of outlets for consumers to reach their products; they have a number of physical store locations both inside and outside of the mall and centrally located to consumers, including overseas and in a number of countries throughout the world, offer online shopping for the millennial and convenience shopping as well as via catalogue (mail order). There is great utilization in all outlets for distribution of the product line; Victoria’s Secret ensures high engagement of its consumers in all outlets by offering special sales and promotions significant to the specific outlet. By doing this they appeal to each market
Many global companies like Nike, Inc. are seen as role models both in the market place as well as in society in large. That is why they are expected to act responsibly in their dealings with humanity and the natural world. Nike benefits from the global sourcing opportunities, therefore areas such as production and logistics have been outsourced to partner companies in low-wage countries like China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. As a result the company is limited nowadays to its core competencies of Design and Marketing.
Nike’s focus for fashion forward women is the following: lead the athleisure trend, increase advertising, and the introduce the #BetterForIt social media campaign. We need to focus on the athleisure trend by increasing our portfolio for the women target market. Athleisure is already 20% of the firm’s revenue and we need to recognize that women are leading this fashion movement. Under Armor and Lululemon are already making headways in this fashion focused market. We need to emphasize our athletic technologies, promoting lighter fabrics and better performance, while still maintaining a level of comfort and fashionability. Increasing the portfolio means nothing if women don’t know we’ve done just that. Nike will need to increase advertising specifically with this target market in mind. The #BetterForIt campaign is one important aspect of these advertising efforts. Similar campaigns should promote and help “normalize” athletic wear in everyday
Nike is a company-- young and yet mature--developed and respected by popular athletes both past and present, whose icon remains a "swoosh" printed both large and small on many different forms of apparel. The "swoosh" constitutes a dream of being the best bec...
This project concentrates on the Nike Sports shoe; Nike is one of most significant shoe manufacturing company worldwide. Sportswear manufactured by Nike is known for quality and is most liked brand of athletes. (Daniel, 2011)
...ual Income Statement). Adidas has chosen not to make their advertising plans publicly known (How Much Money Does Adidas Spend on Advertising?).Under Armour is an up and coming company founded in 1996, their net income starting at 46.79 million and by 2013 ending with 162.17 million dollars (UA Annual Income Statement). Under Armour is focusing their advertising on internet marketing and mobile marketing, 6,500 dollars towards a mobile app and an overall advertising budget of 40,000 (Zoe Suffety).
... quality of sports wears we provide as our slogan, “A fine operational job” says we do our operation very fine and well and strive to give customers a good and quality products.