Nike in the Female Market Segment in the United Kingdom
Recently the sportswear market has experienced a “tectonic” shift with the expansion of female segment. Most companies have already started the development of female product line and tailoring of the marketing strategies. In the framework of the current paper the UK sportswear market trends and current situation are analyzed. It argues that among all competitors Nke represents the strongest brand and can tackle new opportunities in regard to the female segment in the future.
Sportswear Market Trends: Global and the UK
For the last decade the global sportswear market showed sustainable growth: in 2015 it comprised $297 billion, and in 2016 it was already $320 billion (Statista.com). The expected size of this market in 2017 is forecast to amount up to $348 billion. Global sportswear brands like Nike or Adidas produce and market their products for different regions and several target customer segments. The customer segmentation is usually performed on the basis of customer gender, age, and level of sports engagement.
Several years ago female segment of the sportswear market was much smaller than male. Women did not actively participate in sports due to several key reasons. Firstly, many women doubted whether they would be attractive to their partners in case they had muscles and looked stronger. Secondly, women felt uncomfortable if someone saw them exercising. For this reason, even if a woman went to a gym, she preferred to wear some clothes which would not attract anyone’s attention. However, recently the trend has begun to change. Verdict reports that in the UK the female sportswear sales grew by 26.1% to £710 million in the period from 2010 to 2015 (Ghosh, Shona). It also forecasts that the female market segment will grow faster than male (Ramsay, Louise). Women become more active in sports, partially due to national promotion of healthy lifestyle in many countries (e.g., the UK “This Girl Can” campaign) or as a result of social networks’ influence (Joseph, Seb). In Instagram or Facebook many celebrities post their photos exercising which makes other women want to follow into their steps.
For sportswear companies this trend is a unique opportunity to tackle female market segment. However, besides apparel for sports many companies have also identified the demand for the so-called “athleisure” female outfit (Rogers, Charlotte). Women tend to wear sports clothes not only for exercising but also in their daily life. Verdict claims that 70% of women consider “fashion” as one of the key choosing criteria for sportswear (Ghosh, Shona). Thus, the sportswear brands also start offering items which suit both daily routine activities and sports.
Porter’s Five Forces Analysis
The sportswear market in the UK can be characterized by tense competition while there are a lot of brands which specialize on different customer segments (Ramsay, Louise). The switching costs are low, so the buyers’ power is strong. The threat of substitutes is medium because not all products can be substituted with non-sports analogies. The weakest power is attributed to the suppliers since …
