Everything now a day seems to be about repeat and consistent sells. Being able to Find the new trend and taking advantage of it. The shoe industry is no different. New styles, prices, and endorsers are always used to attract customers. With new releases being sold out within days, the Jordan brand Is a perfect example. The Jordan brand has been able to sell for over 20 years now while always making good profit. A Little Bit of History… Back in 1984 the Nike company was struggling to attract customers.
They had to come up with a new idea and in came Michael Jordan. After signing Jordan to a 2. 5 million dollar contract, the “ Air Jordan” brand was created. Originally back in 1984 the shoes created by the Jordan brand were designed mainly for basketball usage. Now a days they are used more for casual wear. I believe this has benefited the Jordan brand. This is because not only are basketball players targeted for sale but also anyone interested in shoes. The Jordan brand is not only limited to basketball players. This allows them to have a much bigger target market.
For example myself, I only play soccer but i own a lot of pairs of jordans. I never play basketball but the design is something I really like. This is something that that the brand has benefited from. The reason people buy these shoes is because of the good looking designs. Since the Jordan brand is now so big and popular, many people just buy Jordan’s because of the trend. Another example of how Jordan brand was able to expand it’s target market. The four P’s… Product- The Jordan brand keeps a consistent design. Designs of shoes originally released in 1984-200 are re-released later on.
This keeps it simple for the Jordan brand. Being able to release old ideas is something not many other industries can afford to do. For example a shoe originally released in 1995 is extremely hard to find in todays market. For this reason the Jordan brand re-releases the same shoe and is able to sell very large amounts of its product. Price- The Jordan brand varies on its prices. Shoes that are higher in demand will go for a higher price while shoes not commonly worn are sold cheaper. Shoes are made mostly in China and Taiwan. This leads to paying low wages while selling for high profits.
Promotion- The most successful way of advertising that the Jordan brand uses is celebrity endorsers. These endorsers are professional basketball players. For example the Jordan brand recently signed Blake Griffen from the Los Angeles clippers. This signing allows Blake Griffen to indorse Jordans shoes every game. This allows the public to view the shoes created by Jordan. This targets kids that follow Blake Griffen and further expands the target market. Place- Jordan brand uses retail stores in order to sell it’s shoes. Some examples are Foot locker, Champs, and Foot Action.
These stores are mainly located in shopping malls where they can be put on display. Environmental factor…. Competitive forces- This is the biggest factor that the Jordan brand and Nike deal with. This is because of the many other shoe industries in the market. For example Nike’s rival Adidas, also has many celebrity endorsers. They also sell in retail stores and have many different designs. Many times both Adidas and Nike products are sold in the same retail store. This leads to the customer having to make a choice, which brings down the sales of the Jordan brand. Competition in the shoe industry can be dangerous.
This is because when one brand creates a new trendy product, it can really bring down the sales of its competition. This is why the Jordan brand brings out new designs multiple times a month in order to keep supplying new product to the customer. Technological forces- Technology has really expanded the sells of the Jordan brand. The ability to be able to sell directly to the customer online is yet another way the brand can make profit. The Jordan Brand has its own website in which it sells its new and older products. Another reason why technology has been able to help the Jordan brand is the advertising.
Also the fact that Jordan Brand uses the internet to expose future release dates is a huge advantage. This allows customers to plan accordingly and save up money in order to buy the new product. Change If I can advise the marketing director on anything, it would be concerning the pricing. As the Jordan brand has came along, the prices have risen year by year. Many people in the shoe community no longer seek to buy Jordan monthly because of the price. I believe if the price of the shoes were dropped it would attract a lot more customers. The profit on a single shoe would drop but overall a lot more product would be sold.
This would also help in the competition aspect. Customers seeing an effort to drop prices by a company might tend to lean towards them. Besides the pricing I wouldn’t have much more advise for the Jordan brand. Their ability to be consistent and advertise is what’s kept them in the market for so long. I believe the Jordan brand will always be successful. As long as the prices don’t get to a point in which the average person can afford them, there will be no problem. Coming up with designs and selling them has never been a problem for the Jordan brand.
Advertising will continue to thrive as long as stars and celebrities indorse. Overall the Jordan brand has been successful for many years now and I believe will continue to do so.
Bibliography
- Lewis, Brett. “Evolution of Nike’s Air Jordan Shoe. ” cardboardconnection. com. carboard connetion, Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www. cardboardconnection. com/ the-history-of-nikes-air-jordan-shoes-told-through-pictures>.
- Sneaker news. “Air Jordan – History of the Franchise. ” http://sneakernews. com. Liquidrice, Inc. Company, n. d. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://sneakernews. com/air-jordan-brand-jordan/>.
