4 ms·

Lots of marketing speak in there so my TLDR (with apologies to ‘sitelus): when people want to buy Nikes, they go to Nike.com, not drive to the nearest mall (exc

by GuiA 9y ago

Lots of marketing speak in there so my TLDR (with apologies to ‘sitelus): when people want to buy Nikes, they go to Nike.com, not drive to the nearest mall (except for grandpa buying nike’s for his grandson’s birthday, but there are fewer and fewer of them, and even then they might not have the model that grandpa wants, resulting in a potentially lost purchase). Running a successful company is about managing focus and effort. In the light of the above, Nike has decided that dealing with mass retail is just not worth the effort+time investment anymore. You still want to have a physical presence in the real world, but you want it to be iconical - people making a point to going to the Nike Store, etc (did Apple pioneer the modern version of that concept? I can’t think of product companies who did something like it before). So that’s what Nike is betting on.

libertine 9y ago
It depends on where you stand geographically - in some places, there are retailers who are simply the go-to solution. Now, anyone who knows some history of marketing, or who have been working on this for some time, knows that the sales channel helps with brand positioning - this is basic marketing. If you have a luxury brand (yes, Apple is a luxury brand) you stand where luxury brands are - you even use media that luxury brands use for advertising. Nike was about empowering people who liked sports - they were a mass market brand. That's where mass retail comes to play because they have distribution on the scale to the masses - the problem is that they squeeze margins. Mass retail REMOVES effort + time from the equation precisely. Maybe Nike just wants to thicken their margins, since they are watching what's happening with SUPREME - a fashion brand where people make lines to buy t-shirts... if SUPREME cult can do it, with ridiculous margins... why can't they? Nike has the brand cult, they have the product, now they just bump the prices and create the idea of exclusivity with a small supply - the illusion of scarcity. I mean, they have a good example with basketball shoes in the USA. Secondary market will love this. Btw, Apple didn't pioneer the concept of the modern brand stores - they copied boutiques from luxury jewelry and watches brands.
- altstar 9y ago
  And companies like Benetton.
- tgb 9y ago
  Nike has been doing the "costumers standing in lines to buy their product" thing for longer than Supreme has existed. Their basketball shoe line has been massively cultish since at least Michael Jordan.
  - libertine 9y ago
    It's a distant reality from my culture, didn't knew that was already a thing at product release!

by GuiA 9y ago

libertine 9y ago

It depends on where you stand geographically - in some places, there are retailers who are simply the go-to solution. Now, anyone who knows some history of marketing, or who have been working on this for some time, knows that the sales channel helps with brand positioning - this is basic marketing. If you have a luxury brand (yes, Apple is a luxury brand) you stand where luxury brands are - you even use media that luxury brands use for advertising. Nike was about empowering people who liked sports - they were a mass market brand. That's where mass retail comes to play because they have distribution on the scale to the masses - the problem is that they squeeze margins. Mass retail REMOVES effort + time from the equation precisely. Maybe Nike just wants to thicken their margins, since they are watching what's happening with SUPREME - a fashion brand where people make lines to buy t-shirts... if SUPREME cult can do it, with ridiculous margins... why can't they? Nike has the brand cult, they have the product, now they just bump the prices and create the idea of exclusivity with a small supply - the illusion of scarcity. I mean, they have a good example with basketball shoes in the USA. Secondary market will love this. Btw, Apple didn't pioneer the concept of the modern brand stores - they copied boutiques from luxury jewelry and watches brands.

altstar 9y ago
And companies like Benetton.
tgb 9y ago
Nike has been doing the "costumers standing in lines to buy their product" thing for longer than Supreme has existed. Their basketball shoe line has been massively cultish since at least Michael Jordan.
- libertine 9y ago
  It's a distant reality from my culture, didn't knew that was already a thing at product release!