Rewriting Marketing CAPSTONE

Under Amour is influenced by any alternations, whether positive or negative, in social factors in various circumstances. The management should examine the people's lifestyle in a given locality to determine whether they exercise regularly or not. This would determine if the company is viable to widen or restrict market share in the region.

Economic Factors

A business organization such as Under Amour is affected when significant trends in the economy might alleviate or hinder the organization attaining the set goals and objectives. The management must examine consumer behavior, interest rate adjustments, banking behavior, inflation, as well as overall economic indicators. When the economic factors are positive, the business growth would be significant as well.

Technological

Under Amour’s management should consider the changes brought about by the technology. It is because technology is changing the way of doing things in any organizational setting. Organizations that fail to embrace technology offer services and goods that are less competitive in the market hence low market share.

Competitive

Business growth and success are dependent on how organizations are capable of competing in the market. Under Amour’s management must ensure substantial financial resources are budgeted to ensure that the organization conducts aggressive marketing campaigns for brand awareness and recognition to the potential market.

Regulatory

The laws and regulations are enacted by the federal and state government to regulate the way business organizations operate. If the laws do not exist, there would be exploitation on the side of the customers as well as unfair competition among various firms. Under Amour’s management must ensure that the company observes the legal framework to avoid sanctions and penalties.

Four P’s of Marketing

Price

Most consumers of goods and services often research the prices before making purchasing decisions. Under Amour’s management should factor the income levels of the players and clubs across the globe. The company should devise a pricing discrimination strategy where the high-income players incur high costs at the same subsiding the prices of the low-income players. This would ensure that the company would make more sales overseas market (Patel, S. and Arya, M. 2017).

Product

The management should develop various qualities of the t-shirts for the players. Although Kevin Prank saw an opportunity to improve the quality of sports attire, mainly t-shirts. The company ought to fulfill the needs of all players across the globe, depending on their income levels. However, the company should not affect the quality of the t-shirts. Moreover, it should devote itself to producing unique and high-quality brands noticing across the globe (Patel, S. and Arya, M. 2017).

Place

The management needs to establish the market, whether internal or overseas. Organizations across the globe are unable to see the opportunities presented by the trading pacts between international countries. They restrict themselves to the local market and fail to identify international business opportunities, effectively limiting their growth patterns. The overseas markets such as clubs in the developing countries require sports kits; hence the management needs to up their game and take the market share hence improve on their sales (Patel, S. and Arya, M. 2017).

Promotion

The sports attire ventures across the globe often fail to advertise their services to the people. Organizations that conduct aggressive product promotion campaigns are rewarded through increased sales volume. Most of the consumers of sports attire are entirely in the dark since they do not know the specific localities to acquire them. The management should strive to tap this market through promotions in press media, sports magazines, as well as sponsoring some clubs (Patel, S. and Arya, M. 2017).

SWOT ANALYSIS

The SWOT analysis below chronicles the elements that make Under Armour stand out and areas where it could focus on its areas and weakness to capture an even more significant share of the existing market.

Strengths

One of Under Armour’s greatest strength is the unique and innovative technology behind its products. Under Armour was established on the premise that its t-shirts wick off perspiration as opposed to absorbing it hence keeping the athletes cool even in hot temperatures. In 2013, the company designed and released shirts that tracked an athlete’s heart by installing sensors in the shirts that could register electrical signals from the heart (Boone, L. E. and Kurtz, D. L. 2013). Moreover, the company also developed tape-replacing cleat that offered ultimate support to the athletes. Such outstanding inventions offer Under Armour a better competitive position against other retail brands. Competitive position “Is the position that a firm has already acquired or is trying to acquire, relative to its competitors” (Boone, L. E. and Kurtz, D. L. 2013, p.5). Even better as the company strives to keep with emerging technological advancements in society, it could easily resonate with many consumers.

Under Armour’s brand recognition in the sporting arena is another of its significant strengths. Brand recognition “Is the ability of a consumer to recognize one brand over other brands” (Kerin & Hartley, 2016, p. 10). Under Armour is a renowned brand whose logo has been evidenced in almost every sports event like football, snowboarding, baseball, among others. Its company logo has been evidenced in major jerseys and stadium walls, making it a familiar brand in the eyes of the Americans in the last decade, especially (Boone, L. E. and Kurtz, D. L. 2013). Under Armour has mostly invested in marketing for golf, which has made acquire brand equity in the golf arena to the extent that professional golfer, Jordan Spieth, has endorsed the organization. Brand equity is defined as “Residing in the minds of the consumers and results from what they have felt, seen and heard about brand overtime” (Kerin & Hartley, 2016, p. 15).

Three, Under Armour also takes pride in producing a wide range of products. The company takes pride in being innovative, and hence it not only relies on making t-shirts but rather it also makes products like football helmet clips and speed skating suits. This relays the message that Under Armour centers on utility and quality. Although some of the products by Under Armour may be less known, it has been driven to engage creative partnerships and to be up-front in creating unique and quality brands.

Under Armour is also widely acclaimed for its athlete endorsements, which have helped to market its brand on a broader spectrum. The company is very intentional in its athlete endorsements that it could spend millions in its contractual agreements. Through the years, Under Armour has key athlete endorsements, and with such endorsements, it has created an impression with its competitors while attracting vast numbers of potential clients (Wagner, K. 2013).

Finally, Under Armour prides itself on being eco-friendly in its operations. The company has committed to being sustainable by posing as little risk to the environment as possible in its productions. It has gone as far as having five commitments to being more eco-friendly, which include recycling its materials, reducing energy, reducing and recycling its wastes, improving its environmental impact, and incorporating green practices in its production. These principles have guided Under Armour’s product line while giving it substantial strengths. Also, these environmental values have helped to enhance its corporate responsibility as an organization that is environmentally sound. Corporate Responsibility, “Is the way a company takes responsibility for its actions and their impact on communities, stakeholders and employees” (Kraft, P. and Lee, J. W. 2009)

Weaknesses

Its lack of competitiveness in the shoe industry remains to be Under Armour’s greatest weakness. Despite releasing the Speed-form, which rivals Nike’s Free series running shoes, Reebok has also released a similar shoe which models the Speed-form but lighter. So far, the Speed form has not significantly impacted the market, nor has it become a popular running shoe (Wagner, K. 2013). Also, unlike Nike and Adidas, which have historically had famous athlete shows like the Air Jordan and Nike Air Force, Under Armour does not have a popular show to its name. All in all, Under Armour, has a bright future; nonetheless, it must produce quality shows that match up to the standards of those produced by Adidas and Nike (Wagner, K. 2013). Also, it attains a similar level of status as these companies must produce a wide range of products that targets not only the athletes but the public as well.

The other weakness of under Armour is its lack of innovativeness concerning technology and material use. Despite having a diverse product line, most of the technology and materials used to create its products are becoming sparse. Even worse, large companies are fighting for patents, which have resulted in limited suppliers (Wagner, K. 2013). For example, Under Armour has had different cases concerning its patent infringement and access to materials. Under Armour has been involved in over three cases with big companies like Nike and Adidas over patent rights, and mostly such cases result in public relation issues that limit its expansion strategies.

Opportunities

Under Armour has the opportunity to expand its operations outside of the United States. For example, it recently expanded its operations to Brazil, which serves as a significant step to the company attaining its international expansion goals and meeting continued growth. With its expansion in Brazil, Under Armour now stands to become major sports apparel in major business hubs. Hence, once Under Armour continues expanding its operations to other international markets, it could attract a huge market from outside the United States.

Upon its establishment, its main target market were males from the teen to their early 20s. Target Market is defined as “A particular group of consumers at which a product/service is aimed” (Kerin, R. A. and Hartley, S. W. 2016). However, the company’s limited target market has served as its potential weakness in the sports arena. Despite starting to expand its brand to include women merchandise in 2014, Under Armour still needs to be more rigorous with its target audience expansion and to invest in more marketing campaigns for the women apparel (Heitner, D. 2014). According to Kerin and Hartley, “Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.” By targeting the women consumers, Under Armour has the potential to garner enormous success and to attain a better competitive edge in the sports arena.

E-commerce offers immense opportunities for Under Armour. According to Heitner, e-commerce, “Is conducting all business operations electronically/online” (Heitner, D. 2014). In recent years, companies have been making high retail sales because of their online operations. Today, unlike in the past, customers are investing more in products online, and hence it is becoming more apparent for brands to have an online presence to attain overall success (Heitner, D. 2014). Currently, Under Armour has a working website as well as an active online presence on social media, and by capitalizing on these platforms, it could attain efficient sales while meeting consumer convenience.

Under Armour could also benefit from partnering with innovative sports technologies, which could expand its opportunities to make more sales. Previously, Under Armour has partnered with a fitness company known as MapMyFitness, which offers its users with the ability to evaluate their everyday workouts. MapMyFitness is known to have one of the most extensive fitness communities, and hence Under Armour stands to acquire more consumers from such partnerships.

Threats

Under Armour faces the consistent threat of competition from more established athlete brands like Adidas and Nike. Owing to the level of competition that exists in the market, Under Armour is continuously forced to release new technology and equipment to help strengthen its image and niche in the market. For example, once the company stops releasing its cold weather apparel, then it is likely to fail.

The other threat that Under Armour faces is product replacement from less expensive brands. Currently, the market is dominated by less expensive brands like Russell, Badger, Athletic, and Badger, which mainly compare to Under Armour but charge less (Heitner, D. 2014). These companies have been able to create an alternative for the customers who must decide whether to spend more on the higher quality products from Under Armour or spend less for fewer quality products that still compare to those from Under Armour. In such a scenario, most young people prefer going for the less expensive companies because of the costs.

Recommendations

Despite its current shortcomings, Under Armour could still gain a better competitive edge in the market by adopting several recommendations. For Under Armour to take advantage of its opportunities and strengths, it needs to focus on several recommendations, which include; investing in research and development, extending its reach to the international arena, implementing a differentiation strategy, acquiring patents, having a broader segment and product diversification (Kerin, R. A. and Hartley, S. W. 2016). Nonetheless, the two most dominant recommendations that could best benefit the company are having an international presence and investing in research and development for its products.

Under Armour stands to have an even more significant market share once it extends its operations in the international arena. At the moment, Under Armor relies on North America for over 90% of its returns. Therefore, by shifting its operations to the international, it would help generate significant revenues for Under Armour while also assisting the company in outdoing its rivals.

The second recommendation is investing in research and development for its products. This is critical to assist the company in experiencing continued growth, especially since its greatest strength relies on quality design and technology utilization. Also, with the stiff competition in the industry, it is without a doubt that Under Armour requires to invest a significant amount of its finances in developing a new product, endorsing and advertising it. Thus, by mainly focusing on these two significant recommendations, Under Armour will especially gain a better competitive edge while being more successful in the future.

Next, we analyze the company through the teste of the study of International Business (BUSB). This process entails carrying out market opportunity analysis with a primary objective of acquiring information about the consumers and competition. It is also helpful in the development of higher perspectives on the market overview as well as aiding in exploring the next opportunities. We need to understand the business environment factors and finally find the market needed very quickly. This would assist in gaining overseas markets hence boosting its sales volume.

References