Nike and Toms athletic footwear research — BeAWire Team

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AD DISCOVERY — CREATIVITY Stories by ADandPRLAB

5 min readJun 9, 2020

During this semester we were asked to choose a product or a service in order to understand better how the research field works. Our team -“BeAWire”- chose to research the footwear industry. #ADandpRLAB #MNMRLab

METHODOLOGY

Our methodology was based on two points. We created a questionnaire from 22 to 24th of March, consisting of 10 questions. It was conducted through online survey monkey and we received about 96 answers. In addition, we continued with the creation of the focus group which took place on 30 March via Skype where 6 people aged 20 to 21 participated and all 10 questions we asked them were targeted in order to get more specific answers about sneakers.

SECONDARY RESEARCH FINDINGS

To begin with, we started with the secondary research so as to learn more about the footwear industry. We gathered most of the information we used from the internet. We searched for general information and statistics about that industry. It should be noted that the global footwear market size was valued at $365.5 billion in 2020 and is estimated to reach $530.3 billion by 2027.

We continued by investigating the threats and the opportunities in the footwear industry. One of the main threats is that the retail sector is becoming price competitive, which ultimately means that consumers are shopping around for a better deal. The market for sports shoes is very competitive. On the other hand, one of the most significant opportunities is the fact that the business could also be developed internationally, building upon its strong global brand recognition. There are also global marketing events that can be utilized to support the brand such as the World Cup (soccer) and The Olympics. Then we proceeded to the PEST analysis which was vital for our research as the results contributed to the better understanding of the way the footwear industry works, especially in the Greek market.

QUAL FINDINGS

For our quality research we chose the “focus group” method in order to understand the respondents’behaviour and feelings. Our focus group was conducted by a member of our team and the respondents were the rest of the members. Our research had to face the obstacle of the quarantine and this turned us into conducting the focus group online. The duration was about one hour, and the questions regarded some of the most popular footwear brands. Taking into considerations the answers and the results of the focus group we used the collected data and proceeded into the category mapping, with the following categories: 1) Fashionable: Adidas, Nike, Toms, Skechers, Under Armour 2) Old-Fashioned: Fila, Champion, Asics 3) Performance: Asics, Reebok, Under Armour, Puma, New balance, Adidas.

DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE QUANT RESEARCH

We created a questionnaire which was shared through social media and was accessible to people from different social backgrounds as well as different age groups, making the results more objective. Based on the data we received we had a large appeal to people of age 18–25, as they made almost up to 67% of the answers. The second age group which participated the most in our questionnaire was people aged 25+. People of ages 25–35 participated the least with 9%.

After conducting a survey of 96 answers, which was related to the athletic footwear and more specifically to some brands, we gathered the results and analyzed them according to the age of the respondents. One of the questions was about the reason why people use athletic footwear. Most of them, about 80%, stated that they use it for sports. Among them, most of them came from the age group of 25–35 years old, compared to the other age groups of 18th to 25th and 35+ years. The second reason was style and was answered mainly for the age groups of 18th to 25th and 35+ years.

Another question referred to the 1st athletic brand the participants can think of. The majority wrote Nike, while the next answer was Adidas and New Balance was 3rd. Consequently, the respondents were asked which brand they have used the last 6 months. The youngest age group used Nike and Adidas in the same degree, whereas the middle age group seemed to prefer more Adidas than Nike, which had the same percentages with New Balance. Nike conquered again the 1st place as it was used even more from people of 35 years old and more. Furthermore, we focused on the basic criteria that lead people to buy athletic shoes, which were: comfort, quality and price.

When asked to name their favorite brand, most of the respondents opt in favor of Nike among Nike and Toms, with a 20% choosing none.

Regarding the characteristics of both companies Toms and Nike. The age group of 18–25 years old would characterize Toms as youthful and stylish.

In the relevant question for the Nike company, the age group 18–25 years old would define it as a qualitative brand and more comfortable than Toms.

Lastly, about peoples influences when buying new athletic shoes, the age group 18–25 years old are influenced by their peers, while in the age group 25–35 years old social media are considered as the main influence. Additionally, the age group 35 years old and above is influenced by the trends when family plays a major role when it comes to choosing athletic shoes with a 30%.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, through our research we mostly wanted to focus on the criteria on which people base their choice of athletic footwear. To do so, we conducted both a focus group and an online questionnaire in which we included people of different ages.

While mentioning some of the most popular and well- known brands regarding footwear, in our research we focused on two: Nike and Tom’s.

The results showed that most people consider Nike to be the most popular but also the most qualitative brand for athletic shoes, where Tom’s was characterized as the most youthful.

Finally, what stood out from our main finding was the fact that most people, when buying new athletic shoes, take into account current trends and the opinion of their friends. Also, the majority of the participants from our research use athletic shoes for exercise first, and then for style.