Nike, Inc. NKE, dealing in the U.S. athletic apparel market (or "athleisure wear"), is making aggressive attempts toward expanding its women’s business. With its athleisure line of business, the company offers comfortable, fashionable yet sport-centric apparel to women.
In this regard, Nike recently made an investment in #BetterForIt, which is one of the biggest advertisement campaigns focused on women. This campaign was launched at an award function, recently screened on MTV and is aimed at encouraging women to adopt a serious approach toward fitness plans.
Per sources, Nike’s women’s business is expected to generate nearly $2 billion in sales for the company, taking its sales to roughly $7 billion by 2017. This is because women form a significant part of the company’s customer base. According to sources, Nike caters to about 70 million women on an international digital platform.
The athleisure market has been gaining popularity, as is evident from analysts’ expectations of sales growth of roughly 50% in this market by 2020. However, Nike is not the only retailer which deals in athleisure wear.
Apart from Nike many other players like Lululemon Athletica Inc. LULU, Under Armour, Inc. UA and The Gap Inc. GPS are undertaking strategies to expand the women’s athleisure line.
While Nike released its #BetterForIt ad last week, Under Armour had launched one of its largest-ever international ad campaigns for women at the beginning of this year itself. The company has also penned deals with renowned female celebrities to advertise its products.
Moreover, Lululemon is implementing measures to widen its assortments on the basis of style, prints and colors, in addition to enhancing customer services.
Hence, we believe that the competition in the athleisure women’s line is quite fierce with retailers firing on all cylinders. Given this scenario, we think that Nike should continue undertaking similar strategies to extend its women’s business, in order to capture market share and fuel growth.
Nike currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). The company recently posted impressive third-quarter fiscal 2015 results despite facing intense currency headwinds. The company’s performance reflects its focus on adopting innovations to keep up with its customers.
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