Description
Write a 4 to 5 pages (double spaced. Charts, tables can be included) project based on following requirement. Example Attached for reference. APA formatCompany: Farfetch Research the company’s size, global reach and multi-channel strategyProvide a brief history of the companyResearch and report on:Site Traffic (using an online tool such as Similar Web)Use of Mobile and emerging technologies (Apps, Geolocation, AR, etc.)Social Media presenceSummarize your observations about the company’s operation and some future opportunities4 to 5 pages (double spaced. Charts, tables can be included)
Unformatted Attachment Preview
E-Commerce
Midterm
Brand: Under Armour (https://www.underarmour.com/)
Brand History/Background:
“All started with an idea” in 1996 founded by Kevin Plank in his grandmother’s
basement with maxed out credit card line of $40,000 in Washington, DC. Mr.
Plank was able to turn his personal experience and identified key “need” of
athletes which had inspired him to develop his first prototype T-shirt that wicked
moisture and kept athletes cool, dry, and light. His observation/insight turned
Under Armour to 16.2 Billion global company.
The growing trend of health and Fitness among everyday consumers is
increasing sales of sportswear category in the US and Under Armour has strongly
positioned its brand to the market achieving number two position in the US. Mr.
Plank is continuing to innovate its sportswear and also is planning on dominating
the fitness category through tech innovation sportswear, footwear as well as
offering of various health and fitness tech devices such fitness apps, fitness
band, headphones, health box and more.
Company Size, Global reach, and Multi-channel strategy:
The unstoppable rise of Under Armour made the Forbes’ list as one of the most
innovative company, claiming #6 position. Under Armour is not only reporting
aggressive growth in the US but seeing massive global growth as well.
In Q1 2016, Under Armour reported 30% revenue jump in first quarter of 2016, in
which global sales grew 55.6% to almost $150 million. Majority of international
sales was driven by China, as sales in China’s market nearly tripled from the
comparable quarter of the previous year (2015). Under Armour continues to
expand online as well as offline opening more than 25,000+ retail stores
worldwide.
Under Armor plans to become the world’s biggest sports brand, it is an ambitious
goal but their commitment to make all athletes better through passion, science
and the relentless pursuit of innovation had overtaken all the competition and
the only brand that stands their way is Nike. Since the very beginning, Under
Armour had been disrupting the market for sports apparel by providing
innovative product and connecting with the right audience. Its ability to have a
clear and concise strategy brought them to where they are now.
Millennials and GenZ are more than enthusiastic about the brand, and it is
perceived as the “Cooler” brand than Nike. Why? Because we are in the era of
storytelling and UA has been communicating their history and the background
on how it all started in Plank’s grandmother’s basement, we all love successful
underdog story.
Based on Sid Jatia who is the VP of direct-to-consumer and Omnichannel digital
at Under Armour says, they are reaping the rewards of a “more patient”
strategy. From a talent recruiting prospective, Under Armour has extensive
scientific strategy in place to measure an athlete can perform over the next 10
years, for example: Golfer Jordan Spieth was ranked number seven in the World
when UA signed him up and now he is now the champion, Nike passed on
Stephen Curry and went for big name Kevin Durant and now he is one of the
hottest names in the NBA.
Now, Under Armour marketing campaign ‘Rule Yourself/I Will” features these
Athletes sharing their story on overcoming the odds and becoming one of the
best. The powerful marketing message was not only in-line with their brand story,
but consistent across all of their touchpoint channels including in-store, online,
Television, radio, mobile, social and search. The winning campaign strategy
further increased awareness of the brand and successfully increasing traffic to
Underarmour.com.
Site Traffic Analysis:
Today, Underarmour.com drives about 8.9M visits according to Similarweb and
represents a growing 28% of their overall sales, totaling $321 million for the
second quarter of 2016, up from $251 million in the year-ago period. Due to the
tremendous success of the online sales, Under Armour launched its first mobile
shopping app in June of 2016, built on the Under Armour’s connected fitness
platform which means it draws information from the consumers’ health and
fitness story, as well as purchasing behaviors that will help UA to personalize
shopping recommendation.
To continue the success of their online sales, Under Armour uses the Adobe
online marketing suite tool to capture and analyze all online touchpoints to
effectively optimize digital channels to create an engaging online shopping
experience and ultimately increase conversion.
Search Channel Analysis:
For years, Under Armour successfully drove heavy traffic volumes to its website
through search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search (SEM), but they were
trying to find the best solution into how to convert that traffic into higher value
sales. With new sophisticated analytic tools, they were able to analyze
consumers online interaction, product searches, content views, and leading up
to a completed or abandoned sale. That said, I was surprised to find that when I
do search for “performance sneakers” or “sweat resistant sportswear male”
Under Armour did not show within the paid nor the organic placements. Under
Armour is focusing more on branded, promotional, and specific product
keywords. For example: “Free shipping for running shoes”, “Red running Shoes”,
”Blue sweat resistant shirt promotion” and “Stephen Curry Sneaker”
Under Armour uses the full potential of the search platform aligning with
consumer needs by providing images/shopping results and additional sitelinks
that provide more option for the consumer to take an action.
Social Channel Analysis:
Surprisingly when it comes to Social, Under Armour is less active in comparison to
its main competitor Nike. Based on my research, Under Armour is utilizing social
as virtual customer service platform to communicate with customers especially
when it comes to Facebook and Twitter.
Under Armour’s Facebook page has roughly about 5.2Million likes and is being
used as marketing tool to display new product lines, new advertising videos, but
also a place where consumer can freely post about their products and
experiences.
Under Armour’s Twitter page has about 739.3K followers and is being used to
directly talk to their consumers. On the page they also post videos, and promo
codes that can be used to receive discount on underarmour.com
Under Armour’s Instagram has about 2.6mllion followers, not as inspiring and
engaging as Nike’s Instagram page with over 64.5million followers. Under Armour
posts advertising videos, celebs images and from the recent posts, it seems they
are also being used for internal communication.
Mobile Analysis:
When it comes to mobile, Under Armour is a true innovator. Early this year at CES,
Under Armour debuted Bluetooth-connected running shoes, announced a
partnership with IBM’s machine learning Watson technology and took preorders
for Health Box, a kit of three Bluetooth-connected devices.
Currently, Under Armour has about 160+million registered users between its four
fitness apps—fitness recording app Record, personal training app Endomondo,
weight loss coaching app MyFitnessPal and exercise tracking app
MapMyFitness, and with IBM’s Watson partnership, Under Armour will be able to
aggregate data across all apps that uses its machine learning technology and
provide insights to the consumer true health and fitness behavior. Since
consumers are providing their personal information, Under Armour wants to
make sure that there is a mutual value exchange. That said, through machines
learning data points Under Armour make recommendation on how to achieve
health and fitness goals.
Now with the launched of the Under Armour shopping app, all these data
analytic insights can be applied to consumers shopping behavior as well. For
example, a Female who is in their 30’s started their fitness program and its
recorded within my fitness Pal app, and based on her purchasing behavior in
the past, she is very much into Yoga apparels, with this information Under
Armour can promote relevant content, messages, products and offers to
consumers through their shopping app. Increasing chance of conversion.
Summary Observation and Future Opportunities:
Under Armour has very clear idea of what they stand for, a brand that is
committed to provide the very best to “make all athletes better through passion,
design and the relentless pursuit for innovation”
In collaboration and partnership with best data technology companies such as
Adobe/Omniture, IBM’s Watson and coupled with groundbreaking marketing
campaign, and channel strategy made this young brand to find its own place in
the highly competitive health and fitness apparel industry and went from an
underdog to a champion.
Under Armour is perceived as “extraordinary” sportswear appeal brand
because of its humble beginning and its innovative leadership credential. They
should continue to tell their story by creating cultural relevancy among health
mind-set millennials through human connection. One thing, we all know about
millennials is that they are highly social and they are connected 24/7, Under
Armour should also capitalize these behaviors and encourage them to become
loyalist and evangelist of Under Armour. They heard Under Armour’s humble
beginning, they heard talented Athletes that overcame challenges and now it’s
time for Under Armour to hear them by giving everyday consumers to share their
fitness story through highly sharable social media platforms that is not fully being
utilized by Under Armour such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Under Armour has every platform covered, yet there is huge lack of social
presence and this marketing campaign idea will be an extension of existing
marketing strategy which it will maintain consistency across all media
touchpoints (TV, Radio, SEO, SEM etc), and utilizing social platform as a main
hub to make meaningful connections with target consumers to breakthrough
even further and truly reminding consumers that Under Armour provides “total
solution” when it comes to health and fitness, become the #1 Sports Appeal
company in the world.
Sources:
http://www.uabiz.com/company/history.cfm
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/UARM/2543942439x0x706954/01F2ED6E68B8-41F4-87B7-D9D243A6948E/UA_News_2013_11_14_Corporate.pdf
http://www.uabiz.com/news/pressReleases.cfm
http://www.latimes.com/fashion/la-ig-under-armour-20160524-snap-story.html
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/01/05/the-best-under-armourheadlines-in-2015.aspx
http://www.underarmour.jobs/why-choose-us/mission-values/
https://www.similarweb.com/website/underarmour.com#overview
https://www.marketingweek.com/2016/05/04/how-under-armour-plans-tobecome-the-worlds-biggest-sport
https://www.prophet.com/thinking/2014/08/i-will-vs-just-do-it-the-under-armoursuccess-story/
http://investor.underarmour.com/investors.cfm
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/under-armour-revenue-growth-continues2016-07-26-9485537
http://fortune.com/2016/07/26/stephen-curry-under-armour-shoes/
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/25/the-key-to-under-armours30-revenue-growth.aspx
http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2016/07/25/under-armour-ready-torebound-after-sports-authority-scare.html
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
