Introduction
Under Armour poorly markets to women
We are Xcellence Consulting and we are here to conduct a situation analysis of Under Armour.
Through our research, we found Under Armour to be in a weak position compared to its
competitors in the sports apparel and active wear industry. Under Armour has done a poor job
marketing to women and is suffering losses in sales because of it. When Under Armour first
started in 1996, the company solely focused on men as its target market. Its commercials
featured large males in a weight room and did not even offer women’s products until 2003. This
has contributed to the present issue of its poor marketing efforts towards women. We will
describe Under Armour’s situation with a company, industry, competitive, market and SWOT
analysis.
Company Analysis
We evaluated Under Armour’s current situation and found that it is doing poor job marketing to
women and lacking sales from women because of it. However, Under Armour has made strides
to change for the better meaning more sales from women. Based on the criteria of products,
sales, mission statement and perception, Xcellence Consulting was able to assess that Under
Armour needs to improve its marketing strategies when targeting women.
Under Armour’s men’s products double women’s products
Under Armour has 669 men’s sports apparel products and only 376 women’s sports apparel
products (Under Armour, 2013). If you were walk into a store and see your product selection
was only half as large as another product selection you would feel like an outsider in that store. It
gives the impression that your business is not as important as the larger product selection. This is
the problem that Under Armour faces when it comes to selling products to women. Under
Armour needs to make more products available to women to help them feel Under Armour Is
right for them and is a product that represents them.
20% Of Under Armour’s Revenue Comes From Women
Under Armour’s sales growth rate has been steadily increasing each year even reaching 25% in
the last year. This shows promise for the future if Under Armour can continue this growth trend.
According to the article on Bloomberg.com, the company expects to generate roughly $ 2 billion
in sales this year; only about $ 400 million of these sales are expected to come from women.
Under Armour needs to find a way to exponentially increase the sales of their products to women
or they could see a plateau effect of sales in the near future. Trying to Increase sales to women is
one way Under Armour can begin to compete with global giants like Nike and Adidas, who have
a more even distribution of sales and have gained more profits because of it. (Bloomberg, 2012)
Women perceive Under Armour as a men’s product
The current perception of Under Armour is that it’s a men’s product and is not really associated
with women. And for the most part that is true. Under Armour clearly pays more attention to
men when making products since women’s products are half of amount of men’s and men’s
revenue triples women’s revenue. Up until recently, all the commercials Under Armour released
features sweaty, muscular men in a dark gym lifting weights. This picture does not exactly line
up with the ideals of women. If Under Armour wants to target women and effectively reach
women, it has to rebrand itself with women so women can identify themselves with the product.
New Advertising Campaigns are New Chances to Reach Women
The Shrink and Pink issues are in the past for Under Armour; over the past year Under Armour
has strived to reposition their products towards women. A new advertising campaigned named "I
Will," has started to bring in new endorsers such as Bryce Harper in baseball, Adrian Foster in
football and Sloane Stephens in women's tennis. The endorsement of Sloane Stephens is a step in
the right direction to reach women and increase overall brand awareness. She is a young,
uprising star in the tennis world and could captivate people like the Serena sisters did (Athlete
Promotions, 2013).
Another huge signing for endorsements is the U.S women's gymnastics team. During the last
Olympics the team gripped watchers by their dominating performances. Now Under Armour has
exclusive rights to their athletic gear and accessories for the next eight years. This marks the
first time Under Armour has a sponsorship of a national governing body for a Summer Olympic
sport. This will not only introduce the world to Under Armour but it will be a woman wearing it
and performing in it (ESPN Insider, 2013).
Under Armour does not currently fulfill its mission statement promises
The mission statement of Under Armour is to make all athletes better. As of right now it seems
like it is only making male athletes better since a majority of its revenue comes from men. If
women feel like they are an included part or any part at all of Under Armour then they will not
seek out its products. The fact that Under Armour is not fulfilling its mission statement can be a
bad sign for potential customers. No one would buy a product from a company that does not
back up the core values the company was built and based upon.
Industry Analysis
The sports apparel industry is currently worth about 58 billion dollars (“Under Armour ‘A’”, 13,
p.xx-xx). This number is growing every year and expected to reach 126 billion dollars by 2015
(Townsend, 2013). The sports apparel industry is comprised of performance gear, but also
includes active wear for casual use. Under Armour produces both performance gear and apparel,
so they fall into this industry.
The industry is controlled by giant, international companies such as Nike and Adidas. Currently,
Under Armour is a small company and is not competing well with respect to the criteria
described in the company analysis.
Industry product split for sports apparel and active wear
The men vs. women’s product split for the sports apparel industry is about 63% men and 37%
women (Lazich, 2011). This number signifies the amount of men’s products offered by the
leading companies in the industry compared to the amount of women’s products offered. Under
Armour’s product mix is right around this average with 65% men’s and 35% women’s products.
This means Under Armour is similar to the industry. However, women only make up 20% of its
sales, so the percentage of sales does not reflect the percentage of women’s products it offers.
Again, this reflects Under Armour’s inability in successfully market its products to women.
Under Armour is towards the bottom of industry wide sales
We found it difficult to find an accurate number depicting the average industry sales of sports
apparel, because of the extreme values that would skew data. For instance, Nike and Adidas both
earned over 18 billion dollars in revenue in 2012 ("Statistics and facts," 2012). Smaller
companies like Under Armour, Asics, Puma, and Columbia earned above 1.5 billion but under 5
billion ("Statistics and facts," 2012). This means any average would be affected by the extreme
values of Nike and Adidas’ revenue. However, we can conclude that Under Armour is on the
lower scale of the top industry earners, and will have to grow significantly to compete with the
larger companies.
Perception is low for Under Armour
Under Armour is not the preferred brand among women. A report from Cotton Incorporated
Supply Chain Insight surveyed a number of consumers, both and women, to figure out what their
favorite sports apparel brands are. Only 21% of the consumers surveyed said that Under Armour
was their favorite brand. Other brands in the industry received a much higher percentage of
consumers who chose their brand as a favorite. Nike and Adidas were among the top two
companies selected by consumers (“Cotton Incorporated,” 2012).
Competitive Analysis
When compared to its competitors Under Armour can be seen as doing mediocre or doing poor
job when marketing to women. When compared to Nike, Under Armour is seen as not too far
behind since Nike has a woman’s marketing problem as well. However, when compared to
Lululemon, who is a mostly female company, they are doing a bad job since women view
Lululemon as a superior product when compared to Under Armour.
Lululemon
Lululemon is a fairly new company that provides women and men with athletic apparel. It
provides some apparel for men but most of its products are currently for women. Lululemon sets
itself apart from others in the industry by being mostly female oriented and providing its
products in mostly female stores instead of sports apparel stores since that is mainly where
women tend to shop
Under Armour has the ability to compete with Lululemon.
Lululemon has 176 women’s products compared to 48 men’s products. Under Armour happens
to fall on the other side of this spectrum with way more men’s products than women’s. Under
Armour has the same percentage of products split between genders but on different ends of
spectrum. In this aspect, Under Armour is doing well compared to Lululemon. Under Armour is
in a better position to change our poor balance of products. Lululemon has established
themselves as just a women’s product on purpose while Under Armour’s perception of a men’s
products is incidental. With that said, Under Armour is doing better than Lululemon with balance
of products because of its opportunity to redistribute its market share. Under Armour also has
more overall products available to women than Lululemon does. Under Armour has the ability
and the products to sell its products to women; it just have to do a better job associating itself
with women. (Lululemon, 2013)
Lululemon outsells Under Armour in Women’s sports apparel
Men’s products only accounted for 13.7% of sales leaving 86.3% to women. Under Armour’s
sales are 75% to 25% men to women so Under Armour are actually doing better than Lululemon
as far as spreading out revenue evenly between men and women but Lululemon is currently
exploiting the women’s sports apparel market. Companies like Under Armour, have been failing
to reach women with their marketing and Lululemon is designed to basically only sell to women
so it is crushing Under Armour with respect to women’s sales. Unless Under Armour changes
the way women view the Under Armour product, Under Armour will not be able to compete
with Lululemon in the women’s market. (Reuters, 2013)
Lululemon fulfills their mission statement while Under Armour does not
The mission of Under Armour is to make all athletes better. The mission statement of Lululemon
is a manifesto of healthy living ideas and life philosophies. The mission of Lululemon is more of
a lifestyle and its product is what a customer would do to comfortably achieve that lifestyle.
Under Armour is doing a poor job living up to its mission statement since only a small portion of
sales come from women so it is currently only making male athletes better. Lululemon has a
more abstract mission statement so it’s really up to the consumer to live the lifestyle. Lululemon
is doing a better job fulfilling their mission statement because it markets its product to the
consumers it want to be using its product while Under Armour is only fulfilling half of its
mission.
Women perceive Lululemon as a superior product
The perception of Under Armour is that it is a male athletic product. The perception of
Lululemon is that it is a women athletic/workout product. The perception of Lululemon matches
up with exactly who it wants to be as a company. Lululemon wants to fill the niche that some
major sports apparel companies have been missing and that is the women’s market. Lululemon
markets itself as a high quality sophisticated feminine product and that’s exactly how it wants to
be viewed. It is outperforming Under Armour in women’s sales because of that. Under Armour
is perceived as a masculine product that is trying to change to be a unisex product. Under
Armour is not where it wants to be when it comes to how it is viewed by the public so in that
sense Lululemon is doing a better job identifying with its consumer base which is women.
Women 9 out of 10 times would probably choose Lululemon over Under Armour to associate
with when it comes to athletic apparel. Under Armour has to rebrand itself if it wants women to
choose Under Armour over Lululemon.
Under Armour needs to change to outperform Lululemon
Lululemon is exploiting the women’s sports apparel market. As of right now, Under Armour flat
out can’t compete with Lululemon when it comes to women. Lululemon has established its
product as one that is high quality, health conscious, and sophisticated. Under Armour has to
rebrand their women’s line if Under Armour wants to compete with Lululemon in the women’s
market. Currently, Lululemon has had some of their products recalled so this is a crucial
opportunity for Under Armour to sneak in and establish its product as being superior to
Lululemon for women. Under Armour has more products available for women but the women’s
market just aren’t going to Under Armour with their sports apparel sales. They are going to
companies like Lululemon to buy their athletic gear and Under Armour needs to change this if it
wants to compete in this market.
Nike
Nike is a well-established company that has been around for some time now. It dominates the
sports apparel industry in the domestic and foreign markets. Unlike Under Armour, most of
Nike’s sales come from foreign markets.
Under Armour struggles to match Nike
It is difficult for any company in the sport’s apparel industry to compete with Nike. Right now,
Under Armour is one of those companies struggling to compete with this international giant.
Nike is a significantly larger company, earning over 20 times the revenue of Under Armour
(bloomberg.com). It has roughly around the same percentage of men’s products compared to
women’s as Under Armour. Both companies contain about 65% men’s and 35% women’s
(nike.Com). However, Nike has over 4,700 different men’s and women’s products, with 700
factory stores located around the world (statisticbrain.com). Compare this to only 90 Under
Armour stores located only in the United States, it is evident how much larger and more
internationally dominant Nike is.
Nike has had success marketing to women
Nike has had more success marketing to women then Under Armour. However, Nike has a leg
up on Under Armour due to the number of years it has been around. Nike was founded in 1964,
and Under Armour did not exist until 32 years later. Based off this simple fact, women have been
exposed to Nike for a longer period of time, giving them more time to attract female customers.
This increased exposure has helped Nike build trust among women consumers as they become
more familiar with the brand. The first ad campaign, “Stories of the Community,” showed
tremendous success, and Nike hasn’t stopped. (studymode.com) Since Under Armour’s first ad
campaign, “Shrink It and Pink It” was a bust, we feel women have a tarnished view of Under
Armour.
Sweatshop accusations at Nike
Nike has experienced some bad press while it has been around. About a decade ago it was
accused of running “sweatshop factories,” which violated international agreements dealing with
child labor laws. It is unknown how much reputable damage this caused, but Nike has cleaned up
the matter by disclosing information about its factories on the company website. This is
something Under Armour has yet to deal with, a public relations nightmare.
Perception could be going downhill for Nike
Nike is a part of the Brandlogic Sustainability Leadership Report, which measures the
performance of 100 international brands. Since 2011, Nike has dropped from a Leader to a
Challenger, meaning the company’s perceived performance is below the mean. On the
perception side, Nike's perceived sustainability performance dropped 5.3 points, a greater decline
than the average drop of 2.8 points year over year. The decline of Nike’s perception shows
promise for the Under Armour if it can capitalize where Nike has fallen short (brandlogic.com)
A common mission
One thing both companies do share is a common mission statement. Nike’s mission is “To bring
inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.” Under Armour’s brand mission is to
“Make all athletes better.” The question is- are the companies living up to its mission? We think
that Nike has been more successful delivering on its promises. Nike really does innovate and
inspire all athletes, both men and women. Under Armour makes a similar statement, to make all
athletes better, but it has not been living up to this. Under Armour is struggling compared to
Nike to really lockdown the female market segment (underarmour.com).
Market Analysis
Market Condition
The total size of the sports apparel industry is a huge market.
A recent report entitled “Global Sports and Fitness Clothing Industry” conducted by the Global
Industry Analysts Inc. states that world sports apparel industry is expected to exceed $126
billion by 2015. Analysts believe that some of the key factors contributing to the success of the
industry are a trend toward healthier, more active lifestyles, with older demographics and
women becoming more active.
Under Armour currently holds a small yet significant share of the sports apparel market.
Currently Under Armour holds about 3% of the total market, while Nike holds roughly 7% of the
market, while the majority of the industry is made up of various other competing sports apparel
companies. Although the difference between Under Armour and their biggest competitor
Nike’s share of the market may seem small, these figures are in terms of billions of dollars of
revenue. As a result of this, Under Armour has a lot of progress to make before it can capture
the market share size of Under Armour or Adidas.
Under Armour Market Share
(Google Finance.)
The sports apparel market is rapidly growing.
According to a recent article entitled “Sports and Fitness Markets Grow Big” by the staff writers
at PR Newswire reports that the sports apparel industry is expected to grow to reach $180.9
billion by 2018. This means that the industry is expected to grow by over $60 billion in the next
5 years.
Factors attributing to the sports apparel industry’s rapid growth.
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Developing regions rising incomes and increased push towards westernization.
Increased focus on healthy lifestyles.
Increased athletic participation from women and older demographics.
Joint ventures with fashion designers producing wider/more versatile product lines.
As the sports apparel industry grows, Under Armour expects to grow along with it. There is
reason to believe that Under Armour is capable of capturing a larger share of the market in the
near future.
Market Growth
Under Armour expects to continue to grow.
Google Finance reports that Under Armour has managed to steadily increase their net income,
total revenue, and profits in each of the past 5 years. From 2009 to 2012 Under Armours total
revenue has increased $856 million to $1.85 billion.
Several factors contributing to Under Armour’s expected continued growth.
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The success and rapid growth of the sports apparel industry has caused consumers to
increase spending on sportswear.
Under Armour plans to rapidly expand their international presence.
Under Armour plans to increase their share of the women’s athletic apparel market.
Under Armour plans to open more storefronts
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Under Armour plans to increase their brand’s visibility through high profile
endorsements.
Under Armour plans to increase their products placements in retail stores such as
Nordstrom’s and Macy’s.
Arguably the biggest attribute of Under Armour that gives reason for optimism in the growth of
the company, is their innovation. Under Armour has long since been one of the most
progressive and forward thinking companies in the sports apparel industry. Under Armour is
currently developing and releasing products such as their new shirt that is programmed to
monitor it user’s heart rate, more effectively than many of their competitors.
Market Issues and Barriers
The current economic recession could potentially hinder Under Armour’s growth.
Although Under Armour is expected to continue to grow in the upcoming years, there several
factors that could possibly hinder the success of the company in the near future. One issue
affecting many industries is the current economic recession. As a result of the recession many
consumers in wealthy nations are decreasing their spending on recreational goods, which
includes athletic apparel. The challenge Under Armour is faced with is how to maintain their
highly competitive pricing, in the current economic climate, where consumers are more price
conscious.
Under Armour’s lack of an international presence is preventing the company from reaching
its full potential.
As of recently, Under Armour has not been able to match the international success of some its
biggest competitors such as Nike and Adidas. There are two key marketing flaws that have
resulted in this poor international presence. The first of which being that until recently Under
Armour has not allocated enough resources in to marketing abroad. Currently they have offices
in China, Canada, and the Netherlands, whereas companies like Nike and Adidas have locations
and strong presences in countries all over the world, in all continents. However Under Armour
is currently making strides in addressing this issue. In his article entitled “Under Armour Flexing
its Muscles Overseas” Forbes writer Fred Dreier states that Kevin Plank recently announced the
hiring of former Adidas executive Karl-Heinz Mauruth to run the international aspects of the
business. Evidence of Under Armour’s progress in expanding their international presence can
already be seen as starting in the fall of 2012 Under Armour will be sponsoring the popular
British Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur. This newly acquired sponsorship is expected
to raise visibility and exposure of the brand overseas.
Low barriers for entry into the sports apparel market are potentially harmful to Under
Armour’s growth.
As stated before industry leaders such as Nike and Adidas are some the foremost competitors
Under Armour faces, however the pie chart indicates that the largest percentage of the market
is taken up by a combination other competing brands. This is due to the low barriers for entry
into the sports apparel market. Much like Under Armour in the company’s early days, smaller
sportswear brand are always popping up and often acquiring niche market segments. These
niche markets are often very loyal customer bases which results in consumer spending being
diverted away from industry leaders such as Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour. Finding ways to
combat against the wide list of smaller competing sportswear brand is a challenge that Under
Armour must address. Reemphasizing the company’s dedication to providing to a superior
product and remaining committed to their competitive pricing scheme are ways that Under
Armour can protect themselves against the influence of the many competing sports apparel
brands.
How do Industry leading competitors prevent Under Armour’s growth?
Arguably the biggest growth barrier Under Armour faces is the completion it faces from
industry leaders such as Nike, Adidas, and Lululemon. These brands are so highly recognizable
that finding ways to attract sportswear consumers away from these brands can be a daunting
challenge. Especially as Under Armour has not yet achieved great success internationally, it will
be a challenge for them to market their lycra material to a market that has already been
exposed to it by other competitors.
Market Segmentations
Under Armour’s primary target are athletes.
The mission of Under Armour is to make all athletes better. So it follows that the primary target
audience is athletes. For our report we have chosen to focus on women’s marketing so the
target audience is female athletes. Looking further into the primary market we can narrow it to
women ages 15-35 who compete in sport worldwide. It doesn’t matter what country you are
from as long as you share the common interest of sports. With the marketing schemes and
pricing of clothing we can narrow it to women ages 15-35 who have average income and are
middle class and up. Education does not come into play here so any education level fits into the
primary market. Under Armour is suited and reasonable to help athletes who are serious about
their sport and are trying to compete at a high level. For those reasons, I feel the age range of
middle school to professional (about 15-35) is appropriate for the primary market.
The secondary market is contained by health conscious women.
Even though the primary market is female athletes, others are drawn to Under Armour’s
products. Women below or above the age range who play sports recreationally in local leagues
will be attracted to Under Armor’s athletic apparel. Also, any women that refrain from sport
but exercise to stay healthy and in shape are included in the secondary market. These activities
could include yoga, jogging or other non- sport activities. These women might also be in
isolated areas where they aren’t able to reach populated areas to participate in sport or may
not have the finances to play sports. The education level for these women would be
widespread because of the diverse reasons that they fit in the secondary market.
Under Armour offers products that women will want.
The products woman want for athletic training are already present in Under Armour's catalog.
As of May 13, 2013 on Under Armour's website there are 335 products for women which
include the new Armour Bra and yoga pants line. The consumption of women's products has
been increasing 30% a year according a Bloomberg article in 2013 titled "Under Armour Find
Feminine Side to go Beyond $2 Billion". This shows that Under Armour has a variety of products
and that are selling better every year.
Under Armour plans to improve the way they market their products to women.
In terms of marketing directly to women, Under Armour has recently released their “What’s
Beautiful?” campaign which is targeted directly to women. In a Business Insider article entitled
“Under Armour Found an Amazingly Simple Way to Drive Sales” writer Ashley Lutz states that
women from the ages of 18-34 have responded positively to the campaign. Large numbers of
women have indicated that they have increased their shopping at Under Armour due to the
campaigns effectiveness.
Women’s Response To Under Armour’s “What’s Beautiful?” Campaign
(Y-Axis is % of Sales Accounted for by Campaign) (X-Axis =Date)
How effective has Under Armour’s Marketing Mix been with Women?
In the past Under Armour has faltered in their attempts to market to women however the
increased efforts driven by their new “I Will” and “What’s Beautiful?” campaigns are yielding
positive results in a timely matter. Under Armour has long since abandoned their short sighted
“shrink it and pink it” approach to developing products and now have developed superior high
quality products that women are responding to. The challenge is now to build upon the success
of their newly developed women’s products. Under Armour maintains it’s image as a high
quality superior sportswear proudct by maintaining a competitive price on all of their goods,
but finding new and innovative ways to reach women has been their greatest challenge. To
address this issue Under Armour has recently partnered with high end fashion retailers such as
Nordstrom’s and Macy’s to increase the expose of their product to women. Their though
process being that they need to make their product available in places that women shop.
Under Armour plans to give their store fronts a makeover.
Although expanding into a high end department stores like Nordstrom’s and Macy’s is an
excellent way to expose their product to a greater amount of women, improving Under
Armour’s brand image in the minds of women is also essential. This can be achieved by
changing the style and layout of the companies few retail locations. The current structure of
our stores represents a dark gym that does not appeal to woman which is currently lowering
our sales to the women's market. Nathan Brown, who is the third largest owner of Under
Armour stock, was quoted in a Bloomberg article on February of 2013 titled "Under Armour
Finds Feminine Side to Go Beyond $2 Billion" saying " The problem with the women’s business
isn’t the product, the problem is distribution "Under Armour is moving towards a woman
friendly environment with the implementation of a new Under Armour store. In Baltimore,
Maryland there will be a new store opening which empahzises natural light and ten times more
mannequins (Bloomberg 2013). This will be more appealing to women and is expected to bring
in more sales. The Bloomberg article also stated that "the re-designed store will have as much
women’s gear as men’s and may serve as way for potential retail partners and consumers to
see Under Armour showcased as a head-to-toe fashion brand that’s more than mock
turtlenecks". This is exactly what the company needs to improve in selling to more women.
Once the perception changes that Under Armour is fashionable and comfortable, sales should
increase.
Swot Analysis of Under Armour
Strengths
Customer loyalty to Under Armour is strong.
Although far more consumers purchase products from competing athletic apparel companies
such as Nike, those who do purchase Under Armour products tend to be very loyal to the brand.
A clear indication of Under Armour’s strong customer loyalty can be seen through their
approach to athlete endorsements. Under Armour does not offer huge million dollar contracts to
the athletes that endorse their products. Instead their position is that if the athletes truly support
their products they will endorse the products for a low cost or in some cases for free. This shows
that Under Armour stands behind their products and so do the athletes who endorse them. Under
Armour has the potential to build upon this “niche brand” image that they’ve established for
themselves into making themselves viable as an industry leader. Marketing more effectively to
women ties directly to building upon customer loyalty. Finding ways to better appeal to the
female market shows that a company values all of their customers. An example of how Under
Armour is building on their customer loyalty and strong product is the “What’s Beautiful
Campaign” which is designed to market active apparel to women in department stores like
Macy’s and Nordstrom’s (Lutz, 2012) 1. By taking the time to research where women shop and
how they prefer to marketed to, Under Armour is showing that they appreciate women as an important
component to their companies focus.
Under Armour has a strong innovative culture.
One aspect of Under Armour that has made them successful is the innovative culture that they
have developed. Under Armour first introduced Lycra products to the market to better improve
the performance of athletes. Since then they have had a unique approach in marketing and
product development within the athletic apparel industry that has created a loyal customer base.
Since their Lyrca based apparel was released, Under Armour has not stopped innovating. They
are currently working on monumental projects such as a shirt that will be able to monitor an
athlete’s heart rate and a shirt that can whisk away water the same way a rain coat can (Horovitz,
2012). If Under Armour can successfully produce these materials then it could yet again leap in
front of their competitors and take hold of a larger market share in the athletic apparel industry.
Weaknesses
Under Armour is a small company compared to some of its competitors.
Although Under Armour currently employees over 5,000 people with offices across the United
States, Canada, Holland, and China, it is still a relatively small companies compared to some of
its competitors such as Nike. In some ways this lack of relative size compared to competitors can
hinder the success of a company. As companies like Nike and Adidas are larger they have more
resources, wider product lines, more revenue, and more visibility. Thus far Under Armour has
managed to stay competitive against these larger companies by offering a unique product, and
establishing a loyal niche market. However as other companies are adapting and offering similar
products, Under Armour must now find new ways to expand their company and compete with
these larger athletic apparel companies. Competitors like Nike have a huge international
presence while Under Armour’s has thus far remained small. As a result of this, Nike is able to
reach to reach more women than Under Armour simply because they have a larger audience.
This may seem redundant but the fact remains that if Under Armour wants to reach more
women, increasing international expansion is an inevitable necessity that will need to be
addressed soon.
Female perceptions of Under Armour are low.
Although some aspects of the perception of Under Armour are considered some of their
strengths, the female perception of Under Armour is a weakness. In general what research has
shown(Townsend, 2013) is that women do not feel that Under Armour effectively markets to
them. In past years the store designs of Under Armour have been dark gym atmospheres that
seemed to cater towards men. In addition most of the marketing campagins, such as TV
commercials and other forms of advertising have been male orientated(Townsend, 2013). In the
past nearly all athlete endorsements have been men as well. If Under Armour wants to improve
the way they are perceived by women, they need to adjust their marketing campaigns to better
address the female market. Under Armour has made steps to improve the way females perceive
their company by partnering with United States gymnastics team to endorse their product,
readjusting the store layouts to be more gender neutral, and implementing new marketing
campaigns such as the “What’s Beautiful?” ads that better cater to the needs of women(Heine,
2012). Although these actions have improved the female perception of Under Armour there is
still a lot of work to be done, in order to reach the 50/50 industry sales average the Under
Armour hopes to achieve.
Opportunities
Under Armour has options when marketing to women
It is impossible for all of our competitors to gain all of the influential athletes for endorsements.
This leaves Under Armor in a position to increase our marketing through athlete endorsements.
Choosing certain athletes is a critical decision that needs to think over intensively before final
choices are made. They should be popular within their sport and known in the sports world but
must be at a high moral ground so not to involve backlash if an incident were to occur. This
happened when Nike's most well-known athletic endorser Tiger Woods was caught cheating on
his wife. There was major backlash from the media and hurt Nike's reputation since they were
endorsing someone who committed infidelity. It is critical for Under Armor to not make the
same mistake and maintain our reputation.
College campuses are a great way to gain customers at an early age and have them become
returning customers over their life time. Right now Under Armor only sponsors 19 NCAA
(National Collegiate Athletic Association) schools around the country(Larson, 2011) With the
vast amount of schools in the NCAA there is room to sign more schools to contracts with Under
Amor. This will give us national and regional exposure when people watch any sporting event
from a school that we sponsor. Having these contracts also give us the right to sell more apparel
at the colleges that are now sponsoring us.
There is a large market of customers who are not hardcore athletes that their main source of
income is dependent on their physical performance playing a sporting event. The average person
can also enjoy the extensive line of different apparel that Under Armor produces. This is an
untapped market could generate more sales since it has not received much exploitation from
competition. If Under Armor can market to such group it would benefit greatly.
Threats
Some factors interfere with Under Armour marketing to women
The largest threat to Under Armor is the intense competition it has. Nike is a brand recognized
around the world and is also one of the wealthiest companies in the world. Addidas is heavily
recognized in Europe as well as the United States. Also Lululemon dominates the women's
market. All of the previously stated companies have been around longer than Under Armor and
are now well established and respected companies.
Under Amor does not own the patent to its main material of Lycra. This has given the intense
competition of other companies to use the same material in any way they prefer. Now there are
substitute products out there using the same material Under Armor uses and taking away market
share.
Conclusion
Under Armour needs to review these issues before rebranding themselves to
women
We feel that Under Armour has the ability and the product to market to women; it has just approached
it in the wrong way. If Under Armour wants to increase sales from women, then it has to improve the
association of itself with women like how it has with the USA women’s gymnastics team sponsorship.
Adding more endorsements of this kind will increase the likelihood women will associate themselves
with Under Armour. The biggest threat to Under Armor reaching women is perception. If Under Armour
can rebrand itself and re-associate itself with women then it can compete in the sports apparel market
and rise to the top of the market.
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