Marketing strategy: North Face aims to become the “Nike of outdoors”

The Guardian has an excellent article describing the growth strategy of outdoor equipment & clothing brand North Face.  The article features some excellent teaching material and should resonate well with students who are familiar with clothing brands that do the business during the recent cold snap!

The aim of North Face is stated by one of the firm’s senior management to be the “Nike of outdoors”. With annual sales of around £900m, North Face is still some way behind the scale of Nike ($19bn of revenues in 2010), so it has set itself an ambitious objective.  However, North Face seems to be growing strongly (17% sales growth in the last quarter) and it has a similarly upmarket brand positioning. The article describes how North Face has focused on providing high-performance garments and equipment which justify their premium pricing.  A distribution problem the firm has faced in the UK has been the persistent discounting pricing tactics of the major sports and outdoor clothing retailers - not the best approach for a premium brand to sustain its positioning.  The article explains how North Face has responded to this problem in the UK, demonstrating that building a premium brand is very much about long-term positioning rather than chasing short-term sales volumes.

Marketing case study: the Swiss Army knife [24 May 2012]
Revision Presentation - Marketing Mix: Introduction to Place [17 May 2012]
Revision Presentation - Marketing Mix: Introduction to Pricing [17 May 2012]
Same product - different prices: Greggs sausage roll costs more in Hammersmith than Hull [9 May 2012]
Marketing analysis: the UK supermarket battleground [3 May 2012]
Brand Logos (there’s an app for that) [20 Apr 2012]
Pricing - Daftest In Store Deals! [14 Dec 2011]
Marketing and the supermarket ‘price war’ [6 Dec 2011]
Who do you think should be named Brand of the Year 2011? [22 Nov 2011]
Nationwide gets “Streetwise” with it’s marketing [17 Nov 2011]
Developing Exam Skills - BUSS3 [8 Nov 2011]
Banana Smoothies & Interest Rates [5 Nov 2011]
Revision Quiz - Marketing: Place [1 Nov 2011]
Revision Quiz - Marketing: Pricing [1 Nov 2011]
Location Location Location [28 Oct 2011]
The Business of Newcastle United [12 Oct 2011]
Shoppers switch stores as income patterns change [11 Oct 2011]
Selling Bread - Classic Adverts [6 Oct 2011]
Pricing tactics - cheap flights (no feckin way) [22 Aug 2011]
Beware of the Kunming’s Rotten Apple [21 Jul 2011]
Tesco’s overseas strategy: next steps [10 May 2011]
Discounters move into UK shopping malls [19 Apr 2011]
The Profit Margin Bloodbath of UK Recession [6 Mar 2011]
Nestle - using branding & productivity to overcome commodity price increases [17 Feb 2011]
Technology in business - RFID takes on the counterfeiters [6 Feb 2011]
The coffee chain formerly known as Starbucks [6 Jan 2011]
Q&A - Describe the main kinds of intermediary involved in distribution channels [3 Jan 2011]
Q&A - Should a business avoid intermediaries and sell direct? [3 Jan 2011]
Q&A - What factors determine the type of distribution channel used by a business? [3 Jan 2011]
Q&A - How many stages does a distribution channel have? [3 Jan 2011]
Q&A - Outline the role of a distribution channel [3 Jan 2011]
Q&A - What is the role of “place” in the marketing mix? [3 Jan 2011]
Q&A - Why might a business use psychological pricing? [2 Jan 2011]
Q&A - How can the Boston Matrix help a business manage its product portfolio? [29 Dec 2010]
Some amazing images to help teach economies of scale [14 Dec 2010]
2011 - A chance for retailers to slip in some sneeky price rises? [14 Dec 2010]
Snow disruption and distribution channels [5 Dec 2010]
Dominos Pizza - Growth & Strategy (Part 3) - Smart Marketing [26 Nov 2010]
Euro Disney - an HRM & Finance Nightmare? [24 Nov 2010]
Gap’s new logo lasts…one week [12 Oct 2010]
Google on the changing face of advertising [8 Oct 2010]
Would you stand for it? [14 Sep 2010]
Fighting for a share of the fast-growth tablet market [11 Sep 2010]
Adding value…to the humble toilet roll [2 Sep 2010]
The FT and Online Paywalls - a Winning Strategy? [30 Jul 2010]
Technology in action - behind the scenes at the Ocado warehouse [27 Jul 2010]
Tyrrells Entrepreneur Does it Again - with Vodka! [14 Jul 2010]
Tracking the popularity of global brands on social networks [13 Jul 2010]
The Caffe Nero Loyalty Scheme - Simple and Effective [13 Jul 2010]
Rising industrial unrest in China [29 Jun 2010]
BUSS4 Recession Strategies - The Crucial Role of the Business Model [6 Jun 2010]
Long Product Life Cycles - Grocery Brands Stand the Test of Time [26 May 2010]
British vodka beats the world! [19 May 2010]
Marketing at Jaguar - Presentation to Download [2 Apr 2010]
Retrenchment at the BBC [26 Feb 2010]
Strategy in the UK Recession - What 69 UK CEOs Did About It [22 Feb 2010]
Marketing in a recession: more focus on brand advertising and product enhancements [20 Feb 2010]
Customers have changed during the recession - how does marketing respond? [19 Feb 2010]
Top ten brand values [18 Feb 2010]
Marketing strategy in a recession - is attack better than defence? [17 Feb 2010]
Are these really Britain’s most disliked brands? [17 Feb 2010]
Branded coffee shops prove resilient to the UK recession [17 Feb 2010]
Can Greggs Become the Skoda of Pies? [16 Feb 2010]
The Museum of Brands - well worth a visit [14 Feb 2010]
Revision Quiz - Marketing Mix (20 Questions) [12 Feb 2010]
Teaching strategy - Starbucks revisited [24 Jan 2010]
Q&A - When is it appropriate for a firm to use penetration pricing? [21 Dec 2009]
Q&A - Explain price skimming [21 Dec 2009]
Q&A - What is the difference between pricing strategies & tactics? [21 Dec 2009]
Q&A - Explain what is meant by price positioning [21 Dec 2009]
Q&A - What factors should a business consider when setting its prices? [19 Dec 2009]
Q&A - How does pricing link to the objectives of a business? [19 Dec 2009]
Q&A - What is price and why is it so important in the marketing mix? [19 Dec 2009]
Amazon to move onto the High Street? [8 Dec 2009]
Strategies for Diversification - Straight from the Horses Mouth [24 Nov 2009]
The lights go out for the nightclub market [26 Sep 2009]
Online retailing fluctuates [24 Sep 2009]
Top brand values fall in the recession [20 Sep 2009]
External Influences on the value of a brand [14 Sep 2009]
Q&A - What is the link between product differentiation and a USP? [1 May 2009]
Q&A - What goes into the “marketing mix”? [1 May 2009]
Segmentation strategy - Halfords abandons premium retail brand [16 Apr 2009]
Video case study - pubs diversify to survive [23 Jan 2009]
Shoppers desert the department stores for an online Christmas shop [19 Dec 2008]
BTEC National Conference - Chelsea Marketing Presentation [9 Nov 2008]
Another top entrepreneur: JK Rowling [4 Oct 2008]
Is the latest supermarket “price war” just a public relations stunt? [19 Sep 2008]
Huge losses force Taylor Wimpey into drastic promotional activity [6 Sep 2008]
Pontins gains from the credit crunch as tourists stay home [21 Jul 2008]

BUSINESS TEACHER RESOURCE NEWSLETTER
Get first news of business teaching resources, ideas and other materials from tutor2u. Over 9,400 business teachers from the UK and around the world receive our regular teacher email newsletters. Sign up for free here!