Under Armour Inc is a big name in sports, casual apparel and footwear. It is an American manufacturing company located in Maryland. The company has different offices and global headquarters in different parts of the world. It is a sports apparel company which is exploring new and different markets. The company also expanded in golf, tennis and football as target consumer markets. Under Armour is also very successful in Korea and Japan (Under Armour, 2020).
Ansoff matrix is a marketing planning tool for growth strategies. There are companies who widely use this matrix to identify the growth strategies in combination of products and markets. The matrix helps companies with market and product expansion according to the companies’ current situations. Here is the detailed Ansoff matrix analysis of Under Armour.
Market Penetration
Market Penetration is the growth strategy suggested by Ansoff matrix, where companies increase the sales of current products in the current markets. This strategy helps in increasing the market share of the company. The company can use different marketing techniques to create awareness among more and more consumers. It also opts for different pricing strategies, along with promotional techniques. Under Armour is a big name in sports in America and other international markets. Under Armour understands the need of penetrating in the market, the company started to penetrate through different sports. At first it was only indulged in golf, but now it grows itself in soccer and tennis too. It is also endorsing athletes of rugby, which means it will be growing there too. The company is picking more European athletes and sports to represent its brand. This helps Under Armour to increase the market share (Buren, 2017).
Product Development
Product development is the strategy which motivates the company to expand the product portfolio. It is also known as product expansion, as company introduce new product for the existing market for growing its businesses. This is not necessary to introduce completely new product, but relaunch of the new product or different versions of the existing product comes in this strategy. This helps the company to grow in terms of revenue. Under Armour has adopted this strategy very seriously. Initially it was the sports and footwear manufacturers, but it also manufactures casual apparel for the consumers. Under Armour also identified the need of connected fitness and it build its own platforms and applications. It introduces first advanced technology for public E34 system as a UA band. However, the company is no more in the fitness wearables as Samsung and Fitbit have made competitive items (Teufel, 2011).
Market Development
Market Development is the strategy suggested by Ansoff Matrix. The strategy suggests the company to expand itself in new markets though different segments like geographically or demographically. It is market expansion, where companies expand its current product in different markets. Under Armour has keenly adopted this strategy. The company started its operations from America, but it expanded itself across the world. In markets of Asian, America, European etc. The company also expanded itself demographically in terms of sports. It started from golf, but now expanded to rugby, tennis, soccer etc. Under Armour has internationally performing in footwear and apparels too (Issuu, 2016).
Diversification
Diversification is the strategy which motivates the company to introduce new products in new markets. This is the riskiest strategy among all four strategies suggested by Ansoff matrix. The company has to diversify by identifying the consumer needs and potential market. Under Armour diversified itself in the market by introducing sports apparel. Under Armour has seen the potential growth in the market of sports apparel as people are looking for healthy lifestyle and willing to pay premium for that. The market shrinking risk in minimum for Under Armour, as it is expected to see the raise in the sales of it in coming years (Buren, 2017).
References
Buren, P. 2017. UNDER ARMOUR’S STRATEGY ANALYSIS USING PORTER’S FIVE FORCES AND AN EXTENDED VERSION OF THE ANSOFF MATRIX. [Online], Available at: https://www.academia.edu/31987041/UNDER_ARMOUR_S_STRATEGY_ANALYSIS_USING_PORTER_S_FIVE_FORCES_AND_AN_EXTENDED_VERSION_OF_THE_ANSOFF_MATRIX, [Accessed on: 10th February, 2020).
Issuu, 2016. Case study: Under Armour. [Online], Available at: https://issuu.com/peiyinliu/docs/ua-liu_pei_yin, [Accessed on: 10th February, 2020].
Teufel, B. 2011. Under armour case analysis. [Online], Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/BrianTeufel/assignment203-under-armour-internal-and-swot-analysis, [Accessed on: 10th February, 2020].
Under Armour, 2020. About us. [Online], Available at: https://about.underarmour.com/about, [Accessed on: 10th February, 2020].