The sports industry in the United States of America has experienced massive growth of consumers of sports nutrition products in the world as compared to other continents like Asia and Europe. The sporting industry has as a result experienced rapid retail growth of about 11% in the last financial year to reach a staggering $6.7 billion. This growth has been accelerated by the fast expansion of its demographic base (Mullin et al., pg.305).
Previously sports nutrition targeted only athletes and sports enthusiasts, but there has been considerable awareness in consumption of sports supplements on the benefits of using these supplements while training a factor that has been a significant contributor to the expansion of the market (Smith &Asker, pg.525). New products that have been launched in the market have had the effect of increasing the number of consumers as their products are now readily available in retail outlets across the United States (Dickinson et al., pg.377).
Competition
The greatest hindrance to business success is the inability to understand the competitors in the industry which signifies little knowledge of the market. Nike is likely to face industry veterans like Cytosport, which has been the leading with the largest share of the market. It is stipulated that the company hold 12% share of the value of sales made in the last financial year (Czinkota et al., pg.99). The company poses a potential threat to new entrants in the market due to product innovation and differentiation.
Prospectus
Nike stands a good chance of success in the industry as Sports Nutrition is expected to experience massive growth and expansion if statistics released by Euromonitor International are to rely upon (Wilson et al., pg. 112). Statistics and reports indicate the possibility of the industry expanding to a staggering $20 billion by the end of 2020 a factor that serves to be an advantage to the launch of Nikes new protein powder.
Works Cited
Czinkota, Michael, and Ilkka Ronkainen. International marketing. Cengage Learning, 2012. 99
Dickinson, Annette, et al. "Consumer usage and reasons for using dietary supplements: report of a series of surveys." Journal of the American College of Nutrition 33.2 (2014): 176-182.
Mullin, Bernard J., Stephen Hardy, and William Sutton. Sports Marketing 4th Edition. Human Kinetics, 2014. (300-310)
Smith, J. W., and Asker Jeukendrup. "Performance nutrition for young athletes." Nutrition and Enhanced Sports Performance: Muscle Building, Endurance, and Strength (2013): 523-529.
Wilson, J. M., et al. "Tenth International Society of Sports Nutrition Conference and Expo, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, 14-15 June 2013." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Vol. 10. No. Suppl. 1. BioMed Central Ltd, 2013.(100-150)
