nike ux case study

Nike’s E-Commerce UX self.__wrap_n!=1&&self.__wrap_b(":R4klb396:",1)

This is a case study of Nike’s e-commerce user experience (UX) performance. It’s based on an exhaustive performance review of 932 design elements. 249 other sites have also been benchmarked for a complete picture of the e-commerce UX landscape.

Nike’s overall e-commerce UX performance is mediocre. This is mainly due to mediocre Mobile Web , Mobile App , and Desktop Web performances.

First benchmarked in April 2012, and reviewed 28 times since then, most recently in July 2024.

Performance :  22.2 Mediocre

URL :  nike.com

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Overall UX Performance

950 Guidelines · Performance:

Desktop Web

300 Guidelines · Performance:

301 Guidelines · Performance:

349 Guidelines · Performance:

To learn how we calculate our performance scores and read up on our evaluation criteria and scoring algorithm head over to our Methodology page.

The scatterplot you see above is the free version we make public to all our users. If you wish to dive deeper and learn about each guideline and even review your own site you’ll need to get premium access .

Nike’s Desktop Web E-Commerce Design

35 pages of Nike’s e-commerce site, marked up with 253 best practice examples:

Nike’s Mobile Web E-Commerce Design

33 pages of Nike’s e-commerce site, marked up with 254 best practice examples:

Nike’s Mobile App E-Commerce Design

30 pages of Nike’s e-commerce site, marked up with 177 best practice examples:

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More From Forbes

How nike is using analytics to personalize their customer experience.

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When you think of sports apparel, the first brand that comes to mind is likely Nike. The company’s commitment to innovation and alignment with superstar athletes like Michael Jordan has made it an industry powerhouse for more than 30 years. That’s what makes it so interesting that a brand as well-known as Nike has shifted its business model in recent years.

For decades, Nike has operated with a retail-first model, where the vast majority of its revenue comes through wholesale. That hasn’t changed necessarily, as wholesale still represents the bulk of Nike’s sales, but Nike Direct — the company’s direct-to-consumer initiative —  contributed $10 billion in sales  during 2018. By 2020, that’s projected to increase to $16 billion.

Why is Nike having so much success going direct to the consumer, and how are they using analytics to deliver a better customer experience? What can other brands learn from Nike's approach? That’s what we’ll explore in this article.

Nike is hyper-focused on the customer.    

Nike is using an app to deepen its relationship with customers. The app provides access to the Nike Plus rewards program, which offers exclusives and early access to new products. The differentiation starts with access to Nike experts for whatever sport you play. Need a new baseball glove? Let the experts recommend one for you. Nike also offers personalized workouts through the app, as well as priority access to its events.

Another piece of Nike’s direct-to-consumer efforts is its 30-day wear test for shoes. Now customers don’t have to worry if their shoes will fit when ordering them online.

On top of the wear test, customers can use the  Nike Fit app to snap a picture of their feet using their phone and get the perfect shoe size for every style of Nike shoes. According to Nike , The app uses “computer vision, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and recommendation algorithms” to measure “the full shape of both feet, offering the ability to know your truly perfect fit.” This sizing data is stored on your Nike Plus profile, so you know the right size wherever you’re shopping.

Nike is also  leveraging its supply chain  to get closer to personalization. Last month, Nike selected 28 designers in New York City to create new shoes. The “NYC By You” project leveraged Nike’s distribution channels to produce new designs in small quantities.

Nike has always been world-class at mass-producing each of its shoes. But once they master making one shoe one time, it’ll represent a new frontier for this industry-leading innovator.

Acquisitions have given Nike deeper insight.

Nike has been able to build out these capabilities in large part due to a key acquisition they made. Last year,  Nike acquired  a leading data analytics company called Zodiac. What Zodiac allows Nike to do is crunch together its data points from customers using the Nike app and other connected devices like Fitbits to know customer habits and predict purchasing decisions.

Using these analytical insights, Nike has improved its customer acquisition and retention by identifying which customers to target and knowing when to target them. If a customer usually buys shoes every six months and it’s been 12 months since the purchase, Nike will know to reach out and prompt that customer to resume their purchase cycle. Going on offense in this regard will help Nike reduce churn, cutting down a huge expense for the company.

As more startups disrupt various apparel industries, Nike is defending their turf by investing in data science to better understand the customer journey. Nike Direct is not just an app. It reflects the company’s mission to know its customers and offer them better products and services.

That’s where the idea originated to start a shoe subscription service for kids (once called EasyKicks, now called Nike Adventure Club). Everyone knows kids outgrow their shoes, but analytics show Nike how often kids need new shoes and when parents typically look to buy them. Kids tend to be brand agnostic, but by removing the headache of going out to buy new shoes, Nike has engendered serious customer loyalty amongst parents.

What can brands learn from Nike?

Nike never waits for competitors to come along and disrupt their business. They are constantly disrupting themselves, which is a great lesson for companies large and small. Innovation is happening too fast to sit still. You should always aim to reinvent certain parts of your business model. Nike is still looking to win with its product, but now it’s looking to differentiate its brand based on service and offer a superior customer experience than its competitors.

That’s not the only lesson we can take away from Nike’s efforts. Every company needs to be investing in not just data science, but the business-driven part that links the customer with the insights team. Customer preferences and tastes are always changing, which means you need data to stay on top of the changes. Be intentional about building a small, focused team that can foster that connectivity. That’s what Nike has done since launching Nike Direct in 2017: hiring hundreds of people to join its team and drive this initiative forward.

Investing in data science also means being unafraid to make acquisitions when necessary. Nike purchased Zodiac. Its competitor, Under Armour, purchased MyFitnessPal in 2015 and began a collaboration with IBM Watson in 2016. Both companies understand that buying businesses can help close the gap between them and their customers by leveraging customer data.

Finally, after you’ve invested in your team and built out the connective piece to them and your customers, use that data in every aspect of your decision making. Nike is a huge company with millions of moving pieces and they’re paving the way in this regard. Everything from using a smartphone camera to get people the perfect-sized shoe to timing the next shoe delivery for growing children of busy parents — Nike is leveraging customer data on all fronts.

Why? Because they know their future success depends on a strong connection between business and data.

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Nike-A Case Study Just Do It

• February 2022

• Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies

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Stepping Up: A UI/UX Case Study of Nike's Website Redesign

In this case study, we'll take a closer look at some changes I've made in Nike's website

Disorganized Header...

The header section of Nike's website could be seen as disorganized due to the differing sizes of the three logos for Nike, Jordan, and Converse. This inconsistency in size could make the overall design appear cluttered and less visually appealing.

Users may find it difficult to quickly navigate between the different brands due to the uneven sizes of the logos, potentially leading to a less optimal user experience. It could be argued that a more consistent and streamlined design approach could improve the overall organization and flow of the header section, ultimately leading to a better user experience.

I made it look like this

To solve this problem, I worked on combining the logos of all three brands into a single logo and place it in the website header. When a user hovers their mouse over the Nike logo, the logos of all three brands appear, allowing the user to easily click and navigate to the brand they want to explore.

This change not only improved the user experience by making it easier for customers to navigate between the three brands, but it also created a more cohesive and unified brand identity for Nike. By combining the three logos into one, with that, Nike is able to showcase the strength of its brand portfolio while also simplifying the user journey.

Adding an animation to the logo so it will catch the user's attention

By adding this animation, we can make the users curious about the Nike's logo. when a user put his mouse over the Nike logo, the logos of all three brands appear, allowing the user to easily click and navigate to the brand they want to explore... This design changes not only made it easier for customers to navigate between Nike, Jordan, and Converse products but also helped to create a more cohesive and unified brand identity for Nike.

Thank you for your attention!!! 👌

Any comments or suggestions? Let me know your thought!

Leave a like if you like this design, Thank You!!

you can also check my last project: Improving the User Experience on Airbnb

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, co‐creating value through customers' experiences: the nike case.

Strategy & Leadership

ISSN : 1087-8572

Article publication date: 5 September 2008

This case aims to demonstrate how leading firms are learning how to sustain competitive advantage by co‐creating experiences of value with customers.

Design/methodology/approach

The shoe company Nike provides a glimpse of the next “best practices” of value co‐creation with customers. By engaging with informed, connected, and networked customers around the globe, Nike has found their shared experiences to be a new source of value.

The paper finds that customers are now informed, connected, networked, and empowered on a scale as never before, thanks to search engines, engagement platforms, the growth of internet‐based interest groups, and widespread high‐bandwidth communication and social interaction technologies. Customers have learned how to use these new tools to make their opinions and ideas heard.

Practical implications

A few leading companies like Nike are involving customers in the value creation process by offering Internet sites where they can share their interactions and experiences. These range from customers' ideas about how to improve or customize products to their feelings when they use products.). For Nike, the learning from these interactions creates new strategic capital. The company can now learn directly from customers' direct input on their preferences. Nike can build relationships and trust with the Nike+ community and experiment with new offerings, all the while enhancing its brand.

Originality/value

The strategic opportunity for Nike is to build and promote the use of Internet engagement platforms through which the firm can build customer relationships on a scale and scope as never before. Effectively managing these new initiatives initially posed a new challenge for Nike, a traditionally product‐centric organization. Now their viewpoint is reversed. “In the past the product was the end point of the consumer experience. Now it is the starting point.”

• Value added
• Customer information
• Social interaction
• Consumer marketing
• Customization

Ramaswamy, V. (2008), "Co‐creating value through customers' experiences: the Nike case", Strategy & Leadership , Vol. 36 No. 5, pp. 9-14. https://doi.org/10.1108/10878570810902068

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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Mastering youtube shorts: 5 winning marketing case studies, by bennett anderson on 09/15/2024.

Imagine if a 30-second video could take your brand from obscurity to front-page fame. In a crowded digital landscape, standing out is increasingly difficult—yet some brands are using YouTube Shorts to do just that.

This article explores how 5 brands harnessed the power of successful YouTube Shorts to create massive viral campaigns, with the playbooks you can use to build your own Shorts following.

Case Study 1: Nike

As an undisputed leader of sportswear, Nike has used YouTube Shorts to promote its #JustDoIt or #WinningIsn’tForEveryone branding. 

Often these Shorts feature real athletes and influencers, like Christiano Ronaldo or Jessica Silva, describing how they pushed themselves to overcome physical and emotional obstacles. With emphasis on high-energy, motivational content, these shorts are perfectly tailored to resonate with Nike’s fitness-focused audience. 

Though Nike doesn’t usually make Shorts-exclusive campaigns, the company uses Shorts as a valuable tool to broadcast their wider campaigns. Tapping into each athlete’s personal fanbase is a superb way to maximize reach, with top Shorts attaining nearly a million views. 

Case Study 2: Food52

As one of the country’s leading food and cookware sites, Food52 understands that the way to their customers’ hearts is through their stomachs. That approach is reflected in their YouTube Shorts, which share recipes and top kitchen hacks to engage their audience. 

Along with being neat and simple, Food52’s Shorts encourage user engagement. YouTube users frequently ask questions about quantities, substitutions, or alternative methods that are often answered by other users, creating a sense of community between dedicated foodies. 

Most of these Shorts attain a few thousand views, but the top performers eclipse one million. It’s a great deal for Food52—who essentially starts the conversation and then gets to sit back and watch—and a marketing masterclass for building an engaged community. 

Case Study 3: MrBeast

Few people understand the workings of YouTube better than MrBeast, who with 314 million subscribers is the most highly-followed personality on the platform. 

While full-length videos are his bread and butter, MrBeast uses YouTube Shorts to promote his regular videos and philanthropic collaborations—including his #TeamSeas initiative, which aims to reduce plastic pollution. Likewise, most of MrBeast’s Shorts follow the theme and structure of his main videos, featuring extreme feats in exchange for cash prizes or valuable giveaways. 

In other words? It’s the same idea, just in a bite-sized format. 

As 2022’s most highly-paid YouTuber , it’s safe to say MrBeast knows what he’s doing. His top Shorts crack one billion (yes, with a B ) views. 

Case Study 4: Gymshark

Gymshark has effectively used YouTube Shorts to expand its fitness-related content, often featuring workout tips and fitness influencers wearing Gymshark apparel. Like Nike, Gymshark has leveraged the virality of popular figures to promote its content, but Gymshark often features younger micro-influencers rather than top-tier athletes, and prefers using humor over Nike’s motivation-centric content. 

In one popular series of clips, Gymshark hosted a “Guess the secret bodybuilder” game, in which micro-influencers tried to pick a “secret bodybuilder” from a lineup of ordinary-looking people. As these Shorts were actually clips from a longer video, they ultimately brought attention to Gymshark’s other content. 

The most popular “Guess the Secret Bodybuilder” Short drew 5.4 million views, far above Gymshark’s usual view count of 10-20k. 

Case Study 5: Liquid Death

Liquid Death’s branding has become legendary in marketing circles for marketing normal water with the “extreme” motifs you’d expect from an alcohol brand. That brilliance extends to some of the best YouTube Shorts marketing examples.

One such example featuring the “Pulled Over Sober Club”—drivers whom police stopped on suspicion of holding beers when they were actually holding cans of Liquid Death—further solidifies the company’s brand image. By invoking a sense of “badassery” while retaining a humorous note, this Short contains the two emotions responsible for its elevated market position.

With its top Shorts attaining over 100k views, Liquid Death continues to show it’s one of the most imaginative brands on the market. How else could anyone turn cans of water into a brand worth $1.4 billion ?

Key Elements of Successful YouTube Shorts

So what do these viral youtube shorts examples have in common.

Perhaps most importantly, most YouTube Shorts success stories involve an element of synergy. Unlike Instagram or TikTok, even reasonably successful Shorts can struggle to net more than ten or twenty thousand views. Following Nike’s example by partnering with influencers or celebrities can propel Shorts as far as possible by engaging their own fan base.

Because of their format, the best YouTube Shorts examples are concise. They have one finely tuned message or story, which they push until it hits the target. Clutter and complexity are not your friends here. (If Food52 can distill their complex recipes into thirty-second clips, anyone can.)

To appeal to YouTube’s algorithms and maximize reach you’ll need engagement in the mix. Some of MrBeast’s most shared giveaways offer viewers cash or phones in exchange for hitting “subscribe.” Not all brands use such obvious bribery, but they all encourage interaction from and among their followers!

Marketer’s Takeaways

• Although YouTube Shorts rarely attain the views of longer videos, they play a key role in boosting brand visibility. Most successful Shorts are not standalone posts but rather support for more widespread campaigns.
• Synergy is key! Because YouTube is an ecosystem of different content creators, partnering with famous personalities or other brands can boost reach beyond what it would normally be.
• As with all social media content, Shorts won’t go viral unless there’s some incentive to engage.

Although YouTube Shorts don’t always get the attention of Instagram Reels or TikTok videos , they are a crucial tool that marketers should consider when crafting campaigns. Try them and see for yourself!

Ready to take your brand visibility to the next level? Start creating impactful YouTube Shorts today with the help of Media Shower’s AI-powered content platform. Try it for free !

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