Under Armour Competitiveness

Under Armours greatest weakness is perhaps, their lack of competitiveness in the shoe market, specifically basketball shoes. Basketball shoes are the highest priced and highest revenue earning shoes of both Nike and Reebok. Compared to its competitors, UA is the latest company to sign pro-athlete endorsements and create signature shoes. Number show that if UA can continue to create quality shoes that match Nike, Adidas, and Reebok they may stand a chance in becoming a competitor in the shoe market.

Lack of competitiveness in the shoe market is not the only variable holding UA back, like every company is employee turnover. Employee turnover can be costly; Employees who quickly resign from their position cause large losses in amount of money

As mentioned earlier, Under Armour has began taking steps such as forming international teams and hiring marketing consultants in specific regions to expand their operations globally. These steps seem to be paying off for Under Armour, sales are increasing. However, their international sales are still not competitive in comparison to their competitors such as Nike and Reebock. In 2013, 90% of Under Armour’s revenue came from North-America, leading into 2014 international sales were up.

Under Armour faces another weakness of creating products that are categorized as consumer discretionary. Under Armour’s Net Income in 2009 compared to 2015 supports that Under Armour’s products do well when the economy is expanding and employment and wages are increasing, but fall during a recession. During the recession in 2009 net income was $46.78Million, while in 2015 net income is $232.57Million. Currently the company is in expansion mode with growing employment that will cause a great opportunity to expand

UA’s US distribution center reflects that America is Under Armours primary source of business, and that sales in the United States is their corporate strategy. The locations of where Under Armour’s sales are coming from backs this up. Most of Under Armour’s sales come from the United States, however, over the last few years UA has increased their international profits by their actions to expand globally. According to Under Armour’s national webcite, “UA is targeting to open over 100 Brand House stores globally in 2015 and almost one a day this September. Most of these will be located in Latin America and Asia (75%). Most new stores in Asia—about 85%—will be via tie-ups with distributors, with most of these located in China3.” Most international sales take place through distributorships or partnerships. Under Armour also has an e-commerce presence in several markets, sometimes in countries where its products aren’t available in stores yet. As for international statisticts, Under Armour reported sales of $784 million in quarter two of 2015, up 28.5% over quarter two of 2014, and is expected to continue with rising international