Web Design From Around The World: Nike
The comparison took place on 8th December 2020
Introduction
Founded on 25th January 1964, as ‘Blue Ribbon Sports’ however officially became Nike, Inc on 30th May 1971. The name ‘Nike’ is from the Greek goddess of victory. The multinational corporation designs, develop, manufactures and sells footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services worldwide. Nike, Inc. is the world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and employs 76,700 worldwide as of 2020. In 2020, Nike, Inc was valued in excess of $32 billion. With its distinctive trademark ‘Just Do It’ and Swoosh logo along with famous sub-brands such as Air Jordan, Air Max, Nike CR7 among many; Nike has become one of the world’s most recognised brands. Being one of the most recognised brands in the world, they will need regional websites that will cater to each country’s unique user base which will have different demands and needs. In this post, I will be reviewing Nike’s website across 16 different countries to see have they catered to different languages and needs.
Australia
The first thing you see when the page loads is a video for their yoga collection. At the time of this review it’s December and in Australia it is their summer season for them, hence the targeting of yoga clothing. On the top left, they have the Air Jordan logo however not the Converse logo which you see on the Nike United Kingdom site. As you scroll down on the homepage, you will see Nike’s festive shoe campaign. The Australian homepage only has four sections making the homepage shorter than other countries.
Austria
The Austrian version is slightly different to the Australian website; the leading image is of the ‘Air Jordan 11’ shoes which seem to be an upcoming release. As you scroll down you will see a ‘Trending Now’ section. I assume it shows the latest trending products on the site or maybe across Nike as a whole. The next section is the ‘Gear Up’ section which looks like a section for Nike Austria to market a section of Nike performance range. As you go further down you notice a ‘Latest Looks’ section to show off their latest range that has been released. This is increasing, as you would think anything new would be at the top of the homepage to gain more interest. Further down you have a ‘Don’t Miss’ section to show off other ranges. At the bottom of the page is just quick link sections to ‘Men’s, Women’s and Kids’ sections along with links to popular links.
Other countries that use the same layout:
Germany, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain and United Kingdom
Brazil
The Nike Brazil website leads with the Brazilian National Football (Soccer) jersey image. You will notice on the top left you will have more link such as a link to their landing page for an event with Sae Paulo Football Club, simple ‘Join Us’ button, Air Jordan logo and Sneakers logo. As you scroll further down you will see their campaign for the dance collection they are marketing. The next section you see are products from their Alta range followed by the ‘running’ section to show off the sneaker collection. As you move further down you will notice more athletic/active sections, indicating Brazil being an active country. All the sections on the homepage seem to be related to sport rather than style, which I have seen on the United Kingdom, Austria and Australian websites. At the bottom of the homepage, there is a subscribe to Nike email section.
China
Loading up Nike China page, you get a different leading image for discounted sale campaign for sneakers. You will notice that at the top left there is only the Air Jordan and Converse logo. Scroll down you will see a Nike Blazer campaign using a Chinese model for the imagery, trying to appeal to the Chinese market. Further down you will notice a campaign for more shiny/dazzling trainer’s campaign followed by a simplified yoga campaign, which is similar to the Australian campaign. The next section is the ‘recommended to you’ section that looks like a place for the company to market certain Nike ranges to the Chinese customers. The popularity section shows off ranges that are top sellers in the Chinese market. At the bottom of the homepage that is a section of the Nike App with a QR code which is a widely used method in China to use QR codes to action something on their phones. Overall the homepage is dominated by footwear imagery indicating that Nike footwear is popular in China.
Hong Kong
For the Nike Hong Kong, they have the Nike Homepage, Nike Member and Air Jordan on the top left of the page. Having the Nike Homepage here is interesting considering the Nike logo located below also links to the homepage as well. Seems like Hong Kong customers need a physical link to the homepage. The website leads with a campaign to layer up and heads to their winter/jacket range. The recommended section is only showing shoes which could be a popular range in the Hong Kong market hence why the location of this section is near the top. As you scroll down the homepage, you will notice a lot of footwear imagery indicating the customer base in Hong Kong are interested in Nike footwear. At the bottom of the homepage, there is a subscribe to Nike email section.
India
Nike India leads straight into a video header for their gifts section that dominates their homepage. At the top left of the page, there is only an Air Jordan logo. Next is the must-have gifts for Nike India to highlight some gift suggestions to its customer base. As you scroll you will notice a trending section to highlight certain ranges that are popular for the Indian consumer. The Yoga Collection campaign follows using the same campaign style as Nike Australia. At the bottom of the page, there are quick links similar to the European sites but to other sections which are popular in India.
Other countries that use the same layout:
Japan
Interestingly Nike Japan has two different website one in Japanese and the other in English. Both containing different content.
Japanese English Version
The Japanese English version leads with a header image for their outdoor collection followed by a section for the Nike Running collection. Overall, the Japanese English version contains a lot of Nike footwear imagery that is pointing towards a similar customer base as the Nike China and Hong Kong website. It could be that Nike footwear is popular in East Asia.
Japanese Version
The Japanese Version shows a video campaign of their equality video currently running in Japan. An interesting aspect is the ‘watch now’ button, which turns the audio for the video on, by default the video plays without sound. The following section is to advertise Nike Jackets for Men and Women, the next section is a celebrity-endorsed section of items endorsed by Sara Takanashi who is an Olympic ski jumper. The next following sections featured collection, popular shoes and a three-column section to highlight certain sections are visible on both the Japanese and Japanese English version.
South Korea
Top left of the page shows only the Air Jordan logo. The leading image is ‘The Stage’, which is a dance competition in South Korea. Nike South Korea has teamed up with the contestants to produce a marketing campaign to sell products featured in the competition. The next section is to market the Nike Air Max Zephyr; the call to action goes straight to a page showing all the variations available. South Korea is also running a similar campaign to the Hong Kong website for the winter wear collection. The website has a nice section called ‘Styling this week’ that showcases pieces of items that make up a Nike winter training style which has a button going to a page showing all the items suggested for purchase and another button going to a page showing other styling choices. Further down the page shows targeting at certain sections of the website such as featured shoes and apparel essentials.
United States Of America
The US site has the Air Jordan and Converse logo in the top left corner of the page, the homepage is led by a hero image for their cold-weather campaign to advertise the winter collection. The next two sections are placement to direct customers to certain areas or products on the site to boost sales. They have a section for their current campaign for breaking racial barriers. Interestingly you see an image but when you click on the ‘watch’ button, the image suddenly turns into a video. If you refresh and hover over the image there is no indication that it’s a video until you click the ‘watch’ button. Following on the section is a piece of content advertising the Jubilee sneakers currently being advertised worldwide. The page ends off with a call to action to encourage sign up to the Nike members section.
Summary
The Nike website overall across several countries are constant with the same style of navigation however the homepage itself allows unique product and campaign placement that are suited to the region. For example, I have noticed that East Asian countries focus more on footwear rather than clothing. The European countries follow the same layout, hinting that the European market overall follows the same trend. You can see through each website they use the same section templates or use the same content for more global campaigns. The Brazilian website focuses more on National sports while Japan and the US focus on equality. I have noticed that the top left corner of the page constantly changes according to what quick links are useful for that region.
Across all websites, there is distinctiveness between regions on what is important based on the customer based within the respective countries however the experience across all websites is the same. You don’t need to re-learn how the websites operate, unlike the McDonald’s website I reviewed a while back. This is positive on Nike’s side as a customer visiting the country will be able to navigate the site with ease. The Nike clean layout allows imagery to pop up and sell themselves while the structure of the side enables some uniformity across the websites.