Construction And Application Research Of Sports Goods Brand Niche Index System

Brand niche represents the position and competitive advantage of various resources in different dimensions in the ecosystem.As the market competition among enterprises rises,the importance of the concept of brand niche in consumer behavior has become increasingly prominent.In the process of building a brand niche indicator system for specific industries,to correctly regard the cognitive evaluation of consumption is becoming development strategy for companies to create sustainable competitive advantages.Through a method of theoretical research combined with empirical researches,starting from psychological cognition of domestic consumers,empirical researches of Xtep and NIKE are conducted to construct brand niche evaluation index system at the cognitive level,which identifies the importance of each index in the niche system.Through theory and case analysis,the following conclusions are drawn:(1)The cognitive niche evaluation index system of local sports goods brand is constructed,which consists of 11 dimensions that are “Identity Positioning”,“Personal Characteristics Conformity”,“Brand Ambassador Image Recognition”,“Brand Identity Value”,“Sports Association”,“Visual Quality Perception”,“Sports Connotation”,“Product Quality Perception”,“Service Enjoyment and Service Level”,“Sports Performance Innovation”,and “Sports Image Recognitions”.(2)The level of the evaluation index of the sports goods brand cognitive niche is identified.At the level of brand characteristics,the key evaluation indicators are“Identity Positioning”,“Personal Characteristics Conformity” and “Brand Ambassador Recognition”.In terms of sports characteristics,the key indicators point to “Sports Association”,“Visual Quality Perception” and“Sports Connotation”.While in brand media,“Product Quality Perception”,“Service Enjoyment”,“Service Levels”,“Sports Performance Innovation”,and “Brand Status Perception” are also key factors in brand niche evaluation.(3)The ecological gap between domestic brands and international brands is analyzed.By comparing the comment sets between Xtep and NIKE,it is found the main gap between the two brands is reflected in the “Brand Identity Value”,“Sports Association”,“Visual Quality Perception”,“Product Quality Feeling”,“Sports Performance Innovation” and “Sports Ambassador Recognition”.Therefore,Xtep's brand building shall focus on these six indicators in order to narrow the gap with NIKE.Based on the existing research results of sporting goods brand niche,the main contributions are reflected in the following three aspects:(1)The cognitive elements of consumers' psychological level in a view of brand niche are identified,the key evaluation factors are filtered to construct the niche factor system of sporting goods brand recognition,which shows the multiple dimensions of sporting goods brand niche.(2)The sporting goods brand cognition elements and niche weight levels have been developed and identified,the brand recognition structure of domestic consumers of sporting goods has been ascertained,and the theoretical connotation of sporting goods brand construction is enriched.(3)Through fuzzy judgment,the gap in key ecological factors between Xtep and NIKE is identified,the importance of each factor is filtered to propose the brand development strategy to domestic sports goods brands.