Dominant Product Companies - Sport Shoes - Case Study Example

A Research Report on Sport Shoes [Name] [Institutional Affiliation] Introduction Shoes are specially designed footwear which is specifically worn to protect the feet when one is exercising or carrying out day to day activities. Shoe companies produce a variety of shoes to suit every person with respect to activities they undertake. These varieties include safety shoes which are usually boots designed for specialists who work under conditions unfavorable for their feet for example engineers who need to protect their feet from sharp objects and heavy falling objects at engineering sites. There are also the casual shoes which are mainly for people who prefer neatness in their dressing. These mostly are for the people who work in offices where personal presentation is valued. Lastly there is the sports shoe. These are specially designed shoes which are intended to be worn when one engages in sporting activities. Their special design makes exercise easier and more comfortable despite the obvious strain and fatigue. Sports shoes have a great range of varieties inclusive of athletic shoes, sneakers, rollerskates, ice skates and football boots. Therefore, this report is meant to give detailed information on marketing strategies involved in the sports shoe industry. Brief explanation on Dominant Product Companies Nike is one of the biggest sports shoes company in existence. It has generally concentrated its attention to developing designs, manufacturing and general marketing and footwear sales worldwide. It has more than 44000 employees in its payroll and makes u to $24.i billion in revenue. The whole brand and company was recently valued at $19 billion emerging the top company in the sports business. Puma is also one of the companies with a large market share in the UK. It is a multinational company of Germany origin and has specialized with production of casual, sports and athletic footwear. It also makes football boots and has managed to successfully sponsor a number of players over time. Currently, the company has over 10,000 people on its payroll and has its merchandise distribution in more than 120 countries. In 2003 the company managed to make a €1.274 billion (Etzel, Walker & Stanton, 2007). Product Segments Offered Within this Market In the sports shoes industry, there is production of a great range of products which are classified in categories depending on the specific activity they are meant for. This includes court sports, field sports, outdoorsports, special sports and special sports. Court sport shoes are mainly meant for indoor sporting activities like basketball, tennis and volleyball. While field sport shoes are mainly designed for outdoor sporting activities which include soccer and rugby. Shoes for outdoor sports have a spiked or studded sole to enhance their grip on outdoor grounds. Outdoor activity shoes are sports shoes designed for outdoor activities like hunting and for special activity shoes, they are shoes which are much specialized to the activity they are involved in and examples are the roller blades. Types of target customers by each production segment Of each of the above mentioned product segments, there is the ideal market targeted by the producers. Target market helps promote the brand and leads to a rise in sales (Assael, 1998). The target markets include: I. Professionals and elite-this is where the producer targets the top professional sports personalities and the elite people in society who have the power to influence the rest of the population. If a top sports personality is spotted wearing a certain design of a product segment, the rest of the population tend to prefer the same design which works to great advantage of the producer. These personalities are mainly interested in the latest technology in shoes and the special features added especially those which are related to their sport of specialization. II. Fashion icons-this refers to top models who have special interests in the elements of fashion present in sporting shoes. They are not specific on the design as they don’t participate in sporting nor do they have a sport of specialization. They simply wear the shoes mainly because of the fashion aspect related to a given design. Due to their fashion consciousness they too are enthusiasts of current technology in shoes. III. People interested in keeping fit-this target market consists of people who love to exercise .these are people who exercise on regular basis and also participate in certain games socially. They are mainly interested in having a good pair of sports shoes at a relatively fair price. IV. Comfort- this refers to the class of people who simply where sports shoes every day due to the comfortability which comes with a certain brand. They don’t necessarily participate in any sport so they use the shoes to walk around as they carry out their daily activities. V. Kids and teens-small kids and teens comprise a good percentage of the overall market of sports shoes. This is because they fashion conscious and are also easily influenced by their peers to acquire a certain product. They play a major role in gearing up sales of their units of preference. Marketing mix of the identified products Sports shoes and all other kinds of footwear distribution systems have been subject to diversification over the current past. Distribution channels used in the past which include direct importation from the manufacturing company have now been affected by the current emerging purchasing trends. A consumer can now acquire their desired sports shoe from a shoe stall, purchase it from the mall, direct order and import from the manufacturer or even buy it from the online stores. This has called for use of different marketing strategies which are friendlier considering the current technological advancements. Success of any shoe company is brought about by offering of quality shoes at affordable prices. In designing any type of shoe the company has to consider this two factor and manage to come up with a good quality shoes which is affordable. This strategy determines the success or failure of a product in capturing the market as some shoes are of very good quality but the price is very unfavourable.however most sports shoes are very much affordable considering the quality and comfort which comes with them ((Etzel, Walker & Stanton, 2007). This is quite appealing in capturing ordinary people who love exercise, teens and kids, the fashion conscious and also the sports icons due to their affordability. Sports footwear manufacturing companies have also adopted the ecofriendly policies where they employ practices which are friendly to the eniroment.This explains the recent incidences of companies adopting non pollutant power sources like use of solar energy and windmills. This energy sources are not only ecofriendly but also cost efficient as they cut down on the overall power expense. There is also the idea of making their products using only biodegradable material. This ensures zero environmental pollution as the shoes once worn out can be easily biodegraded. This strategy creates a good image of the company to the general public and tends to attract more customers who are impressed by the policies adopted by the companies (Etzel, Walker & Stanton, 2007). Consumers need to be aware of the brands available for them to be able to choose what they prefer (Assael, 1998). This consumer awareness is achieved by sponsoring of events by a certain brand, sponsoring of certain teams which are relevant to the product the company is intending to make the consumer aware of and also online advertisements. By sponsoring a certain team for example a basketball team all basket ball fans will get to know of the new brand of shoes and will be eager to acquire the brand which has sponsored their favorite team. This strategy works well in increasing sales. According to Assael (1998), ethics is a very powerful tool when it comes to marketing. Companies apply all possible measures to protect their good image as anything no matter how small that can tarnish their name can easily bring down sales by a reasonable percentage. Companies have come up with strategies where they conduct researches on the population aiming to find out any social ethic practice which the population may not be okay with and plan how to counter it. Product features is another factor playing a major in a market mix (Kahn, 2011). The superiority of a certain product over the others will automatically propel its sells to the desired percentage. In the sports shoe business, the shoes are specially designed considering different specifications which vary depending on the purpose of the shoe. These specifications include lightness, durability and air circulation in general sportshoes.if the company perfects on this, it ensures an automatic market win over its competitors. The packaging in which a shoe comes in is also a factor to consider. A good packaging presentation will obviously have a greater appeal on customers than an average packaging. Some companies have adopted biodegradable packaging solutions that are in line with the ecofriendly policy. Etzel, Walker & Stanton (2007) illustrates that competitors are the other factors which determine success of a product. For a sports shoe the only competition is from other forms of shoes. These other shoe types may have it all but not the sporty look and feel. Companies producing sports shoes design shoes which have both the looks and sport design in them. This gives them an upper hand in competition. Competitors also help a company to know how to place their product in the market to counter all the present competition. Companies should ensure that consumers have full trust and confidence in their products. This can only be done by providing state of the art content which cannot be matched by the competitors. This is a sure way to secure their market share and make themselves consumers’ favorite brand. Trust and confidence doesn’t always have everything to do with the product, but also the consumer producer relationship determines the confidence the customers have in the product and the supplier. Sport shoes companies have embraced this policy an embarked on activities which improve their relation with their current consumers and also the general public which is viewed as potential consumers. These activities include humanitarian and charity activities in helping the needy and sponsoring the construction and maintenance of social amenities. Emerging trends affecting the industry According to Kerin & O'regan (2008), one of the emerging trends is the constantly changing tastes which characterize the current population. This constant change in taste is brought about by the constant invention of new products which make the older product inferior. This is an issue which has brought major impacts on some companies over the past few years. A company can invest a lot of money in research and innovation to come up with a perfect sports shoe after which it engages in the marketing strategies which may also be very costly. After all this is done the product is well received in the market only for the consumer tastes to change after a few months leading to a high drop in the sales. This is a very discouraging factor to the producers which is highly affecting invention and innovation in the sports shoe industry. The other emerging issue is the flow of counterfeit products into the market. This is brought about by some inferior companies who wait for the dominating companies in the industry to come up with a new product which they then copy and produce a very low quality and cheaper copy of the prior product. These companies manage to confuse customers due to the exact resemblance of the products and the very low prices they charge. However the content the customers pay for is of very quality and leads to their disappointment after some time. This is an issue which poses as a major threat to the sales and marketing of the superior products. Conclusion In conclusion sports shoes companies are beginning to gain popularity as stated above and are able to gain a market share despite the evident stiff competition from competitors. In the face the highlighted marketing constraints the companies are day by day embracing the the posed challenges and putting necessary measures to propel them ahead of the competitors. References Top of Form Assael, H. (1998). Marketing. Fort Worth, Dryden Press. Bottom of Form Top of Form Etzel, M. J., Walker, B. J., & Stanton, W. J. (2007). Marketing. Boston, McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Bottom of Form Top of Form Kahn, K. B. (2011). Product planning essentials. Armonk, N.Y., M.E. Sharpe. Bottom of Form Top of Form Kerin, R. A., & O'regan, R. (2008). Marketing mix decisions: new perspectives & practices. Chicago, Ill, American Marketing Association. Bottom of Form Top of Form Mooij, M. K. D. (2004). Consumer behavior and culture: consequences for global marketing & advertising. Thousand Oaks, Calif, Sage Publications. Bottom of Form Top of Form Simpson, T. W., Siddique, Z., & Jiao, J. (2006). Product platform & product family design methods and applications. New York, Springer. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=16283. Bottom of Form Read More