“Everything We Do Is Rooted In Sports.” Adidas Was Created

NIKE Inc. has been the worldwide leader of athletic shoe sales for many years now. The company’s successful brand image combined competition and enablement for the competitive, athletic user. Nike has to modify their brand to a focus of excitement and freedom and not just competitiveness. By collecting and studying an assortment of material we could be able to understand where NIKE is currently placed in the athletic shoe industry compared to their competition, and how they will be able to adjust their brand focus so it can be more effective in the future. These adjustments can help NIKE reach the more casual group of urban runners and ultimately increase the sales forecasts, while still controlling a percentage of the market for athletic shoes.

There are many sport apparel companies that exist throughout the world such as but not limited to Nike, Reebok, Under Armour and Puma. Adidas is a prime example of a famous global company that is continuously growing. Athletes endorse in these sporting apparel companies because these companies resemble fitness and a lifestyle of sport. Adidas products can be most department stores such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, Academy Sports, and Champs. The target audience is for athletes in high performance. The adidas company is very successful in their financial status and this report will analyze the company’s overall financial and performance status.

In addition, these companies are able to easily compete in the sports apparel market because the barriers to entry are low. On the other hand, many companies should think twice before entering the market. One reason is the large capital costs that are required to meet consumer demand in the market. In addition to large capital costs, some of the largest companies have gained customer loyalty based on their strong marketing skills. For example, Under Armour, Nike, Adidas, Reebok, ASICS, make new entrants into this industry much more difficult to compete with when these companies have a big share in the market already. According to Exhibit 4 in the textbook, it shows the major competitors and brands in 2013. Nonetheless, competition is intense in the sports industry market but, the high levels of product differentiation can also act as a barrier to entry for many companies because company’s need a high level of marketing to market their brand to consumers.

Customers make purchasing decisions based on the information they have among products and the values of goods a company offers. For that reason, companies have to promote their products to increase products awareness. In order to achieve organizational goals, companies must understand the market’s needs to ensure the success of their businesses. Such information can be gained through research. The industry that will form the basis of this paper is Western Canadian Shoe Association. The three brands under study are Reebok, Adidas, and Nike.

However, Adidas found that marketing is much more important because shoe is in the “shopping goods” category. It

Customers of Nike, Under Armour, and Adidas currently living in the D.C. Metropolitan area were asked to complete a survey that asked 4 simple questions about these different brands. The summary asked them to vote on which brand they prefer, wear, trust, and who is currently dominant in the apparel industry. This graph was used to help back up our facts as to why Nike should be chosen to carry apparel for your store. Nike is what the people want. This was based on a poll of 84 participants in total, and 83 for the last questions.

Understanding customer needs will help Nike to define new market opportunities and drive innovation and revenue growth in every aspect of its organisation. The most basic concept underlying marketing is that of human needs. Human needs are states of felt deprivation (Kotler and Armstrong, 2006). Customer logic is derived from evaluation of a company and its product based upon customer needs, customer benefits, and product features. For branded athletic shoes, Nike has to understand customer needs on a global level as the products are sold

Through market research, Nike found the most impressionable consumers were these Football Obsessed Teens. Generally, these teens were around 17 years in age, Nike’s target age. Nike felt that the “17-year-od consumers were more independent, more driven in their football goals, could choose their own brand, buy their own products and form brand loyalty.” However, Nike recognized that this change would require an adjustment in their marketing efforts. Primarily, these consumers were not just “aspirational” but rather “inspirational,” a type of consumer that will want the tools to become the best possible player.

Adidas, the brand with the three stripes, has to be a brand that is well sought after by consumers. The company has been established since 1949 in Herzogenaurach, Germany (Adidas-Group), however, the brand has soared in the past couple of months. This is because Adidas has recently paired up to collaborate with well known western musicians, like Kanye West and Pharell Williams. That is not to say that Adidas has never collaborated in the past, in fact the brand is known to be one of the biggest companies to collaborate with artists (Adidas-Group). These artists includes Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto, Raf Simons, etc. However, Adidas has climbed up to the top as a result of their collaboration and marketing strategy with hip-hop rapper Kanye West. It is the brand’s encoding of the music/rap culture and idolizing West, which is the very reason their profit has skyrocketed. Adidas has encoded their products to shape its consumers to become, or to feel as if they are Kanye West himself with their newest sneaker called the “Yeezys.”

Under Armour will be able to take advantage of this large population of buyers by creating a shoe that appeals to them. The ability to attract and retain at least half of this generation will increase their profits. Under Armour must understand the shopping habits of this group of buyers. They desire brand name products that are unique and stylish. Also, being socially accepted is very important to them but they must also be different. This generation is used to relying on their parents to select and purchase their shoes now they are the decision makers and the purchasers. Under Armour has the opportunity to attract a generation of buyers who are new to the athletic shoe market. Successfully attracting this group of buyers to Under Armour will

The report is about Nike, regarding the case study. The report elaborates on the aspects including buyer behaviour, brand image, consumer decision making, and marketing research techniques applicable to Nike. 3.0 Introduction Nike is the worlds number one sports shoe company. In the US Nike dominates 35% (source: see appendices) of the sports shoe market and its products are sold in more than 140

Modern marketing management works hard to resolve the common problems of consumption of products. The study of consumer behavior is therefore very significant in marketing in ensuring survivability of the firm. There is a lot of rivalry in every industry, and the company needs to be very innovative and recognize the latest tastes and the need for the consumers. The information gained in studying consumer behavior can be extremely crucial in helping to exploit the available market opportunities. This report analyzes the consumer behavior using two fashion apparel brands, Gucci and Gap. Gucci and Gap are international companies with their bases in different countries and continents. They have both been ranked in Forbes Global 2000 list of largest companies worldwide. The market segment of the two companies is different with Gucci targeting the wealthy folks (including children, youth and old people) and Gap targeting twenty-five to thirty-five middle-class consumer. Due to the difference in the nature of the products sold by the two brands, their consumers portray different kind of behavior. These different behaviors provide the fantastic scenario to analyze and understand consumer behavior.

Adidas Group, as one of the world’s retail leaders in sportswear, has as primary target the sports participants, including high performance athletes, as well as non-athletes who are inspired by those at the highest level of their sport, and those that really love sports as part of their lives.

Adidas is a major German sports apparel manufacturer, which was founded in 1948. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second biggest sportswear manufacturer in the world, after Nike. The company's clothing and shoe designs typically feature three parallel bars. The company revenue for 2009 was listed at €10.38 billion. The market segmentation; targeting and position play an important role in this company. This essay will use the three factors to analyze this company.

Adidas is also targeting a certain class of people, that is women by launching under the idea that the “collection is for women who take their sport and their style seriously” and that