Finish Line Executive Case Paper

Based on The Running Room’s current situation, Cisco considers a number of alternatives to her present marketing strategy. On one hand, she could continue to maintain a broad target market to appeal to both casual athletes--with more fashion-conscious products that aren’t necessarily running shoes--and serious runners, while attempting to tap into the growing market for women’s athletic shoes with expanded product lines for female athletes. This strategy would help her maintain her aging loyal customers, as she could offer athletic shoes that reflect the new exercise programs that they are becoming involved in instead of running. Conversely, she could narrow her target market to just serious runners, by investing in the high-end molded running shoes and the additional training and promotion that would be required to sell them. An analysis of The Running Room’s strengths and weaknesses can help her determine that the second strategy is the most worthwhile to pursue moving forward. As a former nationally-ranked runner herself, and with both a proven track record for catering to serious runners (who make up a majority of her sales) as well as the flexibility to switch product lines fairly easily, Cisco’s business strengths would support a shift to a more serious runner target market with relative

Amongst the retailers fighting for the market share in the sporting goods sector, Dick’s sporting goods persists to impress shareholders. The company’s profit margins and revenue have indicated excellent growth annually and looking ahead the administration expects revenue to augment by 3%. Generally, DKS is working at an optimum height with adequate capital adequacies to allow the expansion necessary to address the sector’s needs, yet is still able of maximizing shareholder’s wealth. The company has a winning strategy that has focused on the high-end athletics wants. DKS definitely has rewarded shareholders currently, producing an annualized overall return of 55.9% for the past three years. DKS competitive advantage comprises of its prominence on high-performance products intended for serious enthusiasts or athletes, rather than cheaper items for casual participants. Nonetheless, one can purchase the goods at certain skill and price levels. However, the focus of DKS on higher price, higher quality items make it more lucrative than its rivals. It also reduces the competition DKS faces from other competitors in the sporting goods and broad merchandise retailers who never share that emphasis. Not astoundingly then DKS is all in when it relates to omnichannel. The retailer has embraced fulfillment and sales efforts like buy online-pickup in store, in-store takings for online purchases, and endless aisle scheme that, for instance permit staff to place

The concept of market structures and competitive strategies are important when attempting to compete in any market. Understanding what market structure your product falls under can help companies develop better competitive strategies and identify potential for loss and gains. The athletic footwear industry in the United States is highly profitable and continuously growing. In this paper I will identify market structure of the athletic footwear industry, the major retailers, and competitive strategies that can be used to maximize profits.

This product fully supports our steadfast mission of enabling consumers to improve the quality and convenience of their lives by providing high

The last threat is also based from nearby competition. Relevance The completion has more seating arrangements (125, 200, and 400) and they also sell products at a lower price.

In 2003, they excess inventory that was “built up based on previous years of strong sales” (pg. 9). Their sales decreased by 1.6% which indicated that their expansion slightly bottomed out. After this, Kohl’s decided to start a new line of clothing to compete with the likes of Banana Republic and Perry Ellis. Their Apt. 9 brand was designed to appeal the middle class customer. In 2007, Kohl’s decided to offer more products online that were “not generally available in its stores” (pg. 9); these products include many home furnishings, dinnerware, electronics, and children’s toys. Later in the year, Kohl’s expanded its athletic department striking a deal with Fila. This agreement led to an exclusive deal to sell athletic “apparel, footwear, and accessories for women, men, and children” (pg. 9). Also, this deal is special as it gives Kohl’s a large amount of control over the Fila product line. The main part of this deal consists of Fila controlling only the manufacturing of its footwear and consists of Kohl’s controlling “the manufacturing, production, distribution, sales, and marketing of the FILA SPORT apparel and accessories” (pg. 9).

The women's apparel market is highly competitive. With the launch of a new active-wear line from Harrington Collection's, more and more competitors will start to realise the potential value in in producing an active-wear line of their own. The active-wear market is growing so rapidly (expected to double turnover from 2007 to 2009), that eventually all of Harrington's competitors would likely be expected to launch a line of their own, relying on existing brand loyalty and high-scale advertising campaigns to capture market share and move units.

Currently, they noticed a significant increase in running participation in the area which has a gap for a full service retailer that caters specifically to the running sport. In addition, they fell that due to economic recession and an increase in health consciousness, they would be able to draw people to such store. After all, running is an inexpensive sport (as opposed to say golf). Also, the Columbus Riverwalk is a popular site for both tourists and sports enthusiasts. The Riverwalk runs through the downtown area and provides a trail for biking, running, and walking, not to mention that the whitewater course is predicted to increase tourism and Fort Benning, home to large military training installations, would provide a constant influx of soldiers needing equipment.

Finish Line, Inc. is the second largest leader athletic based company in the United States. The company was founded in 1976 and now operates over 600 stores in 48 states. Finish Line is the franchise company of the Athlete’s Foot in Indianapolis, Indiana. By 1981, the company expanded beyond the 10 franchises they owned. The Athlete’s Foot franchising rights were to operate franchises within the borders of Indiana, so the owners decided to start their own company and named it The Finish Line. Prior to the company being traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol FINL, its annual gross was nearly $100 million. The company has significantly expanded selections and product lines—a typical store will show 600 to

Skiing and Hiking is a well recognised apparel business that caters to the youth and young adults in the Brisbane community. The retail industry, including this particular business, is one of the fastest growing business sectors in the economy and Skiing and Hiking intends to capitalise on the success of this industry by taking advantages of the retail opportunities in the Brisbane region. The retail outlet is in the Brisbane region focuses exclusively on boards and footwear, and doing so will differentiate them from local competitors. Skiing and Hiking will exemplify the latest in cutting edge products and trends; their focus is to provide apparel and accessories to yield customers to their highest performance in any winter and climbing ventures.

The Finish Line Incorporated is one of the United States largest retailer of athletic apparel and accessories boasting over 634 physical Finish Line stores and 76 Running Speciality stores nationwide. In addition to their physical locations, Finish Line also operates an online BLANK which averages an estimated 416,000 visitors daily. Finish Line also is the established exclusive retailer for all athletic apparel both online and physical stores the Macy’s department stores. Its retail products range from men’s, women’s, and youth athletic clothing, footwear and other miscellaneous athletic related accessories. This major retailer is subdivided into its two retail divisions, Finish Line and the Running Speciality Group. In addition, it operates

Our team vision is to present a quality project that we are proud to present. By researching and

Each new line extension needs to have a strategic plan for distribution and sales. Companies must remember that just because they have created a new product does not guarantee that all stores will be inclined to carry this product. There may be fifty types of the same product but store shelves have only been allotted for a possible twenty. Line extensions do not always increase the category demand, and the profits gained from line extensions are normally short-lived. Quelch and Kenny (1994) states “ Line extension proliferation spreads sales across more items, reducing  retailers’ average turnover rate, and putting previously profitable SKUs at risk”.

Space productivity - Net sales divided by the total square feet of retail floor space. This

Having obtained accurate information about the leading causes of productivity decline, the next step is to plan for productivity improvements for the coming year based on materials and technology-based engineering. The productivity improvement plan is focused on cost savings. Productivity planning in question is by: