Mini Ethnography : Dick 's Sporting Goods

Dicks Sporting Goods, “Dicks,” is a great in store and online retailer that carries a very extensive assortment of name brand products. They specialize in products which range from sports equipment like footwear and apparel to equipment for outdoors activities like hunting, fishing and hiking. With a superstore format, Dicks offers a wide variety of merchandise from large vendors such as Nike, Calloway, Columbia Sportswear, and Adidas.

We are aiming at understanding how Recreational Equipment INC. (REI) achieved a competitive advantage through their strategies and how they implemented those strategies. REI differs from the other sporting goods stores in their quality product selection, complements, and excellent brand name promotion. These qualities enable REI to sell merchandise at premium price levels (Morse, 2003).

This case study explores different marketing techniques utilized by Prince sports. Research is conducted by utilizing marketing concepts retrieved from various publications as well as Prince sports website. Evolution in technology, joint ventures and adoption of different marketing techniques proved to be successful for Prince sports. There was an evolution of marketing all together at the height of Prince sports success with the introduction and adoption of social media in the marketplace. Prince sports ability to adapt and make changes based on consumer feedback

Nike may be typically known for focusing a lot of gear solely on athletes; yet, it is not just for them. Nike’s objective

Dick’s Sporting Goods also known as Dick’s Clothing and Sporting Goods is a fast growing company that carries products ranging from Taylormade golf clubs to The North Face winter jackets. Dick’s Sporting goods was founded in 1948 by Dick Stack who in which was only 18 years old at the time. In 1948, Stack was working at an Army Surplus store in New York, where his boss asked his opinion on which new tackle products should introduced into the fishing business. Dick was an experienced fisher, when he gave his ideas to boss, his ideas were turned down. Stack was not happy and spoke to his late grandmother about the situation and she gave him the funds he needed to start his own tackle store. In 1958, Stack had created a business that is very much like what a typical Dick’s Sporting Goods is today. He was a driven young individual that felt his knowledge would allow him to be successful in the tackle business. Not only did his tackle business succeed, but what is now the Dick’s Sporting Goods Brand has greatly succeeded.

Andrew is a third year chemical engineering student at the University of Louisville. He grew up in Hodgenville, KY. Which is a small town just south east of Elizabethtown. He lives in an apartment with one other student also attending the University of Louisville and myself. This apartment is where the interview took place.

Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. is an authentic full-line sporting goods retailer that offers a broad assortment of brand name sporting goods equipment, apparel and footwear.

The lessons sports can teach us reach tremendous heights. Through sports, we receive a grasp of new heights and new abilities once unknown to an individual. One of the various ways humans come into contact with sports is through merchandise. In an economy-driven world, not a day goes by where an individual does not see an advertisement of some sort of product related to sports; two of the more popular brands are Nike and Adidas. Both these companies use catchy slogans that both, entice the buyers, and also place a thought into their mind. Nike uses the slogan, “Just Do It”, and Adidas is often seen with slogans like, “Impossible is Nothing” and “All In”. These slogans demonstrate the importance of determination and perseverance into the every-day

Innovation is probably the most important driver of change in most industries, especially ones that are saturated. Dick’s continuous innovation has helped them be one of the leaders in the sporting goods industry for over a decade.

Second major competitor of Dick’s Sporting Goods is Foot Locker. According to Yahoo Finance, the company is an American sportswear and footwear retailer based in New York, New York and was founded in 1974. The company operates as a retailer of athletic footwear. Foot Locker sells more athletic shoes than any other retailer in the U.S. As of January 28, 2012, it operated 3,369 stores in 23 countries including North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The company employs 13,080 associates as of 2012.

a. What should the management of Sports Products Inc. pursue as its overriding goal? Why?

Gillette feels that sports marketing and sponsorship are tools to relate with consumers across the globe (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). This is a great non-price strategy to widen the target segmentation. Gillette has targeted the male demographic researching their behaviors. Men desire for competition is a biological trait, and Gillette has used a military approach in their precision and implementation towards the desire. Gillette Stadium holds many sport venues for the NFL, MSL, and World Cup. Athletes of these sports and entertainment celebrities endorse the product at events and commercials. Gillette should use price bundling with sports partners by promoting by the use of package uniformity.

Over the past twenty-five years we have had to reinvent ourselves many times. The first surge was with the Waffle Trainer and the running craze. When that slowed, we thought we ran out of market. We had another surge with basketball behind Michael Jordan, and cross-training with Bo Jackson. Then again, we Thought our growth was dead. Another surge came in 1995, when Nike became fashionable and athletic urban wear became king. But,that too ended in early 2008, as did the health of the Asian economy. There we were, with an over-extended brand. Each time we reinvented our company. In 1995, when we reached $3 billion in sales, we said $5 billion was the absolute limit. Three years later we were closing in on $10 billion. Each time we did succeed it was due, in part, to

With a slogan of “Just Do It,” Nike is known all over the world for its products ranging from apparel to shoes. Receiving recognition and sponsorship from various celebrities and athletes including Michael Jordan, Nike’s brand is generally associated in a positive light. However, the brand itself, variety of products, and numerous sponsors exist as only a few aspects of this continuously expanding brand. Another aspect to consider when addressing the overall existence of a product as well as the constant introduction of new products is the production process itself: how the product came to be, who is involved in creating the product, and where the product is produced.

Since Adidas Group is a very large corporation; it has to structure the organization efficiently and effectively in order to