The Company : Just For Feet, Inc.

The background of this paper we need to mention is that West Coast Fashions, Inc. (WCF), a large designer and marketer of branded apparel announced a strategic reorganization calling for a divestiture of certain assets, and one of the divisions it intended to shed was Mercury Athletic, its wholly owned footwear subsidiary. John Liedtke, the head of business development for Active Gear, Inc. (AGI), a privately held athletic and casual footwear company, contemplated an acquisition opportunity of Mercury that would significantly improve his business. So, he wanted to evaluate this opportunity.

sale of Nike’s high-margin products to high-end customers. Regardless of the low cost of the World Shoes, they

Footwear International is a multinational manufacturer and marketer of footwear that has 83 companies in 70 different countries. One of these locations is

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.

Sportsman Shoes has been a leader in the shoe industry for more than thirty years. Sportsman manufactures and sells athletic shoes for all types of sports. The company has pursued a low-cost strategy in order to sustain their success. They sell a limited number of shoe designs and have held costs low through manufacturing efficiency and standardized operations. However, the past five years have been a struggle at Sportsman. The shoe market has seen a rise in the availability of low-cost imported shoes that has threatened Sportsman’s competitive position. As a result, company executives have decided it is time for a strategy shift.

Obviously, there is a big number of driving forces in the athletic footwear industry. Each of these driving forces has different impacts—some of them can have a more considerable effect than others on figuring out how much cross-company differences influence market shares and a number of units sold. The first line of most influential factors includes comparative prices, S/Q ratings, and a number of models offered among the footwear competitors. These three most important competitive forces affect customer decisions of which athletic footwear brand to choose. Furthermore, the decisions of customers whether to purchase one brand or another are also influenced by such forces as advertising, celebrity endorsements, the number of independent retail

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 topic that I have chosen to do a research project on is Nike Inc. I chose to do my research on Nike because I am for one, very much interested in Nike, and secondly I am very interested in Nike 's clothing, shoes, and accessory line.

When people think about shoes most of them have one superior shoe company come to mind, Nike. This dominant company was founded by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman in 1964. Little do some know this company hasn’t always been on the top of shoe companies. When it first started off it was called Blue Ribbon Sports, but it was later changed to its iconic name Nike in 1973. Matter in fact it was started in the back of a car, and now it’s worth roughly around $15 million dollars. This change didn’t happen overnight. It took a lot of grit from Knight and Bowerman to achieve this elite status, which was obtained through two individuals with great ideas on how to reach it, and the grit to back their ideas up.

Our interim report will discuss the company background, as well as financial ratios for Foot Locker when compared to Finish Line since Charm City Run’s financial ratios are not public records. We discuss strategic resources for Charm City Run, one being its organizational structure and its exceptional customer service. We will also discuss a possible opportunity for Charm City Run to expand their target market into a broader shoe market for consumers beyond the athlete industry. We go into detail about how the threat of substitutes poses a threat in our industry and possibly affects our opportunity for growth. Our appendix and references

Michael Jordan has a shoe company. He played different sports Michael Jordan is considered as the “ Greatest basketball player of all time.” Michael Jordan was born February 17, 1963, he was the third son of James and Delores Jordan. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1984 Round : 1 3rd Overall He was selected by Chicago Bulls 1984 - 2003. He was one of the best players. He owns his own shoe company.

Foot Locker is one of the largest and leading sporting good stores in the nation. Foot Locker has provided quality tennis shoes and other active wear for many years; they are still one of leading retail stores in today’s society. This company has shoes and sporting gear for the entire family. Foot Locker has stores that only cater to the women, men, and kids. Foot Locker operates about 3,500 stores all over the world. According to Investors Daily Business, (2015) “Nike and Foot Locker experienced "decent" traffic and conversions to sales in the month of August, said Retail Metrics ' Ken Perkins last Monday, adding that at leisure apparel and athletic footwear have been doing well in the back-to-school season (Nike, Foot Locker Are Racing Ahead Of The Market, 2015).” There are many people that enjoy recreational activities that wear this apparel outside a day at the gym.

West Coast Fashions, Inc a large business of men’s and women’s apparel decided to dispose of one of their segments; Mercury Athletic. John Liedtke, head of the business development for Active Gear, Inc saw it has a possible opportunity for them to acquire it. The footwear industry is very competitive, with low growth and stable profit margins. AGI is very profitable but it is smaller than its competitors, which is becoming a disadvantage. Therefore, Liedtke believes that if they takeover Mercury will double AGI’s revenue, increase it’s leverage with contract manufactures and expand its presence with key retailers and distributions. Liedtke is evaluating the company in order to find out

Just For Feet, Inc. operates retail stores in the brand name athletic and outdoor footwear and apparel market. Just for Feet was found in 1977 with the opening of a small mall based store and opened its first super store in 1988. Because of their success and high sales volume generates by the large store Company has concentrate primarily on develop and refining its superstore concept. As of January 1999, they operate 120 superstores, which 23 superstores opened in fiscal 1997 and 26 superstores opened in fiscal 1998. Just for Feet plans to open 25 stores during fiscal year 1999 and 2000. In 1997, Just for Feet acquired Athletic Attic and Imperial Sports, which are now operated as the specialty store division of the

New Balance International was founded during the early 1990s specializing in orthopedic footware to improve the fit of their shoes. Today the company continues its founding values in a highly specialized niche business of providing athletic footware in a wide range of widths and sizes which distinguishes the product from its competitors. With the philosophy of “one size did not fit all,” New Balance expanded operation from the US and currently markets its product in 160 countries in six continents. New Balance Inc. first appeared in South Africa In 1976 when a Durban based company obtained a license to distribute the brand. Under this distribution plan the company held a very small percentage of