Abstract
Purpose - In a seminal article, Webster argued in 1992 (Journal of Marketing, Vol. 56/October, pp. 1-17) that some changes in concept and practice have fundamentally reshaped the field of marketing. He claims that customer relationships' are now the key strategic resource of a business. Strategic partnerships and networks are replacing simple market-based transactions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this claim in the context of various relationships maintained by the adidas® group.
Approach A detailed analysis was carried out to consider how the organisation has adopted a customer-oriented approach as their key strategy for improved business. This includes factors like increased loyalty of the customers,
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Today, the adidas® product range extends from shoes, apparel and accessories for basketball, soccer, fitness and training to adventure, trail and golf . adidas®, like many companies during the 1960s, believed in large volume sales. Lot of effort was put into advertising the brand in the early days through sporting celebrities. One of the main reasons that the colour of the 3 stripes on the running shoes was changed from black or dark brown to white was to facilitate easy brand recognition and identification, which in turn would promote the overall sales. The ideology was that the ability of a brand to stand out in the market place will enhance its chance of standing out in the customers mind. adidas® produced shoes that could be used for different types of sports.
Changing market
However in the late 1960's, the concept of "jogging" started to spread in the U.S., which was by now a huge market for the adidas® group. The adidas technicians initially dismissed the jogging trend by contending that jogging is not a sport'. But their distributors in America started to demand for products for jogging. Finally when the technicians gave into the pleas of the American distributors, they still couldn't figure what the American customers required. While Germans tended to run on forest trails, the Americans jogged on roads and clamoured for soft shoes. When adidas® finally came up with the shoes, it was too little, too late. In the first
Which it is having a cushion inside the shoes,and that makes the shoe more comfortable to run with.They used the Olympics players to advertise the Nike shoes. As a result, it made the people buy it.Also made more selling to the shoes.Furthermore the Nike company had an idea of designing the shoes based on the athlete running style. (retrieved 1/1/2017 https://runningtortoiseandhare.wordpress.com/running-shoes/history-of-running-shoes/)
As such it is important to organize the marketing functions by customer groups. This would permit Adidas focus marketing efforts particularly on the needs of each group. Though Adidas’ main customers are Athletes, teens and Young adults’, it still caters for the needs of older adults, Children and coaches, therefore catering to a broad customer base. These differentiation would be in two main categories; Male and Female and further differentiated into shoe (footwear), clothing and accessories.
Who would have of thought something you put on your feet to work out in would have such an impact on today’s fashion and provide such a positive impact to the economy. To understand the athletic shoe industry one first needs to know a little of its history. The first running shoe was created in 1852; it was a leather slip with hard rubber soles and built in spikes. The first lightweight, flexible, flat bottom shoe was designed in 1892 by Goodyear, parent of the shoe company Converse All Stars, it was called The Ked. This began the evolution of the modern day athletic shoe.
For my project I will explain what relationship marketing is. Relationship marketing is different from any other form of marketing. The reason for this is that relationship marketing identifies the long term value of customer relationships and relationship marketing extends communication beyond intrusive advertising and sales promotional messages. Relationship marketing is an arrangement where both the buyer and seller have an interest in providing a more satisfying exchange. Also I will explain what the benefits are of relationship marketing to a business and to a customer. I also will explain the CRM stages, segmentation, technology in relation to relationship marketing and I will do a case study. I am looking at Boots for my case study. I will explain how Boots have managed to build valuable relationships with its customers.
Adidas AG sells sports shoes, apparel, and equipment in 170 different countries. There focus lies in football, soccer, basketball, running, training gear, golf, and apparel. This is a two billion dollar industry and with Adidas being a main cog. They also specialize in lifestyle goods including SLVR and Y-3 fashion brands. They have trademarked their three-striped logo that has become a global symbol of sporting excellence. They are the #2 sporting goods manufacturer behind only NIKE. Adidas’ main market is the footwear manufacturing industry. Research and development is what gives Adidas a competitive advantage. They focus many
Adidas, Inc. is a company that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories for sports and provides players with possible equipment that leads them to success. Adidas used to produce all their products on its own, but today Adidas does not produce all their apparel on its own base of development in the last years. This company first was begun inside the family house then, after in 1924 and 1936, Adidas delivered to players greatest achievable equipment that sports player’s need, Adidas then got the trust of world athletes. Also, Lina Radke and Jesse Owens are the best sports stars in the history of Adidas and winning the world’s trust.
Relationship marketing can be defined as a process made of several conditions that create the success of relational exchanges (Alrubaiee 2010). The integration of successful relationship marketing will improve business performance and customer loyalty through forming stronger relationship between stakeholders and businesses (Sirdeshmuk et al. 2002; De Wulf et al. 2001). Arnet and Badrinarayanan (2005) believes that there is a various number of factors that affect the success of relationship marketing, however there could be tracked a consistency among several researches, that are highlighting as the most important ones trust, communication and relationship commitment (Anderson and Weitz 1992; Geysken et al 1999; Sivadas and Dwyer 2000; Mohr et al. 1996; Smith and Barclay 1997) Furthermore, satisfaction, empathy, reciprocity and bonding were suggested as another important aspects of relationship marketing (Eisingrerich and Bell 2006; Sin et al. 2001). The reason behind the variables of those aspects most likely underlies in the different nature in which those researches were undertaken. Paltamier et al. (2006) attempted to provide a consistent understanding through analysing Meta data of Relationship Marketing studies from 1987-2004 and identified that the most important aspects are dyadic and expertise communication, relationship benefits and relation-specific
Starting out post World War II, Adidas was an important provider of the national German soccer team. Later, Adidas they changed their marketing approach to expand their products to “fringe sports,” such as high jumping and bobsledding. By the 1990s, Adidas secured their global sales on soccer footwear. In 1998, Adidas began to focus on the U.S market. By sponsoring some famous basketball players such as Kobe Bryant and by doing so Adidas was able to gain doubled market share.
Baker (2014) suggests that marketing efforts must identify the means of delivery of the message whether it is through media, technology, or personal contact to deliver the communication. Relationship Marketing Theory holds that every marketing encounter involves a relationship between the stakeholders in a transaction-based situation and the organization providing the service or goods and products. According to Palmatier, Dant, & Grewal (2007), “Relationship marketing (RM) is the process of identifying, developing, maintaining, and terminating relational exchanges with the purpose of enhancing performance”(p.3).
Sheth and Parvatiyar (1995:261) define relationship marketing as “an orientation that seeks to develop close interaction with selected customers, suppliers and competitors for value creation through co-operative and collaborative efforts”. This definition suggests that businesses should pursue profitable business relationships.
The Adidas Company was behind and helped such influential athletes as Jesse Owens and Muhammad Ali as they broke countless records. The heart of the Adidas product line is athletic shoes and this trend shows no signs of changing but the three-stripe logo appears on apparel and other jock accoutrements. Bankruptcy once had Adidas on the ropes, so to speak, but it made a comeback by shifting production to Asia and beefing up its marketing. Being the number two maker of sporting goods worldwide, just behind Nike, it has inked deals with football and basketball athletes, as well as the New York Yankees. The firm won sponsorship rights to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. It now seems that in every sports related segment Adidas has a new
For more than 80 years, the Adidas has been part of the world of sports on every level, delivering state-of-the-art sports footwear, apparel and accessories. Adidas strategy is: continuously strengthen brands and products to improve competitive position and financial performance. Adidas brands are visible all over the world and sponsor global sports events such as the Olympic Games.
Marketing environment is constantly changing over time. A famous marketer Philip Kotler (2003, cited in Taupau and Boscor, 2011, p.51) once insisted that a successful company should focus on its products and profits. But now, marketers tend to regard satisfying customer needs as one of the key elements of achieving success under contemporary marketing environment where is filled with fierce competition. This indicates that many firms nowadays always attempt to identify customer needs and concentrate its production and strategies on customer demand in order to survive in the market. This essay will firstly clarify the reasons behind the trend, which is followed by discussing the merits and demerits of an organization put an emphasis on
Over the last years the focus of marketing has changed from transactional to relationship marketing because companies realized that is cheaper to keep old customers rather than attracting new ones. Also this shift has occurred because of the intense rivalry that can be noticed in every industry.
adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer, part of the adidas Group. It registered as adidas AG on 18 August 1949 (with lower-case lettering: "adidas"). The company was named after its founder, Adolf (Adi) Dassler, who started producing shoes in the 1920s in Herzogenaurach, near Nuremberg, with the help of his brother Rudolf Dassler who later formed rival shoe company PUMA AG. The company's clothing and shoe