Toms Shoes

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

TOMS is a company founded in 2006 by Blake Mycoskie. It is a for-profit company that operates the non-profit subsidiary. This business designs and sells shoes based on Argentina’s design as well as eyewear. The business is based on the One for One movement, that means that when TOMS sells a pair of shoes, a pair is given to an impoverished child, and when TOMS sells a pair of sunglasses, part of the profit is used to save or re-establish the eyesight for people in developing countries.

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.

The co-founder of Toms travels to many different colleges to reach out to peers because he wants the new generations to be concerned and aware with different things. and helping others is one that everyone can do if they cant help by buying a pair they can help by not wearing shoes for 24 hours and that event that is called One Day Without Shoes, is targeted mostly to students because they are the ones with time and its a free advertising by

Social responsibility as well as social responsible clothing such as Toms, One for One support socially worthy causes that impact the trend of social responsibility. This brand validates social causes and those who lack physical goods and financial donations such as the one for one movement. TOMS shoes come in a variety of styles and color, and promises customers that every pair of shoes they purchase, a pair would go to someone in need. According to Joanne Fritz, “Mycoskie's idea took off to such an extent that TOMS has now expanded into sunglasses, using the same giveback formula, coffee, the purchase of which provides water where it's needed, and TOMS invests in other social entrepreneurial enterprises. in fact, the TOMS giving universe keeps on expanding and now includes nutrition, healthcare, and education.” (Joanne Fritz, 2016)

TOMS Shoes is a most humanitarian organization; they are a for – benefit business with a major heart. The organization was established by Blake Mycoskie in 2006. Mycoskie set up the organization after he saw outrageous destitution in a few nations including Argentina as a hopeful of the "Astonishing Race Contest" on CBS Television. Amid this occasion he saw villagers youthful and old who couldn 't bear the cost of a solitary match of shoes. In mid 2002 he found the agreeable and one of a kind ranch shoe worn by local people known as the "Aspartate". (TOMS.com) Mycoskie formed a shoe after this style, one that was adaptable, strong yet great and comfortable and had them fabricated in Argentina. At that point Mycoskie came back to the United States equipped with the shoes and a commendable mission. His central goal and one of a kind business proposition included approaching retail locations to offer his TOMS shoes, then for each match of TOMS sold he would give a couple of TOMS to a youngster in need. A Los Angeles boutique, American Rag, had confidence in the story behind the shoe and turned into Mycoskie 's first retail client. "Amazingly, that end of the week gathered him $88,000 in requests. Two years after authoritatively building up TOMS Shoes, the business had "$9.6 million in income." (TOMS.com)

The primary target market of TOMS is males and females between the age of 19-24 that want to combine the creativity of being a trend-setter with the satisfaction of being socially responsible. This age range is a part of what is known as Generation Y, or the Millennials. Generation Y has brought a trend of social awareness and activity. From 2002 to 2005 the number of people volunteering went up 25%. This generation is all about giving back to the people, so Toms allows this group to give back by purchasing their shoes. TOMS has also done its homework on this group as well. Utilizing social media, TOMS reaches out to over 488,000 twitter followers, 280,000 Facebook fans, and several thousands of YouTube users. TOMS understands that generation Y prefers hands on involvement. In order to make that happen, TOMS fans are allowed to take part in a yearly One Day Without Shoes movement to understand what it is like to be shoe-less. In addition to the giving back and the social movements, TOMS shoes let young adults be expressive in their style. The plain shoe design makes way for creative minds to manipulate the shoe as anyone may please. TOMS is mainly focused in the U.S., but the shoes are available in over 30 countries globally

For my specific discourse community I am studying Nike and they community of followers they have built up around their organization, but first it is important to have a good grasp on what exactly a “sneakerhead” is because they are Nikes specific target audience for limited edition shoes. With the rise of sneaker culture and sneakerheads, there has been a museum exhibit in the Brooklyn Museum to pay tribute the rise of sneaker culture (see Figure 1), there are many different sneaker shows that travel across the United States and globally, such as SneakerCon to give a space for sneakerheads to buy, sell, trade, and talk about sneakers (see Figure 2-5), and there has also been a documentary made to give a detailed look at what sneakerheads are like and how they interact with each other. In short, the documentary discusses a very popular question from within the sneaker community which is, “‘To Rock or Stock?’ Sneakerheads will do almost anything to get their hands on a unique pair of kicks, going to such extreme lengths as hiding in trash cans to score a pair of Retro Jordan 11s to camping for days in sub zero temperatures for the latest Nike Foamposites. How did sneakers become as prized as collectable art? From the shores of Cali to the congested streets of Tokyo, Sneakerheadz examines the cultural influence of sneaker collecting around the world and delves into a subculture whose proud members don’t just want to admire art, they want to wear it” (Synopsis). With unique Jordans releasing just about every Saturday and a growing desire for the shoes with the continued growth of the sneaker community, when a limited release pair comes out, people will do whatever it takes to get their hands on a pair. As a response, Nike corporate has come up with certain strategies to best create hype around the limited launches and they have also created security protocols which are

“Stride Rite strengthened its consumer appeal in 1987 by contemporizing the company’s image and moved to a brand design that features bright colors and geometric shapes” (Corp S. R., 2017). “But just as Stride Rite is more than baby shoes, Stride Rite’s reputation includes more than numbers and market share. For many years, the company has been widely regarded as one of the most responsible employers and corporate citizens in the United States” (Stone, 1992).

The shoe is adjustable and comes in two sizes. A small shoe was designed for children from nursery school to grade four. A larger shoe was designed, for children from grade five to grade nine. The shoes do not have any mechanical parts, which may break and therefore are comfortable to wear and are easy to clean. This allows underprivileged children to have shoes, which one only needs to buy twice. This will hopefully allow children that live in extreme poverty, to have shoes that fit and allow them to walk to school with comfortable shoes on, instead of being barefoot. This project has received international funds, which have raised $100 000 in order to manufacture the growing shoes. This shoe will then be distributed to Ecuador, Ghana, Haiti and Kenya. (Design Indaba,

With over thirty years of experience in the shoe business, holding executive positions, my talent lies in building brands, and most importantly bringing value to those brands. Recently, as the Children’s Senior Line Builder at Steve Madden LTD, my aggressiveness and strong drive to design and sell a line of childrens shoes, directly resulted in a 30 million dollar sale with the Target Children’s division, the highest sale in this division to date.

TOMS operates in much the same manner. They make an affordable basic shoe that is also eco-conscious with its materials choice and source. They have a program called “TOMS gives back” where again for every pair you buy they donate a pair to someone in a developing nation who would otherwise not have them. They further their reach by giving to children who don’t have shoes and in their country can’t attend school without them due to health concerns.

Around the year 2008, Shoes for a Better Tomorrow was abbreviated to TOMS after they achieved to established more than 1000 stores globally, as well as donations of about 11,000,000 pair of shoes to needy children around the world. Blake decided to start the production of eyeglasses in 2011 where the one for one model was still applicable. Blake's one for one model for the glasses worked in a way that for every purchased pair of sunglasses, Blake donated one pair for those challenged with their eyesight most of whom had undergone eye surgery. Blake Mycoskie can be considered as a social entrepreneur considering that his investments are also concerned with social affair donations and improvements that are aimed at improving the lives of the

The problems that Toms Friends will can met are numerous. Indeed, the first problem of Toms Friends is the time of shoes reception for the disadvantaged children is too long (between 4 or 6 months from the initial date of purchase). I would recommend to the company to answer at this problem by having a better management in its logistics but also its transport to reduce the delivery deadlines. A good flow management and an anticipation of sales would allow Toms Friends to be efficient and operational. The company, if it has the financial possibility, can also open a factory in every disadvantages country where it offers its shoes. It can be create new job for many people of those countries but also improve the delivery deadlines for children.

This purchase was a medium involvement purchase. It was a not a low involvement purchase like purchasing a drink or food for dinner but not high involvement either like buying a car or a house. It is a product that we will be using for my daughter for one year, since she will grow out of them. Functionality is very important to me for her shoes since I want her to be safe and have fun in them then we can donate or sell them, worst case scenario throw them away if they are really beat.