Executive Summary

No other brand is known to have a rich history in the sports industry as Adidas. It is at Adidas that the best meet the best such in Olympics. As true its mission, the company focuses on production of wider and unique brand portfolio which includes apparel and footwear to premium fashion in the sports industry. The company through its strategies has been able to meet the needs of its multiple and diverse consumers globally. With its commitment to providing of innovative and rich heritage in the sportswear industry, Adidas has been able to be differentiated from its competitors, and there is room for its growth. Given the sales promotion strategy that Adidas employs, it is clear that it targets the competitive sports given its innovation and technology. Thus, this report aims at looking at the sales promotion strategies used by Adidas. The target market of Adidas will be covered as well as its position in relation to the market. Various marketing and sales promotion theories including 4Ps will be comprehensively covered.

Introduction

Adidas is the second biggest organization which produces sporting products globally. Established in 1920 with the Original founders being two siblings Rudolph and AdiDassler.The company’sation in sporting merchandise.

In 2012, the Market shares of Adidas stood at 22% of the in the sports footwear market.

Target Market

Adidas mainly targets the audience aged between 12 to 34 years of age and are actively involved in sports activities. The sporting area is diverse with Adidas showing serious concern in gym regulars, football, and NBA players as well as youths who believe in living a sporty lifestyle.

In order to reach its target market effectively, Adidas employs effective marketing communication where it identifies consumers who have same wants and needs in the market. Hence, the company evaluates and compares the identified groups and then choses one or more of the group as their prospect in investments. In its target market, there is a group comprising of individuals aged 32 who are affluence and employed. This group has the purchasing power and mostly consumes the Adidas goods. In its target market, there is approximately 30% of consumers who are brand loyalists and though are categorized as the least affluent.

remains strong in the market and able to compete with its rivals like Nike in the footwear industry. The high-income group is known for prestigious brands and includes the buyers who are well educated, the affluent shoppers, with the greater part being executives and professionals.

The fourth group targeted by Adidas includes professionals within the sports industry who have developed brand loyalty and continue to search for high-quality professional products that are proposed by Adidas. Given the stiff competition and the need for specialized sportswear, Adidas has increasingly exploited the untapped “adult sector.”

Positioning In Relation to the Market

With a dynamic environment, strong position of the companies ensures that the long-term survivors in any market segment are the firms who compete favorably. These firms are in a better position to satisfy the needs of consumers and flexible enough to the competitive market. In the footwear industry, Adidas appears to be operating in the shadow of Nike though its direct competitor. Adidas uses positioning as a communication strategy with the concept of mental map. In this sense, Adidas locates a brand in the mind of customers over and against other products with a view of the features and benefits that the brand has or do not have. In targeting its market, Adidas develops products with attributes and benefits that match the needs of the segmented group. Adidas has over a period been able to develop unique brand positioning in the customers’ minds. For instance, there is the use of images where Adidas reiterate that individuals who are interested in wearing light shoe go for their brands. The company has successfully been able to position basketball shoes in the minds of the customer given the unique design and light weight nature of the shoes.

Sales Promotion

Marketing Mix- 4Ps

Product

The products that Adidas offers are divided into three main categories and these categories include Adidas Performance sports shoes, perfumes and eyewear. The second category has the Adidas original superstar sneakers, vintage clothing and Adicolor Trainers. Lastly, there is a group with Adidas style caps, belts, bags, and hand gloves.

Price

Given the diversity of its products, Adidas has also adopted various pricing strategies. Adidas employs the use of market skimming as the main strategy. According to the market skimming strategy, the price of a commodity depends on its color, look and appearance. A case example is where the white color shoes of Adidas being relatively expensive than other colors.

Place/ Distribution

The company is strategic in its strategy as it accumulates more of its resources in the area where there is the most profitable customer segment. Owing to this, the distribution of the company has been large with shops globally. In the areas where their products are found, Adidas offers full customer service. Additionally, the company exploits the online platform and makes use of online buying services.

Promotion

There are various sports promotion strategy employed by Adidas, and they include the use of coupons, sponsoring of sports events as well as advertising through different kinds of media.Adidas in its promotion has continually been engaged in building of brands. In doing this, the company allocates maximum funds to boost sales and compete favorably.

Internet

Adidas uses the internet platform in numerous ways to reach its target audience. One such way is through the use of its website (adida.com) which has digital content where consumers can access all information regarding the company, sales, products and new launches. Recently, Adidas has been using windows messenger game platform in promotion of the Predator and f50 boots mainly targeting male youths between the age of 15 and 24 years. This strategy was lauded to be effective as it enabled the company to increase 14% brand ratings by gamers. Additionally, the company has been using popup ads, and they can be found in Espn and yahoo home pages.

Sponsorship and Events

Adidas is known to participate in numerous sponsorship deals with it having sponsored soccer football festival for 2010 and later signing a four-year sponsorship deal with it. This sponsorship deal aimed at promoting its football products after successfully promoting it in NBA games. Additionally, the company is in agreement with other major leagues in sponsoring soccer a strategy that it is to use to promote its products as well as increase its revenue and presence among the youths.

The use of coupons though not frequent but has been a promotion strategy for Adidas. The company uses Adidas coupons and coupons codes to promote its sales through the distributorship of dealtaker.com in which if the customer’s code is in synch with the Adidas code, there is a discount up to 30% given on specific products. Additionally, the company exploits cutting down of prices of its products during special events and festivals in order to boost its sales and clear the old stock.