RESEARCH PROJECT REPORT

On

“BRAND POSITIONING AND CUSTOMER

SATISFACTION OF ADIDAS”

Towards partial fulfilment of

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)
School of Management, Babu Banarasi Das University, Lucknow

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Mr. Alok Johari Abhishek Sharma
(Associate Professor) Roll No. 1200671014
SOM, BBDU LUCKNOW BBA VIth Semester

Session 2022-2023
School of Management
Babu Banarasi Das University
Sector I, Dr. Akhilesh Das Nagar, Faizabad Road, Lucknow (U.P.) India

i
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the research work entitled of “BRAND POSITIONING AND

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION OF ADIDAS” submitted to the BABU BANARASI

DAS UNIVERSITY, Lucknow is a record of an original work done by me under the

guidance of Mr. Alok Johari (Faculty Guide) (SOM BBDU, Lucknow) and this field

study report is submitted in the partial fulfillment of BBA.

Abhishek Sharma

Roll No. 1200671014

BBA VIth Semester

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my sincere thanks to Mr. Alok Johari, whose supervision, valuable

guidance and help, enabled me to complete this project work.

This project is a result of the hard work and sincere effort put by my hands. And I am

grateful to BBDU, Lucknow for giving me this opportunity to do my research project

work on topic “BRAND POSITIONING AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

OF ADIDAS”.

I also wish to express my sincere thanks to all the customers of McDonald, who have

directly or indirectly help me in completing my project work.

Abhishek Sharma

Roll No. 1200671014

BBA VIth Semester

iii
 PREFACE

The above saying highlights the importance of Practical knowledge. Practical training

is an important part of the theoretical studies. It is of an immense importance in the

field of management. It offers the student to explore the valuable treasure of

experience and an exposure to real work culture followed by the industries and

thereby helping the students to bridge gap between the theories explained in the books

and their practical implementations.

Project plays an important role in future building of an individual so that he/she can

better understand the real world in which he has to work in future. The theory greatly

enhances our knowledge and provides opportunities to blend theoretical with the

practical knowledge.

I have done my Project on “BRAND POSITIONING AND CUSTOMER

SATISFACTION OF ADIDAS”. I have tried to cover each and every aspect related

to the topic with best of my capability.

I hope this study would help many people in the future.

iv
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Adidas Retail India Ltd is India’s leading retailer that operates in multiple formats.

We have offices in more than 55 countries and 50 nationalities represented amongst

our staff at the Group’s Headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany. We have more

than 150 subsidiaries and source products from a multi-tiered external supply chain in

more than 60 countries.

The motive of the study is to know the market potential at Lucknow with reference to

EBO & find out the customer’s perception about EBO & what are the customers’

expectations from Adidas. The main purpose of the study is to find out the target

customers, preferences of the customers and sales potential with reference to Adidas.

The study is done with the help of primary data given by respondents during survey

and secondary data to know the market potential and customer Satisfaction of Adidas

Shoes at Saharaganj, Lucknow with reference to Adidas, and also to understand the

current market position of Adidas at that area and know the potential customers. This

study is done with the help of area mapping and catchment analysis technique.

Primary data is collected through personal interview using structured questionnaire

and secondary data is collected from management of the Adidas Retail India Ltd,

various book, journals and Adidas website.

The products of the company are good in quality but the style should be improved in

order to cater all the segments of the market that are already being occupied by the

competitors.

v
 TABLE OF CONTENT
Certificate ii
Declaration iii
Acknowledgement iv
Preface v
Executive Summary vi
Sr. No. Topic Page no.

1. Introduction 1

2. Company profile 32

3. Objectives of the study 65

4. Research methodology 67

5. Limitations 71

6. Data analysis 73

7. Findings 84

8. Recommendations 87

9. Conclusions 90
Bibliography
Appendix

vi
INTRODUCTION

1
 INTRODUCTION

Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and

services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen

as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four of

a Balanced Scorecard.

In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer

satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key

element of business strategy.

Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers.

Measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the

organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace.

Customer satisfaction is an abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the

state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to

product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both

psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors

such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary

depending on other factors the customer, such as other products against which

the customer can compare the organization's products.

Customer satisfaction, a term frequently used in marketing, is a measure of

how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer

expectation. Customer satisfaction is defined as "the number of customers, or

percentage of total customers, whose reported experience with a firm, its

products, or its services (ratings) exceeds specified satisfaction goals." In a

2
survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 71 percent responded that they

found a customer satisfaction metric very useful in managing and monitoring

their businesses.

It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is often part of

a Balanced Scorecard. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete

for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and

increasingly has become a key element of business strategy.

"Within organizations, customer satisfaction ratings can have powerful effects.

They focus employees on the importance of fulfilling customers’ expectations.

Furthermore, when these ratings dip, they warn of problems that can affect sales

and profitability. . . . These metrics quantify an important dynamic. When a

brand has loyal customers, it gains positive word-of-mouth marketing, which is

both free and highly effective."

Therefore, it is essential for businesses to effectively manage customer

satisfaction. To be able do this, firms need reliable and representative measures

of satisfaction.

"In researching satisfaction, firms generally ask customers whether their product

or service has met or exceeded expectations. Thus, expectations are a key factor

behind satisfaction. When customers have high expectations and the reality falls

short, they will be disappointed and will likely rate their experience as less than

satisfying. For this reason, a luxury resort, for example, might receive a lower

satisfaction rating than a budget motel—even though its facilities and service

would be deemed superior in 'absolute' terms."

3
 The importance of customer satisfaction diminishes when a firm has

increased bargaining power. For example, cell phone plan providers, such

as AT&T and Verizon, participate in an industry that is an oligopoly, where only

a few suppliers of a certain product or service exist. As such, many cell phone

plan contracts have a lot of fine print with provisions that they would never get

away if there were, say, a hundred cell phone plan providers, because customer

satisfaction would be way too low, and customers would easily have the option

of leaving for a better contract offer.

"Customer satisfaction provides a leading indicator of consumer purchase

intentions and loyalty." "Customer satisfaction data are among the most

frequently collected indicators of market perceptions. Their principal use is

twofold:"

1. "Within organizations, the collection, analysis and dissemination of these data

send a message about the importance of tending to customers and ensuring that

they have a positive experience with the company’s goods and services."

2. "Although sales or market share can indicate how well a firm is

performing currently, satisfaction is perhaps the best indicator of how likely it is

that the firm’s customers will make further purchases in the future. Much

research has focused on the relationship between customer satisfaction and

retention. Studies indicate that the ramifications of satisfaction are most strongly

realized at the extremes." On a five-point scale, "individuals who rate their

satisfaction level as '5' are likely to become return customers and might even

4
evangelize for the firm. (A second important metric related to satisfaction is

willingness to recommend. This metric is defined as "The percentage of

surveyed customers who indicate that they would recommend a brand to

friends." When a customer is satisfied with a product, he or she might

recommend it to friends, relatives and colleagues. This can be a powerful

marketing advantage.) "Individuals who rate their satisfaction level as '1,' by

contrast, are unlikely to return. Further, they can hurt the firm by making

negative comments about it to prospective customers. Willingness to

recommend is a key metric relating to customer satisfaction

The field of my research is Customer Satisfaction which focuses on customer’s

perceptions. Many firms are interested in understanding what their customers

thought about their shopping or purchase experience, because finding new

customers is generally more costly and difficult than servicing existing or repeat

customers. Such researches provide a wider scope to the firms in the terms of

high customer satisfaction.

Definition:

Customer Satisfaction

“Customer Satisfaction, business term of how the products and the services

supplied by the company meet or surpass the customer expectation. It is the key

performance indicator within the business.” By, Berlin Asong

5
 Customer satisfaction can greatly achieved by imparting Customer Relationship

Management (CRM) in the company.

Business Techniques of Customer Satisfaction

 One of the key customer satisfaction techniques is the need to provide front line

employees with the ability to respond to customer situations quickly without the

need to ‘ask for permission’.

 Innovation drives customers' satisfaction. As customers' needs keep changing, an

innovation-driven company is capacitated to exceed customers' expectations.

 To provide after sale services.

 Listen actively and carefully.

 Anticipate that the customer will be asking questions. They may be easy, they be

hard. But encourage them anyway. If you cannot provide an answer, promise to

find out the answer from someone who can.

 Be patient, look from the customer's point of view and work from there. This

point of view will always give you the best outlook on the situation.

 Always keep a smile on your face when dealing with customers which can lead

to customer satisfaction. This positive attitude can rub off and turn a potentially

negative situation into a positive experience

Recent Methods That Today’s Firm Adopt to Increase the Customer

Satisfaction

In order to stay competitive and remain profitable, businesses have to focus on

the quality of their customer service. Companies that invest time, energy and

6
money into developing and nurturing quality so customers can have a

satisfactory experience are going to be more profitable and better likely to

experience more sustained growth over the long-term.

Customer-Centric Attitude

Operations should be customer-centric meaning that the customer's best interests

should always be foremost. Service should be offered in a helpful way and with

a smile. Both management and employees should show interest towards the

customer and strive to give them a good experience.

Today's companies must strive even harder than abiding by this golden rule of

customer service.

Customer care

Is something which is done even after the product is purchased? Many

companies are interested in knowing the reason why consumers have purchased

the goods and services or even the goods are not purchased. Managers interested

in customer care try to collect a database as to why the customers have

purchased the competitors product and service and what will be the level of

satisfaction if it is introduced in our product or service. And also to find the level

of expectations and their level of dissatisfaction.

Customer focus

Is attained when everyone in the organization make efforts to focus the activities

towards the satisfaction of the customers right from the stage of new product

planning and to product modification to the stage of elimination of the goods and

7
services everything revolves around the customers. All the activities are focused

on the customer satisfaction.

8
Customer Service Training

Another strategy to improve customer satisfaction is to invest in customer

service training. All employees should be on board with how to treat customers

and help them gain a valued experience. The quality of customer service can

easily make or break a business.

The experience the people have received is the most important aspect in selling

pure services or services with tangible goods. Once the customers are satisfied

with the service his loyalty towards that product or company is at its peak.

Companies today are doing a lot of self- introspection that they are really giving

the said services to the customers. The important question asked is “Is service

our top Priority?” Are the customers satisfied?” Are we improving on the

quality of the services regularly?”

Companies are spending more money and time to see that the services are

evaluated and improved as per the expectations of the customers. In fact, the

companies globally known for their services are always in the process of finding

opportunities to improve on the quality of the services.

Better results can be seen when the organizations makes use of external, internal,

and interactive marketing.

Communication

Communication with customers is also important. It's a good idea to always

provide customers with ways they can contact you and offer ways to contact

9
 them (if they choose). Offering e-mail, telephone line, web contact or other ways

for customers to offer comments and/or complaints is of value.

Customer Relationship Management Software

Customer Relationship Management is a process of managing detail information

about individual customer and carefully managing all the customers touch points

with the aim of maximizing customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Customer Relationship Management Software. Customer relationship

management (CRM) software has become a strategy many companies employ to

help increase customer satisfaction. Through using CRM tools and

accompanying philosophy, businesses can examine and analyze what customers

want and strive to meet this demand before they even walk in the door.

Benefits

CRM aims at individual customers. It tries to develop customers relationship by

looking into his needs and requirements.

 CRM helps in two way communication by understanding the messages of the

customers and responding to it. Thereby gaining customer loyalty.

 CRM helps to customize the products and thereby reducing the rate of customer

defection.

 CRM tells the company what product or service the customer needs today and

what it will need in future.

10
Ask for Feedback

Being interested in customer feedback is always a valuable practice to engage in

to increase customer satisfaction. What better strategy and technique to find out

how to satisfy your customers than to ask them?

Surveys, questionnaires, talking to customers as they shop, and then following

up with calls or e-mails are all good ways to get feedback.

Quality Control

Quality is important to customer satisfaction and the level of quality directly

plays into a business' ability to meet customer expectations. Quality should be

monitored for both service and the type of products offered; as a part of this

guarantees and the willingness to stand behind service and/or products is

necessary.

Creating Customer Delight

Customer delight is when the standard of the goods and services are much higher

than the expectations of the customers; this not only satisfies them but ssurprise

and delights them. To create customer delight the company will not only

increase the standard of service but will train its personnel to deliver in its best

possible manner the services as expected by the customers.

Customer delight depends on the reliability factor oif the company. This is the

ability to perform what has been promised to the customer. Companies who

11
focus on customer delights should be dependable and have accuracy in

delivering the services to the customers.

Companies with much attitude of empathy and always paying individual

attention to its customers which in turn builds customer delight. The advantage is

manifold because it creates brand loyal and customer loyalty.

12
Significance of Customer Satisfaction Research

In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer

satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key

element of business strategy. Customer satisfactions not only create loyalty

among the customers but it increases the goodwill of the company by uplifting

the market value of the brand.

Customer researches are conducted to answer who our customers are? What do

they like to buy? when do buy and how do they buy?, it examines the taste,

preferences and the attitude of the customers. Mostly it tends to become

qualitative motivational research of customer behavior. Here, the self concept,

ego, personality and life style of the consumers are studied. There is an attempt

to study beliefs, opinions of the customers.

By conducting such researches the company can minimize its defects in the field

of production and can deliver high quality of services in relation to its

competitors. Such researches can be carried by conducting surveys through

interviews and questionnaire methods. These questionnaire methods form a path

of getting the customers positive and negative feedback. The company can then

respond to feedback and can retain the existing customers as well preventing

them from shifting to other brands.

A customer complaint could be the insight you have been seeking to learn why a

certain product isn't moving. It can also be an indicator of personnel problems. If

a customer mentions that an item does not work properly, you can research and

try to recreate the problem, potentially finding a fix that will increase sales. A

13
customer's complaint about an employee's lack of knowledge may reveal a need

for more extensive training, while a grievance about poor customer service

provides the chance to address it with your staff.

By doing so it creates confidence among the customers, leading to word-to-

mouth publicity which is more effective rather than TV. commercials.

14
In Saharaganj, Adidas Performance came up as the organized retail outlet in the

form of a E.B.O in the year 2005, with its inception in Lucknow, shopping got

an altogether new meaning in Lucknow. Some of the striking features of

Adidas – small store and different formats having nice store image, along with

soothing music and luring visual display of the products with self-selection

facility magnetizing customers to choose from a wide assortment and variety of

the products priced with entrancing fables offers.

The emergence of organized retailing has led to competition which has resulted

to the demographics & psychographic changes in the life of urban consumers.

The life style and purchasing power of the middle class & upper class segment

have fuelled the growth of organized retailing to intense competition among the

big players.

Adidas Retail is facing big intense competition from organized retail outlets

like Reebok, Nike , Puma, Woodland , and from unorganized retailers like

Footwear shops, Garment shops etc. Competition in retail sector has become

extremely keen. Many new players coming in the retail market has increased

the degree of competition by adopting 5 P’s (i.e. place, product, price,

promotion and people) for successful retailing. While some of the exiting

retailers survived, others failed to do so.

15
The word retail has its origin in French word retaillierand means “to cut a

piece off’’or “tobreak bulk”.The term Retailing is defined as “All activities

involved in selling goods and services directly to final consumers for their

personal and non-business use”. In simple terms, it implies a first-hand

transaction with customer. Retailing involves a direct interface with the

customer and the coordination of business activities from end to end right, from

the concept or design stage of a product or offering, to its delivery and post

delivery service to the customer. The industry has contributed to the fastest

changing and dynamic industries in the world today.

Retailing, it is an emerging trend in the India and Hyderabad is not far behind

which is also witnessing the stupendous growth and opportunities presented by

this sector. Many institutions- Manufacturing, Wholesalers and retailers – do

retailing, but most retailing is done by Retailers. A business wholesales come

from primarily from retailing. It is a proven fact that in India the retail industry

has become the 2nd largest employer after agriculture. Indian retail sector is in

boom period and many reasons are contributing to it.

The retail scenario in India is unique. Much of it is in the unorganized sector,

with over 12 million retail outlets of various sizes and formats. Almost 95% of

these retail outlets are less than 500 sq. ft. In size, the per capita retail space in

India being 2 sq. ft. compared to the US figure of 16 sq. ft. Thus India’s per

capita retailing space is the lowest in the world.

With more than 9 outlets per 1000 people, India has the largest number of

outlets in the world. Most of them are independent and contribute as much as

16
95% to the total retail sales. Because of the increasing number of nuclear

family, working women, greater work pressure and increased commuting time,

convenience has become a priority for the Indian consumers.

The growth and development of organized retailing in India is driven by two

main factors – lower price and benefits the consumers can’t resist. According

to experts, economies of scale drive down the cost of supply chain, allowing

retailers to offers more benefits offered to the customers. Globally, retailing is

customer-centric with an emphasis on innovation in products, process and

services. In short, the customer is the king.

The Indian retail market is the 5th largest retail destination globally. It is

estimated to grow from the US $ 330 billion in 2007 to US $ 427 billion by

2010 and US $ 637 billion by 2015.

Customer Importance in Marketing:

A business can never place too much emphasis on its

customers. The customer is the foundation of any business' success. One of the

primary goals of any marketing strategy should be to identify and meet the

needs of the consumer. Considering customer importance at all stages of the

marketing process helps your company to ensure greater customer satisfaction

and increase its long-term goal of repeat business.

Psychological Considerations:

The psychological makeup of consumers plays a crucial

role in developing a product and a marketing campaign that identifies and

addresses consumer needs. According to Lars Perner, Associate Professor of

17
clinical marketing at the University of Southern California, some of these

considerations include how consumers "think, feel, reason and select between

different alternatives." These considerations can be influenced by environment,

such as culture, family and media. The purpose of marketing research is to

identify these variables and to incorporate them into the campaign.

Marketing Considerations:

Some of the considerations to take into account when marketing to your

customers are honesty, integrity and clarity. Keeping consumer needs in mind

is also an integral part of effective marketing. Sneaky advertising campaigns

can generate quick sales, but those sales will falter as consumers realize they've

been duped. Selling a good product marketed with integrity bringsback

customers. To do this, a company needs to build customer confidence in its

product over time. Customer confidence is what brings consumers back to your

product and ensures long-term success.

18
Word of Mouth:

Underestimating the power of customer word of mouth is detrimental to your

success. Consumers like to talk, whether they are talking about a product they

enjoyed or a product that left them wanting. Word of mouth has a snowball

effect, particularly in an age when fast worldwide communication is common.

Your company can't afford not to consider how quickly its product and

reputation can be badmouthed or blacklisted. This is why marketing a product

honestly and with integrity is important

Customer Service:

Considering customer needs during the development and promotion of a

product is not the only way to emphasize customer needs. Customer

considerations after the product has been marketed are important as well.

Customer service and interaction with the consumer after the product has been

sold not only build strong relationships with the consumer but offer companies

valuable information that will help to design more effective marketing efforts

in the future.

19
Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services

supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key

performance indicator within business and is part of the four of a Balanced Scorecard.

In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer

satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element

of business strategy. Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting

non-customers.Measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how

successful the organization is at providing products and/or services to the

marketplace. Customer satisfaction is an abstract concept and the actual manifestation

of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to

product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological

and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and

recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other factors the

customer, such as other products against which the customer can compare the

organization's products.

Customer satisfaction, a term frequently used in marketing, is a measure of how

products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation.

Customer satisfaction is defined as "the number of customers, or percentage of total

customers, whose reported experience with a firm, its products, or its services

(ratings) exceeds specified satisfaction goals." In a survey of nearly 200 senior

marketing managers, 71 percent responded that they found a customer satisfaction

metric very useful in managing and monitoring their businesses. It is seen as a key

performance indicator within business and is often part of a Balanced Scorecard. In a

competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer

satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element

20
of business strategy. "Within organizations, customer satisfaction ratings can

have powerful effects. They focus employees on the importance of fulfilling

customers’ expectations. Furthermore, when these ratings dip, they warn of

problems that can affect sales and profitability. . . . These metrics

quantify an important dynamic. When a brand has loyal customers, it gains

positive word-ofmouth marketing, which is both free and highly effective."

Therefore, it is essential for businesses to effectively manage customer

satisfaction. To be able do this, firms need reliable and representative measures

of satisfaction. "In researching satisfaction, firms generally ask customers

whether their product or service has met or exceeded expectations. Thus,

expectations are a key factor behind satisfaction. When customers have high

expectations and the reality falls short, they will be disappointed and will likely

rate their experience as less than satisfying. For this reason, a luxury resort, for

example, might receive a lower satisfaction rating than a budget motel—even

though its facilities and service would be deemed superior in 'absolute' terms."

The importance of customer satisfaction diminishes when a firm has increased

bargaining power. For example, cell phone plan providers, such as AT&T and

Verizon, participate in an industry that is an oligopoly, where only a few

suppliers of a certain product or service exist. As such, many cell phone plan

contracts have a lot of fine print with provisions that they would never get

away if there were, say, a hundred cell phone plan providers, because customer

21
satisfaction would be way too low, and customers would easily have the option

of leaving for a better contract offer.

22
PURPOSE OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

"Customer satisfaction provides a leading indicator of consumer purchase

intentions and loyalty." "Customer satisfaction data are among the most

frequently collected indicators of market perceptions. Their principal use is

twofold:" 1. "Within organizations, the collection, analysis and dissemination

of these data send a message about the importance of tending to customers and

ensuring that they have a positive experience with the company’s goods and

services." 2. "Although sales or market share can indicate how well a firm is

performing currently,

satisfaction is perhaps the best indicator of how likely it is that the firm’s

customers will make further purchases in the future. Much research has focused

on the relationship between customer satisfaction and retention. Studies

indicate that the ramifications of satisfaction are most strongly realized at the

extremes." On a five-point scale, "individuals who rate their satisfaction level

as '5' are likely to become return customers and might even evangelize for the

firm. (A second important metric related to satisfaction is willingness to

recommend. This metric is defined as "The percentage of surveyed customers

who indicate that they would recommend a brand to friends." When a customer

is satisfied with a product, he or she might recommend it to friends, relatives

and colleagues. This can be a powerful marketing advantage.) "Individuals who

rate their satisfaction level as '1,' by contrast, are unlikely to return. Further,

they can hurt the firm by making negative comments about it to prospective

customers. Willingness to recommend is a key metric relating to customer

23
satisfaction

:Adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of

the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company,

TaylorMade-Adidas golf company (including Ashworth), and Rockport.

Besides sports footwear, the company also produces other products such as

bags, shirts, watches, eyewear, and other sports- and clothing-related

goods.The company is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the

second-biggest sportswear manufacturer in the world, with American rival

Nike being the biggest. Adidas was founded in 1948 by Adolf "Adi" Dassler,

following the split of Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik between him and his older

brother Rudolf. Rudolf later established Puma, which was the early rival of

Adidas. Registered in 1949, Adidas is currently based in Herzogenaurach,

Germany, along with Puma. The company's clothing and shoe designs typically

feature three parallel bars, and the same motif is incorporated into Adidas's

current official logo. The "Three Stripes" were bought from the Finnish sport

company Karhu Sports in 1951.[4][5] The company revenuefor 2010 was listed

at €11.99 billion.

In 1994, combined with FIFA Youth Group, SOS Children's Villages became

the main beneficiary. In 1997, Adidas AG acquired the Salomon Group who

specialized in ski wear, and its official corporate name was changed to Adidas-

Salomon AG because with this acquisition Adidas also acquired the

Taylormade Golf company and Maxfli, which allowed them to compete with

Nike Golf. In 1998, Adidas sued the NCAA over their rules limiting the size

24
and number of commercial logos on team uniforms and apparel. Adidas

withdrew the suit, and the two groups established guidelines as to what three-

stripe designs would be considered uses of the Adidas trademark. In 2003,

Adidas filed a lawsuit in a British court challenging Fitness World Trading's

use of a two-stripe motif similar to Adidas's three stripes. The court ruled that

despite the simplicity of the mark, Fitness World 's use was infringing because

the public could establish a link between that use and Adidas's mark.

In September 2004, top English fashion designer Stella McCartney launched a

joint-venture line with Adidas, establishing a long-term partnership with the

corporation. This line is a sports performance collection for women called

"Adidas by Stella McCartney",[13] and it has been critically acclaimed. Also in

2005, on 3 May, Adidas told the public that they sold their partner company

Salomon Group for €485m to Amer Sports of Finland. In August 2005, Adidas

declared its intention to buy British rival Reebok for $3.8 billion (US$). This

takeover was completed with partnership in January 2006[1] and meant that the

company would have business sales closer to those of Nike in North America.

The acquisition of Reebok would also allow Adidas to compete with Nike

worldwide as the number two athletic shoemaker in the world. Adidas has

global corporate headquarters in Germany, and many other business locations

around the world such as Portland OR, Hong Kong, Toronto, Taiwan, England,

Japan, Australia, and Spain. Mainly sold in the U.S., Adidas makes lots of

assets from these countries and is expanding to more oversea countries. In

25
2005, Adidas introduced the Adidas 1, the first ever production shoe to use a

microprocessor. Dubbed by the company "The World's First Intelligent Shoe",

it features a microprocessor capable of performing 5 million calculations per

second that automatically adjusts the shoe's level of cushioning to suit its

environment. The shoe requires a small, user-replaceable battery that lasts for

approximately 100 hours of running. On 25 November 2005, Adidas released a

new version of the Adidas 1 with an increased range of cushioning, allowing

the shoe to become softer or firmer, and a new motor with 153 percent more

torque. On 11 April 2006, Adidas announced an 11-year deal to become the

official NBA apparel provider. They will make NBA, NBDL, and WNBA

jerseys and products as well as team-colored versions of the "Superstar"

basketball shoe. This deal (worth over $400 million) takes the place of the

previous 10-year Reebok deal that was put in place in 2001.

PRODUCT RANGE:

Running Adidas currently manufactures several running shoes, including the

adiStar Salvation 3, the adiStar Ride 3 (the replacement for the adiStar Cushion

6), the Supernova Sequence 4 (the replacement for the Supernova Control 10),

and the Supernova Glide 3, among others. In addition, their performance

apparel is widely used by runners. Adidas also uses kangaroo leather to make

their more expensive shoes.

Football (soccer) One of the main focuses of Adidas is football kit and

associated equipment. Adidas remain a major company in the supply of team

26
kits for international football teams. Adidas also makes referee kits that are

used in international competition and by many countries and leagues in the

world. The company has been an innovator in the area of footwear for the

sport, with notable examples including the 1979 release of the Copa Mundial

moulded boot used for matches on firm dry pitches. It holds the accolade of the

best selling boot of all time. The soft-ground equivalent was named World Cup

and it too remains on the market, timeless and iconic. Some of the most famous

football teams are currently sponsored by Adidas. Adidas became renowned for

advancing the Predator boot design developed by ex-Liverpool and Australian

international player Craig Johnston. This design featured a ribbed rubber

structure for the upper leather of the shoe, used to accent the movement of the

ball when struck; highly skilled players claimed they were able to curve the

flight of the ball more easily when wearing this new contoured design. The

Predator also features the Craig Johnston-invented Traxion sole. FIFA, the

world governing body of football, commissioned specially designed footballs

for use in its own World Cup tournaments to favour more attacking play. The

balls supplied for the 2006 World Cup, the Teamgeist, were particular

noteworthy for their ability to travel further than previous types when struck,

leading to longer range goal strikes that were intended to increase the number

of goals scored. Goalkeepers were believed to be less comfortable with the

design,

claiming it would move significantly and unpredictably in flight..Adidas also

introduced another new ball for the 2010 World Cup. The Jabulani ball was

27
designed and developed by Loughborugh University in conjunction with

Chelsea FC. It received much criticism from players, managers and pundits for

being too hard to control. The lighter and more aerodynamic ball led to many

shots and passes being over hit. The Jabulani was widely blamed for the low

numbers of long range goals or even remotely accurate attempts in the opening

stage of the tournament As well as the aforementioned Predator boot, Adidas

also manufacture the F50 and adiPure range of football boots. Adidas also

provides apparel and equipment for all teams in Major League Soccer.

Tennis Adidas has sponsored tennis players and recently introduced a new line

of tennis racquets. While the Feather is made for the "regular player", and the

Response for the "club player", Adidas targets the "tournament player" with the

12.2 oz Barricade tour model.[18] Adidas sponsors the following professional

players with mainly clothing apparel and footwear: Ana Ivanović, Andy

Murray, Maria Kirilenko, Caroline Wozniacki, Justine Henin, Jo-Wilfried

Tsonga, Daniela Hantuchová, Alicia Molik, Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Simon,

Fernando González, Flavia Pennetta, Laura Robson, Melanie Oudin, and

Sorana Cîrstea. Adidas tennis apparel contains the ClimaCool technology

found in other athletic jerseys and shoes.[19] In November 2009 World

Number 4 Andy Murray was confirmed as Adidas's highest paid star with a 5

year contract reported to be worth $24.5m. Players sponsored by Adidas can

take advantage of the Adidas Player Improvement Program, where the

company provides coaches, fitness trainers and sports psychologists to players

28
in order to further their careers. The program includes legendary coaches such

as Darren Cahill and Sven Groeneveld. In Cincinnati, at the ATP Tennis

Tournament in Mason, they have also sponsored the ball-boy and ball-girl

uniforms.

Golf Adidas Golf is part of Adidas, a German-based sports apparel

manufacturer and part of the Adidas Group, which consists of Reebok

sportswear company, Taylor Made-Adidas golf company, and Rockport. The

Adidas Group is one of the global leaders in the sporting goods industry

offering a wide range of products around the three core segments of Adidas,

Reebok, and Taylor Made-Adidas Golf. Adidas Golf sells and manufactures

Adidas-brand golf apparel, footwear, and accessories. Adidas Golf sells

apparel, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and youth. Men's

equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, pants, outerwear, base layer and

eyewear. Women's equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, skirts, pants,

outerwear, base layers, and eyewear. Youth equipment includes both boys and

girls footwear, apparel, and eyewear.

Cricket In the 1990s, Adidas signed world's iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar

of India and made shoes for him. Tendulkar continues to wear Adidas shoes

while playing matches. Since 2008, Adidas has sponsored the cricket bat used

by Sachin Tendulkar. It created a new cricket bat, 'Adidas Master Blaster',

personalized for him. In 2008, Adidas made their move into English cricket

market by sponsoring English batting star Kevin Pietersen after the cancellation

29
of his lifetime deal with Woodworm, when they ran into financial difficulties.

The following year they signed up fellow England player Ian Bell, Pakistan

opening batsman Salman Butt and Indian Player Ravindra Jadeja. Having made

cricket footwear for many years, the company finally entered the field of bat

manufacture in 2008 and their products are available in the Incurza, Pellara and

Libro ranges. Adidas manufactures uniforms for the England cricket team.

Adidas signed with Cricket South Africa in 2011 and the uniforms worn by

South African Cricket Team during and after the Cricket World Cup 2011 will

be manufactured by the German giant. They also sponsor the South Korea

national cricket team.

In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adidas are the official apparel sponsor for

the teams Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors India.

Basketball Adidas has been a longtime basketball shoe manufacturer and is one

of the leading basketball brands in the world. They are most famous for their

late 1960s iconic Superstar and Pro Model shoes, affectionately known as

"shelltoes" for their stylized hard rubber toe box. These were made very

popular in the 1980s hip hop streetwear scene alongside Adidas's stripe-sided

polyester suits. Adidas is also the current outfitter of all 30 franchises in the

National Basketball Association (replacing the Reebok brand after the merger)

and sponsors numerous players past and present like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and

Tracy McGrady, as well as Dwight Howard,Chauncey Billups, Derrick Rose,

Brandon Knight, Eric Gordon, Michael Beasley, Josh Smith and Tim Duncan.

Adidas endorsed Kobe Bryant with the Adidas Equipment KB8 as his first

30
signature shoe until July 2002. The company also endorsed Kevin Garnett until

he opted out of his contract in 2010. Gilbert Arenas was an Adidas endorser

until 2010.

Rugby Adidas make rugby balls and other rugby gear. They are the current kit

and ball supplier to the New Zealand All Blacks, Irish Munster Rugby, the

Argentinian Pumas, and the South African Stormers and Western Province

rugby union teams among others. Adidas are also the official match ball

supplier to the Heineken Cup.

31
COMPANY PROFILE

32
 COMPANY PROFILE
Adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the

Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-

Adidas golf company (including Ashworth), and Rockport. Besides sports

footwear, the company also produces other products such as bags, shirts,

watches, eyewear, and other sports- and clothing-related goods.The company is

the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second-biggest sportswear

manufacturer in the world, with American rival Nike being the biggest.

Adidas was founded in 1948 by Adolf "Adi" Dassler, following the split

of Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik between him and his older brother Rudolf.

Rudolf later established Puma, which was the early rival of Adidas. Registered

in 1949, Adidas is currently based in Herzogenaurach, Germany, along with

Puma.

The company's clothing and shoe designs typically feature three parallel bars,

and the same motif is incorporated into Adidas's current official logo. The

"Three Stripes" were bought from the Finnish sport company Karhu Sports in

1951. The company revenuefor 2010 was listed at €11.99 billion.

In 1994, combined with FIFA Youth Group, SOS Children's Villages became the

main beneficiary.

In 1997, Adidas AG acquired the Salomon Group who specialized in ski wear,

and its official corporate name was changed to Adidas-Salomon AG because

33
with this acquisition Adidas also acquired the Taylormade Golf company

and Maxfli, which allowed them to compete with Nike Golf.

In 1998, Adidas sued the NCAA over their rules limiting the size and number of

commercial logos on team uniforms and apparel. Adidas withdrew the suit, and

the two groups established guidelines as to what three-stripe designs would be

considered uses of the Adidas trademark.

In 2003, Adidas filed a lawsuit in a British court challenging Fitness World

Trading's use of a two-stripe motif similar to Adidas's three stripes. The court

ruled that despite the simplicity of the mark, Fitness World 's use was infringing

because the public could establish a link between that use and Adidas's mark.

In September 2004, top English fashion designer Stella McCartney launched a

joint-venture line with Adidas, establishing a long-term partnership with the

corporation. This line is a sports performance collection for women called

"Adidas by Stella McCartney", and it has been critically acclaimed.

Also in 2005, on 3 May, Adidas told the public that they sold their partner

company Salomon Group for €485m to Amer Sports of Finland. In August 2005,

Adidas declared its intention to buy British rival Reebok for $3.8 billion (US$).

This takeover was completed with partnership in January 2006. and meant that

the company would have business sales closer to those of Nike in North

America. The acquisition of Reebok would also allow Adidas to compete

with Nike worldwide as the number two athletic shoemaker in the world.

Adidas has global corporate headquarters in Germany, and many other business

locations around the world such as Portland OR, Hong Kong, Toronto, Taiwan,

34
England, Japan, Australia, and Spain. Mainly sold in the U.S., Adidas makes lots

of assets from these countries and is expanding to more oversea countries.

In 2005, Adidas introduced the Adidas 1, the first ever production shoe to use

a microprocessor. Dubbed by the company "The World's First Intelligent Shoe",

it features a microprocessor capable of performing 5 million calculations per

second that automatically adjusts the shoe's level of cushioning to suit its

environment. The shoe requires a small, user-replaceable battery that lasts for

approximately 100 hours of running. On 25 November 2005, Adidas released a

new version of the Adidas 1 with an increased range of cushioning, allowing the

shoe to become softer or firmer, and a new motor with 153 percent more torque.

On 11 April 2006, Adidas announced an 11-year deal to become the

official NBA apparel provider. They will make NBA, NBDL, and

WNBA jerseys and products as well as team-colored versions of the "Superstar"

basketball shoe. This deal (worth over $400 million) takes the place of the

previous 10-year Reebok deal that was put in place in 2001.

PRODUCT RANGE:

Running

Adidas currently manufactures several running shoes, including the adiStar

Salvation 3, the adiStar Ride 3 (the replacement for the adiStar Cushion 6), the

Supernova Sequence 4 (the replacement for the Supernova Control 10), and the

Supernova Glide 3, among others. In addition, their performance apparel is

widely used by runners. Adidas also uses kangaroo leather to make their more

expensive shoes.

35
Football (soccer)

One of the main focuses of Adidas is football kit and associated equipment.

Adidas remain a major company in the supply of team kits for international

football teams.

Adidas also makes referee kits that are used in international competition and by

many countries and leagues in the world. The company has been an innovator in

the area of footwear for the sport, with notable examples including the 1979

release of the Copa Mundial moulded boot used for matches on firm dry pitches.

It holds the accolade of the best selling boot of all time. The soft-ground

equivalent was named World Cup and it too remains on the market, timeless and

iconic. Some of the most famous football teams are currently sponsored by

Adidas. Adidas became renowned for advancing the Predator boot design

developed by ex-Liverpool and Australian international player Craig Johnston.

This design featured a ribbed rubber structure for the upper leather of the shoe,

used to accent the movement of the ball when struck; highly skilled players

claimed they were able to curve the flight of the ball more easily when wearing

this new contoured design. The Predator also features the Craig Johnston-

invented Traxion sole.

FIFA, the world governing body of football, commissioned specially designed

footballs for use in its own World Cup tournaments to favour more attacking

play. The balls supplied for the 2006 World Cup, the Teamgeist, were particular

noteworthy for their ability to travel further than previous types when struck,

leading to longer range goal strikes that were intended to increase the number of

36
goals scored. Goalkeepers were believed to be less comfortable with the design,

claiming it would move significantly and unpredictably in flight. .Adidas also

introduced another new ball for the 2010 World Cup. The Jabulani ball was

designed and developed by Loughborugh University in conjunction with Chelsea

FC. It received much criticism from players, managers and pundits for being too

hard to control.  The lighter and more aerodynamic ball led to many shots and

passes being over hit. The Jabulani was widely blamed for the low numbers of

long range goals or even remotely accurate attempts in the opening stage of the

tournament

As well as the aforementioned Predator boot, Adidas also manufacture

the F50 and adiPure range of football boots.

Adidas also provides apparel and equipment for all teams in Major League

Soccer.

Tennis

Adidas has sponsored tennis players and recently introduced a new line of

tennis racquets. While the Feather is made for the "regular player", and the

Response for the "club player", Adidas targets the "tournament player" with the

12.2 oz Barricade tour model.[18] Adidas sponsors the following professional

players with mainly clothing apparel and footwear: Ana Ivanović, Andy

Murray, Maria Kirilenko, Caroline Wozniacki, Justine Henin, Jo-Wilfried

Tsonga, Daniela Hantuchová, Alicia Molik, Fernando Verdasco, Gilles

Simon, Fernando González, Flavia Pennetta, Laura Robson, Melanie Oudin,

37
and Sorana Cîrstea. Adidas tennis apparel contains the ClimaCool technology

found in other athletic jerseys and shoes.

In November 2009 World Number 4 Andy Murray was confirmed as Adidas's

highest paid star with a 5 year contract reported to be worth $24.5m.

Players sponsored by Adidas can take advantage of the Adidas Player

Improvement Program, where the company provides coaches, fitness trainers

and sports psychologists to players in order to further their careers. The program

includes legendary coaches such as Darren Cahill and Sven Groeneveld.

In Cincinnati, at the ATP Tennis Tournament in Mason, they have also

sponsored the ball-boy and ball-girl uniforms.

Golf

Adidas Golf is part of Adidas, a German-based sports apparel manufacturer and

part of the Adidas Group, which consists of Reebok sportswear company, Taylor

Made-Adidas golf company, and Rockport. The Adidas Group is one of the

global leaders in the sporting goods industry offering a wide range of products

around the three core segments of Adidas, Reebok, and Taylor Made-Adidas

Golf. Adidas Golf sells and manufactures Adidas-brand golf apparel, footwear,

and accessories.

Adidas Golf sells apparel, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and youth.

Men's equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, pants, outerwear, base layer

and eyewear. Women's equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, skirts, pants,

outerwear, base layers, and eyewear. Youth equipment includes both boys and

girls footwear, apparel, and eyewear.

38
Cricket

In the 1990s, Adidas signed world's iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar of India

and made shoes for him. Tendulkar continues to wear Adidas shoes while

playing matches. Since 2008, Adidas has sponsored the cricket bat used

by Sachin Tendulkar. It created a new cricket bat, 'Adidas Master Blaster',

personalized for him.

In 2008, Adidas made their move into English cricket market by sponsoring

English batting star Kevin Pietersen after the cancellation of his lifetime deal

with Woodworm, when they ran into financial difficulties. The following year

they signed up fellow England player Ian Bell, Pakistan opening

batsman Salman Butt and Indian Player Ravindra Jadeja. Having made cricket

footwear for many years, the company finally entered the field of bat

manufacture in 2008 and their products are available in the Incurza, Pellara and

Libro ranges.

Adidas manufactures uniforms for the England cricket team. Adidas signed

with Cricket South Africa in 2011 and the uniforms worn by South African

Cricket Team during and after the Cricket World Cup 2011 will be manufactured

by the German giant. They also sponsor the South Korea national cricket team.

In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adidas are the official apparel sponsor for

the teams Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors India.

Basketball

39
Adidas has been a longtime basketball shoe manufacturer and is one of the

leading basketball brands in the world. They are most famous for their late 1960s

iconic Superstar and Pro Model shoes, affectionately known as "shelltoes" for

their stylized hard rubber toe box. These were made very popular in the

1980s hip hop streetwear scene alongside Adidas's stripe-sided polyester suits.

Adidas is also the current outfitter of all 30 franchises in the National Basketball

Association (replacing the Reebok brand after the merger) and sponsors

numerous players past and present like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Tracy

McGrady, as well as Dwight Howard,Chauncey Billups, Derrick Rose, Brandon

Knight, Eric Gordon, Michael Beasley, Josh Smith and Tim Duncan. Adidas

endorsed Kobe Bryant with the Adidas Equipment KB8 as his first signature

shoe until July 2002. The company also endorsed Kevin Garnett until he opted

out of his contract in 2010. Gilbert Arenas was an Adidas endorser until 2010.

40
Rugby

Adidas make rugby balls and other rugby gear. They are the current kit and ball

supplier to the New Zealand All Blacks, Irish Munster Rugby, the Argentinian

Pumas, and the South African Stormers and Western Province rugby union

teams among others. Adidas are also the official match ball supplier to

the Heineken Cup

41
 Adidas SWOT analysis:

Adidas is one of the strongest sports brand in the world. Known most

prominently for its range of Shoes, the brand is also a manufacturer for clothing

and accessories. Here is the SWOT analysis of Adidas.

Strengths in the SWOT analysis of Adidas

1. Legacy & heritage: With decades of heritage & legacy, Adidas has travelled a

long way to establish itself as a youthful brand. The brand was started in 1949

and has travelled a long way since then.

2. Diversified portfolio: Company has multiple product portfolio’s with varied

range of footwear & accessories under brand name Adidas (premium segment)

& Reebok (mid range).

3. Strong financial position: With its 2400 store globally accounting $4.3billions,

the company is in strong financial position.

4. Distribution network: By selling it from online stores to company owned stores

to supermarket stores, Adidas has an effective distribution system for their

products available through different channels.

5. Branding by creating touch points with the community: Celebrity endorsements

& sponsoring major sports organizations such as FIFA, UEFA, NBA &

Olympics has increased the awareness of Adidas in the market & hence it has

increased the highly targeted customer base as well.

42
6. Collaborations & memberships: Strong relationship within the sustainability area

with organizations such as International Labour organization, International

Finance Corporation has given the company an edge over competitors so that

they can have a sustainable business.

Weakness in the SWOT analysis of Adidas

1. Premium price range: High price range due to innovative technology &

Production methods have made the brand affordable to limited customers only,

especially in developing countries.

2. Outsourced manufacturing: Adidas has 93% of production outsourced to 3 rd

party manufacturers (largely to Asia) to avail of low labour cost & easy

availability of resources. They are running a risk of over dependency on

outsourcing especially in Asian markets. Also, the overall quality of products

perceived by the consumers of developed economies is a major concern as far as

brand is concerned.

3. Limited product line: Adidas along with the recently acquired Reebok brands,

has got only 2 brands under their group although they have got deep assortments

within these brands. Thus, there is more scope for product line expansion.

Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Adidas 

1. Changing Lifestyle: With the saturation of developed economies, changing taste

& preferences, education & changing lifestyle of developing economies, there is

a steep rise in the demand of premium goods & services.

2. Market development: Entering into new markets will be the only way to succeed

in the future because developed economies are already having high competition.

43
3. Expansion in product line: Expanding its product line will open a new set of

opportunities while at the same time it can differentiate itself from the

competitors by following this strategy.

4. Increasing demand of premium products: If we only consider the Indian market

then there is a growth rate of 33% in demand of premium products. This tells us

the future business opportunity & expanding market size of developing

economies.

5. Backward integration: This will be smart strategy if followed by Adidas as it will

help Adidas to secure their patent rights & also integrate their R&D with the

operational team in order to work in open system.

Threats in the SWOT analysis of Adidas 

1. Competition: Although Adidas is a global brand but it is facing fierce

competition from other brands like Nike which is No.1 brand and Adidas being

in 2nd Position in this premium segment. Besides this, there is regular

competition from local players, substitutes and market penetrators.

2. Supplier Dominancy: Due to majority of its production being outsourced;

Suppliers have more bargaining power then the company.

3. Government Regulations: With its 35% products manufactured in China & 93%

of production happening in Asia, Import regulations, duty& tariffs plays a

critical role in the pricing and success of the company.

44
Marketing mix of Adidas

One of the top brands in the sports and footwear market, Adidas has seen its

share of ups and downs. The company started in 1936 and is one of the oldest

footwear brands of the world. However, even though the company has old

origins, its heart is young. Adidas faced stiff competition in the 1980s from Nike

but soon overcame the competition by targeting youngsters as well as sports

oriented people.

This article will focus on Adidas only and not on the other subsidiary’s of

Adidas group. Here is the marketing mix of Adidas.

Products in the marketing mix of Adidas

The Adidas group has 4 main subsidiary’s. The first is its own brand name –

Adidas, which is present in clothes as well as footwear. The second is Reebok

which has overtaken Adidas and is one of the leading subsidiary’s in the Adidas

45
group. The 3rd is Rockpot which specializes in outdoor footwear, apparel’s and

accessories and 4th is Taylor made which is focused on golfing clothes,

equipment etc. Out of all the above subsidiary’s, Reebok is the strongest

followed by Adidas.

Adidas has various products. The major product of Adidas is off course their

footwear. Coming in various design and style, Adidas footwear is robust and

athletic. The secondary product of Adidas is apparel’s and accessories. Apparel’s

like T-Shirts, jackets, sweatshirts, shorts etc are in great demand. Where Reebok

is stronger in footwear, Adidas is stronger in apparel’s.

The aim of Adidas is to give the best footwear to their customers which has the

combination of technology and design. These products are not need based. In

fact, the shoes are bought by customers to satisfy their wants and desires.

Similarly, the apparel’s are targeted towards comfort during heavy activity.

However, although the main target is sports, the apparel’s are frequently used as

a style statement by youngsters.

Pricing in the marketing mix of Adidas.

Adidas, because of its style, design and promotions uses skimming prices as well

as competitive pricing. For run of the mill products, Adidas uses competitive

pricing keeping in mind competitors like Nike, Reebok and Puma. But for

products which are newly introduced in the market and are uniquely designed,

Adidas uses skimming price.

46
Apparel’s of Adidas constantly use skimming price and are higher priced due to

brand equity of Adidas in the apparel’s market. The target customer for Adidas

is the upper middle class as well as high end customers. Adidas never uses

penetrative pricing because that will affect the brand equity of Adidas. In fact,

the higher price point helps in the price quality approach and psychologically,

customers think that a higher price will mean better quality as well. Thus, Adidas

rarely drops its prices.

Place in the marketing mix of Adidas –

The major areas in which Adidas is sold is through retail outlets. Adidas has its

own exclusive stores in which the material is provided directly from the

company. On the other hand, many multi brand showrooms will also have

Adidas apparel’s and footwear on display. These multi brand showrooms get the

products from a distributor. The third and last mode of distribution is online. The

products are sold through online medium via fashion stores lie myntra.com as

well as the online website of Adidas. Thus the distribution channel of Adidas is

as follows

1) Manufacturing > Adidas outlets > End customer

2) Manufacturing > Distributor > Multi brand showrooms

3) Manufacturing > Online fashion websites / Adidas website > End customer

47
Due to the excellent brand equity of Adidas, the operating margins are fairly

high thereby keeping the distribution channel motivated. A happy distribution

channel means better promotion for the company.

Promotions in the marketing mix of Adidas

Adidas markets through various marketing vehicles but the majority of

marketing is concentrated on television and product placements. The creative

team of Adidas is known to pump adrenaline in their customers through ads

which are well made, very creative and filled with energy. These ads attract the

customers towards the brand by sending the right marketing message to the

customer. The tagline of Adidas “Impossible is nothing” is in itself a very

powerful statement for the brand.

After television, product placement is the second line of promotion for Adidas.

The popularity of the brand is because it ties up with the top players across the

world such as Lionel messi, Ronaldinho, Sachin tendulkar and various others. At

the same time, Adidas also sponsors teams and some of the top teams include

Real Madrid, France, Great Britain (in football), England and South Africa (in

cricket) and several others. Here is a list of all the sponsorships done by Adidas.

Below the line marketing of Adidas includes some very creative outdoor

campaigns as well as events marketing. Sales promotions and trade promotions

are also regularly offered by Adidas to their channel partners to promote the

sales of the brand. This concludes the marketing mix of Adidas.

48
 LITERATURE REVIEW

Customer satisfaction, as a construct, has been fundamental to marketing for

over three decades. As early as 1960, Keith (1960) defined marketing as

“satisfying the needs and desires of the consumer”. Hunt (1982) reported that by

the 1970s, interest in customer satisfaction had increase to such an extent that

over 500 studies were published. This trend continued and by 1992, Peterson and

Wilson estimated the amount of academic and trade articles on customer

satisfaction to be over 15,000.

Several studies have shown that it costs about five times to gain a new customer

as it does to keep an existing customer (Naumann, 1995) and this results into

more interest in customer relationships. Thus, several companies are adopting

customer satisfaction as their operational goal with a carefully designed

framework. Hill and Alexander (2000) wrote in their book that “companies now

have big investment in database marketing, relationship management and

customer planning to move closer to their customers”. Jones and Sasser (1995)

wrote that “achieving customer satisfaction is the main goal for most service

firms today”.

Increasing customer satisfaction has been shown to directly affect companies’

market share, which leads to improved profits, positive recommendation, lower

marketing expenditures (Reichheld, 1996; Heskett et al., 1997), and greatly

impact the corporate image and survival (Pizam and Ellis, 1999).

Parker and Mathew (2001) expressed that there are two basic definitional

approaches of the concept of customer satisfaction. The first approach defines

49
satisfaction as a process and the second approach defines satisfaction as an

outcome of a consumption experience. These two approaches are

complementary, as often one depends on the other.

Customer satisfaction as a process is defined as an evaluation between what was

received and what was expected (Oliver, 1977, 1981; Olson and Dover, 1979;

Tse and Wilton, 1988), emphasizing the perceptual, evaluative and

psychological processes that contribute to customer satisfaction (Vavra, 1997, p.

4).

Parker and Mathews (2001) however noted that the process of satisfaction

definitions concentrates on the antecedents to satisfaction rather than satisfaction

itself.

Satisfaction as a process is the most widely adopted description of customer

satisfaction and a lot of research efforts have been directed at understanding the

process approach of satisfaction evaluations (Parker and Mathews, 2001). This

approach has its origin in the discrepancy theory (Porter, 1961), which argued

that satisfaction is determined by the perception of a difference between some

standard and actual performance.

Cardozo (1965); and Howard and Sheth (1969) developed the contrast theory,

which showed that consumers would exaggerate any contrasts between

expectations and product evaluations.

Olshavsky and Miller (1972); and Olson and Dover (1979) developed the

assimilation theory, which means that perceived quality is directly increasing

50
with expectations. Assimilation effects occur when the difference between

expectations and quality is too small to be perceived.

Anderson (1973) further developed this theory into assimilation-contrast theory,

which means if the discrepancy is too large to be assimilated then the contrast

effects occur. The assimilation-contrast effects occur when the difference

between expectations and quality is too large to be perceived and this difference

is exaggerated by consumers.

According to Parker and Mathews (2001), the most popular descendant of the

discrepancy theories is the expectation disconfirmation theory (Oliver, 1977,

1981), which stated that the result of customers’ perceptions of the difference

between their perceptions of performance and their expectations of performance.

Positive disconfirmation leads to increased satisfaction, with negative

disconfirmation having the opposite effect. Yi (1990) expressed that customers

buy products or services with pre-purchase expectations about anticipated

performance, once the bought product or service has been used, outcomes are

compared against expectations. If the outcome matches expectations, the result is

confirmation. When there are differences between expectations and outcomes,

disconfirmation occurs. Positive disconfirmation occurs when product or service

performance exceeds expectations. Therefore, satisfaction is caused by positive

disconfirmation or confirmation of customer expectations, and dissatisfaction is

the negative disconfirmation of customer expectations (Yi, 1990).

51
While several studies support the disconfirmation paradigm, others do not. For

instance, Churchill and Surprenant (1982) found that neither disconfirmation nor

expectations had any effect on customer satisfaction with durable products.

Weiner (1980, and 1985); and Folkes (1984) proposed the attribution theory,

which stated that when a customer purchases a product or service, if the

consumption is below expectation, the customer is convinced that the supplier

causes the dissatisfaction. The complaining customer is focused on restoring

justice and the satisfaction outcome is driven by perceived fairness of the

outcome of complaining.

Westbrook and Reilly (1983) proposed the value-percept theory, which defines

satisfaction as an emotional response caused by a cognitive-evaluative process,

which is the comparison of the product or service to one's values rather than an

expectation. So, satisfaction is a discrepancy between the observed and the

desired.

Fisk and Young (1985); Swan and Oliver (1985) proposed the equity theory,
which stated that individuals compare their input and output ratios with those of
others and feel equitable treated. Equity judgement is based on two steps; first,
the customer compares the outcome to the input and secondly, performs a
relative comparison of the outcome to the other party.
Pizam and Ellis (1999) reported that there are two additional distinct theories of
customer satisfaction apart from the seven aforementioned ones and these
include:
1. Comparison-level

2. Generalized negativity; and

52
The outcome approach of the customer satisfaction is defined as the end-state

satisfaction resulting from the experience of consumption. This post-

consumption state can be an outcome that occurs without comparing

expectations (Oliver, 1996); or may be a cognitive state of reward, an emotional

response that may occur as the result of comparing expected and actual

performance or a comparison of rewards and costs to the anticipated

consequences (Vavra, 1997, p. 4).

Furthermore, Parker and Mathews (2001) expressed that attention has been

focused on the nature of satisfaction of the outcome approach which include:

1. Emotion - Satisfaction is viewed as the surprise element of product or service

purchase and or consumption experiences (Oliver, 1981), or is an effective

response to a specific consumption experience (Westbrook and Reilly, 1983).

This acknowledges the input of comparative cognitive processes but goes further

by stating that these may be just one of the determinants of the affective “state”

satisfaction (Park and Mathews, 2001).

2. Fulfillment –The theories of motivation state that people are driven by the

desire to satisfy their needs (Maslow, 1943) or by their behaviour aimed at

achieving the relevant goals (Vroom, 1964). However, satisfaction can be either

way viewed as the end-point in the motivational process. Thus “consumer

satisfaction can be seen as the consumer's fulfillment response” (Rust and

Oliver, 1994, p. 4).

3. State – Oliver (1989) expressed that there are four framework of satisfaction,

which relates to reinforcement and arousal. “Satisfaction-as-pleasure” results

53
from positive reinforcement, where the product or service is adding to an

aroused resting state, and “satisfaction-as-relief” results from negative

reinforcement .In relation to arousal, low arousal fulfillment is defined as

“satisfaction-as contentment”, a result of the product or service performing

adequately in an ongoing passive sense. High arousal satisfaction is defined as

“satisfaction as either positive (delight) or negative surprise” which could be a

shock (Rust and Oliver, 1994).

The other customer satisfaction definitions include: Satisfaction is “the cognitive

state of the buyer about the appropriateness or inappropriateness of the reward

received in exchange for the service experienced (Howard and Seth, 1969, pp.

145); the evaluation of emotions (Hunt, 1977, p. 460); the favorability of the

individual's subjective evaluation (Westbrook, 1980, p. 49); a positive outcome

from the outlay of scarce resources (Bearden and Teel, 1983a, p. 21); an overall

customer attitude towards a service provider (Levesque and McDougall, 1996,

pp.14); is a judgment that a product or service feature, or the product or service

itself, provided (or is providing) a pleasurable level of consumption-related

fulfillment, included levels of under- or overfulfillment (Oliver,1997, p. 13); is an

experience-based assessment made by the customer of how far his own

expectations about the individual characteristics or the overall functionality of

the services obtained from the provider have been fulfilled (Homburg and Bruhn,

1998); the fulfillment of some need, goal or desire (Oliver, 1999); an emotional

reaction to the difference between what customers anticipate and what they

receive (Zineldin, 2000); is based on a customer’s estimated experience of the

54
extent to which a provider’s services fulfill his or her expectations (Gerpott et al.

2001)”.

For this study, customer satisfaction definition used is that of Homburg and

Bruhn (1998) which is “an experience-based assessment made by the customer

of how far his own expectations about the individual characteristics or the

overall functionality of the services obtained from the provider have been

fulfilled”.

The relevance of this definition to this study is that it indicates that customers

assess the mobile services based on experience of use and the rating is done in

accordance with the mobile services attributes. In this study, customer

satisfaction with the Nigerian mobile services will be evaluated based on

customer’s experience of network quality, billing, validity period and customer

care support.

The Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM) is a second-generation

digital technology, which was originally developed in Europe and in less than

ten years after the commercial launch, it developed into world’s leading and

fastest growing mobile standard (GSM Assoc., 2006). Lonergan et al. (2004)

reported that at the beginning of 2004, there were over 1.3 billion mobile phone

users worldwide and by 2007, the demand for mobile services would have grown

at an average annual rate of 9.1%. The GSM Association estimates that the

GSM technology is used by more than one in five people of the world's

population, representing approximately 77% of the world’s cellular market and

55
is estimated to account for 73% of the world’s digital market and 72% of the

world’s wireless market (GSM Assoc., 2006). This growth principally results

from the establishment of new networks in developing countries rather than from

an increase in mobile access lines in developed countries (Serenko and Turel,

2006). African countries are actively involved in the establishment of the mobile

services and specifically, Nigeria is the focus of this study.

Gerpott et al. (2001) wrote that since 1990s, the telecommunications sector has

become an important key in the development of the economy of developed

countries. This results from the saturated markets, de-regulation of

telecommunications industry (removal of monopoly rights, especially enjoyed by

state-owned telecoms networks), increasing number of mobile service providers,

enormous technical development and intense market competition. Szyperski &

Loebbecke (1999) wrote that this increasing economic importance and benefits

of telecommunications firms motivated many management scholars (especially

marketing experts) to devote attention to this sector. Wilfert (1999); Gerpott

(1998); and Booz. Allen and Hamilton (1995) pointed out that marketing

strategies are very important in telecommunications services because once

customers have subscribed to a particular telecommunications service provider,

their long-term link with this provider is of greater importance to the success of

the company than they are in other industry sectors. Hence, service providers

need to form a continous lasting relationship with their customers to know them

better and satisfy their needs adequately.

56
Studies conducted to explore factors affecting satisfaction, loyalty and retention

in mobile telecommunications industry include: Gerpott et al. (2001)

investigated customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention in the German mobile

telecommunications among 684 respondents and reported that customer

retention can not be equated with customer loyalty and/or customer satisfaction,

rather a two-stage causal link can be assumed in which customer satisfaction

drives customer loyalty which in turn has impacts on customer retention.

However, these three factors are important for superior economic success among

telecommunication service providers. Kim et al. (2004) investigated the effects

of customer satisfaction and switching barrier on customer loyalty among 350

respondents in Korea and reported that call quality, value-added services and

customer support have significant impact on customer satisfaction. Thus, to

maximize customer satisfaction, focus should be on service quality and

customer-oriented services. Switching barrier on the other hand is affected by

switching costs (e.g. loss cost, move-in cost, and interpersonal relationships) and

was revealed to have an adjustment effect on customer satisfaction and customer

loyalty. Serenko and Turel (2006) investigated customer satisfaction with

mobiles services in Canada and reported that perceived quality and perceived

value are the key factors influencing satisfaction with mobile services. Customer

care is reported to be negatively related to customer satisfaction, which means

that a more satisfied customer is less prone to complain. Hence, they concluded

that customer satisfaction is the only single measure that better capture the range

of services, prices and quality and moreso, this measure is an important

57
performance indicator useful for both regulators and mobile service providers. In

summary, these studies support the theory that highly satisfied customers stay

longer, buy more, less sensitive to price increases from their providers or price

decreases from competitors.

Nigeria, a developing country, in 1992 introduced its first mobile phone services,

through the joint venture between NITEL and DSL of Canada to form Mobile

Telecommunications Service (MTS), (Ndukwe, 2005, pp 26). In January 2001,

the regulatory body NCC, modernised and expanded the mobile

telecommunications network and services by granting GSM license to three

service providers; MTN Nigeria, Econet Wireless (now Vmobile), and the first

national carrier, NITEL (initially MTS, privatised to form Mtel). In 2002, the

second national carrier, Globacom was also granted license to commence

operation. Since the launch of the GSM, the number of subscribers in Nigeria

has greatly increased. Ndukwe (2005, pp 37-38, 40) reported that between 1998

and 2000, the number of mobile lines was 35,000 but grew to over 11 million as

of March 2005, with a growth rate of more than a million lines annually since

2002. This translated to an increase from the total density of 0.4 lines per 100

inhabitants in 1998 to 9.47 lines per 100 inhabitants currently. Additionally, this

sector has attracted an investment of over US $8 billion and has greatly

increased the number of employed people directly (those working with the GSM

companies) or indirectly (this includes various levels of dealerships, cell phone

vendors, repair shops, suppliers of accessories, fixed and mobile call shops and

street recharge card hawkers) (Hoff, 2006). The number of the employed people

58
is reported to be over 300,000 Nigerians in 2005 (Ndukwe, 2005). Other benefits

include easy, affordable and quick access to phone by different categories of the

population, reduced frequency of travelling, etc (Adomi, 2003), and all these

benefits contribute to the socio- economic development of the country.

Based on the annual growth rate of the subscribers, and increasing teledensity,

Nigeria is one of the fastest growing telecoms market in Africa (Hoff, 2006).

Additionally, the population count of over 130 million people and GDP per

capita and PPP valuation of US $1,776 (estimated in 2005) (OECD, 2006)

presents a massive growth potential for the mobile telecoms sector and the

customer base is estimated to reach 23 million subscribers in 2007 and 32

million subscribers in 2009 (Hoff, 2006). This anticipated increase in the

customer base will translate into better social and economic development,

resulting from more financial investments from the service operators.

Despite the economic and social benefits of the mobile telecommunications to

Nigerian economy and market, unlike the developed countries, there is no

marketing or management research attention to this sector. However, it is

probable that the mobile operators conduct satisfaction surveys and other

marketing research but contact with the mobile operators for any useful

information yielded no response 1. This limitation affected this study in that there

are currently no literature materials on customer satisfaction of the Nigerian

mobile telecoms industry to consult. The majority of literature available (few in

number) focuses on the study of the impact and development of the

telecommunications, mobile telephony, communications, etc.

59
This lack of adequate research in the mobile telecoms sector may prevent it from

acquiring knowledge useful for development. According to Serenko and Turel (2006),

customer satisfaction measurement addresses both users and public interests and such

studies can assist in economic and social development. Therefore, there is need to gain

more understanding in the area of customer satisfaction.

Yu et al (2017) investigated the customer loyalty of various brands which sold sport

goods. The analytical techniques used included regression analysis. The sampling

method by the researchers in the study was random sampling. The questionnaires were

filled by 243 students. These students belonged to 12 universities in Liaoning Province.

It was found out that a positive association was formed between customer satisfaction

and perceived quality. Alhedhaif et al (2016) examined the brand preferences of Saudi

Arabia female consumers for different cosmetics and toiletries like hair care, body care,

etc. Also, factors that affect the purchase of cosmetics were identified .The study found

out that 12% to 20% respondents were neutral and did not like to purchase from a

single brand. Also, brand loyalty was demonstrated by repurchase of one or more

reputed brands. Dabhade (2016) expressed that brand loyalty and consumer satisfaction

was important elements which have an influence on telecommunication industry.The

interrelationship and impact of consumer loyalty on brand reliability was examined.

Dubey and Srivastava (2016) identified the effect of quality related to service on

relationship management of consumer and consumer loyalty in the Indian

telecommunication Industry. 262 customers filled the structured questionnaires

distributed online. The tools used were multiple regression analysis and factor analysis.

The outcomes portrayed that quality of service had an effect on relationship

management of customer and customer loyalty. Matulessy and Adyansunyani (2016)

stated that satisfaction related to the customer and brand image have a relation with

60
brand loyalty of Blackberry phones. 100 respondents aged between 21-40 filled the

questionnaires. The results were indicative of a confident correlation between the image

of the brand and satisfaction of customers towards brand loyalty. Singh (2016) found

the significance of aspects which swayed brand loyalty. It examined the important

footwear brands of India. Correlation analysis was the analytical technique used in the

study. As indicated by the study, customer satisfaction and price were the most

important aspects that influence brand loyalty. Afif et al (2015) stated that the

marketing managers need to pay proper attention to brand loyalty. Reason for this

exploration was to examine the significant perspective so as to fabricate brand loyalty.

The important factors impacting brand loyalty were trust towards the brand and brand

affect. Azmat and Lakhani (2015) considered brand positioning to be a significant

factor for increasing the relevance of brand. It essentially rotated around three

techniques of positioning which incorporate beneficial positioning, surrogate

positioning (psychological) and competitive positioning. Analytical tool utilized in the

research paper was sample t-test. Setyawan et al (2015) analysed the impact of

reputation related to a brand, satisfaction of a brand, liking for a particular brand,

experience derived from a brand and trust related to the brand on brand loyalty. Ahmed

et al (2014) stressed on brand loyalty over brand awareness and brand credibility. The

sampling technique used was the random sampling. Respondents filled the structured

questionnaire. It was discovered that loyalty related to the brand had positive relation

with brand credibility and brand awareness. Akabogu and Christopher (2014) found out

the brand loyalty of 7 up brand in Nigeria.. The results showed that there was undivided

brand loyalty between 7 up consumers. The study stated that 7 up needed to exploit the

variations between the demographics and socioeconomic segments. Suggestions to

develop and sustain undivided brand loyalty were given in the study. Maheshwari et al

61
(2014) discovered the relation between brand experience and brand loyalty in the

automobile industry. Factor analysis technique was used. It also focussed on brand

commitment. Brand Commitment was divided into two parts which consisted of

affective commitment and continuance commitment. Chowdhury (2013) stated that

brand positioning plays a vital role to develop competitive advantage. The study

highlighted the positioning strategies for effective positioning of the various brands in

the market. Extensive literature was done in order to formulate the positioning

strategies. Studies in the literature review were mainly based on the western context.

Kinuthia et al (2012) stated that it was very essential for the organisation to retain its

loyal customers. This study was done on sports clothing in the Kenyan market in

Nairobi. The research revealed the factors which affect brand loyalty related to

swimwear among students of Kenyan university students. The study identified the most

used brands among the Kenyan students and found that speedo was the most favoured

brand. It was revealed that the dealers of swimwear should focus on attractiveness,

prices, sizes, and variety of designs for increasing brand loyalty. Ltifi and Gharbi

(2012) found out that awareness of the value of service influenced the consumer

satisfaction in a positive manner. It was stated that satisfaction had an impact on the

loyalty related to the consumer.

Sukhmani and Kanwal (2012) examined the numerous factors which affect loyalty

towards brand. This paper was related to passenger cars in Punjab. The four important

factors which affect brand loyalty in passenger cars were price sensitivity related to

price, outlook of the brand, technical specifications and service for the consumer.

Moreover, the results signified that the young and qualified, mostly prefer quality

products. Chahal et al (2010) explored the relation between loyalty towards brand and

equity of brand. 300 respondents who live in Jammu filled the questionnaire. The

62
method used to finalize the scale was scale item analysis. The measure of brand loyalty

was related with brand equity. Uncles et al (2010) stated that the study was done in two

cities of China namely Shangai and Xi’an.The two product categories for which the

consumers showed preference were toothpaste and soy sauce. The study showed similar

patterns of brand loyalty in Chinese market and western markets. Also, there was a

decline in exclusive loyalty of brand in the Chinese market. Brakus et al (2009)

checked the effect of knowledge related to the brand on fulfilment of the customer and

loyalty related to the brand.It focussed on the conceptual analysis of brand experience.

The scale developed in the study captured the dimensions and levels of brand

experience. Kim et al (2008) investigated brand loyalty with the help of various

antecedents. These antecedents were commitment related to the brand and credibility of

brand.Six constructs and their relationships with each other were discussed.

Suggestions related to marketing were also discussed. Punniyamoorthy and Raj (2007)

identified the factors which affect brand loyalty.180 respondents filled the

questionnaires. These respondents were from three cities of India. Research examined

the behaviour of the loyal customers. The research paper measured the score related to

brand loyalty of three main newspapers of English language by using the established

model. Keller and Lehmann (2006) stated that branding was the top management

priority in the last decade. Brands were considered as the most valuable asset for any

firm. This research highlighted the important concepts of brand. Lau et al (2006)

revealed important factors affecting loyalty in sportswear. Brand loyalty can be

classified in two parts which comprise of hard core brand loyals and brand switchers.

Sales promotion impacted brand switching but brand name and style impacted brand

loyalty. Moore and Sekhon (2005) discussed about the success of the card holder

scheme was due to the relationship of the organisations with the card holders and not

63
because the number of cardholders were more. With the help of the determinants of

behavioural change, the authors suggested that if we developed a strong relationship

with the customer there were greater chances of influencing their buying behaviour and

if we develop a weak relationship with the customer than there were lesser chances of

influencing their buying behaviour. Boas (2004) discussed about a model in which the

customer purchased a product first and then thought about the competition and choices

for the repeat purchase. The author discussed about stochastic loyalty. Dubois et al

(1999) discussed the situational approach of brand loyalty and stated that it was very

important for the companies to retain its customers in this competitive environment.

The steps in developing situational scales were selected for specific brands. Amine

(1998) discussed the two approaches namely the downstream and upstream approach to

analyse loyalty related to brand. There were two constructs on the basis of which brand

loyalty could be distinguished. Moreover, some studies suggested that the repeat

purchase must be intentional. In this article a cognitive framework of true brand loyalty

was proposed and the attitudinal view of brand loyalty was highlighted. After this, the

importance of the upstream approach was highlighted in this article. Then the concerns

of true Brand Loyalty were debated. This study also suggested that commitment was an

integral part of brand loyalty.

64
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

65
 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

1. To Study on level of Satisfaction towards Adidas Products in Lucknow City.

2. To study factors that influencing buying decision of customer towards Adidas

Products

3. To study the various product and services offered by Adidas in Lucknow.

4. To study the factors those satisfy and delight the customer.

66
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

67
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research is a common parlance which refers to search for knowledge. It is a procedure

of logical and systematic application of the fundamentals of science to the general and

overall questions of a study and scientific technique, which provide precise tools,

specific procedures, and technical rather philosophical means for getting and ordering

the data prior to their logical analysis and manipulating different type of research

designs is available depending upon the nature of research project, availability of

manpower and circumstances.

RESEARCH DESIGN

A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in

a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in

procedure. In fact, the research design is the conceptual structure within which research

is conducted. This research was descriptive in nature

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH:

The research undertaken was a descriptive research as it was concerned with specific

predictions, with narration of facts and characteristics concerning a study on the

satisfaction of the customer on Adidas products in Lucknow city.

SAMPLING DESIGN

The following factors have been decided within the scope of sample design:

UNIVERSE OF STUDY: Universe of the study means all the cutomers of

Addidas in Lucknow City.

SAMPLE AREA: Gomti Nagar and Indra Nagar.

68
SAMPLE SIZE: A sample of minimum respondents will be selected from sample

area. An effort was made to select respondents evenly. The survey was carried out on

50 respondents.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE: For the purpose of research convenient sampling

technique was used.

DATA SOURCE

There were two types of data sources used in this research. These were

PRIMARY DATA

Primary data is the data collected for the first time from the source and never have been

used earlier. The data can be collected through interviews, observations and

questionnaires.

SECONDARY DATA

Secondary data is the data collected from already been use or published information

like journals, diaries, books, etc .In this research project, secondary source used were

various journals, and website of various online journals.

69
TOOLS OF PRESENTATION:

It means what all tools are used to present the data in a meaningful way so that it

becomes easily understandable. In this research tables and graphs were used for

presenting the data.

STATISTICAL TOOLS TO BE USED: A structured questionnaires is used to

collect the data and data will be analyzed with the help of percentage table, respective

graph, bar graph and pie charts.

70
LIMITATIONS

71
 LIMITATIONS
Following are the few limitation of the particulars research study.

 The sample size chosen is limited to 50 only because of time and financial

constraint.

 This study was based purely in Lucknow.

 Data collected may not be a representation of the entire population.

 The time duration for this project was only for a period of 45 days.

 I also took the view of respondents who don’t shop from Adidas.

 This study was limited to the capabilities and willingness of the respondents in

appropriately answering the questions and information given by respondents

may be correct and may not be correct.

 The study is limited to Lucknow City. So the study is subject to the limitation of

area.

 The time period of the study was limited which may provide a deceptive picture

in comparison of the study based on long run.

 Sampling size was of only 50, because only these people had attended soft skill

development training.

72
DATA ANALYSIS

73
 DATA ANALYSIS
Customers Profile
1. Gender : Male / Female

Gender
Male 30 60
Female 20 40
Total 50 100

Gender

Female
40%

Male
60%

Out of 50 respondent there are 30 person are male and the other 20 is female. We can
see from here is that is the majority if buyer’s in Adidas product.

74
 2. Which age group are you in?
i. 20 or below
ii. 21-30
iii. 31-40
iv. 41 or above

Which age group are you in?

20 or below 15 30
21-30 20 40
31-40 10 20
41 or above 5 10
Total 50 100

Which age group are you in?

41 or above
10%
20 or below
31-40 30%
20%

21-30
40%

The age group of 21-30 implied a higher percentage, followed by 20 and below, 31-40
and the last is 40 and above. This shows that most of the buyers are between teenager’s
and adult.

3. What is your monthly income

75
 i. 20000 and below
ii. 21000 and 30000
iii. 31000 and 40000
iv. 41000 and above

What is your monthly income

20000 and below
15 30
21000 and 30000
15 30
31000 and 40000
15 30
41000 and above
5 10
Total 50 100

What is your monthly income

41000 and above
10%

20000 and below

30%

31000 and 40000

30%

21000 and 30000

30%

Most Adidas buyer’s receiving average income between RM 1000-3500. The higher
income they had, the more disposable income they more willing to spend on Adidas
product.

76
 Degree of satisfaction

4. Have you purchase any Adidas product before?

i. Yes
ii. No

Degree of satisfaction
Yes 45 90
No 5 10
Total 50 100

Degree of satisfaction

No
10%

Yes
90%

45 out of 10 respondent have tried Adidas product in the past and only 5 person never
buy it before. Overall Adidas is quite a famous sports brand for consumers.

77
 5. Which sport product you buy the most in Adidas ?
i. Clothes wear
ii. Shoes
iii. accessories e.g. watches, eye wear
iv. Sports e.g. football, basketball

Which sport product you buy the most in Adidas ?

Clothes wear 10 20
Shoes 20 40
accessories e.g. watches, eye wear 15 30
Sports e.g. football, basketball 5 10
Total 50 100

5. Which sport product you buy the most

in Adidas ?
Sports e.g. football, basketball
10%
Clothes wear
20%

accessories e.g. watches, eye

wear
30%

Shoes
40%

Basically most of the respondent buy shoes from Adidas, followed by accessories 3,
cloth wear 2 and sports 1.

78
6. Please rate your satisfaction regarding Adidas product in the following aspect. ( 1-
very unsatisfied, 2- unsatisfied, 3- neither satisfied nor unsatisfied, 4- satisfied, 5-
very satisfied )

1 2 3 4 5
Price 5 10 15 10 10
Quality 5 5 10 15 15
Product choices 5 10 10 15 10
Promotion 10 10 20 5 5
Location 5 10 10 15 10

Price Quality Product choices Promotion Location

25

20
20

15 15 15 15 15
15

10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
10

5 5 5 5 5 5 5
5

0
1 2 3 4 5

79
 7. Do you agree that media advertisement/ famous spokesperson from Adidas can
attract you to buy more of its product?
i. Strongly agree
ii. Agree
iii. Neither agree nor disagree
iv. Disagree
v. Strongly disagree

Do you agree that media advertisement/ famous spokesperson from Adidas can
attract you to buy more of its product?
Strongly agree 10 10
Agree 20 40
Neither agree nor disagree 10 20
Disagree 5 10
Strongly disagree 5 10
Total 50 100

Do you agree that media advertisement/

famous spokesperson from Adidas can at -
tract you to buy more of its product?
Strongly disagree
10% Strongly agree
Disagree 20%
10%

Neither agree nor

disagree
20%

Agree
40%

20 out of 10 agree that advertisement / spokesperson has influence on affecting people

buying behavior, where the other 10 is strongly agree, followed by 10 neither agree nor
disagree, and other 10 is disagree and strongly disagree respectively.

80
 8. Which aspects do you think Adidas need to make improvement in term of services
provided ?
i. After-sales service
ii. Customer hotline service
iii. Staff manner
iv. Convenience of location
v. No improvement is needed

Which aspects do you think Adidas need to make improvement in term of services
provided ?

After-sales service 5 10
Customer hotline service 15 30
Staff manner 5 10
Convenience of location 10 20
No improvement is needed 15 30
Total 50 100

Which aspects do you think Adidas need to

make improvement in term of services
provided ?
After-sales service
10%

No improvement is
needed
30% Customer hotline
service
30%

Convenience of
location Staff manner
20% 10%

In term of services, customer online services is vote by 15 consumer’s 15 vote for no

improvement is needs, 10 vote for location, the other 10 vote for after- sales services
and staff manners respectively.

81
 9. In overall, how much do you satisfy with Adidas product?
i. Very satisfied
ii. Satisfied
iii. Neither satisfied nor unsatisfied
iv. Unsatisfied
v. Very unsatisfied

In overall, how much do you satisfy with Adidas product?

Very satisfied 15 30
Satisfied 10 20
Neither satisfied nor unsatisfied 10 20
Unsatisfied 10 20
Very unsatisfied 5 10
Total 50 100

In overall, how much do you satisfy with

Adidas product?
Very unsatisfieda
10%

Very satisfied
Unsatisfied 30%
20%

Satisfied
20%

Neither satisfied
nor unsatisfied
20%

In overall, 15 out of 50 is very satisfy with Adidas, 10 is satisfy, another 10 is neither

satisfy nor unsatisfied, 10 is unsatisfied and 5 is very unsatisfied.

82
10. Which aspects do you think Adidas need to make improvement in the future?
( can choose more than one answer)
i. Quality/ material of product
ii. Design/stylish
iii. Price/promotion
iv. Advertising
v. Customer services

Which aspects do you think Adidas need to make improvement in the future? ( can
choose more than one answer)
Quality/ material of product 5 10
Design/stylish 15 30
Price/promotion 15 30
Advertising 10 20
Customer services 5 10
Total 50 100

Which aspects do you think Adidas need to

make improvement in the future? ( can
choose more than one answer)
Customer services Quality/ material of product
10% 10%

Advertising
20%
Design/stylish
30%

Price/promotion
30%

Most respondent vote for design and price as the main improvement in future, followed
by improvement in advertising, and then customer services and product quality.

83
Findings

84
 FINDINGS
After completing the survey and analyzing the responses of the persons contacted. I

came across the following facts—

Consumer life style and spending pattern are changing, more and more customers are

visiting EBO.

Demographics of LUCKNOW are very nice for retail business. In this area 38% people

belong 26-35 age group category, 33.5% people belong to 18-25 age group category,

and 14% people belong to 36-45 age group category and rest other age group.

LUCKNOW is mixture of Joint family and Nuclear family because 34.5% family are

having only 5 family member’s, 30.75% family are having only 4family member’s,

13.5% family are having 6 family member’s and 10.5% family are having 3 family

member’s.

Residents of LUCKNOW are well qualified. 53.75% people are Graduate, 34.5%

people are Post Graduate and 7% people have studied Intermediate/ S.S.C.

In LUCKNOW area most of the people are service man. 43% people are job holders,

21.75% people are business man, 18.25% people are students and 6.45% women are

house wives, 10.25% people do other works. Among the women respondent most of

them are job holders or business women. This finding indicates that earning person is

the decision maker for a family even for shopping or any other work.

Most of the customers complained---

In Adidas, several variety of product is not available, stock of 1 variety of brand is not

sufficient; company should keep more variety of product.

Adidas use skimming pricing strategy in own product that why product are very costly .

Product assortment is not good.

85
Arrangement of products is not systematic, we face problem many times for selection

of products.

Football Jersys are not available in the time of FIFA world cup.

Accessories are available at few quantity.

For Shoes and hand bags, carry bag is small.

Store opening time should be decreased.

Most of the customers were not too happy with level of service.

Maximum time Light doesn’t work properly.

Products are not updated; new launched products are not available.

VM is very poor and floor is very small.

Back storage area is very small according to merchandise availability.

86
Suggestions and
Recommendations

87
 SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Most of the customers believe that stock is not updated and no offer schemes are

provided by Adidas on the old stock. Same price is charged for both the fresh stock and

old stock. Respondents feel offers should be provided on the old in other retail stores.

Adidas should employ experienced sales staff so that they can better explain the quality

and features of the products.

Some of the people find in-store environment of Adidas Store very dull, so try to

maintain nice store image which attracts the customers and it works in word of mouth

marketing for attracting more customers.

Variety of products should be increased for better selection by the customers so that

customers can choose from a huge lot of items of different companies having different

features as the customers of Lucknow complained more regarding variety of products.

Company should try to include kids’ apparels segment in the Adidas performance for

attracting the customers.

To improve Product visualization the Company should do visual merchandising in

better way.

Adidas should do intensive advertisement through pamphlets, local newspaper, banners,

FM Radio, Kiosks for creating more awareness.

Variety of products should be increased with deep assortment for better selection by the

customers so that customers can choose from huge lot of items of same company.

Customers are very eager to know about offers, discount schemes provided by Adidas

then Adidas should do better marketing for creating awareness about offers and

discount schemes.

Complained and feedback should be taken care in well manner to create the loyalty and

goodwill.

88
Merchandise should be arranged properly.

Company should offer competitive price with good quality of products because most of

the customers visit to Supermarket for better price and quality of products.

Company should give information to the customers through the marketing gimmick

(sms) using database of customers.

Billing should be fast because customers don’t want to stay in the store after purchasing

the products at the time of sale.

89
CONCLUSION

90
 Conclusion

The products of the company are good in quality but the style should be improved in

order to cater all the segments of the market that are already being occupied by the

competitors.

In the organized retail market of Lucknow, Adidas has come up with E.B.O in the city

in 2001, giving good competition to its competitors like Nike, Reebok and other retail

outlets. In the near future, it plans to open many stores in other malls in Lucknow and

other cities and some stores in other parts of U.P Many more competitors has entered

the market and many are about to enter the market, making Adidas journey even

tougher. Hence, Adidas has to take some important steps to overcome its problem areas

and implement the suggestions before the existing and new retailers grab the

opportunity Making Adidas existence even more challenging.

To sum up Adidas is facing tough competition from its competitors Reebok, Nikeetc,

who have grabbed half of the market by establishing its stores in prime area of the city.

Adidas has to do intensive media advertisements by roping in celebrities as brand

ambassadors to create awareness of its existence, since most of the customers came to

know only through friends and family.

Adidas Performance has good brand awareness but still Spencer’s lacks in terms of

availability of products, range of items, high pricing and offers and discounts which

can mesmerize the customers to walk in to Adidas as compared to its competitors

Reebok, More, NIKE etc.

Company can enhance its business or increase its sales by providing better customer

service than its competitors, increase the variety of merchandise with deep assortment

and intensive promotion with the help of pamphlets, kiosks, radio about various offers.

91
Bibliography

92
Bibliography

Books:-

Marketing Management (13th Edition) - By Philip Kotler, Keller,

Principles of Marketing (11th Edition) – By Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong
Research Methodology -- C.R. Kothari
Retailing - A.J. Lamba

Reference:-

www.google.com
www.adidasgroup.com
www.indiaretailing.com
www.retailindustry.com
www.adidasperformanceretail.com
www.ibef.org
www.thebrandreporter.com
www.shoefashion.com

93
Annexure

94
 Questionnaire
Customers Profile
1. Gender : Male / Female

2. Which age group are you in?

v. 20 or below
vi. 21-30
vii. 31-40
viii. 41 or above

3. What is your monthly income

v. 20000 and below
vi. 21000 and 30000
vii. 31000 and 40000
viii. 41000 and above

4. Have you purchase any Adidas product before?

iii. Yes
iv. No

5. Which sport product you buy the most in Adidas ?

v. Clothes wear
vi. Shoes
vii. accessories e.g. watches, eye wear
viii. Sports e.g. football, basketball

95
 6. Please rate your satisfaction regarding Adidas product in the following aspect. ( 1-
very unsatisfied, 2- unsatisfied, 3- neither satisfied nor unsatisfied, 4- satisfied, 5-
very satisfied )

1 2 3 4 5
Price
Quality
Product choices
Promotion
Location

7. Do you agree that media advertisement/ famous spokesperson from Adidas can
attract you to buy more of its product?
vi. Strongly agree
vii. Agree
viii. Neither agree nor disagree
ix. Disagree
x. Strongly disagree

8. Which aspects do you think Adidas need to make improvement in term of services
provided ?
vi. After-sales service
vii. Customer hotline service
viii. Staff manner
ix. Convenience of location
x. No improvement is needed

9. In overall, how much do you satisfy with Adidas product?

vi. Very satisfied
vii. Satisfied
viii. Neither satisfied nor unsatisfied
ix. Unsatisfied
x. Very unsatisfied

96
 10. Which aspects do you think Adidas need to make improvement in the future?
( can choose more than one answer)
vi. Quality/ material of product
vii. Design/stylish
viii. Price/promotion
ix. Advertising
x. Customer services

97