Étude du groupe Adidas (document en anglais)

 Product

Adidas provides a large range of products, from footwear to watches. As we are focusing on the footwear, we identify several categories of sports available for men, women and kids. Nowadays, 425 different products are available to customers around the world:

- 256 pairs of shoes for men

- 129 pairs of shoes for women

- 50 pairs of shoes for kids

For each category, the sports represented are: football, basketball, tennis, running, swimming, boxing, golf, cricket, rugby, gymnastics and skateboarding.

Every product has different version: when a product ends its life cycle the company re-launches it.

Adidas footwear is the core product of the brand since 1924. The footwear is well-known thanks to the innovative image of the brand and its quality. Most of the athletes are using Adidas shoes. The brand is easily recognized thanks to its three horizontal stripes. The company has a very good reputation and a strong brand strategy.

Adidas is the second market leader after Nike. To differentiate themselves with Nike’s products, the company had implemented a strategy based on quality and innovation. The Adidas’ shoes are more targeting professionals through sportive events and try to develop innovations very often.

The actual famous product is the football shoe named F50 AdiZero launched for the World cup 2010 :

Men's F50 adiZero TRX HG

Streamlined down to a lithe 153 grams (for size 8.5), the speedy adidas F50 adiZero™ TRX HG football boot features a lightweight SPRINTSKIN upper, a stable, high-speed silhouette, and the indomitable grip of TRAXION® SG outsoles for surefooted performances on harder pitches.

• Weight: 153 grams (size 8.5)

• SPRINTSKIN single-layer synthetic upper for great ball feel with less weight; TPU bottom frame reinforces upper and prevents abrasion

• Ultralight sockliner; Comes with second pair of comfort sockliners

• Internal TPU support bands for increased stability and support in lateral and medial movements

• Sprint frame construction offers the perfect balance of light weight and stability

• TRAXION® HG outsole for durability, comfort and grip on hard ground

To fit the customers’ needs, the company is even providing a customized service for the most expensive shoes in addition of its large range of choice.

Every pair of shoes is provided to the clients with the original packaging of the brand: a blue box with the three stripes on it.

There is no real warranty for the footwear except in case of manufacturing defects.

 Price

The objective of pricing for a company is to find the psychological price that the customer will pay for a product. As Adidas is providing a large range of product, there are several strategies. For some pair of shoes, the price will not exceed the market price for a similar product of another brand. This is the case of regular tennis shoes for example. For others, such as Y-3 or SLVR collections, which represent the fashion business unit, prices will be higher: it is due to a competitive differentiation.

In general, the prices start from £25 and increase to a maximum of £180 excluding half-measured shoes. Furthermore, discounts up to 30% are always available on selected products on the official website.

The Sport Performance segment generated the following sales revenues:

Figures( in millions €) 2009

Training 149.8

Football 141.2

Running 62.1

Swimming 22.9

Outdoor 16.2

Other 50.0

Performance sales revenue 442.2

The sales revenues of each sport

 Promotion

Adidas is known worldwide and its target market may correspond to a mass marketing strategy. The firm has already a strong reputation and footwear is a market which is quiet saturated. Adidas has to implement a strategy that as for a result to keep its current customers and attract new one by understanding their needs.

Adidas is using traditional advertising such as billboard, TV ads and online advertising. They are doing international advertising campaigns to reach the largest number of people such as “IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING”.

To keep an image of quality, Adidas is using the product placement strategy by signing endorsement contract with celebrities such as David Beckham, Anna Kournikova, Kobe Bryant and Daft Punk.

To continue building its brand image Adidas is sponsoring sports events all over the world in every sport. The company is for example the official supplier of the FIFA World Cup, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and also the rugby team: The All Black. This strategy was implemented since the early beginning of the company and has always been a very important advantage to distinguished itself of most competitors.

The competition is thought very fierce: Nike, with its even more famous logo, beat Adidas and Puma by bidding highest in terms of sponsorship with a total of US$ 43 million in 2009. The brand started endorsement contract in 1984 with Michael Jordan and is today the sponsor of football events (Arsenal, Manchester, FC Barcelona), tennis players (Nadal, Federer, Agassi) and golf players (Tiger Woods).

 Distribution

In 2009, the group had 177 subsidiaries all around the world. It is working with more than 1.120 independent factories which manufacture the products in 68 countries. The 6 main

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