Geox Dans Le Running ? (document en anglais)

MARKETING CASE STUDY

GEOX on the French running market

- The G-Run shoe –

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Introduction…………………………………….…..…p.3

II. SWOT analysis……………………………………...…p.4

III. Market segmentation…….……………….…...…….….p.5

IV. Targeting………………………………………………p.6

V. Positioning………………………………….……….p.7-8

VI. Objectives…….…………………………..…………….p.9

VII. Levers and actions…………………………….....…….p.10

VIII. Summary and planning……………..……………..p.11-12

IX. Profit and loss statement……..…….………...……..p.13-16

X. KPI’S…………………………………………………p.17

XI. Conclusion………..……………………………..…….p.18

XII. Contacts…………..……………………….…………..p.19

I. INTRODUCTION

GEOX is an Italian innovative shoe-maker that was created in 1995. Its shoes are sold in 1 050 shops worldwide and its 30 000 employees (2010 data) are currently spread and working over 68 different countries.

GEOX revendicates a unique concept: “The breathable shoes, for the foot wellness”. And 21 million pairs of those shoes have been sold all over the world, in 2007. The company turnover was of 850 million euros in 2010, from which amount 86% is related to footwear products. The Research and Development budget represents a 2% of GEOX turnover. About a 42% of its turnover has been realized in Europe (Italy being excluded), and in France, GEOX owns 80 shops.

The GEOX brand can be associated with:

II. SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGHTS WEAKNESSES

• Existing reputation on the footwear market (2nd on the casual/lifestyle segment)

• Acknowledged know-how: technological patents (breathability and waterproofness)

• 2010 Turnover: €850 millions

• France: 4th European market (80 shops and 1 200 franchises in generalized stores) • Aging image of the brand

• No perceived legitimacy in the running shoe industry

• Absent from usual sport distribution channels (GSS): Decathlon, Go Sport, Intersport

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

• The running market’s development is increasing: e.g. 4 million shoes bought in 2010 (+10% in volume between 2009 and 2010)*

• 8.4 million joggers/runners in France with an increase of 4,5 % between 2005 and 2011**

• Regular runners represent 45% of the market***

• 13,2 % of French women and 18,7 % of French men are joggers/runners • Big competitors on the sport footwear market: Adidas, Asics, Mizuno, Nike, New Balance, Brooks, Puma

• The running market is very specialized

• Decrease in the price of a pair of running shoes: 7% in 2009

 Conclusion: The running market is expanding (+10% in 2009), especially with an important increase of the women segment (+30%) and a number of occasional and regular runners/joggers still growing,

GEOX’s brand image is strong, in particular owing to the technicity of its products, often associated with the brand itself.

Thus, we aim at making the GEOX brand more popular and young, so that we could target a different audience and consequently benefit from the current market growth.

III. MARKET SEGMENTATION

The running market segmentation could be set up as follows:

More precisely, the four different segments, namely the figure watcher, performer, occasional and regular could be described such as:

IV. TARGETING

After considering all four segments, because of its size, potential and penetration rate, we have decided to focus on the “regular” runner, which could be described with specific criteria:

V. POSITIONING

What we have stated as the positioning we seek is:

“G-Run is a running shoe which brings comfort and waterproofness to all Regular owing to its material and technologic innovation.”

Even though our strengths could provide us with a competitive and sustainable advantage on the French running market, we face strong competitors that could prevent us from penetrating this market and reach our designated target:

So far, each of those powerful brands has their own advantages when it comes to the different factors that are determinant in the potential customer’s purchasing decision:

While looking more precisely at the interests and accessibility both in terms of business and image’s issues for what we have determined as the four runners’ segments, it appears that:

VI. OBJECTIVES

After having determined our positioning on the French running market and the specific segment we would target, both quantitative and qualitative objectives have been detailed:

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