CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

CUSTOMER:
A customer (sometimes known as a client, buyer, or
purchaser) is the recipient of a Good or a service, or a product,
or an idea, obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier via a
financial transaction or exchange for money or some other
valuable consideration.Etymologically, a client is someone
merely inclined to do business, whereas a purchaser procures
goods or services on occasion but a customer customarily or
habitually engages in transactions. This distinction is merely
historic. Today customers are generally categorized into two
types
An Entrepreneur' or trader (sometimes a commercial
Intermediary) who is a dealer that purchases goods for re-sale.
AnEnd userorUltimate customerwho does not re-sell the
thingsbought but is the actual consumer or an agent such as a
Purchasing officer for the consume
A customer is anyone who receives a product either a good or
a service from an organisation. In most situations the
customer will have to pay to obtain the product, but this is not
always the case.For example, students are increasingly referred
to as the customers of the schools and colleges that they
attend, but the majority of students do not pay directly for the
educational service they receive.

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:
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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, assistant professor of 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.

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
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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.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION:
Customer satisfaction is a marketing term that measures how
products or services supplied by a company meet or surpass a
customer's expectation. Customer satisfaction is important
because it provides marketers and business owners with a
metric that they can use to manage and improve their
businesses.
Customer satisfaction is a term frequently used in marketing.
While it's often abbreviated as CSAT, it is more correct to
abbreviate it as CSat. It 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."

IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION:

1)Its a leading indicator of consumer repurchase
intentions and loyalty:
Customer satisfaction is the best indicator of how likely a
customer will make a purchase in the future. Asking
customers to rate their satisfaction on a scale of 1-10 is a
good way to see if they will become repeat customers or
even advocates.
Any customers that give you a rating of 7 and above, can be
considered satisfied, and you can safely expect them to come
back and make repeat purchases. Customers who give you a
rating of 9 or 10 are your potential customer advocates who
you can leverage to become evangelists for your company.

Scores of 6 and below are warning signs that a customer is

unhappy and at risk of leaving. These customers need to be put
on a customer watch list and followed up so you can determine
why their satisfaction is low.
See how satisfaction provides so much insight into your
customers?
Thats why its one of the leading metrics businesses use to
measure consumer repurchase and customer loyalty.

2)Its a point of differentiation:

In a competitive marketplace where
businesses compete for customers; customer satisfaction is
seen as a key differentiator. Businesses who succeed in these
cut-throat environments are the ones that make customer
satisfaction a key element of their business strategy.
Picture two businesses that offer the exact same product. What
will make you choose one over the other?
If you had a recommendation for one business would that sway
your opinion? Probably. So how does that recommendation
originally start? More than likely its on the back of a good
customer experience. Companies who offer amazing customer
experiences create environments where satisfaction is high and
customer advocates are plenty.
This is an example of where customer satisfaction goes full
circle. Not only can customer satisfaction help you keep a finger
on the pulse of your existing customers, it can also act as a
point of differentiation for new customers.

3)It reduces customer churn:

An Accenture global customer satisfaction
report (2008) found that price is not the main reason for
customer churn; it is actually due to the overall poor quality of
customer service.
Customer satisfaction is the metric you can use to reduce
customer churn. By measuring and tracking customer

satisfaction you can put new processes in place to increase the

overall quality of your customer service.
I recommend you put an emphasis on exceeding customer
expectations and wowing customers at every opportunity. Do
that for six months, than measure customer satisfaction again.
See whether your new initiatives have had a positive or
negative impact on satisfaction.

4)It increases customer lifetime value:

A study by Info Quest found that a
totally satisfied customer contributes 2.6 times more revenue
than a somewhat satisfied customer. Furthermore, a totally
satisfied customer contributes 14 times more revenue than a
somewhat dissatisfied customer.
Satisfaction plays a significant role in how much revenue a
customer generates for your business.
Successful businesses understand the importance of customer
lifetime value (CLV). If you increase CLV, you increase the
returns on your marketing dollar.
For example, you might have a cost per acquisition of Rs500
dollars and a CLV of Rs750. Thats a 50% ROI from the
marketing efforts. Now imagine if CLV was Rs1,000. Thats a
100% ROI!
Customer lifetime value is a beneficiary of high customer
satisfaction and good customer retention.

5)It reduces negative word of mouth:

McKinsey found that an unhappy customer
tells between 9-15 people about their experience. In fact, 13%
of unhappy customers tell over 20 people about their
experience.
Thats a lot of negative word of mouth .
How much will that affect your business and its reputation in
your industry?

Customer satisfaction is tightly linked to revenue and repeat

purchases. What often gets forgotten is how customer
satisfaction negatively impacts your business. Its one thing to
lose a customer because they were unhappy. Its another thing
completely to lose 20 customers because of some bad word of
mouth.
To eliminate bad word of mouth you need to measure customer
satisfaction on an ongoing basis. Tracking changes in
satisfaction will help you identify if customers are actually
happy with your product or service.

6) Its cheaper to retain customers than acquire

new ones:
This is probably the most publicized customer satisfaction
statistic out there. It costs six to seven times more to acquire
new customers than it does to retain existing customers.
If that stat does not strike accord with you then theres not
much else I can do to demonstrate why customer satisfaction is
important.
Customers cost a lot of money to acquire. You and your
marketing team spend thousands of dollars getting the
attention of prospects, nurturing them into leads and closing
them into sales.

OBJECTIVES OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION:

The primary goal of customer satisfaction
surveys is obtaining meaningful data that can be used to
enhance the operation of a business. Surveys usually fall into a
small set of data points that can be calculated, including:
Customer demographics(age,gender, ethnicity,income
status,etc)
Opinions about products purchased or service received
Overall satisfaction with a location,product or service
Recognition of the brand and its marketing efforts
These elements are more important than ever before as
business transfer over to inbound marketing, an information
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based marketing approach that aims to narrowly target

customers and maximise the effectiveness of all marketing
efforts
Surveys can also be used to measure performance of
employees, which is an important consideration for any
business that relies on employee interaction to generate repeat
business simply put happy customers are more likely to be
repeat customers and finding out how happy customers are
after interacting with employees is a critical metric for
performance.
While this data can be obtained in many different ways, most of
these are highly objective, customers satisfaction surveys focus
on subjective things that are impossible to gather without
asking your customer directly.
Finally, through satisfaction surveys your customers are literally
telling you what you need to do earn their business, their
repeat business or a word of mouth recommendation to their
friends and colleagues. Surveys should not merely be a data
gathering exercise. Organisation that create a culture to enable
them to take immediate action, improve processes and
procedures and inform strategy will maximise the benefits of
this information and increase their revenue.

PURPOSE OF THE 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 firms 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 satisfaction."

Advantages of Customer Satisfaction:

1)Up-to-date feedback: Gather current customer feedback on
various aspects of your company. You can stay on top of
customer trends through regularly scheduled online surveys or
email surveys, and receive instantcustomer feedback. It is
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always useful to acquire insight into how your customers are

currently reacting to all aspects of your business.
2)Benchmark results: You can administer the same survey
every so often to customers to gain continued insight into your
customers. Surveys can have the same questions, which will
allow you to compare data over time and benchmark survey
data across previous years to determine if any changes need to
be made.
3)Show that you care: Customers like to be asked for their
feedback. It gives the customer the perception that your
company values them; is committed to keeping them as a longterm customer; and bases business decisions on their
feedback.

Disadvantages of Customer Satisfaction:

1)Too many surveys, so little time: Your customers are
bombarded with online surveys. Surveys may be simple to
complete, however, some people simply dont like to complete
them. Sending surveys too often can irritate customers and
lead to customer burnout. Customer burnout can result in low
response rates or result in lower satisfaction scores, despite
your reputation for providing excellent products or services.
2)Privacy Issues: We live in a high-tech environment filled with
daily doses of unwanted junk email, email solicitations, and
sales calls. When taking an online survey or a phone survey (or
any type of survey), it is hard for your customers to believe that
they arent being tracked. Because of insecurities of releasing
private information, customers today are hesitant in giving out
information that may lead to more junk email and unwanted
calls. Make certain to assure customers that the information
they provide in response to your customer satisfaction surveys
will not be used. Without this disclaimer, it may be difficult to
receive a good response rate.
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PRINCIPALS OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION:

1)A Perfect Product:
Customers want defect-free products and
services. You need to design your product or service so that it
can be expected to function perfectly within foreseeable
boundaries.

2)Delivered by Caring People:

Your perfect product now requires caring,
friendly people to deliver it.

3)In a Timely Fashion:

In this fast paced world of instant results, our customers
(guests) decide what is and isn't an appropriate timeline. A
perfect product delivered late by friendly, caring people is the
equivalent of a defective one.

4) Respond Quickly:
Another feature of todays society is that
everyone is accustomed to a quick response. The need for
speed is what keeps fast food restaurants and overnight
delivery services in business. Your design clients are probably
also accustomed to a quick turnaround.

5) Be Patient:
Expect the client to be unfamiliar with the terminology. Expect
the client to not really understand what can, and cannot be

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done. Be patient when you explain what you are doing to the
client.

6)Be a Team Player:

Your best work occurs when you and the client work together to
meet a common goal. You cant please them without knowing
what they want and need from the project. They cant get what
they want and need from the project without communicating
with you.

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CHAPTER-2
REASEARCH DESIGN

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Customer satisfaction is a term frequently
used in marketing.while its often abbreviated as CAST, it is
more correct to abbreviated it as CSat.it 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 customer or percentage of total customers, who
reported experience with a firm, its products, or its
service(ratings)exceeds specified satisfaction goals.

NEED FOR THE STUDY

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Its a leading indicator of consumer repurchase intentions
and loyalty

Its a point of differentiation

It increases customer lifetime value

It reduces negative word of mouth

Its cheaper to retain customers than acquire new ones

OBJECTIVES

Customers demographics(age, gender, ethnicity, income,

etc.)

Opinions about products purchase or service received

Overall satisfaction with a product, location or service

Recognition of the brand and its marketing efforts

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study will help us to understand customers,

preference and their needs expected from the business owners

The study will help us to know the factors that influence

the customers to buy the product

This study will help us to know the necessary change in

the product features and the customers feeling about Adidas
company. This study will not only help me as a student but also
assist Adidas company to improve their service standards

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METHODOLOGY

Surveys to measure overall satisfaction

Objectives measurement approach for loyalty

Apps for attributional satisfaction

Net promoter score

DATA COLLECTION
The necessary information required for this particular study will
be classified into primary and secondary sources. They are as
follows

1.
PRIMARY DATA : It is freshly gathered for a specific
purpose or for a specific research project. It was collected by
the way of discussion with the company employees and the
customers and mainly with the manager.
2.
SECONDARY DATA: It was collected through published and
researched books , internet, and company books .

SAMPLING
Sampling technique:
1] simple random sample
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Sample size:
Sample size of 100 customers using Adidas was selected for the
study of customer satisfaction. Sample of 50 customers for the
study of satisfaction level

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CHAPTER-3
COMPANY PROFILE

HISTORY
We started in a wash room and conquered the world. And inbetween, we have scored big and also, sometimes, struggled to
reach our goals. We have done our best for the best. We have
improved and grown. Looking ahead to the future, always
remembering where we came from. This is our story.

ADIDAS: - ALL DAY I DREAM ABOUT SPORTS

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(1900/1949) THE EARLY YEARS:

Every great story has a beginning. This one
started in a small town in Bavaria, Germany. After first steps in
his mothers wash kitchen, Adi Dassler registered the
Gebrder Dassler Schuhfabrik in 1924 and embarked on his
mission to provide athletes with the best possible equipment.
Gold medals in Amsterdam (1928, Lina Radke) and Berlin
(1936, Jesse Owens) were first rewards and milestones and
only the start of our story.

(1949) FOUNDING FATHER

On August 18, 1949, Adi Dassler started over again at the age
of 49, registered the Adi Dassler Adidas Sportschuhfabrik and
set to work with 47 employees in the small town of
Herzogenaurach. On the same day, he registered a shoe that
included the registration of the soon-to-become-famous Adidas
3-Stripes. From humble beginnings to a global success story
which was accelerated by a miracle.

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(1954) A MIRACLE IN BERN

Who would have thought that screw-in-studs on lightweight
football boots would help write history? When the German
national football team faced the unbeatable Hungarians in the
1954 World Cup final, they won so much more than just a
trophy. Their unbelievable victory would be heard around the
world for decades to come. And it made Adidas and its founder
a household name on football pitches everywhere.

(1958) REEBOK: A BROTHER-TO-BE, STILL

MILES AWAY
Two brothers working together for the best of the athlete.
Sounds familiar? Well this story started across the channel,
miles away from Herzogenaurach. While Adidas continued to
grow after its own 1954 miracle, two British men by the names
of Joe and Jeff Foster gave their grandfathers company J.W.

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Foster and Sons (founded in 1895) a new name: Reebok. Keep

it in mind for now, we will get back to this later.

(1967) FINE FEATHERS MAKE FINE BIRDS

Whats in a name? Everything, when you name it after a
Kaiser. When the Franz Beckenbauer tracksuit model
celebrated its debut, it became the first piece of apparel for
Adidas and opened a whole new business to a company that, so
far, was famous for shoes.

(1968/1970) THE ATHLETES TRUST

How do you consistently earn the trust of world-class athletes
through the decades? Produce innovative products that make
them better for once. Adi Dasslers secret to success had an
additional personal ingredient: he met with athletes (some of
them even as visitors in Herzogenaurach), listened carefully to
what they said and constantly observed what can be improved
or even invented to support their needs. The best of the best
trusted Adidas and its founder from the beginning. And that
would not change throughout the decades to come.

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(1970)ONE BALL FOR ALL

Footwear for gold medal winners? Check. Apparel for record
breakers? Check. Now, how about something to kick with?
Consider it done. In 1970, Adidas conquered yet another branch
of the sporting goods industry, delivering the official ball,
TELSTAR, for the 1970 FIFA World Cup. As the name TELSTAR
already tells, the ball was designed to improve visibility on
Black and White TV. It was the beginning of a wonderful
partnership, with Adidas providing the Official Match Ball to
every FIFA World Cup that followed.

(1971) OUT OF THE TRUNK, INTO THE

WORLD THE BIRTH OF ROCKPORT
The best businesses seem to come out of family. Across the
pond, a father and son hit the US roads to sell shoes out of their
trunk. Saul and Bruce Katz started the first company to ever
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combine advanced materials and technologies in casual

footwear: Rockport. Again, this will be important later on.

(1972) THE TREFOIL AND THE OLYMPIC IDEA

In 1972, the world turned to Germany when the Olympic Games
opened in Munich. Just in time for the event, Adidas presented
a new logo that was here to stay the Trefoil. Then, symbolising
performance. Today, the Adidas Originals collection stands for
lifestyle and street. Times may change, but trefoiled quality will
always remain.

(1972/1978) BECOMING A TRUE MULTISPORTS SPECIALIST

From Herzogenaurach to the world: the 3-Stripes kept
expanding to more and more sports throughout the years. This
is reflected in the broad range of athletes who trust Adidas to
make them better: besides the usual suspects such as the
worlds best football players, like the Argentinean national
team, outdoor icon Reinhold Messner climbed mountains in
Adidas shoes and gymnast Nadia Comaneci scored a perfect
10, repeatedly.

(1978)DEATH OF A SHOEMAKER

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Adi Dassler died on September 6, shortly before his 78th

birthday. The man who almost single-handedly redefined the
sporting goods industry and lifted the benchmark by a mile left
behind a flourishing company. The end of one Dassler era
became the start of another Adis son Horst, with support from
his mother Kthe, took over and among many other things
continued to master his invention, the modern sports
marketing.

(1979)THREE IS NOT A CROWD

TAYLORMADES FIRST STEPS
What can you do with just three employees? Lay the foundation
for a future market leader, for example. While Adidas continued
its flourishing ways, Gary Adams and two colleagues started a
company in California that will produce metalwoods tailored to
make players better. TaylorMade will eventually become market
leader, proving that three is not always a crowd.

(1982/1989)A BROTHER-TO-BE FINDING ITS

WAY REEBOK ON THE MOVE
30 years after Joe and Jeff Foster renamed their grandfathers
company, Reebok was fit to lead. Literally. Following the
booming fitness trend, women around the world work out in the
Reebok Freestyle while fitness professional Gin Miller became
the face of Step Reebok. And thats not all: THE PUMP
innovation hits markets in 1989, making Reebok a household
name in other categories as well.

(1984)A COMPUTER FOR YOUR FEET

It sounds quite common today, but back in the 80s, a
computer did not belong, much less fit, in your shoe. Didnt
stop Adidas from putting it in there. An innovation ahead of its

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time, the Micro pacer featured a system known today as

miCoach providing performance statistics to athletes.

(1986)THE MERGE OF ARTS AND SPORTS

When US-based hip hop group Run DMC released my Adidas
it was about setting the record straight about hard working
people in troubled neighbourhoods and about pure enthusiasm
about their sneakers. Adidas itself only found out about this
love story when the band held up the 3-Stripes shoes during a
concert in front of 40.000 fans one of these concertgoers was
an Adidas employee. The song became a hit and Run DMC and
Adidas unexpected and unique partners. This merge of art and
sports not only set the everlasting street fashion trend off but
also marked the birth of non-athletic promotions in the sporting
goods industry.

(1987) END OF THE FAMILY BUSINESS

Horst Dasslers sudden death in 1987, two years after his
mother Kthe passed away, meant troubled waters for Adidas.
After the Dassler family exited the company, it is changing
leadership and questionable strategic decisions that caused a
record loss in 1992 and brought the company near bankruptcy.
But who does not love a comeback story.

(1993)A SLEEPING GIANTS NEW MASTER

Robert Louis-Dreyfus. The new CEO made an almost impossible
job seem easy. Together with his partner Christian Tourres, he
understood that the almost bankrupt Adidas did not need to be
reinvented, it simply needed a new direction. He turned the
sleeping giant from a sales- to a marketing-driven company and
steers Adidas back on the growth path. In 1995, six years after
becoming a corporation, Adidas went public and its new
marketing slogan could not sum it up better: We knew then,
we know now.
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(1989/1994)INNOVATION NEVER SLEEPS

While the company was still dealing with financial challenges, a
new marketing team refocused Adidas on what it has been
known for years: making athletes better. Some of the most
famous Adidas innovations, such as Torsion (1989), the
Equipment concept (1991), the Streetball campaign (1992) and
the Predator football boot (1994), were born in this era.

(1997) A NEW TEAM MEMBER SALOMON

JOINED THE GANG
Back on the right track, Adidas added a new member to its
team. With the acquisition of the Salomon Group and its brands
Salomon, TaylorMade, Mavic and Bonfire, the company changed
its name to Adidas-Salomon AG.

(1998) HOME SWEET HOME

The year the companys share is admitted to the DAX,
comprising Germanys 30 largest quoted companies, AdidasSalomon AG committed itself to its roots and moved into new
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headquarters just outside Herzogenaurach. The World of

Sports, a former US military base turned campus, is constantly
renewed, extended and modernised over the following years to
house the growing company and its employees. As of 2013, the
World of Sports is home to more than 3,000 Adidas employees,
offers outdoor sports facilities, a cafeteria, a kindergarten and a
gym.

(2001)AN INNOVATIVE LEADER

Herbert Hainer became the new CEO of Adidas-Salomon AG
and, with him, the companys focus went even more to
innovation. ClimaCool (2002), adizero (2004) and the F50
football boot, launched just in time for the 2006 FIFA World
Cup in Germany, became market hits as did the new CEO.
Herbert Hainer will lead the Adidas Group from one record to
the next and will become the longest-standing CEO of all DAX
companies in 2011. Herbert Hainer is surrounded by a very
international team of Executive Board members. It currently
consists of Robin J. Stalker from New Zealand (Finance), Eric
Liedtke (Global Brands) and Glenn Bennett (Global Operations),
both from the USA, as well as Roland Auschel from Germany
(Global Sales).

(2000s) NEW CENTURY, NEW DIVISIONS

As the new century started, the Adidas Group reinvented the
game again. In addition to its sport performance offering,
Adidas is the first in the industry to introduce a new lifestyle
segment, focusing on sports-inspired streetwear. In the years to
come, new partnerships with Yohji Yamamoto (2002) and Stella
McCartney (2004) were born along with exciting labels such as
Y-3 (2003) and Porsche Design Sport (2007).
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(2004) IMPOSSIBLE? JUST A BIG WORD.

In one of its most memorable marketing campaigns, Adidas lets
its biggest athletes including David Beckham, Haile
Gebrselassie and Muhammad and Laila Ali face their fears,
defeats and challenges only to prove that, indeed, impossible is
nothing. The slogan became the synonym for reaching ones
goals.

(2006)SALOMON LEAVES THE TEAM,

REEBOK JOINED THE FAMILY
One year after Adidas and Salomon go their separate ways,
when the latter and its brands (excluding TaylorMade) were sold
to Amer Sports, Adidas acquired Reebok, including the brands
Rockport and Reebok-CCM Hockey, and brought together two of
the worlds most respected and best-known companies in the
sporting goods industry. In June, the company was re-named
Adidas AG.

(2009/2012) FINDING NEW TEAMMATES

When you are already great, how do you become even better?
You keep on training. Or join forces with someone who
complements you and your strengths.
In 2011, the Adidas Group acquired the outdoor specialist Five
Ten, and TaylorMade first the golf company Ashworth in 2009
and then, three years later, the golf equipment company
Adams Golf making the Group even stronger for the road
ahead.

(2010) ON ROUTE TO NEW HEIGHTS

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At the end of 2010, the Adidas Group presented the most

comprehensive strategic business plans in its history. Route
2015 incorporates special targets for all brands, sales
channels and Group functions globally. That same year,
TaylorMade reached market leadership and became the biggest
golf company worldwide.

(2011) WHAT BELONGS TOGETHER COMES

TOGETHER
From the court to the catwalk and the stadium to the street.
The Adidas brand offers apparel and footwear for every sport,
every fashion, every style, whether you are an athlete or
fashionista. And in 2011, Adidas brought together sport, street
and style for the first time in one campaign to tell the world
what it means to go all in, heart overhead, inclusion over ego.
all in (featured by Lionel Messi, David Beckham, Katy Perry
and Derrick Rose) lived from the idea that, no matter your goals
or challenges, you have to go all in for the ultimate success.

(2011) REEBOK FOCUSES ON ITS FITNESS

ROOTS
If it is already in your DNA, why reinvent the wheel? After
Reebok dominated the fitness and aerobics wave / movement
in the 1980s with groundbreaking products and marketing, the
company signs a long-term partnership with CrossFit, a core
strength and conditioning program, in 2011. Two years later,
the studio categories Yoga, Dance and Aerobics followed, and
Reebok has been back on track to become THE fitness brand
with the goal to empower consumers to be fit for life. Or should
we say REEbecome?

(2013) ENDLESS INNOVATION

Running changed forever. Big words. History will tell us if it is
true. Adidas introduced the Energy Boost running shoe which
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featured a completely new cushioning material. Created in

cooperation with the German chemical company BASF, the
material combines former contradictory benefits of soft and
responsive cushioning for a running experience unlike any
other.

(2015) CREATING THE NEW

In March 2015, we presented the next five-year strategic
business plan for the Adidas Group. 'Creating the New' is the
attitude that leads us into the future. We believe that sport has
the power to change lives. We work every day to inspire and
enable people to harness the power of sport in their lives. We
also translate our competence in sports into streetwear and
fashion because sport is an attitude and a lifestyle. Everything
we do is rooted in sports. At the very heart of 'creating the new'
are our brands. Our brands are what connect us with our
consumers; therefore, the success of our brands defines the
success of our business. With 'Creating the New', we will get
closer to them than ever before. To achieve that, our plan is
based on three strategic choices:
Speed: We will become the first true fast sports company: Fast
in satisfying consumer needs, fast in internal decision-making.
Cities: We have identified six key cities in which we want to
grow share of mind, share of market and share of trend: New
York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Tokyo, London and Paris.
Open source: We will be the first sports company that invites
athletes, consumers and partners to be part of our brands.

PROFILE
At the Adidas Group, our love for sport drives who we
are and what we do. Every day.

29

The brands of the Adidas Group complement each other

in a unique way to help athletes perform better, play better,
feel better. Our products break records, set trends, make
history. Every day. All over the world. Welcome to the Adidas
Group.
It is not only about faster shoes and fashion statements. Just as
a shoe is more than padding and foam, there is more to us than
just the product. Everything we do is bound by one simple
thought: we strive to help you perform at your best. Your
success is our ambition. Your defeat spurs us on to be better.
Our brands complement each other like the skills of an
exceptionally gifted decathlete.
Our consumers brand love is based on our employees
extraordinary passion for a sporting lifestyle. With dedication,
commitment and team spirit, we continuously innovate to
establish new benchmarks in everything we do. Shaping the
sporting goods industry sustainably is more than a job. Its our
impulse, an attitude that is truly dear to our hearts. It drives us.
We are laser-focused on our mission: we strive to be the global
leader in the sporting goods industry with brands built on a
passion for sports and a sporting lifestyle!

HERBERT HAINER, CEO OF THE ADIDAS

GROUP

THE ADIDAS GROUP AT A GLANCE

Employing more than 53,731 people in over 160 countries, we
produce more than 660 million product units every year and
generate sales of 14.5 billion (all figures relate to 2014).
These numbers alone can easily suggest that our Group is quite
a complex organisation. True. But we keep things simple, lean
30

and fast. And we will use this approach now to tell you what our
company is all about. Ready ... set, go.

WE EMBRACE A MULTI-BRAND STRATEGY:

We think you deserve choice. We believe no one should be
reduced to just one of many facets and talents. No matter
whether you are an athlete looking for the best equipment, or a
fashionista searching for the next trend, or both we want to
engage with you in a long-lasting relationship. Our multi-brand
31

strategy enables us to do just that because it allows us to

tackle opportunities from several perspectives, as both a mass
and a niche player, always providing distinct and relevant
products. In this way, our brands and their sub-brands all keep
their unique identity.

ADIDAS AND THE BADGE OF SPORTS

BRAND PORTFOLIO

No other brand has a more distinguished history and stronger

connection with sport than Adidas. It is our mission to be the
best sports brand in the world. Everything we do is rooted in
sport. This is what The Badge of Sport stands for as a brand
mark. It is the sharp end of our spear, seen on innovative
products, as well as with the worlds best athletes, teams and
events.

ADIDAS SPORT PERFORMANCE

32

Adidas Sport Performance is mainly targeting competitive

sports. The divisions focus is primarily on innovation and
technology. Target consumers range from sports participants at
the highest level to those inspired by sport. Everything at
Adidas reflects the spirit of our founder Adi Dassler. His main
objective back in those days already was to make athletes
better, with innovation at the heart of all Adidas Sport
Performance products. To underline our credibility as the multisport specialist and leverage brand strength, there is hardly
any category that we dont produce products for. Adidas is
everywhere where the best meet the best, such as the FIFA
World Cup or the Olympic Games, but also everywhere else
around the globe where sports are simply played, watched,
enjoyed and celebrated.
However, we are not just designing products for all kinds of
sports. We are designing products for athletes. Athletes always
strive for their personal best. Athletes find inspiration in sports
no matter what they do. We help them to achieve their peak
performance by making them faster, stronger, smarter and
cooler.

ADIDAS ORIGINALS:
No matter how serious you are about sports a sporting
lifestyle does not end in the locker room. This is why we have
Adidas Originals, our sub-brand that brings our iconic DNA from
the courts to the streets. For well over a decade, it has been
celebrating originality in a globally trendsetting way and, as the
first brand leveraging its sports assets in the lifestyle area, it is
regarded as a legitimate sports lifestyle brand. To ensure
sustainable success, Adidas Originals has to keep up to date
with and set trends as well as remain committed to serving
consumer groups who are constantly looking for more options
to express their individuality.

33

ADIDAS NEO:
Teens and digital natives live for the now. They are ready to
go, discover their own way and style and NEO is all about their
lives. The Adidas NEO label is the sports fashion lifestyle label
enabling teens to live their style. NEO is all about being open
and engaged with teenage consumers, letting them enjoy
experiences that only NEO can provide this could be styling
an outfit for Selena Gomez or being a part of the NEO collection
created especially for the New York Fashion Week.

STRATEGY OVERVIEW
Were all creating the new because we believe that sport has
the power to change lives
As a Group we have taken three clear strategic choices that we
want to focus on: Speed, Cities and Open Source. Our People
will bring them to life.
Creating the New is the headline for our next five-year
strategic business plan. Creating the New is the attitude that
34

leads us into the future an exciting future, because our

industry is growing in size and scope and will continue to do so.
In fact, the sporting goods industry is growing faster than most
other industries, including consumer electronics. This trend will
continue. Sport is central to every culture and society and is
core to an individuals health and happiness. All of this is very
good news to us because our core competency is sport. We
believe that sport has the power to change lives. We work
every day to inspire and enable people to harness the power of
sport in their lives. We also translate our competence in sports
into streetwear and fashion because sport is an attitude and a
lifestyle. Everything we do is rooted in sports.

UNIQUE PORTFOLIO OF BRANDS:

We are closest to every consumer with our unique brand
portfolio. In the future, we will not only talk to and talk with our
consumers. We will be the first sports company that invites
athletes, consumers and partners to be part of its brands. We
will open up so that they can co-create the future together with
us.
At the very heart of Creating the New are our brands. Our
brands are what connect us with our consumers; therefore, the
success of our brands defines the success of our business. Our
core brands Adidas, Reebok and TaylorMade have strong
identities in sport. Adidas appeals to athletes, Reebok focuses
on the fitness consumer and TaylorMade is all about the golfer.
Through our unique portfolio of leading sports brands, we cater
for the needs and desires of more consumers than any of our
competitors. With Creating the New, we will get closer to them
than ever before. To achieve that, our plan is based on three
strategic choices:
Speed: We will become the first true fast sports company:
Fast in satisfying consumer needs, fast in internal decisionmaking.
Cities: We have identified six key cities in which we want
to grow share of mind, share of market and share of trend.
35

 Open source: We will be the first sports brand that invites

athletes, consumers and partners to be part of our brands.
Creating the New is an ambitious, yet realistic plan that
provides the layout for our accelerated growth, both on the top
and on the bottom line between now and 2020.
We are living in a fast-changing world. Only what is new is
relevant to the consumer. Therefore, we have to relentlessly
focus on creating the new for our consumers. And we have to
constantly re-invent ourselves as an organisation to lead the
change in our industry. Going forward, speed will be a key
competitive advantage for us as we transform the Adidas Group
into the first true fast sports company.

MAKING IT SUCCESSFUL WILL BE A TRUE

TEAM EFFORT. WE ARE HERE TO WIN!
HEADQUARTERS:
The world is our playing field. Such dimensions ask
for perfectly aligned playmakers. At the Adidas Group, the lead
is taken by our headquarters in Herzogenaurach (Germany) and
additional key locations which are listed below.

ADIDAS GROUP HEADQUARTERS

Adidas AG
Adi-Dassler-Strasse 1
36

91074 Herzogenaurach
Germany
p+49 9132 84 0
f+49 9132 84 2241
HTTP://HERZO.ADIDAS-GROUP.COM/

SUPERVISORY BOARD
The Supervisory Board of Adidas AG - in accordance with the
German Co-Determination Act (Mitbestimmungsgesetz) is
composed of twelve members.
The core functions of the Supervisory Board include the
appointment and dismissal of Executive Board members, the
supervision and consultancy of the Executive Board, the
approval of the financial statements as well as the
authorisation of important operative planning and corporate
decisions.
The term in office of all members of the Supervisory Board
started with the end of the Annual General Meeting of Adidas
AG on May 8, 2014. By rotation, the next Supervisory Board
elections will be held in 2019. In accordance with the German
Co-Determination Act (Mitbestimmungsgesetz - MitBestG) six of
its members are elected by the Annual General Meeting and six
members are elected by the employees.

EXECUTIVE BOARD
Our Executive Board is composed of five members. Each
member is responsible for a major business area within the
Group.

HERBERT HAINER - CHIEF EXECUTIVE

OFFICER

37

I have been a passionate athlete and sports fan ever since I

was a little boy, playing football in my hometown. I also have a
passion for business. I used to work in my parents butcher
shop as a kid and opened my own pub when I was a student. At
the Adidas Group, my passion for sport and for the business
inspire me in my daily work.

8 STEPS OF SELLING DEVELOPMENT TOOL

OF ADIDAS
Step 1 - First Impression
Step 2 - Customer Interaction
Step 3 - Understanding customer needs
Step 4 - Convincing Customers
Step 5 - Fitting Experience
Step 6 - Maximizing Opportunities
Step 7 - Closing Sale
Step 8 - Final Impression

THE 5G OF ADIDAS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Get Ready
Greet
Gather
Give
Goodbye

CUSTOMER IS KING:
A customer is a most important visitor on our
premises he is not depended on us we depend on him, he is not
interrupting in our work he is the purpose of our fit, he is not an
outsider in our business he is a part of it, we are not doing him

38

a favour by serving him he is doing us favour by giving us an

opportunity to do so or serve him

TYPES OF CUSTOMERS TO The OUTLET

1)

BROWSERS:

2)

BUYERS:

These are the customers who come and browse

the outlet to buy the products or to know the
information about the products
These customers who are also known as
repeated customer they come to buy product in
the same outlet for good collection, service,
price, etc.

3)

SCINTIFIC CUSTOMERS:

4)

WINDOW BUYERS:

They study about the product through online or

other informational sources and then come to
the outlet to buy the same product.

These customers are the one who come to buy

the product through seeing window display they
get attracted through the displayed products
and they come to buy only those products.

5)

NEW BUYERS:

They are the people who do no anything about

the product they come to outlet and they buy
the products in the trust of employees
information. These customers are convinced by
the employees to buy the product.

SERVICE
CUSTOMER
FEEDBACK
SUPPORT

S
E
R
39

INNOVATIVE
QUALITY
EXECLLENT
FRIENDLY

V
I
C
E

CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION
TRUST
POSITIVITY
CONVICTION
LOYALTY
COMMITMENTS
FEELING
EXPERIENCE

C
U
S
T
O
M
E
R

40

CHAPTER 4
RESEARCH AND DATA
ANALYSIS

41