Table of Contents

DECLARATION
I

CERTIFICATE
II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
III

INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................7
7

LITERATURE REVIEW ..........................................................................................................12

..........................................................................................................12

MARKETING-MIX ( FOUR P’S): ADIDAS ........................................................................19

........................................................................19

THE PRODUCT ................................................................................................................................. 19

PRICING: ............................................................................................................................................ 23

PLACE AND PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION: ................................................................................ 24

PROMOTION: .................................................................................................................................... 25

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................30

...................................................................................................30

GLOBAL MARKET SHARES OF VARIOUS BRANDS IN ATHELETIC FOOTWEAR

.............................................................................................................................................................. 34

DEFINE THE MARKET ...........................................................................................................35

...........................................................................................................35

AIM/OBJECTIVES OF THE MARKET STUDY .................................................................36

.................................................................36

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................ERROR!

....................ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

RESEARCH DESIGN: ...................................................................................................................... 37

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH STUDIES: ....................................................................................... 37

DATA COLLECTION METHOD : .................................................................................................. 37

RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS: ........................................................................................................ 38

QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN ........................................................................................................... 38

SAMPLING: ....................................................................................................................................... 38

SAMPLEING PLAN: ........................................................................................................................ 38

SAMPLE DESIGN : ........................................................................................................................... 38

 CLUSTER SAMPLING : ................................................................................................................... 38

SAMPLING SIZE: ............................................................................................................................. 39

FINDINGS & ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................40

........................................................................................................40

DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................ 41

SWOT ANALYSIS OF ADIDAS ............................................................................................53

............................................................................................53

RECOMMENDATIONS & CONCLUSION ..........................................................................55

..........................................................................55

THE FUTURE .................................................................................................................................... 56

ANNEXURE...............................................................................................................................
ANNEXURE...............................................................................................................................57
57

QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................................................................................ 57

BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................................................
BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................................................60
60
 INTRODUCTION
In the small German village of Herzogenaurach the world began its love affair with Adidas
(Ryno’s Company History). In 1920, Adolf “Adi” Dassler brought to life those three little
stripes. With his brother, Rudolph, Dassler manufactured his first sports shoe, made for
training, after realizing the need for performance athletic shoes. In1948, the Dassler brothers
separated to form their own two separate companies. Dassler formed Adidas and his brother
formed Puma, both headquarters in Herzogenaurach.

The Adidas mission has changed little since founder Adi Dassler began making sports shoes
in the 1920s: to be the best sports brand in the world. The history of Adidas is one of
consistently meeting the evolving needs of the athlete. Focusing more on function and less on
fashion, Adidas strives to provide athletes with shoes that can make a noticeable difference in
their performance. Meeting athlete needs is what makes Adidas the best. Adidas America has
continued to build on this history.

In February of 1993, Adidas acquired Sports Inc., a US-based sports marketing

company founded by former Nike executives Rob Strasser and Peter Moore. Sports Inc. had
been working in conjunction with Adidas USA on the design, development, and marketing of
the Adidas Equipment line. This line helped rejuvenate and reposition the Adidas brand in the
United States by creating an exclusive line focused on fulfilling the functional needs of the
athlete and by utilizing the best materials and athlete input in the tradition of Adi Dassler. It
offered moisture management, thermal insulation, weather protection, ease of movement, and
safety, helping the athlete to perform more efficiently. After the successful creation and
launch of Adidas America
General Information

For over 80 years Adidas has been part of the India of sports on every level, delivering state-
of-the-art sports footwear, apparel and accessories. Today, with total net sales of 6.1 billion
and net income of 208 million, Adidas - Salomon is a global leader in the sporting goods
industry and offers the broadest portfolio of products. Adidas-Salomon products are available
in virtually every country of the world. Their strategy is simple: continuously strengthen our
brands and products to improve our competitive position and financial performance.

The company's share of the world market for sporting goods is estimated at around 15
percent. Activities of the company and its approximately 100 subsidiaries are directed from
Adidas-Salomon AG's headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Also located in
Herzogenaurach are the strategic business units for Running, Soccer and Tennis as well as the
Research and Development Center. Additional key corporate units are based in Portland,
Oregon in the USA, the domicile of Adidas America Inc. and home to the strategic business
units Basketball, Adventure and Alternative Sports. The strategic business unit Golf is based
in California. The business unit Winter Sports is in Annecy, France. The company also
operates design studios and development departments at other locations around the world,
corresponding to the related business activity. Adidas-Salomon AG has approximately 13,400
employees worldwide.

Turnover and Brand Image

Almost 53% of the turnover is from sale of apparel and accessories with the rest from
footwear. The Adidas brand is one of the most popular brands as determined by a within
brand survey of sportswear brands in the year 2008.

The Company

Adidas entered the Indian market in 1996 by setting up a 100% subsidiary of Adidas AG
called Adidas India Ltd. and announced its joint venture with Magnum International Trading
Company Ltd. on October 1, 1996. The new joint venture – Adidas India Ltd. – was
incorporated with an initial investment of Rs. 8000 million with Adidas India Ltd. holding
80% of the equity and Magnum holding the balance 20%. This investment was raised to Rs
475 million with the equity structure remaining the same. Currently, the total investment
stands at Rs. 500 Million with the equity structure changing to 91.4% by Adidas and 8.6% by
magnum.

Adidas’ Range of Products in India

A month after announcing the joint venture, Adidas India Ltd. launched its range of sports
footwear, apparel and accessories in New Delhi on November 1, 1996. Subsequently, Adidas
products were also launched in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Calcutta.
Currently, Adidas products are available in 30 cities in India.

The range of Adidas products available in India include sports footwear featuring some of the
most popular innovations and technologies developed by Adidas such as Feet You Wear,
Torsion system and adi wear. The sports footwear available in India includes a wide range of
core categories such as adventure, basketball cricket, golf, indoor, running, tennis, training,
soccer and workout.

Adidas has introduced in India, a wide range of sports wear for both men and women. These
include apparel for athletics, basketball, cricket, golf, running, soccer, swimming, tennis and
training for Men. The women’s range includes apparel for athletics, golf, running, swimming,
tennis, training and workout. Accessories include bag packs, campus bags, medium and large
kit bags, caps, socks, wrist and headbands. Adidas Markets its products in India through a
combination of mega exclusive stores (area of 1000 sq. feet and above), exclusive stores,
multi-brand stores and distributors. At present, Adidas is available in 75 exclusive outlets out
of which 34 are company – owned with 8 new Company – owned stores planned for 2006
and in 450 multi-brand outlets in India.
History of the Company

The Timeline of the Company

1948 -The Dassler and his brother Rudolph and Adolph, separate and two companies. Adi Dassler
forms Adidas-a combination of his nickname, Adi, and the first three letters of his last name a
lowercase “a” is adopted to further distinguish Adidas. He commences production with 47 employees.
Rudolph forms Puma, with its headquarters located across town from Adidas in Herzogenaurach.

1949- Adidas adopts the trademark three-stripes.

1955-The first license is given to a factory in India to manufacture Adidas shoes.

1972 -Adidas introduces the “Trefoil” logo.

1984-Kathe Dassler dies, leaving the company to Horst, the Dasslers’ first-born .

1987-Horst dies at the age of 51.

1987-Ron More is brought in from Adidas Canada to run operations and a new facility is
acquired in Warren, New Jersey.

1988-Adidas is incorporated.

1989 -Rob Strasser and Peter Moore of Sports Incorporated present Adidas with the “Equipment”
concept. The footwear and apparel line is introduced in 1991.

1990-Bernard Taupie purchases 80% of Adidas stock.

1993-A group of investors led by Robert Louis-Dreyfus, former head of the British advertising
group Saatchi & Saatchi P.L.C., acquires control of Adidas. Adidas America is formed in February;
Rob Strasser is appointed CEO and Peterr Moore becomes Worldwide Creative Director. Rob Strasser
dies on October 30. Peter Moore is named CEO of Adidas America n November 9, while maintaining
his role as Worldwide Creative Director.

1994-Adidas moves from eighth to third position in Indian Footwear Industry Rankings. Indian
Footwear and apparel sales increase by an estimated 75%.

1995-Adidas goes public on the stock exchange in Frankrurt.

1997-Performance Logo becomes the worldwide Adidas logo.The acquisition of Salomon
broadens the Adidas product range to include Taylor Made for golf products and Mavic for
cycle components. Adidas achieves record sales and passes the 1 billion dollar mark in gross
sales in the India.

2000-Adidas proudly celebrates the 100th birthday of our founder, Adi Dassler

2005.-Sale of Salomon The Salomon Group (including Salomon, Mavic, Bonfire, Cliché and
Arc’Teryx) is being sold to Amer Sports in October 2005. The new Adidas Group is focusing
even more on its core strength in the athletic footwear and apparel market as well as the
growing golf category. The legal name of the company will change to “Adidas AG” in
May/June 2006.

2006-Adidas-Salomon AG acquires Reebok

The closing of the Reebok transaction on January 31, 2006 marks a new chapter in the history
of the Adidas Group. By combining two of the most respected and well-known brands in the
worldwide sporting goods industry, the new Group will benefit from a more competitive
worldwide platform, well-defined and complementary brand identities, a wider range of
products, and a stronger presence across teams, athletes, events and leagues.
 LITERATURE REVIEW
Brands

Brands were originally developed as labels of ownership: name, term, design, symbol.
However, in present world it is what they do for the people that matters much more, how they
project and engage them, how they define their aspiration and enable them to do more.
Powerful brands can determine success in competitive and financial markets, and
undoubtedly become the organization's most valuable assets.” Kotler”

April 2, 1993, labeled Marlboro Friday, is described by Klein (2000) as the death day of the
brand. On that day, Phillip Morris declared that there will be a 20 per cent price cut of
Marlboro cigarettes in order to compete with cheaper price cigarettes. At the time, Marlboro
cigarettes were known to be notorious for their heavy advertising campaigns, and nuanced
brand image. On that day, the prices of many branded companies Wall street stocks fell:
Heinz, Coca Cola, Quaker Oats, PepsiCo; seemingly the signal of the beginning 'brand
blindness'(Klein 13).

Concepts

A brand which is commonly known in the marketplace acquires brand recognition. When
brand recognition builds up to a level where a brand celebrates with a critical mass of positive
sentiment in the marketplace, it is said to have achieved brand franchise. The identification of
a brand without the name of the company being present is one of the goal of brand
recognition. For example, Disney has been very successful at branding with their distinct
particular script font (originally created for Walt Disney's "signature" logo),

Building a Brand

With appropriate senior management commitment, building a relevant and powerful brand
for any consumer-focused company, including a bank, is a reasonable goal. The overall
objective is to change customer behavior, improve business economics, gain competitive
advantage and provide a clear mandate for employees. But this objective means that branding
a company and its products must be more “business science” than “marketing art.” Based on
extensive study and work with clients, Booz·Allen believes there are four components to
successfully branding a company. These steps blueprint the process of developing a concise
message or promise that an institution wants to communicate to its customers, and for
executing a strategy that delivers on that promise.
The first step in building a branded business is to understand the role of the brand in that
particular business, including the leverage it can provide across markets and product
categories. A brand can provide information and communicate efficiently, qualify a product
or service, or establish differentiation. A truly powerful brand can do all three if necessary.
To decide what role brands should play, it is important to take a dispassionate look at the
current status of the organization and product/service offering—how they are perceived by
customers, competitors and employees. In addition, the institution has to understand what
these distinct constituencies need to know and believe about the brand.

Secondly, brand builders must choose brand architecture consistent with the chosen role, the
institution’s products, services and market landscape. There are three types of brand
architectures: a single brand—one brand that covers the entire product range; tiered brands,
with a parent brand supported by sub-brands for each product line; or multiple brands, with
each product carrying its own brand distinct from the parent. Sony, Home Depot and Visa are
examples of a single brand architecture.

The third step in branding a business and developing a brand strategy is to position the brand
to effectively communicate the value proposition. Critical here is clarity, consistency and
relevance. Volvo (safety), Nike (limitless performance) and Wal-Mart (good deals) are
examples of companies that have clear brand positions. The clarity is achieved through the
consistent use of all marketing levers (e.g. price, product design, image and channel
selection) to drive home a single message.

In the fourth step, a company must develop the programs needed to deliver the brand and the
brand promise. This happens through programs or services that convey the brand message to
the target audience. Nike’s support of grassroots athletic events and Visa’s Olympic
sponsorship illustrate the type of programs needed to creatively deploy brands. Nike helps
amateur athletes perform, while Visa demonstrates its global reach.

Competitive advantage

Competitive advantage (CA) is a position that a firm occupies in its competitive landscape.
Michael Porter says that a competitive advantage, whether sustainable or not, exists when an
organization makes economic rents, that is, their earnings exceed their costs (including cost
of capital). That shows that normal competitive forces and pressures are not able to drive
down the firm's earnings to the point where they cover all costs and just provide minimum
sufficient additional return to keep capital invested. Most kinds of competitive advantages
cannot be maintained for any length of time because the call of economic rents drives
competitors to duplicate the competitive advantage held by any one firm.Analysis of the
factors of profitability is the subject of numerous theories of strategy including the five forces
model pioneered by Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School.

In 2006, Jaynie L. Smith authored Creating Competitive Advantage (Doubleday). This

book outlines how companies fail to understand their own existing competitive advantages
and use them in sales/marketing. She provides a framework for how companies can evaluate
their own operations and develop competitive advantage/competitive positioning statements
to better hone their sales/marketing messages. Competitive advantage statements help
distinguish companies by highlighting what they offer to the customer using tangible terms
and concepts. The next step is to test those CA statements through independent market
research. This allows a company to understand their customers' hierarchy of buying criteria in
an objective indepenedent context. From there, companies can tailor their CA statements to
speak directly to the buying interests of the customer.

Adidas
By-Vivian Manning-Schaffel
When adidas entered the marketplace some 50 years ago, its focus was to produce shoes
crafted specifically for soccer and running. Establishing the brand as the choice for
professional athletes eventually parlayed into preference in the mainstream.

In the 80's, Run DMC furthered adidas’s street cred with the rap “My adidas,” paying
homage to their favorite shell-toe. But by the early 90's, Nike and Reebok were out-
marketing adidas – even in Germany, its own turf. Kids weren’t interested in the sneakers
their parents wore, and adidas found itself forgotten in the back of the closet, heading for the
Goodwill

The new millennium has since brought about an adidas renaissance; the brand has steadily
regained market share over the past five years to become the world's number two athletic
shoe company (behind Nike). How did it go about repositioning to once again be among the
coolest of kicks?

Adidas claims that, "the brand values of the company – authenticity, inspiration, honesty and
commitment – are derived from sport." Historically, this sensibility was demonstrated
through early and continued involvement with Olympic athletes, as well as active
sponsorship of major global sporting events – like the World Cup. Today these events
provide an ample playing field for sportswear companies to duke it out for representation and
thus market share. Adidas’s rapid growth in Asia, where revenue rose by 15 percent to US$
878M last year, may be further propelled in Japan and Korea when those two nations host the
World Cup this year – an event which is expected to garner 2.5M spectators and one billion
TV viewers worldwide.

However, the key to revitalized success seems to lie in the considerable endorsement deals
adidas has developed with world class athletes. Recent sports figures representing adidas
don’t only score high marks in their game – they also score high in their celebrity quotient.
British football star David Beckham’s relationship with adidas has no doubt lent itself well to
the brand’s visibility in the UK. Recently dubbed "Captain of England," Beckham led his
team to victory in the 2000 FIFA World Cup. It doesn’t hurt that he’s married to a highly
visible, ex-Spice girl and is often seen in the tabloids sporting the adidas logo. With Europe
as adidas’s largest market, exposure like this reflects in the numbers; sales grew seven
percent to US$ 2.7 billion, last year.

Stateside, Kobe Bryant is another example of a winning adidas endorsee. The LA Laker and
youngest NBA all-star player is an athlete with substantial celebrity leverage. This translates
directly into sales, young men who idolize Bryant want to play basketball like he does, and
thus will want to wear what he wears. The equally compelling Russian born, American-bred
tennis star Anna Kournikova also meets these criteria. She’s a young, brilliant professional
athlete whose celebrity extends well beyond the world of tennis – like Bryant and Beckham
she’s captured the public’s interest in mainstream newspapers, magazines and tabloids.

Reinvention was key, not only for the adidas’s marketing strategy, but also for its product
line. On its website, adidas acknowledges that "The markets and industry in which we
compete are transforming rapidly, paced by the evolution – or revolution – in how 'sports' are
defined. Team sports such as soccer and basketball will always be a fundamental part of
sporting competition. Today, however, eclectic, individual, 'no-rules' sports such as
snowboarding, inline skating and surfing have grown into significant categories. Activities
such as golf, hiking and mountain biking, which used to be seen as lifestyle and leisure
activities, are now part of mainstream sports." Increased product offerings in these categories
have undoubtedly contributed to a better score for the brand.
To keep up with the competition, adidas generates close to 60 new foot-friendly designs each
year. The adidas credo is to regard shoes as feet, resulting in a product with superior fit and
performance capabilities. Tactics have been revised in getting these products out for
consumption. As a result, products have been repositioned in higher-end and sports specialty
stores. As their main competitor has sprinkled flagship NikeTown stores throughout the US,
Europe and Australia, adidas has also embarked on a foray into retail. The first adidas-
Solomon megastore launched in Paris last year to capitalize on the brand awareness in that
market; France scored victories in both the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Cup football
championships. Word on the street is the brand hopes to eventually roll out this concept to
more cities in Europe and North America.

Adidas continues to prove itself as a brand built to last through a game plan of reinvention.
With the recent acquisition of a lifetime partnership with Orlando Magic's Tracy McGrady
(basketball) and its heavy involvement with 2002 World Cup, it continues to strike savvy
deals that capitalize on the star power of young athletes and increase its visibility in the
marketplace.

It appears that team adidas has honed its strategy to become a revitalized contender in today’s
competitive sporting goods market and is now duly recognized as the sneaker of yesterday
and today1

Punchy New Ads from Adidas

Section: UP Front

BRANDING BATTLES

Tired of being the perennial also-ran to Nike, Adidas-Salomon plans to pump more than $50
million into an ambitious new ad campaign. On Feb. 5, Adidas will kick off a series of TV,
print, and Internet ads featuring Muhammad Ali and his daughter, boxer Laila Ali,
BusinessWeek has learned. Adidas even has a new, Nike-like theme: ``Impossible is
Nothing.''

Some ads will include star Adidas athletes with Ali or in their own spots. Others will
highlight nontraditional sports such as skateboarding and athletes overcoming physical
handicaps. ``The challenge for Adidas is daunting,'' says Jeffrey Bliss, president of sports

1
http://www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=71
marketers Javelin Group. ``They have to overcome their own previous marketing missteps
and then take on Nike, which is showing no sign of stumbling.''

The ads are part of Adidas' efforts to reenergize its business in North America. It wants to
nearly double its U.S. market share, to 20%. Despite strong sales of its new Tracy McGrady
basketball sneaker, total North American sales have dropped 16% in the first nine months of
2003. With Nike controlling 41% of the U.S. footwear market, Adidas execs will need to
believe their own advertising.

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Copyright

photo (black & white): family affair: The campaign will feature Ali and his
daughter, Laila

~~~~~~~~

By Stanley Holmes

Edited By Ira Sager

Adidas Leaps from Hot Sneakers to Warm Jackets

Section: Innovation & Design

Design

The sporting-goods maker aims to climb Alpine heights with a new performance-sports line

Dateline: [Bloomberg) —

Adidas has long been one of the world's premier brands in fashion sport shoes. Now the
German sporting-goods company plans to begin selling high-end mountaineering jackets next
year, muscling in on North Face's turf as outdoor gear grows faster than traditional sporting
goods.

Adidas is setting a lofty goal for itself, too. It wants to become a leading brand for so-called
performance-sports gear by 2015, says Rolf Reinschmidt, head of the global outdoor division.

Sales of outdoor gear will rise about 0.7% in Europe this year, outperforming the declining
sporting-goods market, according to industry body European Outdoor Group. The fragmented
nature of the market makes it attractive for adidas. North Face owner VF leads the $59 billion
industry with outdoor-sports sales of $2.74 billion, the association says.
"Adidas is still far behind the specialist labels, but it's coming up," says Andreas Bartmann,
chief executive of Globetrotter, Europe's largest outdoor-products retailer. Globetrotter, in
Hamburg, Germany, will start selling adidas hiking boots next year.

Revenue Is Up

The new 325-gram Terrex Feather Jacket is designed to protect trekkers at heights of up to
19,685 feet. Like all adidas performance sports gear, the $595 product will initially be
available only in Germany and neighboring Austria and Switzerland, along with Russia,
China, and Korea. From 2012, the entire line will be available globally.

The world's second-largest sporting-goods maker doesn't provide sales figures for its outdoor
unit, saying only that the division's revenue rose in the first nine months of 2009 while
overall sales fell 3.7%. VF, which is in Greensboro, N.C., reported that North Face's third-
quarter revenue increased 10% at constant currency rates, while sales of its Vans label
climbed 4% on the same basis.

Growth in the industry isn't universal. Columbia Sportswear said in October that third-quarter
sales fell 4%, to $434.5 million, and forecast a decline for the year of 8% to 9%. The Portland
[Ore.] company had previously predicted a "low-double-digit" drop in annual revenue.

Solo Ascent

Reinschmidt has led adidas' outdoor sports unit since 2007 and has a team of 40 developing
high-tech apparel and boots. In Europe, adidas increased its spending on marketing this year
by running TV commercials with Alexander and Thomas Huber, brothers who are known for
extreme Alpine climbing. The sporting-goods maker also started sponsoring Reinhold
Messner, who made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest without bottled oxygen.

Adidas Chief Executive Herbert Hainer has said his company would build its outdoor-sports
division using its own brand name and without resorting to acquisitions.

"Adidas is doing a seriously good job as the company tries to take advantage of the
increasing interest for outdoor gear," says Mark Held, secretary general of European Outdoor
Group. He expects the industry's growth to continue into next year. "Even in hard times,
people continue buying outdoor gear to escape for a while from the seriousness of life."

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/dec2009/id2009129 _588770.htm
~~~~~~~~

By Holger Elfes, Dusseldorf, helfes@bloomberg.net

MARKETING-MIX (FOUR P’S): ADIDAS

1. PRODUCT

Whatever your athletic preference, you can now purchase an extensive range of Adidas
footwear and apparel online. From running shoes to baseball cleats, eye wear to lanyards,
collegiate licensed jackets to good old fashioned cotton T-shirts, all things sport are available
at the Adidas store.
HOW DO ADIDAS CREATE ITS PRODUCTS

Adidas goal is to create a product that is honest – it must perform. The rule is
simple: form follows function.

Technology and functional design. A development team makes the actual

prototypes. These prototypes are then presented to the retail market by the
marketing department.
An Adidas product is the result of the intense thought and creative energy of many
different people. The following is a general outline of how we create our
performance-based products.

1. The marketing department evaluates athletes’ needs and develops a basic

concept of how those needs should be met. This concept is then presented to
the design department.

2. Based upon this concept from the marketing department, the design teams
sketch possible prototypes.

3. The people from design and marketing consider the prototype sketches
together, narrowing the selection to those they anticipate will most
successfully meet athletes’ needs.

4. The development department then works with the design department to

create an actual prototype from the selected sketches.

5. Three separate groups – marketing, design and development – meet and

discuss how to improve the prototype.

6. Samples are wear-tested to ensure the product meets Adidas standards for
performance and durability and stands up to the demands of the sport for
which it was designed.

7. Preview samples are presented to key accounts and consumer focus groups
for feedback. Based upon this information, final changes are made.

8. Samples are distributed to Adidas sales representatives for presentation to

retailers.

9. The finished product is delivered to retailers.

As A BRAND

At Adidas –you have got to be sporty. At Adidas the brand awarding is been taken
rather seriously at its headquarters. Adidas wants to bring inline skates into India.
What that kind of stuff got to do with Indian market? Yes, it won’t really be a hot
seller, but it will contribute a lot to Adidas brand image. That’s the Adidas way of
doing it – image is a critical part of branding strategy the world over.
The idea of the company is to introduce performance specific sports shoes in the
Indian market by building images around the world & at the same time create the
need for these shoes at the ground level. Adidas already has heavy weight
sportsmen such as Sachin Tendulkar, Leander Paes & Mahesh Bhupathi endorsing
the brand in India. They had the image, apart from endorsing the performance
element in the brand. Adidas steps out of crease with a clear sports positioning.
Adidas will take on arch Nike with almost the same positioning. Its working with
promising athletes to give them a taste of its products. Adidas nowadays is
capturing an attitude that is sports related.

Adidas in fact did go through a limited fashion phase. Adidas says – that you are
tempted to make quick buck but we would like to stick to the sports brand image
because that make us fashionable.

For Adidas the product plays an eminent role in the enhancement of

their corporate as well as sports image:
ADIDAS SAYS “Nothing compromised. The most innovative Adidas products created
specifically to help make you a better athlete. For Adidas, product is not just a assortment of
few items. But it involves—developing of the right product – which can then be put to right
place & sold with the right promotion & price.

As studied earlier an Adidas product is the result of the intense thought and
creative energy of many different people. If a company sell an automobile, is it
selling a certain no. of nuts and bolts, some metal sheet, an engine and four
wheels? If a company sell a delivery service, is it selling so much wear and tear on
a delivery truck and so much operator fatigue? As per Adidas the answer to these
question is instead what we are really selling is the satisfaction, use or profit the
customer wants.

Adidas says that all the customer wants is, that whatever product they purchase
should fulfill all their needs and preferences. They don’t care how they were made.
Further they want that when they order something, the don’t really care how much
out of the way the driver had to go or where he/she has been. They just want their
package. That means for them only the final service matters.

As per Adidas the idea of product potential customer’s satisfactions or benefits is

very important. Adidas says that the total product is not just a physical product
with its related features, but it includes accessories, installation, instruction on use,
the package, perhaps the brand name which fulfills some psychological needs a
warranty and confidence that service will be available after the purchase.
 2. PRICING:

Adidas is clear, it wants to become the no. one sports brand in India, a choice
brand for all brands. So far so good, but how will it tackle a price conscious market
like India? Adidas feels that being a high energy business Adidas introduces 600-
700 articles every six months – enables the brand to remain fresh and bring on an
international and Indians the brand from the price stand point.

Price, that’s the most critical factor in the Indian context. Adidas believes it has to
deliver a functional at an affordable price. It’s a tough job – to maintain the
integrity of the performance and still come out with a product a right price point.
Globally shoes start at $50. But in India as the perceived need is lower, you have to
make the product more affordable.

To tackle this, Adidas came out with speed 2000, a product priced at Rs.995 with
the help of local and Hong Kong source people. Adidas however feels that its just
the matter of time before India coverage’s the world on this front. It is very
difficult to operate on a lower price point and maintain integrity of product, but its
been barely 3 years since the sports market has taken off. The original sector is just
20% of the total market and 80% of the volumes comes from sporty shoes. But our
market is producing products at a price that is relevant to the consumers.

Adidas feels that as the volume go up, Adidas will try and work out price points as
people graduate with better understanding of quality and price perception.
Volumes are bound to go up. Adidas started at the time when India had no strength
out in the sports products market in 1989 – 90. Its then licensing partner Bata, and
it had limitations of what it could have put behind the brand. So company took the
next best step when the licensing agreement ended to take a bigger share in
business. To conclude we can say that Adidas is putting all efforts to bring down
the price consciousness in the Indian market. Company is trying to make products,
which are easy to afford and still maintain the integrity of their performance.

Growth has been phenomenal for Adidas even given the base is small. In 1998
Adidas grew by 25%, 1999 by over 50% and this year Adidas is expecting more
than 50% in terms of value in both shoes and apparel, while the industry growth as
a best case estimate has been 20-25%.
3. PLACE AND PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION:

A: Place

Adidas is very much concerned about its second “p”. as per Adidas place and
physical distribution of the product is something on which almost every company
spends a handsome amount of money.

Hence Adidas takes a good care of its place and physical distribution process.
Adidas has appointed marketing specialists who are taking care of the supply of the
product and their distribution channels and process.

Process used – assorting progress

Entire range, which is available is put together to give a target market what it wants.
Marketing specialists put together an assortment to satisfy some target market. His is usually
done by those who are close to the retailers only.

B: Physical distribution

As per Adidas nearly half of the costs of marketing is spend upon the physical
distribution. To take care of this problem Adidas has appointed marketing
managers who decides how the transporting and storing functions should be
divided within a channel.

Note: Physical distribution can be varied endlessly in a marketing mix and in a channel
system.

Trucks

In Adidas, except the export products, trucks are considered to be the best medium for
transport. The flexibility of trucks makes them really good for moving small loads for short
distances. They can travel on almost any road. According to Adidas they can give extremely
fast service. Also trucks causes less breakage in handling.

4. PROMOTION:

Adidas is one of the India’s biggest company of sports that spends nearly $10 million on its
sales promotion and advertising in Indian Market. Adidas believe that it just cannot be taken
lightly. It is a very important aspect of products life cycle. It is the process which is
responsible for the growth or decline in the sale of the product. Adidas thinks that promotion
is communicating information about the product between the seller and the buyer to change
attitudes and behavior.

To handle the company’s promotional activities Adidas has employed marketing managers,
wherever the Adidas is located. These marketing managers look after process of the
promotion of the products of their company. As per Adidas the marketing managers
promotion job is to tell the target customers that the right product is available at the right
place and at the right time and especially at the right price.

Adidas thinks that only taking the product to the customers is not a task of the
company. But company takes a very important look about how the product works
and this message is communicated to their consumers. Because a wrong message
can lead to the end of their products life.

Sales Promotion
Adidas is the most popular amongst its rival for its excellent sales promotional
activities. As per Adidas they say that they themselves are responsible for the
encouragement of the customer to by their products. Adidas believes sales
promotion tries to compliment the company’s selling efforts.

STEPS TAKEN BY ADIDAS TO PROMOTE SALES

In the last years the Adidas has almost given sale to its products 6 to 7 times i.e.
almost twice in a year Adidas goes for discount on sales. They arrange contest.

In order to motivate the employees of the company Adidas also prepares

training material for the company’s own sales force. They even design the sales
materials for the company’s own sales force to use during the sales calls.

As per Adidas, people see same message in different ways. They may interpret the
same words differently. So Adidas always tries to deliver the message which
everyone can easily understand.

ADVERTISING

As per Adidas advertising can get results in a promotion blend. Good results are
obtained at a cost of course. The amount spent in the Unites States for advertising
is growing. Continuously, from World War II to 1980 it went from $1 billion to
$50 billion. Adidas also spends nearly $2.9 million on its advertising throughout
the world. Adidas in India is spending almost $17 million on advertising.The heavy
weight players like Sachin Tendulkar, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are
already attached with their ad-campaigns.

OTHER STEPS

Adidas, the brand with three stripes, seems to use the elements of high-tension in
its ads. Remember the Sachin Tendulkar commercial. How everything is near-
frozen, and the shattering glass signifies release. Release of tension. Adidas gives
you a chance to but the boundaries – in every sphere.

Only now, the setting is not the playground or the track or the court, it is the urban
landscape – with its omnipresent traffic jams, crowded streets and so forth. This
way, Adidas becomes a part of life. Anyone’s life. You don’t have to be the high-
voltage performer to be a part of the Adidas family. And it goes beyond that –
Adidas becomes something that makes you better. Not just as an athlete, but as a
sports person, a better human being.

One of the advertisement: The spot featuring Boldon, shows him chasing a thief
(who’d stolen a TV set when its owner was in the bath) through the dark streets. To
help a man (the owner, in a towel) in distress. And he uses all the power that he
can, to do what he has to do and what he needs to do. And Adidas helps him
perform better, than he would otherwise have been able to. This is perhaps shown
in an oblique way when the spot ends at the feet of Boldon and the bather.

One is wearing a pair of Adidas shoes while the other is barefoot. Adidas makes
you better, goes the base. In short, the other man could have done as well as
Boldon. The bather reads any man. Any man who wears Adidas. And Adidas goes
beyond athletic performance – it becomes everyday life. In stark reality. Though
humorously and light, it has a deep meaning.

LEVERAGING ON SACHIN: ONE MAJOR PART OF MARKETING

STRATEGY IN INDIA

Continuing its association with trump card Sachin, the local four-ad print campaign tries to
connect Adidas’ product attributes with Sachin’s magic. “Instead of presenting just one
dimensions :
The first ad connects Sachin’s choice of a heavy bat with Adidas’ Falcon Dorf light weight
shoes. Says the headline: ‘Sachin likes his bat heavy, not his shoe.’ The second new shoe
range to be introduced for the first time in India. Sub-branded ‘Aksu’ and priced at Rs 2,299,
these are athletic sandals primarily meant for water-based adventure sports. Finally, The next
ad will convey that Adidas covers various price points by promoting its existing Portland
range priced at Rs 1,499 and 1,799 (the leather version).

The importance of celebrity sponsorship and events to Adidas is illustrated by Robert Louis-
Dreyfus’ letter in the company’s 1998 annual report :

“When it comes to showcasing our brands, 1998 was truly exceptional. Early in the
year, the Winter Olympics focused the attention of sports enthusiasts on Nagano. In
summer, the Soccer World Cup in France attracted more spectators than any single
sports event before. When the French team, promoting the three stripes, won the
World Cup, we could not have wished for more. These were great times for our
brand.’

Adidas has reached an agreement with ISL Marketing G of Switzerland to become an official
sponsor of the 2000 UEFA European Championships. Adidas will have access to the official
emblems, mascot and trophy for the design of its own products..

In 1998, the overall Adidas budget for promotion and sponsoring accounted for nearly 15%
of turnover.

The positioning is being communicated through its global campaign-released worldwide in

February 1999 but in India, only in May-as well as through a four-ad print campaign
developed locally by RK Swamy/BBDO. Says G Kanan, general manager, marketing,
Adidas: “We are the only brand with heritage in sports. As a brand, we’re not an attitude
that’s fashionable. We’re an attitude that is relevant all the time.

The campaign also introduces a new brand line for Adidas: ‘Forever Sport’. The line sums up
the “deeply-felt” and “long-term love affair” (it has been involved with sports since 1928)
that Adidas has with sport in all of its forms. Interestingly, the new brand line has been
introduced almost after a decade, when it was using ‘Earn your stripes’ as its tag-line. The
company dropped it during the late 80s after it found that it wasn’t connecting too well with
its consumers.
THE ADIDAS LOGO

The “Trefoil” was adopted as the corporate logo in 1972. It represents the heritage and
history of the brand. In 1996, it was decided that the Trefoil would only be used on heritage
products. Examples of product featuring the Trefoil logo include the Stan Smith, Road Laver,
A-15 warm-up, and Classic T-shirt.

Equipment

The Adidas Equipment line was launched in 1991. This line of footwear and apparel
represents the most unique and functional of Adidas products. Equipment is the ultimate
expression of what is uniquely possible by design when form follows function.
In January 1996, the Three-Stripes brand mark became the worldwide Adidas corporate logo.
This logo represents performance and the future of the Adidas brand. This logo is used in all
advertising, printed collateral and corporate signage.

Since 1949, the Three-Stripes have been an integral part of our brand and product designs.
This trademark has become synonymous with Adidas and its dedication to producing high-
quality athletic products to help athletes perform better.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
LIST OF COMPETITIVE BRANDS AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

1. NIKE
2. REEBOK
3. FILA
4. SPEEDO
5. NEW BALANCE
6. SKETCHERS
7. PUMA
Present Situation

Adidas is currently ranked third in almost every category in the global athletic shoe industry.
However, they rank second only to Nike in terms of sales. The main competitors of Adidas
include Nike and Reebok However, other smaller competitors include Fila, Puma and Easy
Spirit. Adidas commands only 5% of the athletic shoe business in the India., compared with
the 40% for the fearsome Nike, but the rejuvenated Adidas has climbed to within easy reach
of Reebok, which has been struggling in the past couple of years. Adidas is also steadily
regaining market share lost to other brands such as India. Gear and Fila

The Future

But the battle has only started, and the foreign sports companies are here for the long term.
They can sustain losses for years to come in order to gain market share. What they are doing
at present, is building up distribution networks to cover every nook and corner of the country
and, setting up manufacturing facilities.

Only those Indian manufactures which have a strong focus on manufacturing and
technological upgradation will survive in the long run, although with a much smaller market
share than they have at present. Small companies will be sidelined totally and will exit from
the sports market altogether. ADIDAS in INDIA has always been driven by its Value – for-
money strategy. The company needs to identify critical success factory and work assiduously
towards achieving it.
 COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH REEBOK

COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH THE HELP OF SPORTS FOOTWEAR

I. CATEGORY : SHOE (REEBOK)

Reebok and Unit Casual Shoe Mens

(Release Date : Dec. 12, 2004)

Item No. : 1387196

Price : Rs. 3,600.50

Features :

 Soft pad

 Supple upper bed

 Comfort

 Support

 Moulded EVA sock liner

 Moulded Midsole

 Cushion

 High abrasion rubber outsole

 Traction and durability

 Style and design

This street inspired footwear was designed for young people who want the style of their gear
to reflect the attitude of their life. This street inspired footwear was designed for young people who
want the style of their gear to reflect the attitude of their life. This G6 lifestyle footwear provides
clean, court inspired designs that mirror distinct style and flavour. Reebok has consented to donate
fifty cents of proceeds of each pair sold to charitable causes.
CATEGORY: SHOE (ADIDAS)

Adidas supernova T-MAC 3

Item no. : 3636825

Price : Rs. 4,500.00

Features

 Comfort

 Soft and stretchable mesh

 Foot-hugging inner bootie

 Optimal cushioning support

 Full-grain leather upper with stretch mesh

 adiPRENE + forefoot cushioning

 Shock-absorbing adiPRENE heel

 Moisture wicking, antimicrobial ortholite sockliner

 Non-marking carbon rubber outsole

 Style and design

This modern classic is the choice of high level professional players all around the world. The
supernova T-Mac3 features the highest quality craftsmanship coupled with pure performance.
The adiPRENE optimizes grip on soft to very soft natural playing surfaces and excellent feel
and fit.
COMPARISON BETWEEN REEBOK G UNIT CASUAL SHOE MENS, ADIDAS
SUPERNOVA T-MAC3 SHOES AND NIKE SHOES

Reebok Adidas Nike

Comfort   
Support   
Moulded EVA sockliner   
Cushion support   
Supportive pad   
Moulded midsole   
Supple upper bed   
Traction and durability   
High abrasion rubber outsole   
Soft and stretchable mesh   
Foot hugging inner bootie   
Moisture-wicking, antimicrobial ortholite   
sockliner
Carbon rubber outsole   
Fore foot cushioning   
Shock absorbing heel   
Style and design   
GLOBAL MARKET SHARES OF VARIOUS BRANDS IN

ATHELETIC FOOTWEAR
 Define the Market
Some of the theory we have used in my project are as follows:

Theory: what is market research and why it is important.

Market research is a method of collecting data which will make you (as a business) more
aware of how the people, you hope to sell to, will react to your products or services. Market
research will answer questions like:

 Whether your products or services are needed

 Who might want to buy your products

 What age, sex, income occupation etc. are the people I want to sell to.

 If there are changes taking place and how this might affect what you sell

 How well your products or services might sell

 How much demand there is for what you hope to sell

 What price would people be prepared to pay

Conducting market research

There are number of ways in which you can carry out your research but you need to carefully
consider why you made this choice and what you hope the evidence will suggest to you.

Questionnaires and personal interviews are one of the most common ways in which you can
conduct market research, and there are many methods of gathering data this way: Direct
Interview, Mail Survey and Telephone interview. Depending on the type of data you hope to
collect will have a impact on what you choose to use. we have made use of two type of
survey methods, questionnaire and mail survey. We have asked some question about the
company by mail and also by direct contacts. The Question we have asked are given in
“questionnaire part” below.
 AIM/OBJECTIVES OF THE MARKET STUDY

1. To understand why customers buys a particular product.

2. To know the marketing opportunities

3. To understand marketing problems

4. To help in the selection of right course of actions

5. To know about customers acceptance of the product

6. To understand the distribution network

7. To forecast the probable volume of the future sales.

8. To analyze the excepted market share

9. To assess competitive slight policies

 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION:

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem is to how

research is done scientifically. It consists of the different steps that are generally adopted
by the researcher to the study his research problem along with logic behind them. It is
necessary to the researcher to develop certain tests.

RESEARCH DESIGN:

Research design is a plan to answer whom, when, where, and how the subject under
investigation conceived so as to obtain answers to research questions. The type of
research design involved in this study is descriptive research studies.

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH STUDIES:

Descriptive research studies are those studies, which are concerned with describing the
characteristics of a particular individual, or of a group, where as diagnostic research study
determine the frequency with which something occurs or its association with something
else.The studies concerning whether certain variables are associated are example of
diagnostic research studies. As against this, study concerned individual, group or situation
are all example of descriptive research studies. Most of the social research studies come
under this category from the point of view of the research design.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD:

The required data was collected by both the primary and secondary sources. The data
objective are describe from the research objectives and their determination rests mainly on
the research to translate what the decision marker wants into specific descriptive of the
needed data.

 Primary data is the data gathered for the first time by the researcher by using
questionnaire.

 Secondary data, on the other hand, is those which have already been collected by
someone else and which already been passed through the statistical process.
  Secondary data pertaining to this study was obtained from research papers,
information available on internet etc.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS:

Instrument : Questionnaires (personal administered)

Instrument Design : close ended Question are used in questionnaires.

QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

A well structured questionnaire was used for this study. The types of questions used in the
questionnaire were multiple-choice questions.

1. Multiple-choice questions are question, which contain a list of answer and permit the
subject to select the best answer.

SAMPLING:

Sampling is the process of selecting a sufficient number of elements from the population,
so that a study of sample and an understanding of its properties or characteristics would
make it possible for us to generalize such properties or characteristics to the population
elements.

SAMPLEING PLAN:

 Sampling technique : Cluster sample

 Sample size : 100 units

SAMPLE DESIGN:

A Sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from given population. It refers to
the technique or the procedure the researcher would adopt in selection items for the sample.
Sample may as well lay down the number of items to be included in the sample namely, the
size of the sample.
CLUSTER SAMPLING:

Cluster sampling method suggests, the samples are selected at different stages. In this
method, the population is first divided into different stages. Then from the first stage, a few
items are selected at random based on a specific feature or characteristic. From these in the
second stage, a few elements are selected at random possessing, he characteristic. From
which in the third stage a few are selected at random satisfying the characteristic and so on
to finally make the necessary selection of samples. All the samples selected at random at
different stages will posses the common characteristic or will be homogeneous on some
basis Cluster sampling involves arranging elementary items in a population into
heterogeneous subgroups that are representative of the overall population. One such group
constitutes a sample for study.

SAMPLING SIZE:

The total numbers of respondents are termed as sample size. The sample size for this
analysis is 100 respondents.
 FINDINGS & ANALYSIS
Company research report

(A) Company Description

Adidas-Salomon AG(ADIDAS). Production and marketing of sports equipment, footwear

and apparel under the brand names of Adidas, Salomon, Taylor Made and Mavic. Sales of
Footwear accounted for 45% reveneue; Sales of Apparel, 35% and Sales of Hardware, 20%.

(B) Competitor Analysis

Adidas-Salomon AG operates in the Men’s & boys’ clothing sector. This analysis compares
Adidas with three other sport shoe and apparel manufacturers: Nike Inc. of the India (2004
sales of Rs. 400 billion of which 59% was Footwear), Reebok International Ltd. of the India
(2005 sales: Rs. 90 billion of which 73% was Footwear), and Amer Group PLC which is
based in Finland (2005 sales of 6.46 billion Finnish Markka [Rs. 4000 million] of which 24%
was Racquet Sports). Note: not all of these companies have the same fiscal year: the most
recent data for each company are being used.
DATA ANALYSIS

1. Which of the following in your opinion potrays itself as the best before consumers?

marketingstrategy

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Adidas 40 40.0 40.0 40.0

Nike 33 33.0 33.0 73.0

Reebok 18 18.0 18.0 91.0

Others 9 9.0 9.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Inference-

We can conclude from the above that majority of the people feel that marketing strategies of
Adidas are better as compared to its major competitors followed by nike and then there is
reebok . other brands include puma , fila , Portland etc

2. According to you, which of the following brand is best in sports wear?

 bestbrand

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid nike 28 28.0 28.0 28.0

puma 12 12.0 12.0 40.0

Adidas 27 27.0 27.0 67.0

reebok 16 16.0 16.0 83.0

portland 9 9.0 9.0 92.0

fila 8 8.0 8.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Inference

When a comparison was made on the basis of footwear , we found that the brands Adidas and nike
both attract the people , but Adidas has a slight edge over Adidas.reebok is the 3 rd favorite of the
people followed by puma and fila.

3. Do you think Adidas provides its customers value for money ?

 valueformoney

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid yes 78 78.0 78.0 78.0

no 22 22.0 22.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Inference

When I surveyed the people on the basis of value for money being provided by Adidas
majority of the people were satisfied and agreed that they do get value for money, however
22 % had bad experience with Adidas

4. What factor do you keep in mind while shopping from Adidas?

 factors

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid advertisement 7 7.0 7.0 7.0

price 27 27.0 27.0 34.0

design 7 7.0 7.0 41.0

quality 26 26.0 26.0 67.0

comfort 33 33.0 33.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Inference

In the above survey most of the people were of opinion that the shop from Adidas because of
the comfort provided by the company and also the people were very satisfied with the quality
of the products. People generally buy during the discount seasons as price is also an
important factor while shopping from the company.

5. If you have to shop for sports wear apart from Adidas which of the following it will
be?
 alternative

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid nike 31 31.0 31.0 31.0

reebok 22 22.0 22.0 53.0

fila 10 10.0 10.0 63.0

new balance 9 9.0 9.0 72.0

puma 28 28.0 28.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Inference

We found out that people prefer to shop from nike the most after Adidas followed by puma
which is the next best favorite of the people , brands like newbalance ,fila are not so attractive
among the customers
6. Who among these do you feel is the perfect choice for the brand
ambassador of Adidas ?

bestbrandambassador

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid sachin tendulkar 36 36.0 36.0 36.0

rickey ponting 22 22.0 22.0 58.0

david beckham 20 20.0 20.0 78.0

sania mirza 13 13.0 13.0 91.0

Zinédine Zidane 9 9.0 9.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Inference

Out of the various brand ambassadors of Adidas sachin tendulkar is the favorite among the
people followed ricky pointing and david beckham. Zinedine zidane the French footballer
and the tennis star are not so popular among the people as the brand ambassadors.

7. Do the brand ambassador effect your decision to opt for Adidas ?

 brandambassador

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid strongly agree 9 9.0 9.0 9.0

agree 39 39.0 39.0 48.0

neutral 21 21.0 21.0 69.0

disagree 28 28.0 28.0 97.0

strongly disagree 3 3.0 3.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Inference

In the above survey we found out the brand ambassador endorsing the product does have a
significant impact on the buying decisions of the people.as can be seen from the graph ,39 %
people agree that their choice does get effected by the company’s brand ambassador
8. Are you aware about the online shopping facility provided by Adidas ?

awarenessonlineshopping

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid yes 28 28.0 28.0 28.0

no 72 72.0 72.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Inference

When the people were surveyed about the online shopping facility being provided by Adidas
we found out that most of the people were not aware about such a facility being provided by
Adidas .the survey shows that only 28 % were aware about online shopping being provided

9. Which of the following induces you the most to opt for Adidas ?
 Salespromotion

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid discount offers 23 23.0 23.0 23.0

sponsorship 12 12.0 12.0 35.0

advertisements 22 22.0 22.0 57.0

online shopping @
8 8.0 8.0 65.0
ShopAdidas

brand 35 35.0 35.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Inference

From the above we can see that Adidas as a brand attracts the customers the most . the
various discount offers and advertisements also serve as a mean to induce the people to shop
from Adidas. The online shopping facility does not attract a lay customer much to shop from
Adidas

10. According to you, in which category should Adidas venture into?

 Additionalproductline

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid formal wear 28 28.0 28.0 28.0

informals 42 42.0 42.0 70.0

party wear 30 30.0 30.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Inference

From the above we can see that people are of view that Adidas should venture into the
other related field like informals. People also feel that it should venture into apprals
like formal wear and party wear

11.Which of the following products do you purchase most often from Adidas?
 Mostpurchasedproducts

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid shoes 42 42.0 42.0 42.0

caps 10 10.0 10.0 52.0

t-shirt 30 30.0 30.0 82.0

pullovers 8 8.0 8.0 90.0

tracksuits 10 10.0 10.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Inference

From the above we can see that out of the various products being provided by Adidas its
sports shoes are the favorite among the people followed by the t-shirts .its other products like
track suits , caps and pullovers are being purchased evenly by the customers

12. Do you think Adidas is able to promote itself in a better way as compared to its
competitors?
 promotioncomparison

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid strongly agree 9 9.0 9.0 9.0

agree 39 39.0 39.0 48.0

neither agree or disagree 21 21.0 21.0 69.0

disagree 28 28.0 28.0 97.0

strongly disagree 3 3.0 3.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Inference

Most of the people are of view that the marketing strategy of Adidas is good and the
company is able to communicate to its various customers effective through its various
marketing strategies

SWOT ANALYSIS OF ADIDAS

Strengths :
The main strength of Adidas is his Product Quality. The quality and the material uses in
Adidas is very good. The company has a good brand image in the market, the publicity and
the advertisement is also very good and lastly company hold a healthily market share in the
market.

Weakness:

The major weakness in the Adidas is that the manufacturing of the products of Adidas is not
done in India itself it is being import hence the cost become high and the margin of profit
becomes low that’s why company must give a deep thought on manufacturing their products
in India.

Another major weakness in the company is that it is not catering to all the segments which I
have already discuss above, If these two weakness in the company can be eradicated then the
company may earn high profit and better market status.

Opportunities:

Adidas does have many products for the urban segment or poor people, but there are hardly
any products or we can say that there are no products for this segment. India is more a rural
country, in the total population of India major part of population lives in rural area and these
people can not afford the costly products of the company like Adidas hence company must
target this particular segment they must introduce the shoes and other product according to
their demands. and also price is one of the major factor which may influence this type of
segment hence company should make their policy accordingly.

Company must also consider the rage of products as compare to Nike and Reebok. In my
opinion the company must introduce more rage or more variety in the market to compete with
their competitors and also the customer have more choices to choice the product from.

Threats:

Adidas does not have strong distribution network as compare to Nike and Reebok in India.
Nike has more number of retail outlet then Adidas and Reebok has a unique distribution
network, the company Reebok not only uses its outlet for the sale of their product but also use
some other shoes company outlet like “Bata”. In a Bata showroom u can find Reebok shoes
and other products. But this is not a case with Adidas hence Reebok has a extra advantage
over Adidas.
Conclusions:

ADIDAS in INDIA has always been driven by its Value-for-money strategy. The company
needs to identify critical success factory and work assiduously towards achieving it.
 RECOMMENDATIONS & CONCLUSION
Turbulent is the words that aptly describe the scenario in sports industry in last two last
financial years. By frequent price cuts in market and larger than live Marketing game plans,
competition reached its new highs and lows. It is no longer sufficient to just be competitive.
A company which has to survive has got to have competitive advantage. One needs to take
strategic initiative in the short run to achieve the desired “positioning” in future. One has to
foresee ‘tomorrow’.

Understanding competition today involves three levels:

 Competition for intellectual leadership for new ideas that create new advantages.

 Competition for translating these ideas into product/service faster than others.

 Competition for market share.

Following tips are helpful in combating competition:

 Do not nature and PARADIGMS because today “anything is possible”.

 Search for newer markets than expanding your customer base.

 Come out with state of the art, feature packed affordable and competitive
advantageous products.

 Set Benchmarks for growth.

 Improve up on distribution channels for viable coverage of the market.

 Wear out competition through trend setting, inimitable tactical moves based on our
infrastructure strengths.

 The strategic intent should be clear down the management.

 Work on your strengths i.e. Infrastructure, financial base, backward integration.

 POP and MERCHANDISING material should be made as per international market.

 CORPORATE TRAINING PROGRAMMEA for Development of manpower from

external faculty.

We have so far identified the various areas on which ADIDAS and other major sports
companies need to improve upon to achieve the desired level of competitiveness. These
improvements would give ADIDAS and the other sports companies base to compete with the
MNCs and help the Indian companies to reduce the impact of MNCs on the Indian Market in
the future. Indian manufacturers will have to react quickly because any delay in reacting to
the threat posed by the MNCs would only give the MNCs time to establish themselves in the
market. With their expertise and financial capacity they would be nearly impossible to
compete with once they get a firm foot hold in the market.

THE FUTURE

But the battle has only started, and the foreign sports companies are here for the long term.
They can sustain losses for years to come in order to gain market share. What they are doing
at present, is building up distribution networks to cover every nook and corner of the country
and, setting up manufacturing facilities.

Only those Indian manufactures which have a strong focus on manufacturing and
technological upgradation will survive in the long run, although with a much smaller market
share than they have at present. Small companies will be side lined totally and will exit from
the sports market altogether.

ADIDAS in INDIA has always been driven by its Value – for-money strategy. The company
needs to identify critical success factory and work assiduously towards achieving it.
 ANNEXURE
QUESTIONNAIRE

Dear Sir/ma’am

This is a questionnaire aimed at providing information and understanding the

marketing strategies of Adidas. Please provide required information and oblige me.

Name: ---------------------------------- Age: -------- ---------------------

Sex: ---------------------------- Contact details-----------------

1. Which of the following in your opinion potrays itself as the best before consumers?

a) Adidas
b) Nike
c) Reebok
d) Others
2. According to you, which of the following brand is best in sports wear?

a) Nike
b) Puma
c) Adidas
d) Reebok
e) Portland
f) Fila
3. Do you think Adidas provides its customers value for money ?

a) Yes

b) No

4. What factor do you keep in mind while shopping from Adidas?

a) Advertisement,
b) Price
c) Design
d) Quality
e) Comfort
5. If you have to shop for sports wear apart from Adidas which of the following it will
be?

a) Nike

b) Reebok

c) Fila

d) New balance

e) Puma

6. Who among these do you feel is the perfect choice for the brand
ambassador of Adidas?

a) Sachin Tendulkar

b) Ricky Ponting

c) David Beckham

d) Sania Mirza

e) Zinédine Zidane

7. Does the brand ambassador of Adidas effect your decision to opt for it?

a) Strongly agree
b) Agree
c) Neither agree nor disagree
d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
8. Are you aware about the online shopping facility provided by Adidas?
a) Yes
b) No
9. Which of the following induces you the most to opt for Adidas?
a) Discount offers
b) Sponsorships for events
c) Advertisements
d) Online shopping @ ShopAdidas
e) Brand
10. According to you, in which category should Adidas venture into?

a) Formal wear

b) Informal

c) Party wear

11. Which of the following products do you purchase most often from Adidas?

a. Shoe

b. Caps

c. T-shirts

d. Pullovers

e. Tracksuits

12. Do you think Adidas is able to promote itself in a better way as compared to its
competitors?

a) Strongly agree

b) Agree

c) Neither agree nor disagree

d) Disagree

e) Strongly disagree

“Thank you for your time and for sharing your views”
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Web Sites

www.Adidas.com

www.indiainfoline.com

www.webcrawler.com

www.google.com

www.indiatimes.com

Magazines

A&M

Business India

India Today

Business Today

Newspapers

The Times of India

The Hindustan Times

The Economic Times

Books:

 PHILIP KOTLER, MARKETING MANAGEMENT, NEW MILLENNIUM

EDITION

 V.S RAMASWAMY AND S. NAMAKUMARI MARKETING MANAGEMENT,

SECOND EDITION.

 WILLIAM STANTON.J, MICHALL J.ETJEC, BRUCE J.WALKER

FUNDAMENTAL OF MANAGEMENT.

 RAVICHANDRAH.N COMPETITION IN INDIAN INDUSTRY.