Global Marketing Segmentation Usefulness in the Sportswear Industry - Essay Sample

The political, economic, social, and technological issues can be dramatic and difficult to predict. However, we must determine the limitations that might be caused by the factors. First, the political changes decide the survivability of an organization (Ko et al., 2012). For instance, the United States (Kicks Home country) has fantastic policies for growth which are valuable to the company. Such policies include low-interest rates as well as well-arranged international agreements. Additionally, Kicks is always subjected to changes in manufacturing laws and tax since it is a company that manufactures and sells physical goods. At the same time, political conflicts can prevent imports and exports, or make customs related processes difficult. Kicks must ensure that it complies with tax requirements and avoid legal repercussions for shady marketing practices such as false discounts. Again, the company must take advantage of free trade policies that facilitate better penetration in the overseas market.

Undeniably, Kicks has established a solid footing in the industry. Therefore, the company is less susceptible to economic factors than others. However, various economic variables could affect the company. First, a market collapse could affect the company, along with other big brands such as X-act since consumers might switch to other lower-end products. Again, sports activities are seasonal which makes the athletic footwear market to fluctuate. However, Kicks Athletics plans to use its financial strength to enter emerging markets where it can sell products. Indeed, there is unlimited growth potential in the US. For instance, the athletic shoe business in Canada is a 658 Billion dollar business. Moreover, Kicks could explore the Asian-Pacific market that is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of about eight percent from 2016 to 2024.

In the recent past, public relations have become increasingly important. Kicks Athletics will seek to enhance its image and social status. For this reason, the company will employ a larger staff to create a more satisfied and loyal customer base through superior customer service. Additionally, health and wellness is a growing worldwide concern as people are moving towards healthier lifestyles. Indeed, the provincial government is creating awareness concerning child obesity and promoting daily physical activity. The company will capitalize on this since it means that people will buy plenty of sports apparel. Again, the growing preference for specialized and customized products will push the company to invest more in research and development activities. The company should focus on high-growth developing countries and those that encourage free trade policies.

Technology gives us the ability to innovate in several ways. Kicks ambitious product development team will receive funding to create the ultimate running shoe on the market, which will exceed customer satisfaction of the competition. Additionally, the firm will use social media to build its brand. Furthermore, the company will utilize information based metrics to maximize revenue and optimize targeting and production. For instance, Kicks will integrate advanced technologies in its products to attract consumers who use mobile technologies including online tools and mobile apps.

2.4 Collaborators

Today, companies see the need for collaboration on essential strategies of service delivery, productivity, fueling a creative spirit and distribution (Ko et al., 2012). This need has been accelerated by the changes in business environment and the desire to work together to solve the heightening business challenges. Therefore, collaborators are vital to the efficiency as well as the bottom line of a company. In case of any conflicts, quick and efficient means of solving conflicts may help to preserve and improve the relationship between the groups in conflict and effective solutions can drive an organization to productive relationships. Kicks collaborate with supplier, distributors, and alliance. The company will evaluate each partner to see how it can grow and foster relationships.

Kicks Athletics Inc. is dependent on suppliers. The company always works to build a good relationship with their suppliers just as they do to their customers. It emphasizes the following strategies to foster its relationship with its workers. The first is always ensuring to pay on time and confine to the agreed payable terms. Secondly, Kicks makes sales projections to enable them to provide their suppliers with adequate lead-time and prevent conflicts that may arise from delayed deliveries. Kicks also acknowledge and reward their suppliers. Lastly, Kicks is communicative and share relevant information with their suppliers especially, regarding promotions, new products, and customer demands. Kicks Company intends to create the ultimate running shoe on the market, which will exceed customer satisfaction of the competition. The success of developing such a brand will depend on the relationship between the company and the suppliers, who are expected to deliver the right materials at the right time.

Kicks acknowledge the need to foster its relationship with distributors. Without distributors, the company will not make profits as their goods may not make it to the end user. While online means of communication are effective, Kicks distribution department often meets its distributors by planning time for face-to-face meetings. Secondly, they ensure effective communication with their distributors. Communication acts as the social glue that achieves interactions within and without Kicks. The company identifies the communication gaps and solves communication issues. Thirdly, personnel from Kicks often attend events organized by their distributors, which offer an excellent platform for networking, marketing and attracting customers. Furthermore, the company attends and participates in meetings organized by the distributor. This offers them an opportunity to voice their opinion and boost their relationship. In future, Kicks intends to utilize drop shipping to reduce the cost of transport, ensure convenience and efficiency. Drop shipping will reduce the need to keep the products in their stocks as they transfer shipments to distributors, who then ship them to customers.

Forming strategic alliances helps to sustain the profitability of the company. Kicks focus on joint-decision making, rewards, shared resources and effective risk management as related elements to achieve strategic alliances. The company intends always to demonstrate mutual respect for standards and requirements and clarify expectations so to achieve higher levels of alliance success.

2.5 Competitors

The two major players in the market are X-act and Kicks Athletics. The strengths of X-act include strong global brand and strong market research and development. Indeed, X-act is one of the most valuable footwear brands in the market. Besides, the company takes its research, design, and development efforts seriously. In fact, X-act believes that this is one of its success factors. The company utilizes technical innovation in the design and manufacturing of its brands, which has helped in reducing injuries and enhancing athletic performance. On the other hand, Kicks has established a solid footing in the industry and has stabilized growth with sufficient earnings. As a result, the company has a steady cash flow and a large sum of retained earnings. However, the company has not been using its market research to its full potential. Moving forward, the company will increase its spending on promotion and product development as market research has suggested. Additionally, Kicks will employ a larger staff to create a more satisfied and loyal customer base through superior customer service. Then, the marketing professionals will come up the new promotion and advertising campaigns to generate brand awareness

In 2015, the athletic footwear market was valued at approximately USD 80 billion globally. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of about two percent from 2016 to 2024. The success factors of the industry include increasing participation in sports and fitness activities as well as inflating global population (Ko et al., 2012). The athletic footwear market is estimated to experience substantial growth due to rising disposable income, demand for comfortable and innovative footwear, growing retail e-commerce market, and increasing awareness about healthy lifestyles. The rising trend of healthy lifestyles as well as increasing active participation of youth in sports and related activities will propel the demand for the athletic footwear market. Additionally, innovations in the athletic footwear including lightweight and functionality athletics shoes for running and jogging for men and women will influence the market. At the same time, increasing awareness about eco footwear, rising e-commerce, seasonal trends, as well as rising innovations in athletic footwear will drive the market.

The factors that are likely to inhibit the demand for athletic footwear include healthy competition from the local manufactures as well as the increased prevalence of counterfeit products. The increased prevalence of counterfeit goods is expected to have an adverse impact on the brand image and sales of major brands. The footwear market is segmented as per the product type including sports shoes, inset shoes, and backpacking footwear. Insert shoes are projected to take the highest market share followed by the sports shoe segment. The sports shoe segment entails footwear specifically designed for sports including baseball tennis, golf, soccer, and basketball. Besides, the athletic footwear is segmented according to the end-users including women, kids, and men.

Geographically, the footwear market is divided into regions like North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Europe is expected to account for the highest market share whereas Asia-Pacific will grow at the highest CAGR of about eight percent from 2016 to 2024 (Ko et al., 2012). The key drivers Asia-Pacific market include growing middle-class population, increased per capita spending on clothing, and increased preference for branded and high fashion footwear. Again, the athletic footwear for men is expected to occupy the largest market share and also grow at a relatively higher CAGR between 2016 to 2024. Although the entry of Kicks into the foreign market was a brilliant idea, the company lost its focus on the home market. This was a critical error since the company failed to create a new team to oversee the home market. Moving forward, Kicks will focus on building the home, domestic, and foreign market. First, the company will create a new team to oversee the home market. At the same time, the company will focus on the foreign market to gain more market share. It is essential to note that the foreign market share of the company had a strong beginning at 34.7 percent but later dropped as the sales and revenue increased.

References

Ko, E., Taylor, C. R., Sung, H., Lee, J., Wagner, U., Navarro, D. M. C., & Wang, F. (2012). Global marketing segmentation usefulness in the sportswear industry. Journal of Business Research, 65(11), 1565-1575.