SYNOPSIS

On
COMPARATIVE STUDY ON
CONSUMER PERCEPTION TOWARDS
PUMA & ADIDAS SPORTS SHOES

Towards partial fulfillment of

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

School of Management, Babu Banarasi Das University,
Lucknow

Guided by Submitted by
(Name of the Guide) Mohd. Gufran

Session 2018-2019
School of Management

Babu Banarasi Das University

Sector I, Dr. Akhilesh Das Nagar, Faizabad Road, Lucknow (U.P.) India

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

 Introduction

 Objectives of the Study

 Literature of the Review

 Research Methodology

 References

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 INTRODUCTION

Sports and games have become one of the most essential elements of human life as it

contributes to both the physical as well as mental fitness. Now day’s people are trying

to get involved in any sports activities to build their team spirit, mental strength,

constructive use of time, confidence and decision making. This in turn has created a

rise for the sports goods industries like Nike, Adidas, Reebok and Puma. These

industries are now competing against each other to become world leaders in sports

industry with the help of newly innovative branding techniques and marketing

strategies to attract more customers.

Brand allows consumers to filter out the countless generic items and gives them a

reason to buy the product. Brand is essentially the sum of all experiences related to

the product, service, and companies that make and deliver the product. Branding is a

very powerful component in business as it can make or break business interests, it can

destroy corporate image or it can build public trust and credibility. It all depends on

how it creates an impact on the consumer’s perception.

Brand perceptions are shaped by functional experiences (i.e. design, comfort, quality,

price, reliability, ease of use) as well as emotional experiences (i.e. social status, make

me feel better, improve my performance, make my life/job more gratifying or easier)

the customer associates with the product and company. Once a customer likes your

brand he/she will definitely come back for repeated services or products. The qualities

of the product or services are ensured through the customers minds from the brand

image. Brand recognition is acquired when a brand is widely known in the

marketplace. The ability of creating and retaining a brand is called brand

management.

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With the demand in the market for sports goods, various prominent brands are trying

their best to satisfy the customers with the help of innovative techniques which causes

impact on the perception of the consumers to change their brands. This changes the

buying behaviour of the consumers which is a process they use to make purchase

decisions as well as the use and disposal of the purchased goods and service.

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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the main objectives of my Research study:-

1. To make a brand analysis of Adidas & Puma.

2. To conduct a market survey on Puma & Adidas.

3. To study about the sports shoes industry in India.

4. To find out the current market position of Puma & Adidas.

5. Strategies and measures adopted by Puma & Adidas to increase the sales

of their sports shoes.

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 LITERATURE REVIEW

Traditionally sport marketing has been viewed as: “the application of marketing

concepts to sport products and services also encompassing the marketing of non-sport

related products through some association with sport” (Moore and Till, 1994; Gray

and McEvoy, 2005). Interestingly, the concept of “sports marketing” is still vague for

both the practitioners as well as the academicians (Fullerton and Merz, 2008).

Shannon (1999) identifies that the concept of sports marketing consists of various

categories which range from selling of match tickets to betting on sport-related

matters in legal gambling institutions. However, existing literature prefer to narrow

down the boundaries of “sports marketing” concept. The primary task of sports

marketing has been identified as that of selling tickets for the sporting events and

ensuring that the fans are properly seated as per the arrangements (Sports Marketing

Surveys, 2002); thus narrowing down the “sports product” offering only to the match

tickets spectators have bought. This conceptualization cannot be accepted as it

narrows down the scope of sports marketing. In today’s world, it is absolutely vital

that marketing of non-sports products through sports events be acknowledged as one

of the essential components of sports marketing. Many marketers use sports events as

platforms to appeal to consumers to sell a large variety of products. Most of these

products have either very little or no relationship at all with sports. This strategy

undertaken by the sport marketers to market products which are not associated with

sports is known as “marketing through sports” (Gray and McEvoy, 2005).

On the other hand, focusing on the sports related products Pitts and Stotlar (1996)

recommend a completely different outlook towards sports marketing. They

conceptualize sports marketing as a process to design and implement various

activities to produce, to finalize the price, to promote and to distribute different sports

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products for satisfying the needs and requirements of sports consumers and to attain

the managerial goals. This explanation finds support in Stotlar's (2001) work, which

emphasizes the process of developing successful plans pertaining to sport marketing.

Pitts and Stotlar’s study (1996) is the first study where the impact of price, place (i.e.

distribution) and promotion— the traditional three P-s of marketing mix are explored

in the domain of sports marketing. The addition of these three elements of marketing

mix provides a logical tool to Gladden and Sutton (2005) who claim the promotional

efforts undertaken by the marketer as the sole basis of sports marketing.

According to knorringar (1998) India is a country of artisans comprising of footwear

clusters spread in many parts of the country. These clusters predominantly consist of

small-scale manufacturers with skilled craftsmen, out dated technologies having less

access to automation. In a developing country like India, there exist tremendous

opportunity for combining the artisanal touch with high technology. The products

manufactured in these clusters are exported to medium price shops in America and

Europe. By employing capital intensive manufacture, footwear produced in these

clusters can also find a place in the high priced malls and boutiques in the

International market.

O’Brien et al (1998) explored the prehistoric footwear which were about seven

thousand five hundred years old. The study reveals that the slip-ons and sandals were

produced earlier also. These shoes were discovered from Arnold cave, United States.

On examining the physical characteristics the authors found that these shoes were

made of fibrous and leather constructions. The authors have also compared the earlier

extractions of footwear and observe that though the style of prehistoric footwear

found in various parts of United States appear to be similar they varied widely in

terms of construction techniques

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The classification of “sports products” is difficult to comprehend because of its

complexity in nature. While the reason behind classifying snowboards, ski-wears and

sports shoes as sports goods is easy to understand, the range of this final component

of sports goods i.e. Sports-related products is extremely diverse and in some cases no

direct relationship exists between such products and the sport itself (Fullerton and

Merz, 2008). This category of sports products consists of souvenirs, brochures and

magazines; various courses related to sports (e.g. coaching course or refereeing

course) and a wide array of products that can be purchased at the venues where the

sports event is taking place (e.g. fast food, beverages).

“Sporting goods” consist of physical goods that are specific to a particular sport (e.g.

swimming costume for swimming) but these products attract both casual and

professional participants thus enhancing these products’ acceptability amongst the

sports consumers (Fullerton and Merz, 2008).

The study by Goswami (2007), examines the purchase behaviour of the urban

consumers in Kolkata in on the basis of demographic and psychographic variables.

The study also throws light on the difference in the shopping orientation between

brand and non-brand loyal customers. The aspects that were considered for studying

the shopping orientation include gratification, Idea, Value, Diversion, Socialising,

Utilitarian, Price-Quality Association, Price consciousness, Fashion, Brand loyalty,

Need-based buying, Window shopping, multi-brand stores versus exclusive company

stores. From these facets the author identifies certain shopping behaviors like

utilitarian, conservative, hedonic, socialising etc. The resultant clusters were then

compared with the store choice attributes. Interestingly the study finds that store

choice behaviour varied across these segments For instance, the utilitarian shoppers

gave less importance to nearness of the store.

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The study by Larsen et al, (2009) throws insights into the influence of ambivalence on

the choice of convenience food in Norway. Ambivalence is described as the

contradictions people experience in their individual attitudes, beliefs or preferences.

The authors have clustered the consumers on the basis of attitudes, ambivalence and

moral aspects. Three consumer segments that were identified include convenient,

ambivalent and dissatisfied consumers. The study reveals that the ambivalent

consumers experience feeling so guilt when they purchase and consume ready meals.

But they buy ready meals that would please their children. The study adds another

segment to the already existing benefit segmentation by including ambivalence as one

of the key characteristics found among the consumers. The study also adds that about

40% of the consumers fall in this category.

The study by Iyer et al (2007) focuses on the baby boomers segment in the US. The

authors further divide this segment into older and younger baby boomers. Older baby

boomers consist of the consumers born between the years 1956 – 1965 and the

younger baby boomers consist of the consumers born between the years 1946 – 1955.

Though the study finds more similarities than differences among the younger and

older baby boomers, what is interesting is the suggestion given by the authors. The

authors feel that baby boomers if segmented on the basis of psychographics or

cognitive age than the traditional age segment would provide a valid market for the

manufacturers.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The purpose of market research is to provide information, which will aid

management decision-making. Marketing managers are commissioned to

undertake marketing research and formal studies on specific problems and

opportunities. They may request a marketing survey, a product preference test, a

sales forecast for a region or a research advertising effectiveness. It was felt that

to obtain more information intense study with practices was required for

understanding the subject. The basic aim of the study is to analyze customer

perception towards Puma & Adidas sports shoes.

In this Project I have applied DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH because Descriptive

Research aims at fact finding and more often is based on surveys. It is purpose to

describe the present state of affairs of topic of study. The researcher has little

control over the variables involved and he merely reports whatever is occurring

or has occurred. It is often referred to Post – facto study. It provides basic

information for formulating more sophisticated studies. Data are collected by one

or more methods of observation, interviewing and a mail questionnaire.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD

Since the study is exploratory in nature. A personal interview with each retailer was

aid of questionnaire was selected as the method of obtaining data the questionnaire to

used in Lucknow to facilitate tabulation and analysis of data were designed for

segment retailers.

Field experience showed that listing the respondents to the questionnaire failed to

touch upon certain parameters and it was found necessary to let the respondents have

free had and let the designed information filter lengthy discussion, through some

aspects of questionnaire adequately touch upon.

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The questionnaire was prepared by researches and the researcher also filled himself

interviewing the customers & some retailers.

Since the study is descriptive in nature. A personal interview with customers with the

help of questionnaire was selected to obtain data. The questionnaire to be used in

Lucknow city only.

Data source:- The various source of information broadly divided in 2 categories.

(a) Primary source:- Source from where first hand information are gathered directly

are called primary source and information thus collected is called primary data. In

case of the above study the primary source was customer/retailer.

(b) Secondary source:- The data that are collected for anther purposes are already

existing somewhere is called secondary data. With regard to my study the secondary

sources where records of the company, Magazines and papers.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT:- In this regard an instrument refers to means by

which research is conducted .

In this case of all the respondents’ questionnaire was used.

SAMPLING PLAN:

The samples were on judgment and convenience. A sample size of 100 respondents

was taken. The sampling unit was retailers of Lucknow for which this sample size

was considered a fair representative of the above – mentioned area. The sample

consisted of retailers spread over the entire area of the distributor.

STATISTICAL TOOLS USED:-

Bar & Pie charts, Tables etc. For analysis & interpretation of data the research used:-

Percentage = No of respondent
X 100
Total No of respondents

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 REFERENCES

BOOKS:-

 Marketing management -- PHILIP KOTLER

 Research methodology -- KOTHARI, C.R.
 Business statistics -- S.P. GUPTA

WEBSITES

 www.google.com
 www.wikipedia.org

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