Sports Shoes: Fitting Personality

The size of Indian footwear market is estimated at approximately 22,200 crore rupees in
2012 and it is growing at the rate of 8 to 10 per cent. Indian footwear can be broadly
categorized into formal and casual shoes. Formal shoes are basically leather shoes, and the
category of casual shoes covers various other types such as sandals, slippers, floaters, slip-
ons, and sports shoes. Of the different types of casual shoes, the category of sports shoes is
perhaps the largest in terms of market size and the most popular among teens and youth.
Internationally, sports shoes are also known by different terms such as trainers, sneakers,
tennis shoes, and athletic shoes. These different terms denote the purpose for which the
type of shoes is worn, that is, sports, athletics, jogging, and running. However, over a period
of time, these shoes have become a lifestyle product, especially for teens and youth. Their
day-to-day attire consists of T-shirt, a pair of jeans, and sneakers.

History of Shoes

People had always felt the need for shoes to not only protect the feet, but also to have
something lightweight to get a good grip of the ground. In the late 19th century, leather
shoes with leather spikes were made to achieve these goals. However, the real sports shoe
did not come into existence till the vulcanization of rubber was discovered and patented.

By the early 1900s, commercial production of sports shoes had started. First, it was
produced by small rubber companies but within a decade, brands were introduced. Some of
the brands introduced at that time were Converse, All-Stars, and Keds. At the later stages
of development, new features such as grips or traction instead of spikes were added to make
the product useful for other games also.

Emergence of multinational brands was the next important trend that become visible in
1930s and 40s. This was the time when brands such as Adidas (founded in 1924), Puma
(founded in 1947), and Reebok (re-branded in 1958) entered the market. The last to come
on the scene was Nike in 1972. The convenience and comfort offered by these products,
new opportunities afforded to shoe designers, and the marketing by these big brands
resulted in the emergence of two trends. One, these companies started positioning
differently designed shoes for different sports. Therefore, there were tennis shoes, jogging
shoes, basketball shoes, and football shoes. Two, these companies also positioned these
shoes as lifestyle products that made the product transition from being worn only in the
sports arena to everywhere.

As a result by 1980s, these shoes were everywhere and had become the mainstay of people
in USA and Europe. As the market in these geographies matured, and developing countries
liberalized their economies, these brands made their entry into new markets, India being
one of them.

Sports Shoes Market in India

The market is dominated by men's segment which accounts for about 55 per cent followed
by ladies 30 per cent and kids 15 per cent. This is surprising and is contrary to the
international scenario wherein women's footwear has a larger share of the market. In terms
of organized versus unorganized sector, 30% of the total market falls into the organized
sector.

Shoes available in India can be categorized into formal shoes that are completely made of
leather; semi-formal footwear that have leather uppers; and informal footwear that is made
of materials other than leather. The Indian footwear market is dominated by casual
footwear or semi-formal and informal shoes that constitute nearly 75 per cent of the total
market.

Sports shoes are still regarded as informal shoes especially by adults and elderly consumers,
who do not consider them to be fit for official wear. But the popularity of sports shoes
among the Indian youth is increasing and they are wearing them on more and more
occasions. It is predicted that over a period of time sports shoes will become the most
popular shoe category among Indian consumers.

The sports shoes market in India consists of three layers. The first layer consists of
multinational brands such as Nike, Reebok, Puma, and Adidas. These four brands are
considered to be the premium brands in the market. The second layer consists of Indian
brands such as Action, Power, and Liberty that appeal to consumers by providing value for
money. The lowest layer consists of non-branded sports shoes and their basic appeal is
cheapness. These non-branded products are very popular among customers of lower middle
class and in smaller towns of India.

XYZ Shoe Company

XYZ Shoe Company is located in Delhi and has been selling its product in the unorganized
market for the last 15 years. It started by selling its products in the local markets in Delhi
and nearby markets. Over a period of 15 years it has spread its distribution network to cover
the whole of India. The company has a good reputation among retailers as the product is
good and generally lasts for a couple of years.

Combined with durability is the cost advantage as the price of the shoes ranges from Rs.
700 to 1,700. The company provides a good margin to the retailers who push the brand to
the consumers.

The company is now at crossroads. It feels that it has already realized the potential of
growth in the unbranded market and that the time has come to step into the branded
market. A preliminary exploratory secondary research came up with the following findings:

The branded market is dominated by the multinational brands. Nike, Reebok, Puma,
and Adidas share almost 84 per cent of the branded sports shoes market between them.

Indian brands such as Action and Power are marginal players.

The dominance of multinational brands are due to huge ad spends resulting in mind
share capture as well as pocket share.

Communications from these brands are positioned on sports, health, and fitness and
have taken the route of using sports celebrities to build their brand equity.

Three of the brands have started to look very similar as they have the same strategy of
using sports celebrities to appeal to customers. As a result, to Indian consumers, the
brand personality of the three brands (namely Nike, Adidas, and Reebok) is similar and
confusing. Only Puma has positioned itself as a fashion brand.

XYZ company understands that the key to its success in the market will be in developing a
brand that will be completely different from all the other brands. To further its
understanding of the personality of existing brands, namely Nike, Adidas, Lotto, Power, and
Reebok, the company decided to conduct a marketing research. This research consisted of

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two stages. First was to conduct a qualitative research aimed at finding the relevant
personality traits. Second was to conduct a quantitative research in which the respondents
were asked to associate five existing brands, namely Nike, Reebok, Lotto, Adidas, and
Power, with the personality traits that were found to be relevant and important during the
qualitative stage. These personality traits were athletic, cool, youthful, caring, outgoing,
stylish, prestige-seeking, comforting, active, elegant, and cosmopolitan. The resultant
associative data was analysed by using a statistical technique called correspondence analysis
that resulted in a brand personality map shown in the following map.

Personality Map

In the map, the circles represent the brands and triangles denote the personality traits. The
brand attributes that are closer to a brand in terms of angular distance are taken as
associated with that brand. Further, the brands that are closer to the origin are taken as
having undifferentiated personalities and the brands that are away from the origin (i.e., at
the edge of map) are regarded as having differentiated personalities. Keeping these two
principles in mind, the brand personality map was analysed to obtain the following research
findings:

In terms of differentiation of brand personalities, Nike and Power have the most
differentiated and therefore, distinct brand personalities in the market. Reebok is also
almost as far away from the origin as these two brands. However, its position is crowded
out by the existence of two other brands, that is, Lotto and Adidas. Adidas is the closest
to the origin and therefore its personality is not distinctive.

Nike has the most desirable brand personality as the brand is very closely associated
with a very desirable personality attribute youthful. Youths are the primary market
for the sports shoes category. In addition the brand is also strongly associated with
personality traits of athletic, active, and cool, as the angular distance between these
traits and the brand is very less. In addition, the brand is also associated with the
personality traits of outgoing, stylish, and prestige-seeking. However, the association
with these traits is weak as these traits are positioned at some distance away, and
therefore, are available for a competing brand.

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 The brand personality of Power is also distinctive but not strong, as there is only one
brand personality trait, that is, caring, that is strongly associated with the brand. No
other personality trait is even weakly associated with the brand. It is evident from the
quadrant in which the brand is situated. It has only that brand and the trait of caring.

Adidas, Lotto, and Reebok are situated in the same quadrant and are not far away from
each other in terms of angular distance indicating that their brand personalities are not
different from each other. These three brands are almost equidistant from the
personality traits of comforting, elegant, and cosmopolitan. It seems that the three
brands may be suffering from brand personality confusion in customers' perception.

XYZ Company had got the research conducted in the hope of getting a clue on getting some
personality traits that are available, that is, not strongly associated with any of the brands.
The brand strategy is to find out personality traits that would be relevant for the XYZ brand
and could be used through marketing communications.

Questions

1. Keeping in the mind the history of XYZ Company, select a target group for the brand.
Justify your target group.

2. What personality traits should the brand acquire and what traits are available as
indicated by the brand personality map? Are these traits adequate for the brand to
become a distinctive and attractive brand for the market it wants to address?

3. Do you agree with the defensive strategy of the brand to try to acquire only available
traits which are not associated strongly with any of the brands? What strategy will you
suggest?