Marketing Mix of Adidas
Adidas has made a real come back in the past few years. Despite Nike’s challenge, it has emerged a strong player and is again in a mood to make its presence felt with full might. The brand has a unique appeal and its market share and popularity have grown in the recent years. Apart from product innovation, the credit can be given to the excellent marketing efforts of the brand.  It makes shoes and apparel for men, women and kids. The brand has revamped its marketing strategy in these years and that has boosted its growth rate and revenue. This is a discussion of the marketing mix of Adidas focusing on the four P’s- Product, place, Price and promotion. All these aspects of its marketing mix are important and have played a major role in the growth and success of the famous sports shoe and apparel brand.
Product Mix:
Adidas is a well-known maker of sports shoe, apparel and accessories. It makes shoes and apparel for men, women and kids. The brand also produces shoes and sports gear for different sports. Apart from quality, it also focuses on attractive designs and a large product range. Its product mix has grown larger after its acquisition of Reebok. Below is a brief description of its product mix.
Products:
Sports shoes and apparel for basketball, football, golf, outdoor, running, tennis and training.
Men’s shoes and clothing,
Kid’s shoes and clothing
Women’s shoes and clothing
Handbags and other accessories for men and women.
Brands:Â
Adidas Originals, Neo, Stella McCartney, All Porsche Design Sport, Reebok, Taylor made Adidas Golf.
Thus, you can see that Adidas has a large array of stylish products for men, women and kids. Apart from its shoes and accessories for specific sports, it has also brought innovative designs and styles in sports shoes and apparel.
Place:
Adidas has outsourced most of its production. Its products are manufactured in 55 countries and it works with more than 800 independent factories globally. Its Tier 1 suppliers are the factories with which it is in direct contractual relationship for the supply of its products. In Tier 2 are its subcontractors that are subcontracted by its primary suppliers. The brand has 785 tier 1 and 249 tier 2 suppliers.  Its number of retail stores in 2016 was more than 2800. Out of them, 1757 are concept stores, 902 factory outlets and 152 are concession corners and others.
Price:
The pricing strategy that Adidas uses is an example of the high low pricing strategy. The high low pricing scheme is a scheme where the prices of the products are generally kept higher than the competitors but the company uses promotional discounts to offer lower prices and attract consumers. In this way, the brands following this strategy attract consumers to the retail stores by providing low introductory prices on new products while also introducing them to the higher priced products. This strategy is extensively followed in the shoe and fashion industry.
Promotion:
Like the fashion industry, shoe industry also focuses a lot on marketing and promotion of brands and products. Adidas has also invested a lot in the marketing and promotion of its brand. The brand has adopted a new there pronged strategy to renew its brand image and attract customers. Part from the traditional channels, it has focused on the use of technology to grow its popularity and customer base. Its websites and apps that are designed to provide a convenient shopping experience are also a great channel of marketing for the brand where it showcases its newest innovations, styles and designs. Â The brand is also active on social media and has millions of followers on Facebook. The brand also uses YouTube to showcase promotional videos for the marketing of its brands and products. In combination with these methods, it uses the print media and television as well as sponsorship for marketing.
Sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/268442/number-of-retail-stores-of-the-adidas-group-worldwide-by-store-type/