Role of Promotion in Retailing - Essay Example

?Role of Promotion in Retailing Table of Contents Introduction 3 3 Promotional Strategies: Adidas for London Olympics 4 Conclusion 8 Images of Adidas in Olympics 2012 9 10 11 References 13 Introduction Promotion of a product for a company is very essential to provide information regarding the product and its features. It attracts as well as encourages the consumers to use the product or the services a company is providing. Promotion of a product can be done through various sorts of sources such as advertisements, newspapers, television media and print media. To augment the product’s sale, incentives such as discounts and offers are given at the time of purchase (McGoldrick, 2002). The objective of the paper is to show the promotional strategies of Adidas that have been used by the company as a part of its initiatives within 2012 London Olympics as their promotion campaign. The paper also shows the role of promotion in retailing as well as the advantages of promotion and the line marketing of Adidas. Promotional Strategies: Adidas for London Olympics 2012 Promotion is one of the most essential tools in marketing of a product. The elements of promotion are advertising, personal selling, publicity, sales promotion and direct marketing. A company makes a promotional mix to identify the budget to conduct the promotion and to recognise the importance that is to be provided to the various elements of promotional mix. The objectives of the promotional plan include augmentation of sales, recognition of the new product, brand equity creation and corporate image creation among others (McGoldrick, 2002). Promotion focuses mainly on three objectives: To provide information towards the consumers To increase the demand for the products To differentiate product There are a lot of advantages of promotion which are as follows: Promotion places the employees in a position where the skills as well as the knowledge can be utilized efficiently It builds and increases the interest of other employees in the company as they believe that they will also get their turn It creates among employees a feeling of satisfaction with the existing situation of work and employment It enhances interests to obtain higher education in training as well as in self- improvement with a outlook to meet up the necessities of the promotion Promotion helps in improving the morale as well as the satisfaction of the job of the employee By improving the morale of the employees, promotion ultimately helps in improving the organizational health It creates alertness of the survival of the product as well as the service provided Promotion helps a company to enlarge its market share Promotion provides information regarding the products as well as the services to the consumers that produces an incentive for the consumers to procure the products as well as use the services (McGoldrick, 2002) Adidas is known as one of the prominent sportswear manufacturers of the world. The Adidas Group was established by Adolf Dassler on 1949 with its headquarters in Germany. The first as well as the foremost global achievement of the brand was celebrated in 1954 when Germany won the championship of soccer. In middle of the 1980’s, the group had certain commercial breakdown but in 1995 the Adidas Group regained its momentum and to stay in a competitive market with Nike, in 2006 Adidas had taken over Reebok. The company sponsors many games with their own capital and its sportswear such as soccer and Olympics among others (Adidas Group, 2012). To grow to be the top retailer and provide with quality products are the main visions of Adidas. Retailing is important to show the breath of the product, to build division in markets where traditional structure of wholesaling does not exist and to influence the knowledge from own retail for the whole organization (Adidas Group, 2012). Adidas is going to be the official partner regarding sportswear for the London Olympics for the year 2012 (Guardian News and Media Limited, 2012). Adidas will act as the official partner for the team Great Britain. It will outfit all the staff members as well as the volunteers during the 2012 Olympics as well as Paralympic Games (Adidas Group, 2012). It has been observed that through the London 2012 Olympic Games it has been intended to raise around 1 billion Pound through the sales of merchandises, in which Adidas would play a major role (Toney, 2012). Adidas has a strong association in comparison to a number of other brands in relation to sports such as FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games. The most important objective of Adidas is to make the athletes and their performances better off. The innovation power of Adidas is the central part of its performance deriving products. The target customers of Adidas are the athletes, the people engaged in any sports activities and the people who are encouraged by sports as well as who love sport (Adidas Group, 2012). The 2012 London Olympics is a major platform for the Adidas Group to launch as well as show the new innovations as it is providing products for nearly all the scheduled sporting events in the 2012 London Olympics. Adidas follows a systematic and an effective strategy to compete in the industry of sports. It focuses on the biggest-potential markets for the investments and approaches the market with distinctive channels. The team that works in the company is developed in a prosperous heritage that is committed towards the positive standards of the sports. Adidas gets close to the customers as it builds an effective supply chain which responds to the changing requirements of the market quickly. It has placed the products to be sold for the purpose of Olympic Games as a part of the featured products in the stores (Adidas Group, 2012). It has used the official website of London Olympics 2012 to promote its various offerings such as Team GB replica kit, women’s short, backpack and caps among others. This strategy has facilitated Adidas to obtain greater sales as it is observed that a number of people are frequently visiting the London 2012 website to assemble pertinent information and in the similar process they desire to make purchase decision (The London 2012 Shop, 2012). The company strives hard to be sustainable which distinguishes the liabilities towards its customers, environments as well as the employees of the company (Adidas Group, 2012). Adidas is also planning to use the 2012 London Olympics to go beyond its rival Nike and become the leading company of sportswear in the United Kingdom. ‘Above-the-line’ marketing is the traditional approach to address the mass audience which Adidas uses to promote its range of products worldwide with the help of print media, advertising and television. ‘Below-the-line’ marketing is undertaken in a target market and compares the relationships among the individual customers. Adidas is using the ‘below-the-line’ marketing approach to a great effect to promote its sports products for the 2012 London Olympics. It can be said that this approach of marketing is especially relevant to increase the sales during the time of mega sports related event like Olympics as it can be beneficial to specific group of consumer through this strategy (Telegraph Media Group Limited, 2012). Conclusion Conclusively, it can be ascertained that promotion plays an imperative role for a company. Adidas, as one of the leading sportswear companies worldwide, is using the 2012 London Olympics for the promotion of its products. The promotional strategies of Adidas for the 2012 Olympics will probably make a huge difference in the market for Adidas. Images of Adidas in Olympics 2012 Source: (Swallow Our Words, 2012). Source: (SoccerBible Ltd. 2012). Source: (Football Kit News, 2012). Source: (Olympics Medal Tally, 2012). References Adidas Group. 2012. Corporate Information. Our Group. [Online] Available at: http://www.adidas-group.com/en/home/Welcome.aspx [Accessed July 18, 2012]. Adidas Group. 2012. Group Management Report. Adidas Sport Performance – Play To Win. [Online] Available at: http://www.adidas-group.com/en/investorrelations/assets/agm/2012/LB_2011.pdf [Accessed July 18, 2012]. Football Kit News, 2012. Stella McCartney New Team GB Football Shirt 2012- Adidas Olympics Football Kit 2012 London Games. Official Team GB Football Shirt 2012 [Online]. Available at: http://www.footballkitnews.com/4248/stella-mccartney-new-team-gb-football-shirt-2012-adidas-olympics-football-kit-2012-london-games/ [Accessed July 18, 2012]. Guardian News and Media Limited, 2012. The Guardian. 2012 Olympics Investigation: The Story Behind The Olympic Sponsors. [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jun/06/olympics-2012-investigation [Accessed July 18, 2012]. McGoldrick, P. J., 2002. Retail Marketing. McGraw-Hill. Olympics Medal Tally, 2012. Team GB Clothing, Team Great Britain Clothing, Team GB Kit. Home. [Online] Available at: http://olympicsmedaltally.com/team-gb-clothing-great-britain-kit.html [Accessed July 18, 2012]. SoccerBible Ltd. 2012. Soccer Bible. Adidas Unveil 'The Albert' Official Olympic London 2012 Match Ball [Online]. Available at: http://www.soccerbible.com/news/general/archive/2012/03/01/adidas-unveil-the-albert-match-ball-official-football-of-the-london-2012-olympic-games.aspx [Accessed July 18, 2012]. Swallow Our Words, 2012. Adidas-Originals. Adidas Originals Exclusive Olympic Trainers. [Online] Available at: http://www.swallowourwords.org.uk/?tag=adidas-originals [Accessed July 18, 2012]. Telegraph Media Group Limited. 2012. The Telegraph. London 2012 Olympics: Adidas Aims To Beat Nike Into Second Place At Games. [Online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/london-olympics-business/8545104/London-2012-Olympics-Adidas-aims-to-beat-Nike-into-second-place-at-Games.html [Accessed July 18, 2012]. Toney, J., 2012. Sports Beat. LONDON 2012: Olympic Organisers Hope Team GB Football Kit Will Be Big Seller. [Online] Available at: http://www.morethanthegames.co.uk/football/2216777-london-2012-olympic-organisers-hope-team-gb-football-kit-will-be-big-seller [Accessed July 18, 2012]. The London 2012 Shop, 2012. Clothing. Collectables. [Online] Available at: http://shop.london2012.com/Team-GB-Womens-Clothing/Team-GB-by-Stella-McCartney-W,default,sc.html [Accessed July 18, 2012]. Read More