Marketing Environment

Marketing Environment

Introduction

Skechers is an American manufacturer and marketer of sports and athletic shoes for men, women and children. The marketing efforts of Skechers rest on its strong brand image. Skechers brand has been evolved successfully over many years. The company has long endeavored to develop and maintain its market position and market share. Skechers has made huge investments in advertising campaign. Skechers keeps on improving its product lines which helps keeping the target segment engaged with the brand (marketpublishers.com).

Discussion

Marketing Problem

Skechers have been facing a lawsuit of federal class in California. The company is accused of making advanced and exaggeration claim regarding the shape-up shoes that was manufactured by Skechers. Thr firm claimed various health benefits of the special shoes. People have charged a suit against skechers that rather giving any health benefit, the shape-up shoe have caused hip and ankle injuries. The main cause of the injuries was the size and bulky design. Further, many scientists have also reported against the shape-up shoes produced by skechers after deeply analyzing and researching.

Proposed Solution

Skechers shall withdraw this product from all the retails stores and must compensate in any appropriate way to the customers who have reported to have injuries from Shape-Up shoes. In addition, to maintain its brand image Skechers shall apologize as well for the inconvenience to the customers through media (www.toningshoestudies.com).

SWOT Analysis

Skechers has strong brand equity. It makes the most of this equity through easy launch and acceptance of its products worldwide. However, Skechers faces aggressive competition from Nike, Adidas and Puma. This competition arises in the form of price wars, and product line innovation. A brief account of Skecher's SWOT analysis is given below.

Strengths

Innovation Capabilities

One of Skecher's key strategies are that it keeps on bringing innovation in the product line. The purpose is to provide an upright athletic experience. The gist is that Skecher is sensitive to product innovation. It knows what the customers need and how to keep them attached to the brand (Driscoll, 2010).

Strong Brand Equity

Skecher's brand equity is remarkable. It has a strong reputation across countries. This is where Skechers achieves the most non tangible benefits. The finely targeted marketing strategies make this equity even more wide-spread.

Wide Product Portfolio

Skecher has an extensive product portfolio. It offers athletic footwear and sport inspired urban and children shoes. The marketing campaigns are finely targeted towards these product lines.

Vertical Integration

Skechers's operations are vertically integrated. There are two manufacturing facilities under which Skecher operates. The first one is for producing footwear and another for producing apparel. One of the earlier competitive advantages that Skecher acquires was outsourcing of manufacturing operations in china, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. This strategy has helped reducing the manufacturing cost and increasing profits (Driscoll, 2010).

Strong Distribution and Supply

The distribution and supply chain is strong. Its products go through a smooth and cost effective distribution channel to al the operating countries. The low cost counties manufacturing strategy helps in reducing the additional distribution and supply cost for the brand.

Competitive Marketing Strategy

For the athletic footwear, ...