The Runners World primary business was to sell shoes and provide advice to people in the booming jogging business as identified in the case study.
The Runners world have shown commitment to marketing concepts evident in the problem recognition process based on the facts that a market can only exist when there are unsatisfied needs, the desire to address the needs, the ability to communicate between involved parties, and that there is something to exchange to satisfy the needs.
In this case, the problem recognition included the need to satisfy people in the jogging exercises.
The marketing concepts was also evident in adding value for the customers because of the quality of the products offered by Runners World, which emphasized on Nike shoes and attempts to establish good customer relationships reflected in the aggressive marketing campaigns and the positive image developed.
The underlying concepts included creating, delivering, and communicating value to the customers.
Runners World ensures customer satisfaction based on the underlying desire to establish and identify their needs by collecting information about customer needs, and then using the gathered information to address the needs.
That is evidently reflected in the search for information such as customer interest in style shoes, and the economic side that influences buyer decision making to purchase the product. In addition to that, Runners World has added differently priced shoes to address the economic demographic needs of the customers.
Providing specialized shoes for different categories of sports provided additional sources for customer satisfaction. The case study shows evidence of the desire to develop the right combination of product, price, place, and promotion that are key issues in satisfying consumer needs.
The Runner’s World distribution channels include the Nike line and other retail outlets. In summary, Runners World has a store from which to distribute their shoes in the supply chain that starts from the manufacturing to the store supply chain.
In addition to that, the business could employ department stores, use discount stores, and use of regular stores which point to the competition the current business is facing, justifying the conclusion that the Runners World had a similar supply chain.
The primary target for the Runners World were the jogging group that provided a significant rise in the sales and a boom in the business. The secondary market included walking people as evident in the walking shoes that were later addressed as a need in the market.
That was in addition to the secondary market that included the aerobic exercises market, the basketball market, the cross trainers market, and the tennis players.
Additional secondary market included people not involved in serious exercises such as buyers of casual shoes. The market could target both men and women.
The underlying motivation impelled customers to buy the above stated products is based on the right mix that addresses customer needs unique to their income levels and demographically diverse environment.
The products address customer value, lead to customer satisfaction, and the information provided in marketing of the products.
The business registered a decrease in performance in profits and sales because of a rise in completion from other manufacturers and stores, especially the supply of low priced products that many consumers opted to buy.
That is in addition to changes in the products the Runners World is offering the customers because of the changing trend in consumer behavior.
The overall Runners World marketing strategy is to promote and enhance the marketing position of the current store and product line to address current diverse product needs of the customer to increase sales and generate more profits.
The promotions used include increased choices of products that could address the varied customer needs. The other approach is to retrain the current marketing staff to conduct qualified product marketing to improve on public relations to convince people about the need to buy.
In addition, the use of fashion oriented people could improve the promotional marketing aspect.
The pricing strategy was to provide products priced according to the economic incomes of the target markets.
Products with similar features, but with different price ranges and quality, but same purpose and varied quality are provided to satisfy the customer needs.
The competitors include Wal-Mart, which has introduced products with rock bottom prices with an assortment of lower quality products at lower prices.
In addition, there are other retail chains that include Lady Foot Locker who have targeted specific market segments.
The market position enjoyed by Runners World has significantly dropped compared with other competitors because of declining sales and the fact that the entry of the new players cut a significant share of the market.
In addition to that, the entry of the new players was based on lower prices and lower quality products that could address the lower income market segment while providing the same services and needs to the customers.
There is every possibility that the Runners have to formulate a new marketing strategy to address the rising competition and position the organization strategically to gain a competitive position.
The changes have adversely affected the sales volumes of the Runners World, the products the organization is offering, reduced the profits, and significantly impacted negatively on the market position of the firm.
There will be a need for the Runners to refocus the type of products on offer to address the changes in the needs because of the changing demographics.
The greatest strengths include provision of quality products and the provision of a variety of products.
The greatest weaknesses include highly priced products and poor marketing mix.
Recommendations
The Runners World need to refocus on redefining a new marketing strategy and formulate a new marketing mix to address the competitive edge competitors have already driven Runners World to. These include a focus on the marketing strategy embedded in the organization’s vision.
One critical problem with the case is the Runners World never conducted a continuous assessment of their competitors and the changing market environment to gather information to help in continuously formulating a new marketing strategy.
There is need to come up with new strategies to identify the changing market needs, to identify the most appropriate products to address the needs, and analyze the competitors to establish approaches of revising their strategies to position Runners World and attain a better position.
That is because the firm failed in realizing new marketing trends, failed to identify the threats due to new entrants, failed to revise their pricing strategies, and their product promotion approaches.
There is further need to assess the pricing, product, promotion, and place concepts and integrate them into the new strategy suing market intelligence information.