Asics Changes in Marketing Mix

nce shoes designed for professional athletes. After its successful growth in 2015, Oyama believed in its new AGP2020 which is ‘Annual Sales of 750Billion Yen with operating income of at least 10% of sales’. However, there are a number of issues and competition that ASICS will be facing in the future. Their strategy plan includes a shift to DTC, expanding the consumer base, and communicating a consistent brand. In this paper, recommendation to ASIC’s in terms of change in their marketing mixed will be discussed including product line, channels and communications. Secondly, the newly acquired RunKeeper and its future functionality incorporating with ASICS would be analysed. Thirdly, there will be discussion on the company’s three different brand and segmentation. Finally, there will be an evaluation on if ASICS could achieve their ‘AGP2020’.

Changes in Marketing Mix

Product Line

At the moment, ASICS is facing fierce competition in the footwear market, especially in US, Europe and Japan. Their main competitors include Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Under Armour, etc. The company planned to launch a mid-tier product line for fun runners. I think this strategy is on the right track. Firstly, ASICS is known for its high-performance running shoes which are very popular among all the professional runners. However, the number has shown the people who run full marathon were decreasing, more and more people started to join running for fun or leisure purpose. The price of a pair of ASICS running shoes normally would cost for 150-200 USD each. But for casual runners, they would not accept this price range. Therefore, I think it is right for ASICS to launch a mid-tier product line to cater these people’s needs as they would contribute more profit to the company than those professional runners in the future. However, I think they should be careful of pricing their mid-tier product because they would then enter into direct competition with other mid-tier brands like Nike. They should still position themselves a little higher than average running shoes, with professional running shoes DNA. They may also can launch this product line in a different brand with no relevance to current ASICS brand to differentiate themselves and ASICS in order to protect their existing brands.

Channel to Market

ASICS’s original distribution channel was to sell shoes through other retailers and distributors such as Footlocker etc. However, in the modern age, customers are more willing to build an direct relationship and experience with the company itself. Therefore, ASICS decided to shift DTC and open up more direct retailing stores in the market. I think their strategy of changes in channel is correct. Also, they should still continue to develop good sales networks with existing distribution channels over the world as their main revenues are generated

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