Scenario (Case Study) - The Athletes Foot: Extending Their Product Range The Athletes Foot is a global footwear retailer, specialising in athletic and lifestyle shoes. In operation since 1971 and with their headThe Athlete's Foot retail storefront displaying a wide range of well-known shoe brands office located in Switzerland, there are now more than 500 The Athletes Foot retail stores across 30 countries. The Athletes Foot is very strong in the Australian and New Zealand markets, now with over 130 locally-owned and operated stores. They stock a wide range of shoe brands including Nike, Adidas, Brooks, ASICS, Clarks, Merrell, New Balance, and Skechers. Recently they announced a plan to expand their product range to include performance clothing and accessories. Over the past decade, The Athletes Foot has cemented their position in the market by providing an unrivalled customer experience through their exclusive and innovative fitting technology positioning themselves as the experts in fit. With an extensive range of footwear spanning across 40 sports brands, The Athletes Foot is now taking on the clothing and apparel market by introducing a selection of performance clothing from their leading brand partners including ASICS, Puma, Adidas, On Running, New Balance and 2XU, as well as premium athleisure wear brand, New Guard. Athleisure apparel combines function and casual street style so that it can be worn during athletic and other everyday leisure activities. Man dressed in branded sportswearIn addition to clothing, The Athletes Foot will be housing a range of quality accessories, including their own performance sock line, exercise bands, massage balls, and bags.

The Group General Manager, Steve Cohen said: Apparel is a natural fit for The Athletes Foot. We have seen an undeniable increase in trends as more and more people are looking to incorporate workout and athleisure wear into their lives. Whether they are training for a marathon, going to the gym, or dropping the kids off to school, people are looking for activewear that fits their lifestyle. I am beyond excited to add to our customers overall experience and cant wait to provide people with a complete selection of products to help them keep fit and healthy. Last year, The Athletes Foot solidified their dedication to creating unrivalled customer experiences with the launch of their exclusive MyFit3D technology in over 130 stores across Australia and New Zealand and have since fitted over 1,000,000 feet across the two countries. However, with a natural increase in online shopping, The Athletes Foot has to deal with the practice of showrooming, where customers visit physical stores to choose their ideal product and size before buying from alternative online retailers at a lower price. In addition to this challenge, many Australian consumers were forced to shop online throughout 2020 as a result of the global pandemic. Over the last few months, The Athletes Foot have ramped up their digital services to bring their in-store fitting expertise online with the launch of MyFit Virtual, where customers can connect to a Fit Technician to help those at home, or on the run find their perfect fit. Recent research has shown that many customers are willing to spend more if a retailer provides additional services and immersive shopping experiences such as this. The October 2020 launch of the MyFit Virtual service was supported by an advertising campaign on television, online, and in-store. Sports shoes in the shower, a still image from The Athlete's Foot "Now THAT's fit" television advertisementThe tagline of the advertising campaign was Now THATS fit, and showcased several sequences highlighting when the fit is so perfect, you wont ever want to take the shoes off. Text description of images included in the above case study: Image 01: The Athlete's Foot retail storefront displaying a wide range of well-known shoe brands Image 02: Man dressed in branded sportswear Image 03: Sports shoes in the shower, a still image from The Athlete's Foot "Now THAT's fit" television advertisement Adapted from: B&T Magazine (2020), https://www.bandt.com.au/the-athletes-foot-expands-online-range-to-include-activewear-performance-clothing/; About Us (2020), https://www.theathletesfoot.com.au/about-us/history; B&T Magazine (2019), https://www.bandt.com.au/high-street-not-dead-aussie-retailers-get-boost-study/; AdNews (2020), https://www.adnews.com.au/campaigns/the-athlete-s-foot-launches-new-campaign-now-that-s-fit

Question 3

a) Considering ONE customer segment that youve profiled as a likely target for athleisure clothing in the previous question: a) Briefly explain their likely buyer readiness state and the most appropriate communication objective for promoting the MyFit Virtual service.

b) Beyond the current advertising campaign, what four additional IMC tools would you recommend that The Athletes Foot use to promote the MyFit Virtual service, and why?