Adidas: Market or Product orientated?

Market Orientation - Market orientation is outward looking where the business focuses on market research, meaning to understand their consumers' needs and wants.

Product Orientation - Product orientation is inward looking, focusing on research and development to come up with innovative products for their market.

 
Adidas: Market or Product orientated?

Adidas has taken a more marketing approach in its development of the sports apparel industry. Adidas highlighted in its 2011 annual report that “a profound understanding of the consumer and customer” is essential to achieving their goal.

Adidas focused its investments on high-potential markets, in particular China and Russia. The company strives to “fully exploit market opportunities” by presenting their brands to the consumer in the most impactful way. In the sports industry, customers and consumers tend to know what they want (whether it be running shoes, basketball, badminton racket etc.) which makes Adidas more focused on satisfying the needs and wants of the consumer.

However, there are instances where Adidas lean towards product-orientation where they invest in their research and development to experiment with new technologies to create a lightweight shoe, or better cushioning for the soles. However, Adidas is mostly market-oriented in that the company focuses on their target market (e.g. basketball players, runners, football players, athletes of various ages etc.).

They are more market orientated than product orientated, which means they put emphasis on market research. This is shown in their 2012 Annual Report, "Inspired by our heritage, we know that a profound understanding of the consumer and customer is essential to this goal."

They "push the boundaries of products, services and processes to strengthen our competitiveness and maximise the Group's operational and financial performance". They focus on satisfying the needs and wants of their customers by continuously striving to create a culture of innovation.

At the very heart of ‘Creating the New’ is the brand Adidas. The brand is what connect them with their consumers; therefore, the success of the brand defines the success of their business. Through their unique portfolio, they cater for the needs and desires of more consumers than any of their competitors.