Sajith Raj ST08005479

Product Description:

Combined with Chinese’s acupuncture and retro styling new range

of activity wear for walking, Aerobics, jogging etc for women and men who
are concerned with the case of obesity and unhealthy eating habits. As in
an article by Indri Maryani about the use of acupuncture in weight loss
treatment and effective use of technology in lining material will help in
compacting the body shape and shows they look fit even if they are fat
without affecting the body structure and a promising that within months
of usage the acupuncture treatment helps in reducing the weight
naturally. The name ACU-PLUS is combined from acupuncture and plus-

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sized clothing. This is mainly focused for women population and a small
population of men is also taken into account and with respect to the age
segment.

I. Industry Size and Segment

A.1 Market opportunity, values and trends

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Value 3839 4083 4194 4396 4675 4840

change year to
year 0 6.4 2.7 4.8 6.3 3.5

Tabele 1.Key note Source:The UK Market For Women's Plus-Size Clothing

by Value at Current Prices (£m at rsp), 2003-2008

According to a Key Note report of 2006 we can see that 47%

population which is above 16-18 years old in the U.K takes part in fitness
training .Majority of male adults population ranging from 15-25 engage in
competitive sport such as rugby and football so that they keep
themselves fit and healthy. Major issues regarding the women population
was obesity and the need for plus one size clothing in gym and fitness
exercise. Key note estimates that the clothing size for fat above 16 is
worth about £4.84bn in 2008.The table 1 clearly shows and increase in
tread for fitness concerns and sales accelerated in the year 2006 to 2007
but lately it has been seen that there has been a reduction in sales which
the key note reports as a factor of women and men as well buying size
below 16 even if they do not fit in it (Keynote: Plus-sized Fashion 2009)
(Mintel: Fitness in the Home - UK - June 2009).

A research report produced by Key Note Market Assessment

reported that the slimming market stands ahead due to the motivation in
diet. In this women were seen to show enthusiasm in dieting and weight
lose than men so as to fit into their favourite dress and this also suggests

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that the retailer are not much concentrating much into larger sized
women(Keynote: Sports market 200). As a report (mintel: health and
fitness club membership, 2009) suggests that there has been 25% change
in participation in private and fitness taking the years from 2004 and 2008
which is an impressive and an opportunity for plus-sized sportswear.
Considering the European Union, England has the highest proportion of
overweight and obese cases which constituted about 61% aged above 15.
A recent report in news paper also shows that taking 5 people at least 1
person will be affected by obesity. Thus England is the second highest
proportion of obese adults which constitute 22.7% and fourth highest
about 38.3% who are overweight which suggests that there can be a likely
effect on sales for the plus-sized clothing. (Keynote: Plus-sized fashion
2009) (Keynote: Sports market 2008)

A 2. Market Segmentation and Targets:

A.2.1 Segmentation by leisure centres and health clubs

Health clubs and leisure centres mainly aimed for health,

fitness training and other sports this can be fairly seen on Keynote report
2008 that the markets is obtained by the health clubs that includes
extensive sport facilities and luxury that includes spa and swimming.
Other mid-sized health clubs mainly focuses on fitness that also includes
spa and beauty treatments (Laguna Health and Spa, Cardiff).In the lower
end health clubs focus on the fitness but do not offer other facilities. Apart
from this many leisure centres have provided some basic gym facilities
with other completive sport and to attract the public provide training and
memberships. (Keynote: Sports market 2008)This suggests that the
fashion plays an important role in this and will be able to target and
introduce our products into the clubs.( Fitness in the Home - UK - June
2009)

A.2.2 Segmentation based on activities

From the chats below show that the popular activity involved
are walking, jogging, cycling, swimming and workout. This shows that

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majority of the population are concerned for fitness and taking part in this
activities suggest that people are much concentrated to weight loss than
sports. It has been shown that other competitive sports like football,
badminton, tennis and golf in which the major segmentation goes for
football. Still for only about 0.9% adults said they took part in sports from
each activities they do .Of this a total of 9.8% adults said that they worked
out in gyms and in this about 8.2% involved in cardio-vascular exercise.
All these suggest that there can be a penetration into the market for plus-
size fashion sportswear targeting on major activities without avoiding
other activities as well. (Keynote: Sports market 2008).

A.2.3 Segmentation by gender and age:

From the Key note reports in 2009 the main targeted segments in
gender can be women than men. This shows that the concern for obesity
effects are mostly affected to women population and a mintel report on
Health and Fitness Clubs in UK (2009) suggest that the there has been an
less increase in revenue considering membership in fitness centre about
21.7 % and secondary revenue such as beauty, cosmetics, lifestyles etc
have increased 29.1% since 2004 to 2008 which shows that people are
more concerned about the appearance and over the past 18 month this
has been reversed and now shifting towards fitness first.

Considering the age majority of the Keynote suggests that age

group ranging from 20 to 64 constitutes 79% involves in fitness training
regularly and 64.8% people above 64+ age group participated in fitness
training and lowest is seen which is about 49% for age group 16 to 19.
From the chart the plus size buyers are mainly concentrated to age group
45 to 54.A report (mintel :mature beauty 2009) says about the impact of
lifestyle on women buyers for plus size clothing which clearly outline and
support keynote fact that women of age 25 to 44 struggles with their
weight after their pregnancy and men and women over 55 as a result of
their hormonal effect and lifestyle changes put on weights this can be a
good target to sell our product considering the age groups.

Key note sports market 2008: Purchase percentage of plus

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II. Micro Environment

Consumers focused on Market

A survey conducted by TGI(target group index ,2008)(Source:

Keynote Sports Clothing & Footwear 2009) clearly states that the
purchasing of sports clothing is mainly concentrated to young and higher
social grade. The consumer in the U.K market for plus-sized clothing is
mainly targeted for women whose waist circumference measure is more
than 88 centimetres. Alston sports will be able to penetrate the market
attracting customers both overweight and obese by introducing the new
Acu-Plus sportswear. Another survey by TGI shows that t comparing to the
2006-07 it has been seen that there is a major change in health and
fitness awareness of age groups below and above 55 among 25,000
adults. From this report we can see that the consumers aged above age
55 are mostly participating in gym and leisure clubs than in 2006-07
which is about 17.4% and blow age 55 raised to 44.8%. (Mintel: Mature
Beauty ,2009)

Series 1 represent the figures in 2003, series 2 in 2006 and series 3

in 2007.From this graph it shows that the women of age 65 to 74 has
been going through unhealthy diet habits or obese with the figures shown
in 2003-06.But considering the figures of 2007 there has been a gradual
change in this pattern as more awareness to health and fitness raised.
Some of the key players for the consumer markets are

1) Support from the government is one of the major step as new

guidelines are recommended for adults which constitute a total of
30 minutes or more vigorous exercise (Key note:Plus-Sized fashion
2009).From this there was an increase in participants in women
population all over England
2) Considering the social trends television adverts had played a major
part in health awareness and apart from this celebrity fashion trends

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have inspired people to be actively participating in fitness and

slimming workout
3) New trend called the ‘Ripping body workout’ from the fashion
industry inspired the film industry all over the world and in directly
captured minds of a major part of the young population.

From all these factors Alston sport will be able to promote their new
product into the market as a factor of attracting consumers through
technology and natural weight-lose sportswear.

Competitors for Alston sports:

The main competitors for Alston sportswear are Nike, Addidas and
Puma which are the holds the sports market globally. Keynote has
evaluated that 95% is estimated to be the actual sports market
penetration into the U.K market .The global brands are now dominating
the fashionable sportswear market today which includes fashionable
brands and are dominating the clothing, footwear for different sports. So
all of these produce a barrier for Alston sportswear to enter in the market
and performance of sales will be at stake. The table show shows the major
competitors for Alston sports.

Leading Suppliers of Sports Clothing and Footwear to the UK by Country of

Origin and Global Turnover ($, E and £), 2009

Turnover (bn)
Company (£)

Nike Inc 18.63

Addidas Group 10.8

Puma 2.77

New Balance 1.63

Pentland Group
PLC 0.973

Hi-Tec Sports 0.092

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Regatta 0.61
(Source: KeyNote Sports clothing and footwear 2009)

Overview on Alston competitors:

Nike: Nike is one of the largest companies that produced sportswear and
has a turnover of about £18.63 billion in the year 2009 which is a U.S
based company. Nike has been successful since 1990 because of being
specialist in footwear and had global sales of 86% in 2008.

Addidas: Second largest company for producing sports good which

account for about £10.8 billion for this year which is a German based
company. They are the strongest in football and athletics sector which
also have a good will for sports clothing. After the acquisition of Reebok
the company made it to the second place in Alston’s list of competitors.

Puma: Puma is also the second largest sport good produce in the U.K base
which establishes its strength mainly in football as well as running. The
U.K based Puma made a turnover of about £71m in the year and £2.77b
globally this year.

New Balance: The company which is a US based have its manufacturing in

the UK. They employ about 210 people producing running shoes

Pentland Group PLC: Pentland is a UK based company which has a

turnover of about £1bilion in 2009 which has a majority of share in UK
sports retailer JDsports where Alston sports have to negotiate as we are
aiming this retailer as one of our distributors.

Hi-Tech Sports: This brand is known as the family brand which produces
footwear which has a turnover of about £.92million which is not a major
competitor for the Alston sport’s ‘Acu-plus’.

Distributors for Alston Sports Product:

Among the top distributors of plus-sized sportswear Alston sport

must negotiate with top retailers like H & M, M & S, New look, Next and

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F& F which estimates that the sales can increase by 60% by acquiring a
space in the lobby and promoting the product with the new retro fashion
and advertisement.

Also selling Alston products in the plus-size women fashion stores

like Evans and Marina Rinaldi will also help in attracting more customers.
Through mail order and online shopping sectors the sales can be
increased considerably such as N’Browns Group simply Be and Bravissimo
aims at certain customers of a particular age segment for inner wears and
through this we will be able to promote Alston sportswear which can
include inner wears for women of plus-sized to stay in fit and shape.(Key
note: Plus-sized fashion).

Suppliers for Alston Sports:

Alston sports must have a good supplier as stated by Zikmund and

Akron(2002) suppliers are specialist who supply raw materials ,
components and the equipments used so that they should maintain a
good collaboration with its suppliers also as suggested by Fifield(1992) it
is a must to realize the strength of the supplier and the bargaining power
which includes threat. Some of the sports raw material distributors are
mainly from Far-East due to low labour cost and good quality materials.
Also the production of raw materials in the UK is much expensive so
production moving to the far-East will be beneficial for our company.

III .Key Strategies:

Strategies applied from SWOT analysis in APPENDIX C we can derive

some key strategies.

Unique Selling Proposition of Acu-Plus:

According to Zikmund and D’Amico(2002) USP helps to recognize as

well as to support our product for our uniqueness that our competitors do
not have such as a sentence to attract customers to our product, this
mainly highlights the product’s characteristic than the company
Fifield(1992).

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“Muffin Top, Omega Mu, Chunk-wear Acu-Plus.Stop Abuse! Look thinner,

smarter and fit naturally”

“Wear it. Do it. Be it”

This emphasize our product is natural (ie as it is a combination of

acupuncture and any activity wear) and second slogan highlights on the
toughness level and motivation for the need of workouts and in few
months a promise of they will look slim and fit. .

Positioning of Acu-Plus in the market:

One of the key strategies as stated by Zikmund and D’Amico(2002)

is the positioning strategy which promotes a products value into the
competitive position. To win the place in the market our product should be
affordable, standard quality and user acceptable. Solving the problems of
the positioning will helps the company to give out a solution for the
marketing mix (Kotler ,2003). So Alston sportswear should promote their
product based on quality and pricing as well as positioning based on
technology and healthy also proposed by Kotler(2003).So our product
marked A can be placed in perpetual chat as follows.

High Quality Healthy

N
AD A
P
High High R Low
Low
R
Pricing Tech. Tech.
Pricing

Low Quality Unhealthy

Figure C1 Figure C2

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N=Nike AD=Addidas A=Alston P=Puma R=Regatta

Competitiveness strategy for Acu-Plus

As show in the Figures C1 and C2 we can evaluate Porter’s 5 forces

of competitive strategy as suggested by Kurtz (2008) our product acu-plus
is healthy and affordable as we are aiming a fitness wear for over sized or
plus sized women especially. As mentioned by Kotler(2003) we shall take
product differentiation strategy with respect to quality which is the
conformance quality which assures the customer that every unit is the
same and meet the requirements. As also mentioned by Kotler(2003) the
durability and reliability of our product is also a differentiated as a major
attribute of Alston sports is with its durability and comfort , thus we move
into a trendy wear where we can attract customers both normal and plus-
sized.

Growth Strategy for Alston Sports:

After the product is launched into the market the product starts its
growth here the profit seems to be small and gradually after much
awareness the sales rate increased Zikmund and Amico(2002 ).According
Kotler(2003) some of the growth strategy proposed are to improve the
quality, feature as well as the style, penetrate new markets by distribution
to far places, new promotions can be given such as change in size with
respect to customers preferences etc. For our product as there is not
much competitiveness we would be able to penetrate into the market
easily and capture the sales. As for Alston sports in-order to sustain the
competition we cannot go into acquisition strategy as our company has a
major downturns.

IV.Market Objectives for Alston Sport:

Market Awareness and Action plan for Acu-Plus

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The marketing awareness and actions of the next three months is

shown below

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Unawareness 90 40 12

Awareness 40 59 84

Comprehension 32 50 72

Preference 26 34 66

Conviction 15 22 52

Action 4 10 25

As only a few people will be aware of this product for the first year
with promotion and advertising through media, health club, the internet
we will be able to capture a portion of the public. As given in table below
our shares and sales are expected to increase and this promote our
product and as a word-of-mouth to the consumers of plus-sized.

Market Share for Alston

2010(£ 2011(£ 2012(£ 2013(£m

m) m) m) )

Overall 5,010 5,202 5,412 5,635

market
share

Expected 1000 1900 2400 3300

sales for
the years

Market .2% .36% .44% .58%

share for
Alston

Source :Key note and mintel

Target sales for Alston:

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Monitor and Control of Acu-Plus

Some of the methods used for monitoring and control of our sales
can be analysed as proposed based on internal and external analysis.by
Kotler (2003) as well as Zikmund and Amico (2002) are:

Annual-Plan control: Done through sales, share and financial analysis from
different distributors.

Profitability control: Analysis based on product and how many consumers

as segments buys the product and size of the orders.

Efficiency control: Analysis through sales force, advertising, distribution

and promotion.

Strategic control: Analysis through market effect rating methods, auditing

report and excellence review.

V.Alston’s Marketing Mix(4P’s).

Product:

Kotler(2003) gave three options for product which was formerly

distinguished by Warren Keegan give five strategies for adaption in the
market some of them can be compared with our product Alston Acu-Plus.

1)Straight Extension :As Alston sports is not a banded name direction

capturing into the market will result in a failure of product and attracting
consumers worldwide. So the proposed way is to capture the U.K market
and then with the advertising campaigns capture the awareness of
consumers through different sources will help to improve source.

2) Product Invention: As Acu-Plus is a new product to the market which

comes under forward invention. As mentioned by Kotler(2003) this
strategy can be a little costly but our product consists of a fairly good
material and inner lining of smooth rubberised spikes for acupuncture
effects which is of low cost can cover this expensive cost of out industry

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Some of the issues to take care before launching the product are

1) Fashion respective of age: As we have our focus on age segment

the young and the old prefer different in fashion. As the young
prefers in retro style and the old prefers plan style our product
should make necessary change to the design on the cloths.
2) Colour: As a small part of our product is selecting men and major
part of women’s clothing a prominent focus should be given to
colour of the cloth.
3) Packing and symbol: Attractive packing with an eye capturing
symbol will help to add up consumers into buying our product.

Place: Kotler(2003) suggests that proper distribution channels should be

selected to make our product accessible to the public. Selection of place is
a important factor concerning the attraction of the product. Selling our
product in local retailer which often has a less good will adversely affect
our product and result in failure.

When we consider the age segment for both genders we can sell our
product in for age group 25 to 40 in major sports retailing shops like
Sports Direct ,JJB sports, JD sports etc. Whilst considering the age groups
40 to 56 the major retailers to be focused are M & S, NewLook ,House of
Frasier would be the best option. This doesn’t mean that sport retailers
will sell only for the specified age segment but should also include it for
age segment more than 45 also but in a lesser unit.

Pricing: According to Kotler ,Amstrong et al(2008) pricing is a major

strategy in marketing prior to decide a price for a particular product the
company should evaluate it total strategy of the market. As Acu-plus
being a unique product major steps should be taken in pricing the product
as it is new to market it cannot be sold cheap because we might lose our
brand value at the starting stage. Too high pricing may affect the sales of
the product unless consumers feel that it is mandatory thing for daily use.
Comparing to major segmented sports manufacturers the pricing should
be fairly low and highlight our product is of high quality and useful to the

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segment we focus on. When major manufacture like Nike and Addidas
sells its products for high cost about 30 to 40 for a sports activity wear we
can charge at fairly affordable price range for the consumers aiming
women population which include obese, married, widowed etc.

Promotion: Kotler ,Amstrong et al(2008) gives an idea on promotion as a

part to communication to the consumers showing the merits of the
product, attracting and mere persuasion to buy the product. Some of the
key strategies proposed that Alston should look into are:

1) Promotion thorough Bill Boards: Many leading brands promote their

product through billboards that are kept in the side of roads,
pedestrian lane or potential places where people gather.
2) Promotion through Health Clubs: Having a good relation with health
club and leisure centres helps in gaining much attraction to our
product and creates awareness in the public based on its value to
the segment we focus.
3) Promotion through Distributors: Providing distributors with
brochures will help in promoting our product and helps in making
aware of our product features. The brochures will be handed out to
retail outlets so the customers can take one which will contain the
price, value of the product and online purchase for selecting the size
or special deliveries to be made.
4) Promotion through media: Alston sports having downturns are not
advised to promote their product through television and other
media. So after having profit acquired in the first year of production
gradually step into major advertising campaign.

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Appendix A:
Strength of Alston sports Weakness of Alston sports

• Long years of experience in • Unchanged fashion

sports equipments field can throughout the years and
contribute much in promotion downturns in business
and gaining contact of old • Manufacturing in the U.K had
suppliers and distributors made it difficult due to low
• The new trend of staying fit cost of production in Far-East.
and increased number of • Eight Year loan
participants in fitness • Not trendy compared to
activities over the past few others competitors.
years • Rapid change in fashion in the
• Government and televisions sports industry makes it
promotion to public to stay fit difficult of Alston to catch up
and healthy in the market.
• Sportswear has become a
common wardrobe and
younger generation are
mostly attracted towards the
retro fashion wear.
• Natural and safe use of
technology and medicinal
application helps to attract
more customers.

Market opportunities of Alston Threat of Alston sports

sports

• Demand from people to stay • 2.5% increase in tax in the

healthy and fit. U.K market from the year
• Customers awareness to 2010.
fashion and new trendy looks. • As a part of globalization the
• Online shopping of cloths had U.K market in vulnerable for
been frequent for the past new products.
years • Competitors like Nike and
• Lack of variety Plus-sized Addidas are a major threat.
cloths by retailers.

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• Global recession helped in

lower pricing of raw materials
in the third world countries.

Bibliography

BOOKS

Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong, Veronica Wong, John Saunders (2008),

Edition 5th,Principle of Marketing, Pearson Publication ltd.

Philip Kotler (2003),Marketing Management , Edition 11,Prentice Hall

Publication.

Paul Fifield (1993), Edition 3,Marketing Management, British Library

cataloguing,.

Zikmund/d’Amico (2002), Edition 3, The power of effective marketing

,Thomson Learning .

Malcolm McDonalds (1995), ,Edition3,Marketing Plan,Butterworth

Heinemann

WEB LINK

https://www.keynote.co.uk/market-intelligence/view/product/2239/plus-
size-fashion

https://www.keynote.co.uk/market-intelligence/view/product/2241/sports-
clothing-%26-footwear

http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic//display/&id=39462
1/display/id=481938 (mature beauty 2009)

http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show
&/display/id=395172 (Health and Fitness Clubs - UK - October 2009)

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http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show
&/display/id=394699 (Fitness in the Home - UK - June 2009)

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