Free Essay Sample: Prince Sports, Inc.

The 21st century has seen increased sporting activities globally. Tennis, to be precise, has gained tremendous popularity in that the game is now widely played across all countries. Spectatorship has also increased to a significant extent. Therefore, the need for racquets, tennis shoes and other amenities required by players has heightened to a great magnitude. Prince Sports is a company that specializes in the manufacture and distribution of tennis attire and sponsorship of both recreational and junior tennis players within the US and other countries. The company has managed to increase sales for an extended period thus commanding the market. However, in the 21st century, there have been changes in consumers' preferences and distribution and marketing strategies. Besides, the influx of new competitors has posed a challenge to Prince Sport (Valbousquet, 2019). Therefore, the company needs to develop a plan to keep up with market trends and competition.

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Trends in environmental forces

Moreover, Prince Sports has some elements that work to its advantage in the market. For instance, the company has been able to keep up with technological advancement through the social media platform. Facebook and Instagram have been efficient in reaching out to young people since they are regularly using social networks in communication and business. Also, technological advancement has enabled the company to produce several products that suit players' needs in different environments (Stephen, 2016). Besides, the economic factor, including an increase in customers' capital, has enabled the company's target market to buy goods in the market thus boosting its sales to a great extent. Also, the company has been able to regulate the prices of its product across the market thus allowing many tennis players to use Prince Sports' products. However, competition among companies producing sports products has increased due to the emergence of other companies using sophisticated technology to produce their goods at a lower cost. This has acted against Prince Sports which has been using traditional means in its production and distribution (Rouzies & Onyemah, 2018). This has forced the company to initiate innovative strategies to keep up with the competition. Furthermore, regulatory factors are likely to work to the advantage of Prince Sport. With the increased popularity of tennis game in the world. There is a regulation requiring tennis to be introduced as compulsory activities in learning institutions: this would help expand the company's market thus increasing its sales (Hanna & Dodge, 2017).

Possible Promotional activities

Prince Sports can utilize specific promotional activities by organizing tournaments for both recreational and junior players. Such a strategy would help bring together players and spectators at each group's event, thus promoting tennis's popularity. As the game's popularity increases, people would develop an affection for tennis, therefore buying the company's products. Besides, with the increased prevalence of social media platforms, the company can use adverts of Facebook and Google to reach out to a broad viewership who may be interested in the company's products (Godey et al., 2016). Also, by promoting recreational tennis, the company would help to create the essence of the game as a recreational activity thus gaining more fans. Junior players are mostly students in high school. The company can utilize promotional activities such as sponsoring the interschool tournament and also giving out tennis gourmets to winning teams as an advertisement strategy (Utami & Sputra, 2017). Such tournaments and rewards would not only promote tennis game but also would help improve the company's products to various institutions and individual players.

Action to increase sales

Prince Sports can take different measures to gain wide distribution and sales in mass merchandise and specialty shops. Firstly, the company would need to develop sales strategies that will see an increase in its products in the market. Also, it will need to convince mass merchandise to stock more of the company's products to create a variety for customers across the market. Due to increased competition in the market, the company would need to sell its products at the most reasonable prices to beat its competitors. Moreover, the company would need to create favorable prices for merchandise to enable them to make profits while keeping up with the market competition. Specialty tennis products stores would also be attracted by distributing Prince Sports' products to the store at a lower price than the company's competitors (Kerin, Lau, Hartley & Rudelius, 2013). Such strategic moves would encourage mass merchandise sellers and specialty stores to stock and sell more of Prince's products thus resulting in a significant profit to both sellers and the company.

Criteria for selecting international markets

In choosing a foreign market, Prince Sports needs to conduct surveys in countries where tennis is the most popular and new markets where the game is gaining popularity. Also, countries where there are regulations to make tennis compulsory in learning institutions, are good target markets. To reach this foreign market, the company can use effective marketing strategies to access this market (Rondon-Azcarate, 2017). Ads on social media platforms and Google would be an essential strategy in reaching a large market segment due to the large number of people using this platform.

Prince Sports has a great opportunity of increasing its market segment in the future due to the ongoing trend in the world market. In the next three years, for instance, the demand for tennis gear will be tremendous and therefore, the company will need to produce a large stock. However, sales will depend on the company's involvement in social media and other social networks to reach its customers. Hence the company would need to capitalize on internet product promotion to acquire a significant market share in the future.

References

Godey, B., Manthiou, A., Pederzoli, D., Rokka, J., Aiello, G., Donvito, R., & Singh, R. (2016). Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on brand equity and consumer behavior. Journal of business research, 69(12), 5833-5841.

Hanna, N., & Dodge, H. R. (2017). Pricing: policies and procedures. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Kerin, R. A., Lau, G. T., Hartley, S. W., & Rudelius, W. (2013). Marketing in Asia. McGraw-Hill.

Rondon-Azcarate, A. Y. (2017). Fan Motives for Identifying with Professional Tennis Players.

Rouzies, D., & Onyemah, V. (2018). Sales Force Compensation: Trends and Research Opportunities. Foundations and Trends in Marketing, 11(3), 143-214.

Stephen, A. T. (2016). The role of digital and social media marketing in consumer behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 17-21.

Utami, C. W., & Sputra, K. A. (2017). The Effectiveness of Promoting Tennis School Training Services Towards Consumer Interest in Tennis in Indonesia. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 8(3), 225-231.

Valbousquet, E. (2019). U.S. Patent No. 10,384,101. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.