Consumer Behaviour Assignment: Analyzing The Market Performance Of Puma Faas 500

Question

Task: Provide a concise overview of Puma Faas 500 and analyse its market performance.

Answer

Executive Summary
The idea of Customer behavior discussed in this Consumer behaviour assignment is the criteria, which helps the company to understand the needs and the wants of the customer. The sound knowledge of the customer behaviour can help the company in producing the quality product, which will fulfil the customer demand. With the help of the customer behaviour and the marketing mix strategy, Puma Faas 550 has captured the market gaining a huge popularity among the customers. It has been seen that customers’ basic want is the quality product in an affordable price range. Faas 550 has made on the base of these criterions and gathered a huge popularity in the world market.

Background
Introduction: Consumer behaviour is a part of a study, where the needs and wants of the customers towards a product are discussed. The study is focusing on the individual's or group's behaviour to a particular product and it is also seen that how the product has put influence on buying behaviour. It also includes the activities by which the customers change their aspects of living standards.

Aim: The customer's behaviour is also beneficial for the company and helps in understanding the marketing demand, prospects and the consequences of the product. The study of Consumer behaviour assignment is based on the performance of the Puma Faas 550 product and its effects on the customers.

Scope: The scope of the report is to modify the upcoming product of Puma by evaluating the Customer behaviour. By understanding the thoughts of customers, Puma can advanced their manufacturing technique towards the footwear.

Puma Faas 550 - An Overview
Puma is a German company, which is generally famous for its sports footwear across the World. Puma is known for its athlete shoes along with the accessories related to the sporting world. This company also manufactures casual shoes. Puma is the third biggest sports brand after Nike and Adidas.  The Dassler brother is the founder of the company, and this company was first to come into existence in the year of 1948. Puma has manufactured different shoes related to the sports world, and then they composed the shoes for the athletes. The athlete’s shoes have captured the market hugely (Gonzalez?Borrajo et al. 2017).

Puma Faas 550 is a sports shoe that is specially designed for the athletes, who love to run. It is generally the running shoes and only designed for comfort during running. This variety has made for both the male and female section of the society. This shoe is made up of the blend of rubber and fabric, which made the shoe lighter, and this unique blend has capable of enhancing the performance of the runner. It is not the performance booster for the runner but also is affordable for the normal people. It is the less expensive product variant of the Puma brand, which is come under 100 Dollars. The product has captured the market as it was appealed by the celebrity endorsement as the World’s fasted runner has been seen in the commercial advertisement of the Puma Faas 550(Lucherini et al. 2018). This product is composed of an objective of capturing the market by keeping the price low. It is Design, Convertibility, and the price is the most appealing feature of the product. The post-purchase reviews are also positive for the product. Puma Faas 550 is the most advanced design of the entire Faas series, includes comfortable cushioning and the advance sole of the shoe.

Puma’s Marketing Communication Mix
Puma has been using the 4Ps Strategy in the field of marketing promotions. This marketing communication mix explored in this Consumer behaviour assignment includes four factors such as Product, Price, Place and Promotion. It also discusses the distribution, pricing and the advertising strategy of the company (Ráthonyi-Odor et al. 2016). The company has manufactured the finest product for athletes with its unique design and comfort. They have always focused on the price section of the product, as the price range influences the buying behaviour of the customers. Puma has captured the market by delivering the products across the World in a unique manner. They have founded the official retailing shops across the World, where the premium quality products are sold without any shipping charges. The most appealed section of promotion is the consisted advertising technique of the brand, and they have promoted their product with celebrity endorsement. The World's fastest man, Usain Bolt, is the brand ambassador of the company.

Consumer Attitude: Puma has successfully attained the needs of the customers. In order to compete with the other established brands like Nike, Adidas and Umbro, they have slightly lowered the price tag. They have figured out the customer’s attitude towards a product by composing different surveys in the social media platforms. In accordance with the needs of the customers, they have modified the products, so that customers can be satisfied with the result. The company has always given the first priority to the customer’s feedbacks (Zanón-Martínez et al. 2016).

Group Influence: Puma has differentiated its products according to the groups of the society. They are just not the only the manufacturer of the sport wears but also the introducer of causal wears for the non-athlete peoples. The current product Faas 550 is made for the all-purpose use, as it can be useful for the athletes, whereas, it is also good for the casual runners (Mehra, 2017).

Culture: Puma has developed its products in accordance with the different culture of the society. The colour combination and the design of the shoes are specially designed for the different cultures as the colours represent the various culture of the World. They have manufactured the combination of the yellow, green and black coloured shoes for the people of the Caribbean (Madison, 2017).

Social Class: The company is very much in fond of the price section as they are always focused on the different social class. The main objective of the company discussed in this Consumer behaviour assignment is to provide the best quality product at an affordable price so that every section of the people can take the pleasure of the branded product. Puma Faas 550 is the product, which has been made in the view of the price section. It has fewer values against the other products of the same brand with extra comfort (Cárdenas?Posada et al. 2018).

Consumer Learning Process: Puma, through the advertisement process, enhances the learning process of the consumers. The unique commercials with the depth information of the products assist the customers to gather the detailed information of the products. Apart from that, the advertisement and the celebrity endorsement have influenced the customers' buying behaviour towards their products. The learning process helps the promotion of the Faas 550 as the customers can aware of the product quality in accordance with the product price (Niskanen, 2019).

Personal Buying Decision-Making Process: The buying decision of the customers is generally deepened on the product quality along with the price tag. The Puma Faas 550 has manufactured keeping those ideas in mind. The product is the particle example of improved comfort along with a healthy budget. The improved cushioning and the sole of the boot are helpful in boosting the performance where the price ranges in less than the other products of Puma (Amadea et al. 2017).

A Critical Analysis of the Marketing Communication Mix
By analysing the marketing communication mix strategy of Puma, it is clear that the price segment is the most attracting feature of the product among the customers. The majority of the customers have chosen the product because of their comfort and safety. A shoe with great comfort and the performance enhancer in this price tag is the most attracting feature of the product. The popularity of the product denotes that Puma has implemented the marketing mix strategy in a proper manner (Funk et al. 2016). In the pricing section, it has been seen that the majority of the customers have voted for the price segment as they thought that the price is the most influential factor for a product. On the other hand, some of the people have considered other aspects are also valuable for choosing a particular product. The review of the products is one of the most important features among the customers to know the customer behaviour. After purchasing and using the product, over fifty per cent of the customers are satisfied with the product quality as well as the price section. This segment has clearly indicated the importance of the review process for the purchase of a product. The design of the product is also a marking criterion for the customers that have already marked by the company. It has been seen that the product design has put a great influence on product marketing (Novak et al. 2017).

From the analysis done in this consumer behaviour assignment, it has been witnessed that the social network has affected the buying behaviour of the customers. The improved advertisement and celebrity endorsement have helped the company to market Faas 550 in a great way. Most of the customers are influenced by the advertisement of the product. The choice of the customer has differed person to person, and the great understanding of the needs of the customers has enhanced the success rate of the product. It has also been seen that the less pricing criteria have made the company popular among the sport-loving people. The advertisement has affected the customers mostly as celebrity involvement has put a great influence among the customers. From the entire analysis, it can be said that the less cost and the premium design are the major criteria for the success of Puma Faas 550 (Paul, 2019).

Conclusion
From the entire study of Consumer behaviour assignment, it can be concluded that the marketing mix strategy has put a great influence on the marketing of Puma. The sound understanding of the customers’ need helps the company to market the Faas 550. Less pricing is the main criteria of success for the company. By monitoring customer behaviour, Puma has successfully launched the shoe for the customers in an affordable range.

Strategic Recommendations
Awareness generation is the foundation of a sound marketing strategy (Fill, and Turnbull, 2016). The first step in this process is to collect adequate information about the targeted audience. After that, everything depends on whether the company is able to deliver its message to its audience effectively. The process ends with tracking brand experience and consequent sales.

The following three recommendations provided in this Consumer behaviour assignment should be incorporated by Puma to strengthen the alignment of its marketing communication mix:

1. The essential element of a sound marketing communication mix is to prepare a comprehensive profile of the targeted audience (Shaw, 2016). As already mentioned, it is very important for a company to ‘know its customers'. There are various elements of such a profile, which include demographics, purchasing behaviour, attitudes, and culture. The company should use market surveys and research to prepare audience profiles if it does not have ready access to relevant information.
2. The next thing is to ensure that the standards of messaging are consistent. The company needs to have a strong and consistent brand voice. It should, first, develop a few key positioning statements. The company should develop sound tagline. To be followed by a short description. Another important part of marketing communication discussed in this Consumer behaviour assignment is the use of keywords. Keywords should be relevant and used consistently. The messages should be delivered in such a way that they appeal to the taste of the audience. Creativity plays a key role here.
3. The company needs to choose a suitable marketing mix very carefully. With advances in digital and other forms of marketing, there is a wide range of media mixes from which a suitable one can be chosen. The reality is that every brand and industry is unique in themselves with specific characteristics and features. The profile of the customers also varies a lot. Then come budgeting and pricing followed by determination of marketing communication goals. These things should be taken into cognizance before choosing a marketing mix. The key is to choose the best option. There is nothing like a standard marketing mix, which would fit with all brands and industries.
4. The last thing is a comprehensive and detailed database, which would include all information related to leads and existing customers. Good audience profile, strong brand image and effective communication are of no use if the information related to the leads and existing customers are not properly stored and managed. The company should develop a well-organized CRM or Customer Relationship Management system. CRM is a database of contacts such leads and current customers (Purcarea et al. 2015). It facilitates a person to organize information present in the form of files, records, calls and emails. This, in turn, helps to streamline and scale the various processes related to sales and marketing.
5. It is very important to measure success and achievements. Such assessments lead to rectification and course correction if required. They also facilitate further improvements. Marketing communication also needs to be measured and assessed irrespective of the message and medium, which is used. The company should put proper systems in place to assess the success of marketing communication in comparison to the marketing goals. For this purpose, it should use metrics such as open email rates, direct mail response rates and responses on social media. These should be related to the sales metrics to get an overall picture.

References
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