Free Dicks Sporting Goods Essay Sample

Dick’s Sporting Goods is a well-established department for sporting goods with more than 5oo stores across the country. I paid a visit to one of the stores owned by the renowned retailer and I was impressed by what the store offers its customers. The store is Denver, within the Park Meadows mall. In Saudi Arabia, such stores do not exist in many places. In fact, most of them are in large cities and towns spread in various parts of the region. It is not easy to locate them, and they are not as large as the Dick’s store I visited.
The store has a variety of sporting products. They range from commodities usable in actual fields and those usable in virtual sporting activities like video games. The store has products for all the sports activities that interest that the consumer. They include accessories, safety garments, fitness products, and video games that provide a source of entertainment for many people across the world especially teenagers. The store makes work easier for a visiting customer by arranging the available products according to different sports. For instance, athletics products are in the same place, same to goods used in skating, mountain climbing, cycling, motorcycling, and racing, and car rallying. On that note, the section for ball games is different from the rest. It is large and secluded from the rest of the sports. Within the compartment, there are different divisions for the ball games. The sections include volleyball, soccer, basketball, rugby, baseball, golf, and American football.
Particularly, my interest lay in the soccer section because I am an ardent football fan. On entry, you can see the decorations done by colored balls on every corner of the large compartment. At the center of this compartment, there is a clear signpost at the center indicating the male and female sections. It hit me at once that the store’s personnel used the signpost to help the customers identify products that are relevant to them instead of walking around the store searching for the goods they wanted. One side of the compartment has balls of different sizes implying that the store does not limit its audience. Small soccer balls are for children who may not enjoy the normal size of a soccer ball because it is rather large for them. The balls have different colors, which gives the customer the option to choose their favorite color.
The store also pays attention to the different brands, an important element for customer service. Take the case of Adidas for example. All products manufactured by Adidas are in one place, similar to Nike, Puma, Kukri, and Connate. It has the shoe section, which includes boots used for playing in the field and other sports shoes used for contemporary training and fitness like jogging. Therefore, the soccer sections do not limit itself to soccer products alone. It has other few equipment that an ordinary individual can use as they work on their body fitness.
The most interesting section that makes this store in Denver is the soccer fan shop. It has nearly everything a fan would ask for depending on what they would prefer to wear. People can buy jerseys worn by their favorite football teams. In cases where the jersey is not available, the store takes the initiative to make a specific order on behalf of the fan, who can then collect the jersey after a certain duration. In fact, a person can request for a customized shirt in terms of fitting, labelling, and brand. Other products include boots, shorts, jackets, socks, captain armbands, and referee gears. It means that a fan can go to a soccer event dressed like a referee. Interestingly, the store makes an effort to get the products from various famous sports manufacturers, which is a rare thing to find in many stores. In fact, department stores in Saudi Arabia often prefer to get their commodities from a limited number of suppliers because their stores are not as large as this one in Denver. Lastly, the store has a section for video games offering the latest versions of games by different manufacturers, for soccer, the store offers an updated version of FIFA 14, and the marketers are waiting for the release of FIFA 15 version later this year.
Having looked at the arrangement of the products in the store, the marketing strategy of the store is also an important factor. At first, glance, a visitor cannot help to notice the variety in the store. Its products emanate from different suppliers, some of whom are new entries in the sporting market. As such, Dick’s Sporting Goods gives its customers the opportunity to try products recently introduced in the market. Variety is an important element for customers because it helps the store to deal with the challenges of monotony. When customers accustom to certain, they often prefer to change the places they buy their products because they are tired of the same products all the time. In addition, offering a wide range of products from equipment used during work out, normal dressing, and playing on the field helps the store to attract customers who often have varying needs.
Another marketing strategy used by the store is the use of descriptive tags. At the top of every shelf containing products by a particular brand, the store has visible tags that describe the location, activities, and duration that the manufacturer has been in operation. As such, the customer can notice that the retail, store has a close connection with its suppliers hence improving the confidence of the customer in the products offered by the store. There are also details describing the locations of similar stores across the country. A marketing strategy enables the customer to know that they can still make a similar purchase in other places of the country.
The target audience of the store is people who are actively participate in sporting activities. With growing demand better lifestyle in the United States, many people are keen to improve their lifestyle by taking part in physical exercise. It provides a market opportunity for the store by giving them an incentive to stock a variety of sporting equipment. Sometimes, medical conditions also require individuals to start participating in physical exercise or take part in sports. As such, the store targets such individuals because they need sporting equipment. Moreover, college and university students also provide an important audience because they are young and eager to engage in physical activities. In most cases, most of them join different games to become members of the team. They are regular visitors of the store in Denver, because it provides them with all the equipment they need.
In terms of segmenting its market, the store does not use prices. It uses branding to divide its market into the target segments. Consequently, some products are expensive than others depending on the price of the manufacturer. The store considers the social class of all its customers hence it stocks products from a variety of suppliers. Therefore, if a customer requires anything, their purchasing power will allow them to get it based on them manufacturer whose price is more competitive for them. Furthermore, the store often has seasonal offers where it reduces to prices by a significant margin to the customer. Such offers often enable people to purchase more goods at the store even if they do not have much money. On that note, it is evident that Dick’s Sporting Goods tries to accommodate all people within the society regardless of their financial ability by giving them seasonal opportunities to buy goods at low prices. Moreover, offering goods for both males and females ensures that the store does not discriminate its customers in any way.
The selection display communicates competence on the part of the store. It also communicates emphatic quality and good relationship between the stakeholders. Displaying goods from different suppliers shows that the store gives an option to the customer to choose goods that best fit their requirements. In addition, it shows that the store has enough stock to fulfill its obligations when it comes to the condition it states its warranty offers. The communication helps to foster the relationship between the store and the customer, which is important in understanding the specific consumer needs.