Literature

Review
Angela Ng Li Xuan 33044014
Choo Wei Hong
33046133
Koh Chin Hoe
33002852
Yeo Yu Wei Rebecca
32978375
Contents

1. Introduction....................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Statement of the Problem.............................................................................1

1.2 Purpose of the Study.................................................................................... 1

2. Conceptual Framework...................................................................................... 2

2.1 Brand Name.................................................................................................. 2

2.2 Usage........................................................................................................... 3

2.3 Price (Discounts).......................................................................................... 4

3. Research Questions........................................................................................... 6

4. Key Hypotheses................................................................................................. 6

5. References......................................................................................................... 7

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1. Introduction

With an increasing number of people purchasing sports shoes not solely for sports practice

but for a myriad of their individual purpose, it has rapidly created a higher demand in the

sports shoe industry. Studies have shown that products in the fashion industry have a fast

rate of elimination and therefore companies need to know what the consumer want to retain

consumer loyalty (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1995). Therefore, what the consumer looks for will

affect how they evaluate the product before buying it. This study investigates the relevant

variables which will affect and impact the client's product evaluation.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

With the intense competition within the sports shoe industry over the years as new avant-

garde, brands are launched alongside national brands; companies would need to

understand what influences consumers during their product evaluation of sports apparel.

1.2 Purpose of the Study

The goal of this study is to understand and develop a conceptual framework to examine

what affects a consumers product evaluation on sports shoes. Studies have shown brand

name of the shoes does play an essential part in their purchase selection. It is shown in

various studies that the purpose of using these sports shoes also plays a part in being a

deciding factor. As it is reflected in Alain d'Astous and Karim Chnaou (2002) research, there

are several key factors which will affect the thought process of consumers while analysing

the product.

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2. Conceptual Framework

Adapted from Alain d'Astous and Karim Chnaou (2002)

2.1 Brand Name

The brand name is a major factor when consumers evaluate the sports shoe. Consumers

may perceive the sports shoes of national brands being more popular and well marketed to

be made of better materials and therefore, they are of better quality and can perform better.

A well-developed brand allows merchants to be more lucrative and also allow better

bargaining power with the producer (Mills, 1995) and establish store loyalty (Corstjens & Lal,

2000). As compared to the private brands, consumers rarely see them on the shelves in

stores and therefore would think that the product is more inferior.

The national brands use celebrity endorsements to help them promote themselves. The use

of celebrities only increased in the recent years due to the media craze and sports

companies made use of this as a tool to promote their brand to the public (Demangeot &

Broderick, 2010). Moreover, the actual level of expertise of the celebrity who is endorsing the

product need not be high. What is important is the consumers perception of the celebritys

expertise need to be high (Ohanian, 1991). For example, national brands such as Nike used

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comedian actor, Kevin Hart in 2016 to endorse their sports related product. Although he

might not be an athlete, Nike believes that the consumers perception of his is a good fit for

the sports product. Therefore, Nike can capture its market share in the industry because his

fans will think that the product is good and credible due to his endorsement.

Therefore, it is important that sports companies use branding to affect consumers

perception of the sports shoes that they are having. This will deter whether the product

evaluation is good or bad.

2.2 Usage

With the worldwide evolution trend creating a higher demand for sports shoes, consumers

have higher expectations when it comes to selecting the product that suits their needs.

Therefore, usage is one of the most important consideration when it comes to product

evaluation.

Each sports shoes launched would have their unique characteristics and usage for a

particular purpose or occasion. For example, the Football shoes are produced solely for

different football surfaces such as Field Turf, AstroPlay and Natural Grass System. For the

artificial surfaces yielded would be in a higher peak torque and rotational stiffness than the

natural grass surfaces (Villwock, 2009).

Studies have shown that some sports shoes have a highly competitive risk of injury for

consumers when it comes to the different type of footwear used for a particular purpose. The

injury risk might increase when individual body weight have different force, stance time and

vertical stiffness (Logan et al., 2010). Therefore, many sports companies have their sports

shoes manufactured in a way to remove any unnecessariness and focus on the highlight

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elements such as lightweight, shock-absorbing and cushioning system which it would be a

great help to restraint from any injury (Theisen, 2014).

Additionally, the intended usage of the sports shoe will also affect how the consumer

evaluate the product. For example, when a consumers intention was to play soccer, he

would head to the sports shoe section to look at the different brands of soccer shoe product.

Therefore, buying a shoe for a different purpose will determine how the consumer evaluate

the product itself.

2.3 Price (Discounts)

Price promotion is frequently used to attract consumers, as it plays a significant part in

consumers evaluation of the product and could also change consumers perception of value

(Monroe & Dodds, 1998). In other words, it does not mean that even if the product is set a

lower price, the customers are more willing to evaluate the product of higher quality.

Consumers may think that the company is having a price promotion because the sports

shoe is made of inferior quality materials or the shoe might be out of fashion trend. Thus, it is

detrimental to the companys branding.

Consumers look into three factors which include perceived value, acceptable price range

and willingness to buy when evaluating a product (Susan, 1981).

Promotional items could change consumer behaviour and brand awareness towards the

product. Depending on the need of the product, consumers decision and evaluation

changes when the item is on discount/promotion during the festival or seasonal season

(Kotler, 2002).

For example, Nike is one of the giants of the sportswear industry, and it considers consumer

perception about how much the product is worth. The value is used to gauge the maximum

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price where the consumer is willing to pay for the companys shoes. From this, customers

evaluated Nikes sports products to be of higher quality and therefore willing to pay more.

Therefore, promotion acts as a tool to add extra value to the item. However, it is only a short

term strategy, and companies only use this strategy when there is a tough competition

between competitors.

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3. Research Questions

RQ1: Is brand name an important factor for consumers when it comes to Product

Evaluation?

RQ2: How does the usage of sports shoe affect the Product Evaluation?

RQ3: Can the price (discounts) have an impact on the Product Evaluation?

4. Key Hypotheses

The hypotheses formulated are relevant to the literatures presented:

H1: There is a relationship between the brand of the sports shoe towards the

consumers product evaluation.

H2: There is a relationship between the usages of the sports shoe towards the

consumers product evaluation.

H3: There is a relationship between the discounts given by the retailer for the sports

shoe towards the consumers product evaluation.

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5.References

Brown, SL. And Eisenhardt, K.M. (1995), Product development: past research, present

findings, and future directions, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp.343-

378.

Corstjens, M. & Lal, R. (2000) Building store loyalty through store brands. Journal of Market

Research, 37, pp. 281291.

d'Astous, Alain, and Karim Chnaoui. "Consumer perception of sports apparel: the role of

brand name, store name, price, and intended usage situation. (Research Paper)."

International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship June-July 2002: 109+. Academic

OneFile. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

Demangeot, C., & Broderick, A. J. (2010). Consumer Perceptions of Online Shopping

Environments. Psychology & Marketing, 30(6), pp. 461469. http://doi.org/10.1002/mar

Kotler, P.,(2002).Marketing Management,The millennium edition, Prentice Hall of India

Private Limited pp.267.

Logan, S., Hunter, I., Hopkins, J. T., Feland, J. B., & Parcell, A. C. (2010). Ground reaction

force differences between running shoes, racing flats, and distance spikes in runners.

Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 9(1), 147+. Retrieved from

http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy.murdoch.edu.au/ps/i.do?

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p=AONE&sw=w&u=murdoch&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE

%7CA221271275&sid=summon&asid=5ff77fd57940a7f59ff25a9d58f4f284

Mills, D. (1995) Why retailers sell private labels. Journal of Economics Management

Strategy, 4, 3, pp. 509528.

Monroe (1988), The moderating Effect of Prior Knowledge on Cue Utilization in product

Evaluations, Journal of Consumer Research, 15 (September) , pp. 253-64

Monroe and William B. Dodds (1998), A Research Program for Establishing the Validity of

the Price-Quality Relationship, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, 16 (Spring), pp.

151-68

Ohanian, R. (1991). The impact of celebrity spokespersons perceived image on consumers

intention to purchase. Jour-nal of Advertising Research, 31, pp. 4654.

Susan M. Petroshius (1981), Buyers Perception of Price: An update of Evidence, in

Perspectives in consumer Behaviour, 3rd ed. , Harold H. Kassarjian and Thomas S.

Roberson , eds. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company pp. 43-55

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Theisen, D., Malisoux, L., Genin, J., Delattre, N., Seil, R., & Urhausen, A. (2014). Influence

of midsole hardness of standard cushioned shoes on running-related injury risk, pp. 371

376. http://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2013-092613

Villwock, M. R., Meyer, E. G., Powell, J. W., Fouty, A. J., & Haut, R. C. (2009). Football

playing surface and shoe design affect rotational traction. The American Journal of Sports

Medicine, 37(3), pp. 518525. http://doi.org/10.1177/0363546508328108

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