The state of the THOR athletic sock company It is one of the American companies working in the field of producing sports socks of all kinds, and this company has transformed from a mere company that produces socks of the second degree to a company with distinctive items in the market The beginning of the story goes back to the sharp decline in the company's sales and the lack of its marketing share in the early nineties. On the road to success were the following steps: 1- Preparing an integrated marketing research, and the study concluded that the total sports socks market amounts to (500) million dollars, and that its design does not exceed the presence of a printed name and some colored lines on an occasional basis, and it is always white socks made mainly of cotton. The study also proved that the use of rubber makes the socks slip on the foot during sports matches. In addition, most athletes struggle with peeling and sticking toes with their current socks 2- Changing the company's mission from producing sports socks to * producing foot comfort * and translating this through an integrated effort between marketing and design men, and development took several forms: - Designing socks that do not slip on the foot without using traditional rubber to solve the problem of customers in this regard Pantyhose designed to prevent friction and sticking to the toes, and to maintain a healthy foot. - Allocating 20% of profits to research and development, purchasing advanced new machines and introducing multiple low-cost designs 3- Dividing the market into groups, and producing socks for each category such as tennis socks, soccer socks, volleyball socks, basketball socks, ski socks...etc, focusing on a group of high-level games, using segmentation by social class, and dealing With high-profile groups looking for a comfortable foot. 4- Using distribution outlets that deal with higher social groups, and opening small branches in clubs frequented by upper classes 5- The use of these ideas led to the use of a pricing policy according to the consumer's ability to pay and raised the company's prices to double the prices of other competing items 6- Promotional efforts were used to clarify the added developments of the products and justify the high price and link them to the aspects of respect in the commodity. Where tennis socks were attached to the world tennis champion (Martina Navratilova), support was obtained from the American Medical Association, and a number of major American institutions that relied on the company's socks mainly to supply them to their workers. With a number of reports submitted and published in specialized medical journals The result was an increase in the company's sales from 30 million dollars annually to 150 million dollars in a plan implemented by the company in three years.

questions

Review the most important product problems revealed by marketing research. (3 marks)-4

5- What does it mean to change the company's mission from producing sports socks to making comfortable shoes? (two marks)

6- The company rebuilt its marketing strategies to overcome its problems. See the features of this as discussed in the case study. (5 marks)

7- What are - in your opinion based on your understanding of the situation - the factors that led the company to succeed in solving its marketing problems