Marketing opportunities of Columbia Sportswe, Umbro, Ltd. and Lotto Essay

Marketing opportunities of Columbia Sportswe, Umbro, Ltd. and Lotto Sport - Essay Example Columbia Sportswear: Columbia sportswear founded in 1938 is an American company that mainly deals with manufacture and distribution of adventure wear, sportswear, outerwear and respective accessories. The company has its headquarters in Washington County, Oregon. Over the decades, the company has been able to establish a niche market for itself with great products of highest quality and service. The various products of the company are jackets, shirts, fleece, vests, shorts, bottoms, footwear and other accessories such as backpacks, gloves, scarfs, caps, etc. The company has its presence mainly in America and Europe. Umbro, Ltd.: Umbro is England Company based in Greater Manchester. It is now a subsidiary of Nike. Umbros is also a sports oriented company with its niche being sports related products. Its main activities involve designing of spots related apparels and equipments. It also sources and markets its products. Even though the company’s products involve all sports related products, its niche has been football. The company is known of its products for football. Umbro owned majority stakes in the United Soccer leagues. The company’s products are sold in over 90 countries across the world. Lotto Sport: Lotto Sports is again a sports apparel manufacture established in 1973 and based in Italy. It started out as a footwear manufacturer and has today branched out to manufacturing and selling of other apparel and equipments. Today, Lotto distributes its products around the world in more than 70 countries. It also is an active sponsor of various teams and sportspersons around the world (Lotto, 2011). Marketing Opportunities The various marketing opportunities that the above firms can use to gain a competitive advantage and increase their market share are: Affiliate marketing: Affiliate marketing is a tool that helps a business to reach the masses on the internet without actually making a major commitment towards marketing expenses. It is a web-based marketing practice that will generate a sale or a lead for the business with the help of an affiliate’s business or a website. The affiliate will be rewarded if a lead or a sale is generated from the affiliate’s eff orts (Ryan & Jones, 2009). Even though this is a common practise it is an effective one and can drive traffic to the website. None of the above companies use this and it is highly recommended for all the three companies. Best example of affiliate marketing on business is Amazon.com. Amazon.com has used affiliate marketing to boost its sales and at the same time reach a greater audience worldwide with an internet presence that is rivalled by very few. Affiliate marketing can be categorised into low-hanging fruit as it is not very difficult to achieve and does not need a lot of effort. It is used by many and is also affordable which can be generate consistent sales even if it fewer in number. One of the main risks with affiliate marketing is the negative perception among consumers about the numerous online tracking technologies and also affiliates who are unethical and create a negative impression for the company. This has to be countered before going forward with implementation. This strategy will result in minor financial improvements for the company and will have a public relations effect on the firm. Social Media Marketing: