Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

Chapter 4 of MKTG: Principles of Marketing focuses on the The Marketing Environment of companies.

Foot Locker's Target Market are usually young men and women, ages 12-20, who are preferably athletic. Foot locker supplies athletic apparel and footwear for men and athletic footwear for women. Foot locker has put in place a 2 to 5 year plan that will expand their stores and provide even better customer service for the people. This company proves different from others because they provide a large diverse amount of brands, including Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour. Also, Foot locker's inventory tends to exceed any other stores, making customers come to Foot locker because they know what they are looking for is most likely there. By 2016, Foot locker, INC. action plans include target earnings to be 7 percent of sales, they also want to raise sales by square foot. These goals came about when the company already reached most of their goals from their 5-year plan in 2010. Foot locker's main focus is to keep the customers happy and to stay apart of the Fortune 500, that is by setting higher goals for themselves every time they've accomplished one goal.

Ch. 3 - Ethics & Social Responsibility

   Chapter 3 of MKTG: Principles of Marketing focuses on Ethics and Social Responsibility. Foot Locker has held up their end of the bargain when it comes to social responsibility and doing right by society. In June 2010, Foot Locker collaborated with Veterans Advantage to put in place a 20% discount in honor of all who serve or have served for our nation and their families. The discount would be on all athletic apparel and shoes and at all of Foot Locker's subsidiaries as well (Champs Sports, Eastbay, Lady Foot Locker, Foot Action and Kid's Foot Locker). The discount can be used in stores, by phone, and online. "Foot Locker is proud to carry on the spirit and tradition of supporting our veterans, and in so doing, honor them by providing savings to encourage their active lifestyles," said Ken C. Hicks, Chairman & CEO of Foot Locker, Inc.

   

   In 2011, Foot Locker, Inc. also launched the Foot locker Scholar Athletes Program, where each year 20 students who are doing exceptionally well in school and who are also actively involved in sports and their community, are awarded $20,000 towards their college education.

Foot locker believes strongly giving back to the community and helping those who show passion in sports, thats where the corporation's social responsibility lies.

Sources

http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/29818-Foot-Locker-Inc-Thanks-Those-Who-Serve-With-New-Discount-Program-for-U-S-Military-Veterans-and-Their-Families-

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/foot-locker-foundation-inc-unites-athletic-industry-for-13th-annual-on-our-feet-fundraising-gala-229072921.html

Ch. 2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Foot Locker's mission statement is to be the leading global retailer of athletically inspired shoes and apparel. With their many Strategic Business Units (SBUs), such as Foot Action, Kids Footlocker, Lady Foot Locker, Champs, Eastbay, and Foot Locker International, Foot Locker is recognized as the leading footwear retailer in the United States.

Footlocker SWOT Analysis

Strengths: Foot locker has very strong business relationships. For many years, Foot locker has maintained a tight relationship with NIKE. In fact, each of Foot Locker's SBUs purchased between 39% and 80% of total merchandise from this single vendor. The companies help each other because while Nike is thriving, Foot locker is thriving also. Foot locker also has a strong executive team, they are well experienced. That is imperative in order to out-strategize the competition while still achieving corporate goals and objectives.

Weaknesses: One of Foot locker's weaknesses is that there has been a decline in foot traffic in it's mall-based stores. This has resulted in many store closings. Management noted in their most recent earnings report that by the end of this calendar year, 40 more store will schedule to close. Another weakness is high employee turnover. This is occurring because they have well over 40,000 employees, whom are mostly getting paid minimum wage.

Opportunities: Foot locker definitely has the opportunity to improve. One way they could, is to be more diverse in manufacturers. They can build relationships with smaller brands, which will attract more customers and build profit.

Threats: One of the threats against Foot locker, like any other company is COMPETITION. Just a small portion of inventory is exclusively sold at Foot locker, so the fact that customers can go elsewhere to get the same product is already a red light. It is for that reason that store location, reputation, and advertising play such a huge role in the company's success.

Ch. 1 - Overview of Marketing (Brief History and Mission Statement)

Foot Locker, INC.'s Mission Statement

"To be the leading Global retailer of athletically inspired shoes and apparel."

 

History of Foot Locker, INC.

In 1963, the F.W. Woolworth Company purchased the Kinney Shoe Corporation and operated it as a subsidiary. In the 1960s, Kinney branched into specialty shoe stores, including Stylco in 1967, Susie Casuals in 1968, and Foot Locker on September 12, 1974 (in Puente Hills Mall in City of Industry, California.)

Woolworth also diversified its portfolio of specialty stores in the 1980s, including Afterthoughts, Northern Reflections, Rx Place, and Champs Sports. By 1989, the company was pursuing an aggressive strategy of multiple specialty store formats targeted at enclosed shopping malls. The idea was that if a particular concept failed at a given mall, the company could quickly replace it with a different concept. The company aimed for 10 stores in each of the country's major shopping malls, but this never came to pass as Woolworth never developed that many successful specialty store formats.

In 1988, the F.W. Woolworth Company incorporated a separate company called the Woolworth Corporation in the state of New York. The Woolworth Corporation was responsible for the operations of the Foot Locker stores, among the other specialty chains operated by Woolworth's. One of its first moves was the acquisition of Champs Sports and to rename itself the Woolworth Athletic Group.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the F.W. Woolworth Company’s flagship department store chain fell into decline, ultimately culminating in the closure of the last stores operating under the name of Woolworth’s in the United States in 1997. Deciding to continue aggressive expansion into the athletic business in the following years, the company acquired Eastbay in 1997, which was the largest athletic catalog retailer in the United States, as well as subsequent purchases of regional storefront retailers Sporting Goods (purchased in 1997) and The Athletic Fitters (purchased in 1998). After 1997, Wal-Mart replaced Woolworth in the Dow Jones average. The Woolworth Corporation remained the parent company of Foot Locker, and in 1998 it changed its name to "Venator Group, Inc." By the 1990s, Foot Locker was responsible for more than 70 percent of Kinney Shoe Corp. sales, while traditional shoe retailer Kinney was in decline. Venator announced the shuttering of the remaining Kinney Shoe and Footquarters stores on September 16, 1998.

On February 12, 1999, A federal jury in Austin awarded $341,000 Thursday to a former Foot Locker shoe store manager who said the company systematically discriminated against its African American employees by offering more opportunities for promotions to white managers.

As the “Foot Locker” brand had become the Woolworth/Venator company’s top performing line, on November 2, 2001 Venator changed its name to Foot Locker, Inc. On November 19, 2004, Foot Locker announced that its quarterly profit rose 19 percent, helped by stronger sales.

In 2004, Foot Locker acquired the Footaction USA brand and approximately 350 stores from Footstar for $350 million.  On April 14, 2004, Foot Locker Inc. announced that it agreed to buy about 350 Footaction stores from bankrupt Footstar Inc. for $160 million to expand in urban areas.

On January 10, 2005, the company announced that Nick Grayston was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer of its Foot Locker U.S. division, succeeding Tim Finn who retired from the company.

In 2007, Foot Locker joined with schoolPAX to launch the Foot Locker School Rewards Program, designed to provide charitable donations to schools who sign up and shop at Foot Locker with a custom-coded keytag or school code.

In 2011, Foot Locker joined Do Something for the Foot Locker Scholar Athletes program, which honors high school athletes for demonstrating academic excellences as well as flexing their hearts on their sports team and in their communities.

On June 26, 2012, Foot Locker celebrated their 100th anniversary of trading on the New York Stock Exchange by ringing the Closing Bell for the trading day. The 100 year celebration reflects the F. W. Woolworth Company, which changed its name to Venator in 1997, and finally Foot Locker in 2001.

In 2013, the company acquired the German retailer Runners Point Group.

Foot Locker has steadily risen in Fortune 500 rank, from 446 in 2011, to 435 in 2012, 413 in 2013, and 400 in 2014.