Sports Retailers in Lebanon: Fighting for a Bigger Cake Slice?! -PART 1-
Part 1 is about MikeSport and Decathlon Lebanon.
Part 2 is about SportsExperts CO and Sports4Ever
Concerned parties: Mike Sport, Decathlon Lebanon, Azadea, Sports Experts Co, Sports 4 Ever, Baroody Group…
The following article is based on a plain observation of the recent communication channels of the main players on the sports retail market in Lebanon.
“
- Why I go to Decathlon? I find good quality fashionable colorful products, at a great price; plus I can find ANYTHING I need, and anything I don’t need.
- Why I don’t go to Decathlon? They don’t have “The North Face” and they don’t have my shoe size.
- Why I go to Mike Sport? I’m looking for one particular brand, and I’m surely not interested in their loyalty cards.
- Why I don’t go to Mike Sport? Decathlon is cheaper.
“
Each of the 4 main sports apparel retailers in Lebanon, namely Mike Sport, Decathlon Lebanon, Sports 4ever and Sports Experts Co. is naturally doing their own efforts into gaining a bit more market share on the others.
Effort is being poured mainly -but not only- into Sales, Marketing, Distribution and Service. It looks like a lot of effort has been and is being invested in distribution and expanding accessibility, with new shop branches opening here and there and new brands acquisition. This clearly says that they are fighting for a position out there. Ideally it would be great to escort those expansion efforts with proper marketing, each retailer at its relative scale.
Sure they’re putting effort on coordination and execution, on coming up with ideas every now and then… and if all that pays the bills, then It’s All Good!
It is by looking at their social media (mainly Facebook and Instagram) that we could have a rather good idea about all their marketing efforts. Social media is their main communication channel, other than the huge posters in front of their shops, and maybe some other channel that might have not reached me as an audience.
But it seems to me that some of those retailers might be lacking vision in their communication.
Mike Sport
The good, the bad, and the ugly
- Brief history and context
Mike Sport is a brand for a chain of “supermarket-like” shops selling popular and high-end sports brands. In their past, they did a great job in becoming a retail giant. No major communication effort was necessary; they were the only sports supermarket out there.
The sports retail business got much more interesting to me, as a consumer, when Decathlon’s brand jumped into the local market. And I’m sure Mike Sport’s marketing mix got stirred up when they felt the imminent threat of the European Giant anchoring on the Mediterranean shores of the Cedars Country!
However, Mike Sport are still the leaders in retail in Lebanon. So I guess, It’s All Good!
Mike Sport are the most active among all contestants, from a marketing point of view. They operate on different channels, and this suggests that they’re following a certain media plan.
But it doesn’t look like they’re following a clear strategy based on positioning and targeting.
Here are the topics I chose to comment on.
1- Distribution
Yes, Mike Sport shops are all over the country! 1st prize! 19 branches across the country, including outlets, and 1 branch in Erbil, Iraq!
But accessibility is not a point they stress on in their marketing.
2- Sponsorships/image association
Sponsoring (if it’s the case) a hot girl who takes care of her body seasonally for the looks of it, and not permanently for the well-being of it, is a bit far from the ideals of sports commonly known nowadays, health and fitness. Yes, if I were to choose an image association for my sports brand, I would definitely opt for a role model in sports, health and fitness, and not a beauty model!
Apparently, and I quote her Instagram post, translated from Arabic: “summer is near, and it’s time to take more care of our bodies…”
But the move is somehow strategic nonetheless; she has 800,000 followers on Instagram (!) and almost half a million likes on her Facebook page.
3- Positioning and segmentation
Looking at all the marketing actions out there, I don’t seem to be able to feel any connection with the “Mike Sport” brand.
It’s clear that Mike Sport are unclear about their positioning. None of their communication messages indicate who they are, it’s all very vague… Maybe I’ve missed it? Please leave your comments way below if you were able to identify any positioning.
As to their targeting, it’s as random as distribution of flyers on the streets, maybe at a Hazmieh roundabout on a weekday at 5pm… Going over marketing basics, I would say that there are few age groups left out, that is to say the least.
Check out my comments about their TV Commercial competition:
https://medium.com/@TheCarbonaf/mike-sport-poor-targeting-edc477c1368d
I hope that they’ll do some kind of study (yes! a marketing study!) for their upcoming TV Commercial! You wouldn’t want to send the wrong message to the wrong people, #Worldwide!
4- Social Media
This is supposedly an important point -if not the most important-, worth putting much marketing efforts on, since it’s your only active communication channel.
With almost 100,000 likes on that Facebook page, and 7,000 followers on Instagram, that’s a huge database man! Yalla! Move it! Hiring someone to take care of your social media is NOT the thing to do… It might be a common misconception for CEOs and Marketing managers to do so. It’s just that most managers are overly excited to follow a new trend in communication, but they just don’t know how to do it.
As a marketing player, looking at that Facebook page, I feel as if there’s a budget and that it should be spent… somehow. There is no definite direction in which communication is going.
And so I’m led to believe that Mike Sport is popping marketing actions every now and then, just to keep the wheel turning, which is fair enough I guess…
On the other hand, engagement is a quite common objective on the market, and if this is what they’re looking for with their social media strategy, a quick look at their engagement indicators shows that they’re not having much interaction with their online community.
5- Slogan
“Be One of Us”
Really? Who the heck are you Mike?
You better come down and be one of Us!
6- Social involvement
Mike, I don’t believe in your social involvement.
Supporting the poor, or the unfortunate children, or getting wound up over a national emotional happening (like a funeral!) is cool.
Talking about it is cheap!
Newsflash, those who truly care, don’t talk about what they do.
I think this offer seen in the “donate” ad is one of the moves that got the most public interactions. That’s really something to be proud of, putting your chips on people’s emotions!
Psychology 201 (a bit more advanced than 101), we all play the “savior” role, just because somewhere else we’ve played the “aggressor” role.
It’s just that my bar is high on that matter; apart from my ideals on it, I’ve worked for a company that allocated a budget and products for social work for no return, and never said anything about it in the media. It might have come from the heart.
But what the heck, at least some people in need are getting “used shoes” in their feet. So I guess, It’s All Good!
Mike, there’s always room for improvement. But anyway, you’re still the retail leader in Lebanon, so I guess, It’s All Good!
Decathlon Lebanon
The spoiled brat
- Brief context
Decathlon is an established French sports brand. Yes, Decathlon Lebanon inherited a fortune from its rich French mother. The fortune consists of reputation, values, original products, research and development, marketing material…
Just like a spoiled brat, Decathlon Lebanon seems to be counting on that foreign family reputation.
1- Social media
I’ve counted 3 so far: #NoMoreExcuses, #NoExcuses, #NoMoreExcusesLebanon. A decision has to be made to what seems to be a good attempt at positioning!
#NewSportThursday: I hope we run out of Thursdays soon, coz you’re running out of new sports!
With 40,000 Facebook page likes, they lie second behind Mike Sport, with just one branch and few years on the local market. I don’t remember what they did at the opening, but it must have been something good, and I’m guessing the French mother had somehow its influence on that relative success.
With only 400 Instagram followers, they just have to wake up and move their lazy asses!
Anyway, it’s not just about the numbers… that’s a good consolation.
2- On site activities:
Decathlon Lebanon organizes small sports events at the shop, it’s a great way to somehow involve customers in sports and in the brand, to promote their own products and to give out the image that Decathlon Lebanon is concerned and implicated in sports.
It’s a great way to just play! I’m sure it’s exciting for those who do participate, much less for those who organize… I’d have to go there sometime to be able to build a proper opinion though. But somehow the pictures and messages don’t seem to be talking to me.
I don’t know if the people who actually show up at those events are the ones who happen to pass by, or people who look forward to those events and mark them down on their calendars, and bucket lists.
But one thing I do know is that if I’ll see a Decathlon ad saying that there’s a competition or tournament on that date, I might mark it down so as not to head down to the shop, where I might bump into few kids and parents agitated about… nothing.
3- Positioning
“Sports Megastore. Mini Prices. No More Excuses.”
This is where a positioning is detected!
I would describe it with words like: supermarket, affordable, all sports, encouragement.
At least they’re offering accessibility to all! And not cornering themselves in a special community, and asking us to be one of them!
Ok, I know, it is Decathlon’s international brand positioning.
And in Lebanon, they’re doing a good job following that guideline! Every time (or almost!) they communicate about a product, they include the tag #NoMoreExcusesLebanon, announcing that “we now made this item/sport affordable, so jump along”
4- Targeting
Decathlon, are you for the kids who play basketball at your shop?
Are you for the machos who want to break push-up records?
Are you the motivation guru for the unmotivated?
All of the above? Then I guess, It’s All Good!
It seems that their targeting is poor and random as well.
5- Communication
Few people might know about their brand assets, such as how technical they could be, that they go through Research and Development, that much effort is put on innovation, on design…
I feel that there’s an absence of vibrancy to Decathlon Lebanon, the standalone products in the ads, the colors in general, whether at the shop (killer white lighting), or in the ads (seen on Instagram and Facebook)… there you go, a free consultation session.
Their in-shop product signage is the best thing ever, especially when you can’t fully trust the knowledge of salespeople. But this feature is inherited from abroad…
It’s like Decathlon Lebanon is somehow passive in how they communicate their brand, deploying minimal effort.
Follow the link to get to Part -2-
https://medium.com/@TheCarbonaf/sports-retailers-in-lebanon-fighting-for-a-bigger-cake-slice-part-2-442588f68092
Disclaimer: Photos and Trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.
