By NICK WINGFIELD
Microsoft's predicament recalls the situation Apple found itself in
during the early 1990s, with high-quality products overlooked in the
marketplace.
90 年代的 Apple公司產品不是不可或缺的"高品質"........
愛迪達成功之道：看穿顧客在想什麼
http://www.cw.com.tw/article/article.action?id=5051794
2013-08-30
Web only
作者：經濟學人
圖片來源：陳德信
10年前，運動服飾製造商不停地為產品增加功能和未來主義設計，它們相信，消費者會依照技術規格來購買訓練鞋。但是，愛迪達
（adidas）現任運動服飾創意總監卡恩斯（James Carnes），在2004年奧斯陸會議中碰上了丹麥的顧問拉斯繆森（Mikkel
Rasmussen）；拉斯繆森挑戰了這個看法，他說，一支手機可能有72個功能，但那比大部分人想要、或是會用的功能多了50個。
那讓卡恩斯非常好奇，也讓他決定與拉斯繆森的小顧問公司ReD展開長達10年的合作。在那10年之中，愛迪達的銷售和股價皆穩定成
長。全球龍頭耐吉（Nike）的行銷是以運動明星代言為主；彪馬（Puma）的行銷佔營收比例更高，並跨足非運動休閒服飾領域，銷售亦有所成長，但仍遠遠
落後主要對手耐吉和愛迪達。愛迪達的行銷較為低調，預算佔營收比例也比前兩間公司低，雖有三分之一的銷售出自「生活類」產品，不過運動服飾仍舊是愛迪達的
核心業務。
愛迪達必須從基本面著手，才能在這個毛利微薄的領域中成功，例如，愛迪達得遵循競爭對手的做法，將生產外包以拉低成本。但在 ReD的協助之下，愛迪達製作出極佳的產品。ReD的手法相當特別，它會雇用學者仔細研究消費者的動機，例如，有位人類學博士生寄了數十台拋棄式相機給顧 客，請他們拍下促使自己運動的東西；而在30名回應的女性之中，25名拍的是黑色小禮服。愛迪達原先預設，多數客戶是為了強化某項運動表現才進行訓練；但 事實上，保持健康體態就是他們的「運動」。
ReD的研究者和拜仁慕尼黑的職業及業餘足球隊相處了數周，但他們問的並不是鞋釘該多長，而是想 知道足球員成功的決定性因素。他們發現，頂尖歐洲球隊會教導各項必要技巧，但速度是教不出來的，透過訓練也只能小幅提升。因此，愛迪達將跑鞋重新設計為極 輕量的足球鞋，推出之後立刻大受歡迎。
仔細研究顧客，也影響了愛迪達的原創設計。為英國隊設計倫敦奧運的制服之時，ReD發現，英國人雖然 愛國，但不是特別喜歡王室等傳統印象。因此，愛迪達和ReD請設計師麥卡尼（Stella McCartney）從「非傳統的英國」著手；最後，麥卡尼只在少數幾個地方用了紅色，更將國旗的元素放大，大到有些服裝上根本看不出來那是國旗。這樣的 設計初期遭受了一些批評，但在商業上卻大獲成功。
愛迪達為足球部門訂下了極具野心的目標，希望2014年的銷售能到達20億歐元，較2010年世界盃舉行時的15億歐元高出許多。愛迪達希望 2015年總銷售能到達170億歐元，並將營運毛利提升至11％（目前為8％）。愛迪達的手法有些古怪，但股票分析師似乎相信這些方法會繼續帶來利潤。
然 而，愛迪達於2006年收購銳跑（Reebok），則是少見的失誤；振興銳跑所需的時間遠遠超出預期。匯豐的分析師倫伯格（Erwan Rambourg）指出，愛迪達面臨的主要風險在於，儘管在美國和中國大舉支出以增加市佔，卻沒有獲得太多成果。不過，許多支持者相信，紀律和新穎的產品 研究手法，有助愛迪達躍過這類障礙。（黃維德譯）
愛迪達必須從基本面著手，才能在這個毛利微薄的領域中成功，例如，愛迪達得遵循競爭對手的做法，將生產外包以拉低成本。但在 ReD的協助之下，愛迪達製作出極佳的產品。ReD的手法相當特別，它會雇用學者仔細研究消費者的動機，例如，有位人類學博士生寄了數十台拋棄式相機給顧 客，請他們拍下促使自己運動的東西；而在30名回應的女性之中，25名拍的是黑色小禮服。愛迪達原先預設，多數客戶是為了強化某項運動表現才進行訓練；但 事實上，保持健康體態就是他們的「運動」。
ReD的研究者和拜仁慕尼黑的職業及業餘足球隊相處了數周，但他們問的並不是鞋釘該多長，而是想 知道足球員成功的決定性因素。他們發現，頂尖歐洲球隊會教導各項必要技巧，但速度是教不出來的，透過訓練也只能小幅提升。因此，愛迪達將跑鞋重新設計為極 輕量的足球鞋，推出之後立刻大受歡迎。
仔細研究顧客，也影響了愛迪達的原創設計。為英國隊設計倫敦奧運的制服之時，ReD發現，英國人雖然 愛國，但不是特別喜歡王室等傳統印象。因此，愛迪達和ReD請設計師麥卡尼（Stella McCartney）從「非傳統的英國」著手；最後，麥卡尼只在少數幾個地方用了紅色，更將國旗的元素放大，大到有些服裝上根本看不出來那是國旗。這樣的 設計初期遭受了一些批評，但在商業上卻大獲成功。
愛迪達為足球部門訂下了極具野心的目標，希望2014年的銷售能到達20億歐元，較2010年世界盃舉行時的15億歐元高出許多。愛迪達希望 2015年總銷售能到達170億歐元，並將營運毛利提升至11％（目前為8％）。愛迪達的手法有些古怪，但股票分析師似乎相信這些方法會繼續帶來利潤。
然 而，愛迪達於2006年收購銳跑（Reebok），則是少見的失誤；振興銳跑所需的時間遠遠超出預期。匯豐的分析師倫伯格（Erwan Rambourg）指出，愛迪達面臨的主要風險在於，儘管在美國和中國大舉支出以增加市佔，卻沒有獲得太多成果。不過，許多支持者相信，紀律和新穎的產品 研究手法，有助愛迪達躍過這類障礙。（黃維德譯）
Sportswear-makers
The adidas method
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published: August 30, 2013
From The Economist
Published: August 30, 2013
Aug 24th 2013 | HERZOGENAURACH |From the print edition
A German firm's unusual approach to designing its products.
TEN years ago sportswear-makers were cramming ever more features and futuristic designs into their products. They were convinced that the consumer bought, say, training shoes based on their technical specifications. But in 2004 James Carnes, today adidas's creative director for sportswear, and a Danish consultant named Mikkel Rasmussen met at a conference in Oslo at which Mr Rasmussen challenged this notion. A mobile phone, he said, may have 72 functions, but that is 50 more than most people wanted, or used.
Mr Carnes was intrigued, and so began an almost decade-long engagement for ReD, the small consultancy Mr Rasmussen co-founded in Copenhagen. In that decade adidas's sales and share price have grown steadily, alongside those of Nike, an American firm that is the global leader in sportswear. It remains far ahead of Puma, its crosstown rival. The two German firms, based in Herzogenaurach in Bavaria, were founded by brothers, Adi Dassler (hence adidas's name) and the older Rudolf (Puma), who fell out.
Nike's brash marketing is based on offering big cheques to star athletes to endorse its products. Puma spends an even greater share of its revenues on marketing, and has pushed into non-sporting casual clothes. Its sales have grown, but they remain far behind its main rivals'. Adidas takes a quieter approach, spending less of its revenues on marketing than the other two. Although about a third of adidas's sales are also "lifestyle" goods, sportswear remains at the firm's core.
To succeed in a business with tight margins, adidas has had to get the nuts and bolts right. Like its rivals it has outsourced production to cut costs, for example. But with ReD's help it has also made handsome stuff that American rappers mention in their lyrics, and it now has prominent designers offering to co-operate on projects. Mr Carnes gives generous credit to the geeks at ReD, saying that they have had "a general effect on everything".
ReD has some curious methods. It hires ex-academics, largely anthropologists and ethnologists, to study customers' motivations intimately. ReD trained a group of adidas design staff in basic techniques, and sent each of them to spend 24 hours with a customer: to have breakfast, run and do yoga with them, and find out what made them exercise. In a related project, an anthropology doctoral student working for ReD mailed dozens of customers a disposable camera, asking them to photograph something that made them work out. Of 30 women who responded, 25 sent a picture of a little black dress, says Mr Carnes. The company had assumed that most customers were training to be good at specific sports; in fact for many, fitness itself was their "sport".
Spending weeks with both the professional and amateur divisions of Bayern Munich football club, ReD's researchers asked not how long the studs on their boots should be, but what would determine the success of a footballer in ten years' time. They learned that top European clubs had all become proficient at teaching the necessary skills. The thing that could not be taught, and could only to a small extent be trained, was speed. So adidas adapted one of its track shoes into an exceptionally light football boot. When released in 2010 it became an instant hit—and it scored far and away the most goals in that year's World Cup.
Intimate study of customers has influenced aesthetic design too. Adidas got the job of creating the host country's uniforms for last year's London Olympics. ReD found that for all their patriotism, Brits did not get terribly moved by traditional images like the monarchy and double-decker buses. So adidas and ReD told Stella McCartney, their chosen designer (pictured, centre), to think "untraditionally British". She made a splash by putting the Union Jack's red only on shoes, socks and trim, while making elements of the flag so big that on some shirts they were unrecognisable. Despite some initial criticism it was a commercial hit.
Similar research into national identity is going into next year's football World Cup uniforms. When Russians were interviewed about what made them proud, "nothing past 1970 ever came up," says Mr Carnes. Instead they mentioned Dostoevsky, the second world war and winning the race into space. So Russia's uniforms will feature a curve representing Yuri Gagarin's view from orbit.
Adidas has set an ambitious €2 billion ($2.7 billion) sales target for its football division alone in 2014, up from €1.5 billion in 2010, the last World Cup year. Overall, the company wants €17 billion in sales by 2015, at the same time increasing operating-profit margins to 11% (from 8% now). Zany as some of its methods sound, equity analysts seem convinced that they will continue to pay off. In a recent poll of 34 analysts by Reuters news agency, none recommended selling the shares, and 25 labelled them as "buy" or "outperform".
Adidas's 2006 takeover of Reebok, another sportswear firm, was a rare misstep. It has taken far longer than expected to turn around. The main risk adidas faces, says Erwan Rambourg, an analyst at HSBC, is that its heavy spending to gain market share in America and China does not pay off. A strengthening euro is another. But adidas's many admirers believe that the company's disciplined habits, and its novel approach to product research, should help it leap over any such hurdles.
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2013
A German firm's unusual approach to designing its products.
TEN years ago sportswear-makers were cramming ever more features and futuristic designs into their products. They were convinced that the consumer bought, say, training shoes based on their technical specifications. But in 2004 James Carnes, today adidas's creative director for sportswear, and a Danish consultant named Mikkel Rasmussen met at a conference in Oslo at which Mr Rasmussen challenged this notion. A mobile phone, he said, may have 72 functions, but that is 50 more than most people wanted, or used.
Mr Carnes was intrigued, and so began an almost decade-long engagement for ReD, the small consultancy Mr Rasmussen co-founded in Copenhagen. In that decade adidas's sales and share price have grown steadily, alongside those of Nike, an American firm that is the global leader in sportswear. It remains far ahead of Puma, its crosstown rival. The two German firms, based in Herzogenaurach in Bavaria, were founded by brothers, Adi Dassler (hence adidas's name) and the older Rudolf (Puma), who fell out.
Nike's brash marketing is based on offering big cheques to star athletes to endorse its products. Puma spends an even greater share of its revenues on marketing, and has pushed into non-sporting casual clothes. Its sales have grown, but they remain far behind its main rivals'. Adidas takes a quieter approach, spending less of its revenues on marketing than the other two. Although about a third of adidas's sales are also "lifestyle" goods, sportswear remains at the firm's core.
To succeed in a business with tight margins, adidas has had to get the nuts and bolts right. Like its rivals it has outsourced production to cut costs, for example. But with ReD's help it has also made handsome stuff that American rappers mention in their lyrics, and it now has prominent designers offering to co-operate on projects. Mr Carnes gives generous credit to the geeks at ReD, saying that they have had "a general effect on everything".
ReD has some curious methods. It hires ex-academics, largely anthropologists and ethnologists, to study customers' motivations intimately. ReD trained a group of adidas design staff in basic techniques, and sent each of them to spend 24 hours with a customer: to have breakfast, run and do yoga with them, and find out what made them exercise. In a related project, an anthropology doctoral student working for ReD mailed dozens of customers a disposable camera, asking them to photograph something that made them work out. Of 30 women who responded, 25 sent a picture of a little black dress, says Mr Carnes. The company had assumed that most customers were training to be good at specific sports; in fact for many, fitness itself was their "sport".
Spending weeks with both the professional and amateur divisions of Bayern Munich football club, ReD's researchers asked not how long the studs on their boots should be, but what would determine the success of a footballer in ten years' time. They learned that top European clubs had all become proficient at teaching the necessary skills. The thing that could not be taught, and could only to a small extent be trained, was speed. So adidas adapted one of its track shoes into an exceptionally light football boot. When released in 2010 it became an instant hit—and it scored far and away the most goals in that year's World Cup.
Intimate study of customers has influenced aesthetic design too. Adidas got the job of creating the host country's uniforms for last year's London Olympics. ReD found that for all their patriotism, Brits did not get terribly moved by traditional images like the monarchy and double-decker buses. So adidas and ReD told Stella McCartney, their chosen designer (pictured, centre), to think "untraditionally British". She made a splash by putting the Union Jack's red only on shoes, socks and trim, while making elements of the flag so big that on some shirts they were unrecognisable. Despite some initial criticism it was a commercial hit.
Similar research into national identity is going into next year's football World Cup uniforms. When Russians were interviewed about what made them proud, "nothing past 1970 ever came up," says Mr Carnes. Instead they mentioned Dostoevsky, the second world war and winning the race into space. So Russia's uniforms will feature a curve representing Yuri Gagarin's view from orbit.
Adidas has set an ambitious €2 billion ($2.7 billion) sales target for its football division alone in 2014, up from €1.5 billion in 2010, the last World Cup year. Overall, the company wants €17 billion in sales by 2015, at the same time increasing operating-profit margins to 11% (from 8% now). Zany as some of its methods sound, equity analysts seem convinced that they will continue to pay off. In a recent poll of 34 analysts by Reuters news agency, none recommended selling the shares, and 25 labelled them as "buy" or "outperform".
Adidas's 2006 takeover of Reebok, another sportswear firm, was a rare misstep. It has taken far longer than expected to turn around. The main risk adidas faces, says Erwan Rambourg, an analyst at HSBC, is that its heavy spending to gain market share in America and China does not pay off. A strengthening euro is another. But adidas's many admirers believe that the company's disciplined habits, and its novel approach to product research, should help it leap over any such hurdles.
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2013
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