Company interview preparation

 Hello fellow creativity enthusiasts!

We are up to our next mission, which is to interview a company in Estonia and create an innovative

proposal for their business. In this post we will tell a little about the company in general and then discuss

their customers, competition and possible business opportunities.

 

 

Industry and company research

Our company is an Estonian sports store which currently has 16 main stores all over Estonia and also 3

outlets which are located in Tallinn, Tartu and Pärnu. The vision of our selected company is to be a

leading sporting goods multichannel retailer and to be a highly successful and competitive on the

Estonian market. The mission of this company is to develop a successful business by always offering to

our customers an optimal range of sport’s equipment, athletic apparel and other merchandise that reflects

to a sports theme or outdoor activity. Also, this company’s mission is to contribute to the improvement

of the Estonian people health through activating the values of a healthy lifestyle , sports and outdoor

activities and by improving the quality of life of our customers.

The core values of our company are:

INNOVATION: We plan for the future to create a business which is successful not only for today, but for

the future. That is the reason why even in our everyday work we are looking for ways to optimize the

procedures, actively implementing new technological solutions.

FOCUSING ON RESULTS: Every action that we make is focused on achieving the best result for the

company and the customer. We constantly work to improve productivity, both at the personal and and

team level. With each step we seek to improve the efficiency of our business.

PROACTIVITY: We constantly move forward, predicting changes in the competitive business environment

to stay ahead of the curve. We demand a lot of ourselves and we fully understand that there is always

room for better results and higher efficiencies.

 

Customers

Sport in general plays a big role in Estonian culture. Estonia has won most Olympics medals in

wrestling, country-cross skiing and weightlifting. 

As for sports in Estonia nowadays, the most popular sports in Estonia are basketball, beach volleyball,

cricket, cycling, and as we Europeans like it, football. Also fitness and gym training are very popular in

Estonia. Therefore the sports clothing retailers target indoor training centers and gym clothing.

Our group will be interviewing and innovating for a sports clothing and accessory retailer, so we thought

it would be good to know what our customers prefer and train. 

The customer base of sports clothing here in Estonia is wide. People from all ages are generally quite

active and have sports related hobbies. Also, the rise of popularity among street wear and sports leisure

clothing has made their customer base even bigger. 

Competition

Sportland is the biggest retailer of sporting goods in Estonia with 19 stores in different cities. In the

Sportland group there are also many more stores. 3 outlet stores, 2 Adidas stores, Kõrvemaa store of

hiking and skiing equipment and 4 Sports Direct stores. Sportland sells equipment for badminton,

basketball, camping, cycling, discgolf, football, golf, handball, ice hockey, ice skating, paddle tennis,

rollerblading, running, sailing, skiing, squash, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, water sport and

other training equipment. They also sell training clothes and footwear for both indoor, outdoor activities.

They also have a well looking online store and they offer free shipping for orders over 50€ and free

returns within 90 days.

Rademar has 17 stores in different cities of Estonia. Rademar sells footwear for casual and training

purposes, casual clothing, training clothes for both indoor and outdoor activities. Rademar also sells both

male and female bicycles for all different purposes, skateboards, scooters, roller skates and corresponding

accessories. They also have a pleasing online store, and they offer free delivery for orders over 69€. 

Surfhouse has only one store in Tallinn so because of that they are heavily dependent on their online

store. They offer footwear, shirts, hoodies, sweaters, fleeces, jackets, pants and different accessories.

They also sell bags for different needs, watches and sunglasses. For camping equipment, they offer one

sleeping bag and one 2-person tent. Surfhouse also sells snowboards, alpine skis, snow wear, goggles

and safety equipment, skates scooters, roller-skates, bikes, helmets and corresponding protective gear,

windsurf boards, kitesurf, sup, surfboard, wake, wing, waterwear and corresponding equipment. They

offer free shipping for orders over 45€ and free returns in 14 days. 

Hawaii express has 4 stores in Tallinn. They are more focused on selling bicycles and corresponding

equipment, cross-country ski wear and equipment, but they also offer clothing for both winter and summer

time outdoor activities. As a big plus they provide maintenance for different equipment and rental for

downhill ski sets and snowboarding sets. Hawaii express offers free delivery and usual delivery time is

1-7 days. 

Challenges 

1. COVID-19 pandemic - fewer customers visiting retail stores, more limited opportunities for playing sports = decreased need for sporting goods
2. How to engage customers who are not interested in sports or don’t play sports that often - not everyone who comes to the store is there to buy sporting gear (they are only interested in streetwear or need a new pair of shoes, for example). However, the target customer is still a person who is active and interested in sports - therefore, more effort can be made in encouraging this customer group who doesn’t play sports to start playing them (for example, making exercise more accessible to them through partnerships with gyms or targeted content focused on beginners to various sports)
3. Lack of environmental/sustainability initiatives - sustainability is becoming a global trend and fits well with the target customer (active person who cares about their health). A lack of sustainable initiatives on the part of the company can be a challenge in the future that would cause it to fall behind market trends (more focus can for example be put on showcasing sustainable or local brands)

Opportunities (innovative solutions)

1. Ideal fitting technology - Some stores offer perfect fitting for sports shoes, this would attract

   customers to visit this exact store to find shoes that fit their feet and needs perfectly. Stores like

   Athlete’s Foot (Myfit3D) offer this through a combination of technology and well educated experts.

2. Interactive stores - Making stores more interactive will help to attract customers and offer

   competitive advantage. 

• Treadmills offer the possibility to test out your shoes or other gear

• Touch-screen monitors can be used to explain details of each item. Monitors can also help

  to find the items customers need through search engines that allow filtering based on the

  activity levels, weather and field. 

3. Customized shoes and clothing - nowadays era demands more personalized products and

   allowing customers to design the color or print of their shoes will help to achieve this 

 

 

So, with all this in mind and with the help of our interview mind map, we will conduct our interview. And

based on all our information, we will innovate cool new features to our sports retailer.

 

 

Interview mind map