1.0 Introduction
1.1 Problem statement
According to Price (2014), any useful marketing research study begins with a clearly defined problem. A clear research problem should declare the specific question that necessitated the research and its importance.
Management decision problem
What can Adidas do to expand its market share to become number one sportswear company in Malaysia?
Marketing research problem
Determine the sportswear users’ preferences and perception of customers toward Adidas sportswear.
1.2 Research questions
1.What are the main considerations of the consumers in sportswear buying?
2.What is the customers’ satisfaction level toward various attributes of Adidas products?
3.Are the customers loyal to Adidas?
1.3 Hypotheses
1. Consumers are emphasized on the sportswear quality.
2. Adidas customers are less satisfied toward Adidas sportswear design.
3. Adidas brand loyalty is low especially Adidas accessories.
1.4 Objective of the Study
The root causes of the problems have to be defined clearly in order to help Adidas to improve its performance by achieving maximum sales. We understand that sportswear users’ preferences and perception of Adidas customer is the vital reasons for Adidas to achieve the organization’s goal. Gunelius (2014) indicates that a preferred brand means something to consumers who buy it, and Adidas need to continually research existing and prospective customers to understand how they perceive Adidas brand.
Customer loyalty is very important for an organization to ensure that its product is kept in the minds of consumers and prevent them from switching to other brands. Customer loyalty is both an attitudinal and behavioral tendency to favor one brand over all others, whether due to satisfaction with the product or service, its convenience or performance, or simply familiarity and comfort with the brand. (Prloyaltymarketing.com, 2014) Adidas wants to find a way of recognizing all types of customer and the very different ways they behaved across a multitude of channels to interact with the adidas brand. (Quant Marketing, 2013)
Moreover, customer’s satisfaction also important for adidas to measures how well the expectations of a customer concerning a product or service provided by the company have been met. (Education Portal, 2014). Customer satisfaction information can show adidas where to invest to maximize customer loyalty, how to turn everyday customers into delighted customers, and even help adidas recover unsatisfied customers before they write off adidas forever. (Force, M. 2014).
Last, customer consideration research is important for adidas to know that their products have reach customers’ needs or not. It is because customer consideration will influence customer’s purchase behavior. While ethical considerations may shape perceptions of a brand over time, factors such as cost and functionality are much more immediate triggers of purchasing behavior. (Marketingweek.co.uk, 2014).
Overall, we must ensure that we are positioning Adidas in the advertising and marketing communications based on consumer perceptions of the brand. Therefore, Adidas can know the impression Adidas make on their customers and potential customers through this brand research and then establish appropriate marketing strategy to gain market shares.

2.0 Methodology
2.1 Research method
The researcher conducted the study by using quantitative research method since using fixed-response questions would reduce variability in the results and also simplifies coding, analysis, and interpretation of data. Quantitative methods emphasize on objective measurements and numerical analysis of data collected through questionnaires or surveys. Quantitative research focuses on gathering numerical data and generalizing it across groups of people. (Labaree, 2014)
2.2 Targeted population
This survey is targeted on the sportswear users in Malaysia. In this research studies involving large populations, it is not feasible to take a census. Therefore, a sample is the only viable option. The respondents were mainly 20 years old and above as they have the financial ability to consume branded sportswear. The questionnaires are given to male and female equally to ensure the results are fair and balance.
2.3 Sampling design
The nonprobability sampling technique, which is convenience sampling, is using in this research due to it has advantages of being both inexpensive and fast. Taylor (2014) defines convenience sampling as when researcher select elements from a population on the basis of what elements are easy to obtain.
2.4 Survey method
The survey method we used is college-intercepts personal interview. The major advantage is that we allow more opportunity to assess the respondent's understanding and interpretation of the questions and to clarify any confusion that arises about the meaning of the question or the response. (Sincero, 2014) In college-intercept personal interviews, respondents are approached and interviewed in college. This process involves screening students for appropriateness and administering the survey on the spot. If their characteristics match our target population, the individual is then asked to fill in the questionnaire.
2.5 Questionnaire design
The questionnaire can influence the response rate achieved in the survey, the quality of responses obtained and consequently the conclusions drawn from the survey results. Sanchez (1992) states that questionnaire design should be started by considering the objectives of the survey and the required output, and then devising a list of questions to accurately obtain this information. Careful consideration should be given to a number of factors including the types of questions to be asked, the questionnaire wording, the structure and design of the questionnaire.
A total of 50 sets of questionnaire are distributed out to the respondents. We design a questionnaire which is involves analysis of numerical data in order to evaluate the personal experience of the respondents regarding the considerations in buying sportswear, brand perception and customer satisfaction towards Adidas sportswear.
There are 16 questions in the questionnaire set. There are 2 demographic questions follow by 2 questions, which will be answered regarding considerations in buying sportswear. The next 5 questions are designed to understand Adidas customers’ loyalty. In the other 5 questions are asked about the satisfaction levels of Adidas customer. The rest of the 2 questions will be answered regarding the overall customer perception toward Adidas.
All the questions are closed ended questions. The questionnaire was designed using both comparative and non-comparative scaling technique. The comparative scaling technique is rank order scaling. The non-comparative scaling technique, which is itemized rating-scale that included staple scale and semantic differential scale.

2.6 Analysis method Hypothesis | Testing | Statistic format | 1.Customers are emphasized on the sportswear quality | Average population mean of importance attached to quality. | Ho: μ≪30Hı: μ>30 | 2.Customers are emphasized on the sportswear quality | Average population mean of purchase quality sportswear regardless other factors | Ho: μ≪3Hı: μ>3 | 3.Brand loyalty is low among Adidas customer | Average population ranking mean for choosing Adidas as preference choice | Ho: μ≪2Hı: μ>2 | 4.Brand loyalty is low among Adidas customer | Average population mean of duration been Adidas customer | Ho:μ≫3-4 Hı:μ <3-4 | 5.Brand loyalty is low among Adidas customer | Average population mean of recommend Adidas products to their friends | Ho:μ≫6Hı: μ<6 | 6.Adidas customer have lowest loyalty toward Adidas accessories | Average population mean of recommend Adidas accessories to their friends compare with other Adidas product | Ho:μa=μs=μc=μspHı:μa≠μs≠μc≠μsp | 7.Adidas customers are less satisfied toward Adidas sportswear design | Average population mean of satisfaction toward Adidas sportswear design compare with other attributes | Ho:μd=μq=μv=μpHı:μd≠μq≠μv≠μp | 8.Adidas customers are less satisfied toward Adidas sportswear design | Average population mean of description Adidas design | Ho:μ≪4Hı:μ>4 | 9.Adidas customers are less satisfied toward Adidas sportswear design | Average population mean of improvement placed on Adidas design | Ho:μd=μq=μv=μpHı:μd≠μq≠μv≠μp | 10.Purchase intention increase after improvements have made | Difference of average population mean of purchase intention before and after improvements have made | Ho:μ=0Hı:μ≠0 |