ELAN ˝GO TO MARKET STRATEGY˝

Group members:
Laura Sešek 19553905,

Mateja Pirnat 19554965,

Vito Petan 19553657,

Tilen Lenarčič 19537762,

Dejan Lukić 19538765 Ljubljana, 28/05/2015
TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Five-steps analysis of Elan 4 Step 1: TARGET MARKETS 4 Step 2: TARGET CUSTOMER 6 Step 2.1: ONLINE SURVEY 7 Step 2.2: CUSTOMER PROFILE EXAMPLE based on online survey and analysis of the Elan skis: 13 Step 3: BRAND POSITIONING 14 Step 4: OFFERING 14 Step 5: CHANNELS 15
2. BUSINESS IDEAS: 18 2.1 SHORT TERM 18 2.1.1 ˝OLD FOR NEW˝ 18 2.1.2 PROMOTION VIDEOS 18 2.1.3 OUTDOOR EVENTS WITH SPORT CELEBRITIES 19 2.1.4 ELAN COMPETITION DAY 20 2.2 LONG TERM 21 2.2.1 PARTNERSHIPS WITH SKI RESORTS 21 2.2.2 RENTING STORES 22 2.2.3 ELAN SKI SCHOOL / ELAN SKI JUMP SCHOOL / ELAN SKI CROSS SCHOOL 22 2.2.4 COLLABORATION WITH PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN SLOVENIA 23 2.2.5 FUTURE SKIS 23 2.2.6 PARTNERSHIP WITH SKI TRAVEL AGENCIES 23
3. FUTURE TRENDS 25
4. ATTACHEMENT 27

1. Five-steps analysis of Elan

Step 1: TARGET MARKETS
In 2014, the world ski market was spread around 80 countries, with more than 2 000 ski resorts. It is estimated that the skiers are spread upon Asia and Pacific- with 20% of market share, America with 19%, Western Europe with the third biggest share-27% and Eastern Europe and Central Asia with 16%. On the last places are Alps with 18% of total share and other with 1%. Seven countries are ranked on the top of ski market share, which are The United State, France, Japan, Switzerland, Canada and Italy.
The current ski market is estimated at some 65-70 million skiers around the world. Additionally, around 55 million are primarily downhill skiers and others prefer mostly cross-country skiing.

Figure 1: Market share of skiers
Figure 1: Market share of skiers

Around 3.5 million pairs of skis are sold on an annual basis; but the number is still declining due to option of renting skis and different conditions of winter weather. Furthermore, ski manufacturing is in an extremely competitive business with a lot of different brands, excess of capacity and very low barriers to entry. One of the characteristics of this industry, is also very short ‘’product life cycle’’, which means that products in most cases last on the market just for one season and this causes different challenges to companies. In such dynamic environment, innovation plays a crucial role for building competitive advantages and become a market leader; therefore many of companies invest a lot of money in Research and Development. Within the industry is also presented a high degree of product variety, mainly due to different customers’ patterns and needs. Type of skis depends on manufacturing techniques, measures (length and carving) and materials. As a consequence, the variability in consumers’ preferences represents an important source of product variety. However, the manufacturing sector is highly concentrated and there an only few dominated companies on the market. Still, the big companies Third, the companies are active in the market along with small companies, who produce a smaller amount of skis but those are highly specialised products for the top end of the market. Recent mergers and acquisitions have increased market concentration and some producers are now part of large groups, which control important ski brands such as Amer Sports Inc. controls Atomic, Salomon, Dynamic and Volant (a small premium brand); K2 Inc. controls the K2 brand, Volkl and Marker (a leading ski binding brand); Quicksilver Inc. controls Rossignol and Dynastar. Still, the brand’s strength varies among national levels, for instance: Austrians prefer to buy Austrian brands like Fischer or Atomic, while French people stay loyal to Salomon. Additionally, K2 is the leader in the US market, but has a low market share in Europe.
The ski companies can be divided in three different type of firm in the market: (1) Global players, (2) Regional players and (3) Niche players. Global players are presented on global market and they are not producing only skis, but also other ski equipment and therefore they have a good reputation in the market. The companies also compete to provide to sportsmen in the ski World Cup. They are also willing to build better brand awareness and recognition among people. On the other hand, regional players do not compete on global scale, but they still provide different varieties of skis on the market and they are still strong enough to compete against global players. Nordica, Stockli and Maxel are just few companies which belong to this group. Regional players do not put advertising in the foreground, because they have limited financial resources and they mostly focus on producing skis. Niche players compete only in the top end-of-the-market, providing mostly tailor-made products. Their products are produced in small amounts and consequently they are in the most cases quite expensive.
Elan is in the group of global players, which sells over 300,000 ski pairs in more than 50 countries around the world. Elan’s market share is on average 8.5%. However, Elan also produces some other brands and consequently has largest production capacities in the world. The main Elan markets are Central and Eastern Europe, Northern America, Japan and Scandinavia. The company’s goal is to move closer to customer’s needs; therefore they focus on direct consumer experiences and testing of ski on snow.

Figure 2: Number of model per year
Figure 2: Number of model per year

Elan export ratio is 95 per cent of total production of skis; the number one market is Slovenia and Czech Republic. Just 15 per cent of total export goes to North American market.
Their new model of skis- ‘’ Amphibios’’ aid to raise the market share and it is also expected that their revenues will increase for less than 40 per cent next year. Elan has designed not a price premium, so a pair of Amphibios skis retails at €500 to €750- the price depends on the model.

Step 2: TARGET CUSTOMER Elan Amphibio skis are meant for skiers with advanced skiing level and quite some years of experiences. People buy these skis, as they ensure both, easy turning and edge grip, at the same time. So they offer two skis in one. It is all about the usefulness of the skis, they problem of issuing two pairs of skis was solved, by introducing the Amphibio skis. With this, Elan wanted to encourage the excitement and the need for adventure in people, to ski with the same skis on powder or hard slope. We could say, according to online analysis (reading reviews and watching videos), that there are two main types of buying personas when it comes to Elan; experiencers and thinkers. Experiencers seek variety and excitement, savouring the new, the offbeat and the risky. Their energy finds an outlet in exercise, sports, outdoor recreation and social activities. Thinkers are on the other hand mature, satisfied, comfortable and reflective people that value order, knowledge and responsibility. They are well educated and actively seek for information in the decision-making process (whether to buy the skis or not). Out of all the skiing participants, 62% of them are male and 38% are female (data retrieved from 2014). And 74% of snow sports participants are homeowners. With data collected, it was confirmed that people, especially Slovenians, still prefer buying their own skis, instead of renting them. This can be seen especially with people that have skiing experiences and advanced knowledge of skiing. So the renting trend is not so obvious, when it comes to Elan Amphibio skis. Elan’s brand lovers are mainly people that value high quality and they see Elan as an innovative company. They usually seek information online, reading blogs, reviews or offline, in sports stores, from friends and people they know. Usually they spend from 5 to 14 days per season on snow, skiing. What prevents them from skiing more often are in their opinion too expensive skiing passes and lack of free time. Mainly, they all started skiing when they were children, 3-10 years old. Step 2.1: ONLINE SURVEY
To define the target customers more precisely and get to know people’s aspect, knowledge and impression of Elan, we decided to make an online survey. Questions were made and the survey was released on the 19th May and then closed on the 26th May, so it lasted for one week. An online survey was made in the Google spreadsheet and contained 13 questions. The first four questions were demographical ones; we asked about the gender, age, position in society (student/worker/pensioner) and nationality. Questions are mainly closed, but some of them are also a combination of closed and open types of questions.

Analysis of online survey:
All together, we got 40 responses, 14 (35%) were female and 26 (65%) were male. Mainly, there were students giving responses to our questions, 35 (87.5%) students and 5 people asked were workers (12.5%). The age brackets of people surveyed vary; 35 people (87.5%) are from 18 to 25 years old, 2 people (5%) are from 26 to 34 years old, another 2 people (5%) are from 35 to 44 years old and there is one person, from 45 to 54 years old.

The responses we got, were mainly from Slovenia, as 36 people out of 40 are coming from Slovenia, then we got one response from each of the following countries: Argentina, Macedonia, Russia and Azerbaijan.

On the question ‘’When was your first time on skis?’’ female with 85% answered with as a child. The most chosen answer among male was also as a child with 84. 6%. The second and third most answer option was as a youngster and as a student.

For the second question ‘’ How often do you skiing?’’ was the most frequent result less than 5 days- with 42.8% among female and 34.6% among male. The female then with both 28.6% chose second and third option (5-9 days and 10-14 days).

The result was very similar between female and male. On this question was also possibility to choose more than one option. For both female and male the most answered question was ‘’Skiing pass is too expensive’’.

Most of people still prefer buying skis than lend or rent them. Buying own skis was the most frequent answer with 85.7% among female and with 80.7% among male.

Elan is very popular among male population and the very next is Fischer. The different story is among female. Only three times, Elan was chosen as most favourable brand.

Both female and male chose most times the option- It is high quality and it is innovative. Only one answer from male was ‘’Never heard of it’’.

With 85.7% among female and with more than 84.6% was chosen answer ‘’ I had no idea’’. So Elan should consider promotion on free testing of their skis.

Most of the people would like to try more unusual place for skiing. Half of the answers among female was ‘’ definitely yes’’. The excitement for idea was also very high among male with 38.5%.

Most of the asked people chose option ‘’No’’- female with 57.1% and male with 57.7%.

Step 2.2: CUSTOMER PROFILE EXAMPLE based on online survey and analysis of the Elan skis: | ANNA | KEVIN | Age: | 20 years old | 32 years old | Status: | Single | Married | Social status: | Student | Worker | Years riding: | 10 years | 19 years | Personality type: | EXPERIENCER | THINKER | Skier ability: 1*- I fell quite often 2*- okay 3*- great 4*- very good 5*- professional | *** all mountain *** front size *** powder * race * park | **** all mountain **** front size **** powder ** race ** park | Why skiing? | To hang with friends, do sports. | To be free, to do sports and to teach children how to ski. | Seeking information: | Online (reading blogs, reviews, comments) | Mainly offline, in sports stores, people they know, friends | Value seeking: | Trendy, latest skis | High quality | Limitations: | Lack of time for skiing, skiing passes too expensive. | Lack of money for skiing, skiing passes too expensive. | Practice of: | Having own skis | Having own skis | Days spent on slope per season: | 5-9 days | 10-14 days | Household: | Living in a house | Living in a house | Buying new skis every: | 2nd season | 3rd season |

Step 3: BRAND POSITIONING

ELAN has always been an innovative brand doing things that nobody else is doing. The company is committed to using most advance and expensive technology, which enables them to produce high quality products. And high quality products as well as innovative technology gave them worldwide brand recognition. Their products are able to attract expert skiers and also exclusive buyers. We see ELAN as unique brand, who can afford higher prices due to the fact that they produce top products. If we use Porter’s generic strategies to place ELAN, we would place them as an overall differentiation brand. They are doing something different and offer products that customers truly want.

Brand positioning for our main markets:

CHINA: Luxury Brand. For people that look for superior quality and are willing to pay more as for products from local manufacturers.

RUSSIA: Premium Brand. Elan is for people that look for high quality, a brand with tradition and wish to get the most out of their skis.

EUROPE: High quality Brand. Best value for money on the market. People should and do think of high quality when they hear for Elan.

Step 4: OFFERING

Elan Company is known as one of the most innovative companies in its business. They receive many awards in history for their products and for the new product Amphibio 16, which they will launch in season 2015/16, the story is repeating.

Amphibio 16 swept with the competition and achieved the following awards; Red Dot Design Award, Plus X Award, Sky Magazine Show Stopper Award ISPO and Gold Winner Award. These awards were received because of the high quality design and new innovative technology, which shows us that their R & D teams successfully compete not only on the slopes, but also with the best manufacturers. Through picking up all possible awards in its category, we can see that the Elan again managed to create an excellent product.

Amphibio 16 is an upgrade of the four years ago presented Amphibio technology. It combines two different types of ski technology, camber and rocker. Camber provides a more edge grip, while rocker faster and more direct turns. The convex front part of the skies allows precise entry into the turn, while the rear concave part provides a dynamic exit. The new skies also increase stability, reduce vibration by 30% and reduce the weight of the skies. This enables them to be suitable for all types of snow surface and ski disciplines. With these characteristics it makes Amphibio 16 appropriate for a wide range of skiers.

Since this is a brand new product it is not yet possible to perform an in depth comparison with its competitors. However some brief comparisons are possible, because we manage to get some main informations from a Slovenian expert. First we can mention the materials used in ELANs new skies. While the competition still uses mostly plastic, Amphibio skies are also built from high quality wood. Secondly Amphibio is a technology that truly works. The effect you get with Amphibio 16 can be achieved at competitors only by modifying their skies. With ELAN however, you can enjoy its top technology and benefits as soon as you buy them in the store. Last but not least it is the price. Even though the price of Amphibio might seem high, the fact that they are produced with the best production steps (“sandwich construction”) and with the latest technology they are still slightly cheaper than competitors with similar technology.

Elan Co. wants to achieve the highest possible customer satisfaction with the Amphibio 16. They want their customers to know that they are using the best skies available on the market. They want them to enjoy every discipline and believe in unconditional quality. Elan wants their customers to remember every moment, every second of their Amphibio 16 experience. Elan’s mission is spirit; passion, energy and positive attitude, and the Amphibio 16 are exactly that.

Step 5: CHANNELS

Our primary target customers are advanced skiers with a lot of experience who know this sport well and demand great skis. They care about the skis they ski with, they take a lot of time to research the market to find the best skis for them and they take pride in the skis they choose. The two main types of personas to buy our skis are thinkers and experiencers, which are both highly engaged group that does not settle for average skis.
Our target groups care about the product they buy, that is why they spend a lot of time researching and trying skis before buying one. We believe it is difficult to sell high prices and complex skis via web, and that we should mainly focus on our retail partners. As our target customers want to see and try the skis in person, it is extremely important that we provide great shopping experience in all the stores that sell Elan skis. This can be achieved by partnering with stores where skis are bought such as big sport shops in shopping malls (Hervis, Intersport...) and smaller skis shops in ski resorts. In Ski resorts in Austria, Switzerland, Italy and similar countries there is a high concentration of skiers and large number of dedicated ski shops so there is therefore the most important place to stand out with dedicated partnerships with stores or our own branded stores.
Partnership agreement with stores would create a dedicated "experience zones" in shops where customers would be able to see and engage with Elan skis, without competition from other brands. The dedicated corner for Elan skis would be perfect for our skis to stand out from the crowded shelf spaces in normal stores where customers have difficult time to spot your product, while we would train employees in the shops with knowledge and information about our products so they can pass it on to the customers and increase interaction level. The experience shop would be placed in a separate space with other ski brands decorated with Elan logos, Elan shelves and with a dedicated Elan trained employee. In this way our skis will stand out from the others, have more support from employees with better knowledge about our skis compared to other brands, which will result in higher sales and brand recognition. Currently Elan and other brands compete in stores for shelf space, promotions, discounts, signage and positioning, but with making our own experience zones we would get control over our sales, promotions and other marketing and sales activities in store. This approach would be perfect to present the uniqueness and innovation at Elan and increase the brand awareness and sales of our brand. In order to convince retailers to offer us separate space in their stores we would have to offer financial incentives, most likely higher margins for our products sold in their stores, but we believe we will still get much higher revenue with bigger sales and a little smaller margins in these stores. We would also need to provide initial investment for the creation of the experience zones and equipment in this zones, but we would get the competitive advantage over our competitors.
Another possible approach would be to create own branded "flagship" stores in prime locations such as ski resorts that would showcase our products and brand in a way we want. The stores would emphasize the innovativeness and uniqueness of Elan and be a perfect advertisement for the brand.
The advantages of the own branded stores are even more control over the final sales to the customer so the company can control all the chain, from manufacturing, to marketing and sales. The products do not have to compete for shelf space with other brands, you get all the control over marketing, discounts and the employees are specialized in your products so they can offer better support and services to customers. However, own branded stores are costly approach and therefore it would be better and more realistic to start with experience zones inside other shops. In current financial situation Elan cannot afford to pay few hundred thousand euros for one store, so maybe it is an approach for the future if the company grows and has more cash on its hands.
We will unite the design and experience across all our sales channels, in stores and online and strive to provide not just the skis, but also the after service. By partnering with stores and skis repair shops and train their employees we would offer the buyers of our skis the best after service and assure them that if the problem occurs with their skis, we will solve it in no time. We should ensure the cohesion of the sales channels and service channels and communicate it to our customers in a way that will convince us to choose our products.

2. BUSINESS IDEAS: 3.1 SHORT TERM 3.2.1 ˝OLD FOR NEW˝
The main idea is, for people to bring the old skis back and in return receive a coupon for buying newer Elan skis or maybe other winter division equipment. The coupon should maybe amount 15% of the older skis, therefor: Price of old skis: 500€ -> 15% of 500€ = 75€ -> so the discount is 75€ |

With this discount coupon, you are inviting customers, to come back, to buy another Elan skis, therefor the possibilities of keeping your customer and maintaining a long term relationship are bigger. Benefits for Elan: | Benefits for customers: | Customers returning | Discount (save the money) | Maintaining a long term relationship with its customers | Buying new skis more frequently, stay trendy |

This old skis, could maybe then be given Elan ski schools or used for the partnership with primary schools. Some of them could also be ˝recycled˝ and used for Elan shop. A table, chair, doors, made of Elan skis, are just some of the examples how to use this skis. 3.2.2 PROMOTION VIDEOS
Make a promotion video, where all the Elan winter ski division would be presented. It should talk about the tradition, innovation and uniqueness of the Elan brand.
Videos should be about 3 minutes long, not too short, and not too long.
Possible scenarios for the videos:
Video 1: ˝The story of Elan˝, the video would be about the history and development of the company. The video would begin with company’s very starts in 1945 and would show all the important decisions made, things happening, till the very present or maybe even future. The video has a potential to touch people’s hearts, as the company started to operate during WW2. They could include people that were with the company from the very beginning, and people that are working now. The video would be like Elan’s timeline. As for example; in the 1985 James Bond’s movie: A view to kill; Russians were skiing on Elan skis (and then this section from the film would be shown). Video could be launched for the next anniversary of the company, this September, as Elan celebrates rounded 70 years.
Video 2: ˝Skiing with Elan 2015˝, video about sports achievements of Elan’s skiers (Filip Flisar, Peter Prevc, Massimo Blardone and others). A video would be a combination of passion, spirit and proud. It would show Elan’s team and their achievements of the past year. Video would be launched at the end of the winter sports season. Benefits for Elan: | Raising brand image and awareness | Creating a valuable long term relationship and giving customers the feeling of belonging to big Elan family | Getting and being in the minds of customers |

3.2.3 OUTDOOR EVENTS WITH SPORT CELEBRITIES
One day event, in different countries, the main purpose would be testing Elan skis and meeting well-known people of that country. This short term sales promotion technique would help to attract people to come try Elan’s skis and other winter equipment and to show people that successful sport stars use the products of Elan. Using celebrities to promote brand, it is great possibility to gain new target audience. To a consumer the brand equity creates products differentiation over other product in the same market and become valuable asset. Another benefit to celebrity endorsements is that it increases possibilities that people would easier remember brand. In the following table, there are just some examples of well-known people using Elan skis. Slovenia | Italy | France | USA | Filip Flisar (ski cross) | Massimiliano Blardone (alpine skiing) | Ben Buratti (free style) | Nick Fiorini (free style) | Peter Prevc (ski jumping) | | Tim Picq (free style) | Kale Ciperman (free style) | Špela Rogelj (ski jumping) | | Sandy Collet (free style) | Corey Lilly (free style) | SKI JUMPING | ALPINE SKIING | FREE STYLE | FREE STYLE |
Example of event: ˝EDEN ZA VSE, VSI ZA ELAN.˝ event
One day event, in Slovenia, in Kranjska Gora, which is near Italian and Austrian border, so we can take advantage of this strategic middle location. Event would be placed in three locations, ski slopes-alpine skiing, ski slopes-cross hill skiing and ski jump Planica. The strategic location, would allow us, to invite people not only from Slovenia, but also from Italy and Austria and maybe also from other countries.
The purpose of events would be besides promoting Eland brand, the achievement of new target customers by offering possibility of trying different types of Elan skis in practice and from first-hand find a suitable ski pair. There could be also possibility of competition in different ski categories, where young and old people would use Elan skis. Costs for Elan | Benefits for Elan | Sound system | Increasing brand image, awareness and brand value | 1 security guard per 100 people | Direct marketing and good publicity | Animator | Getting new potential customers | Communal permission | The easier and most efficient way of promoting new skis | Rent of ski resort | |

3.2.4 ELAN COMPETITION DAY

Elan competition day would be a one day event on various ski resorts. The basic idea is that Elan would rent one part (either a whole track, or just one part of it on the side) of the ski slope where it would set up a giant slalom polygon for a ski competition that would last during the whole day. Every skier would be invited to take a try of the run, regardless of the ski equipment they have (Elan, Fischer, Head…). Participation would be free of charge. The skiers that aren’t using Elan skis would be also offered to take a run with the new Elan Amphibio 16 skies. Their times would be measured so the event would be more fun and would have a competitive factor. To make the event even more interesting Elan could invite one of its ski stars, or some other celebrity, to take a run on the polygon. At the end of the day the results would be announced and the top three participants with the quickest times would get an award. The awards could be a discount on Elans new Amphibio 16 skis; 10% for 3rd place, 20% for 2nd place and 30% for 1st place. Each one would also get an Elan medal. We see this as a great opportunity to promote Elan Amphibio 16 while offering potential customers a fun-filled experience.
COSTS:
Example Ski resort Cerkno:
Cost of rent of poles, timers and part of the ski track varies significantly depending on the date and duration of the event. A short track with a promotion tent at the top that takes place only for a few hours can be free of charge, however a whole day event with a giant slalom polygon can cost from a few hundred Euros to way over a thousand. As we were told from ski center Cerkno, each specific case has its own price, and is as such subject of an agreement. It also depends on how much the ski resort and the ski manufacturer cooperate during the whole season. 3.2 LONG TERM 3.3.5 PARTNERSHIPS WITH SKI RESORTS
First, maybe it should be implemented in Slovenia. People that would buy Elan skis would get a 10-15% discount on the yearly skiing pass, for the ski resorts, Elan would make partnership with.
List of possible and biggest ski resorts partners in Slovenia: * Smučišče Vogel * Smučišče Kranjska Gora * Smučišče Krvavec * Smučišče Cerkno * Smučišče Rogla * Smučišče Mariborsko Pohorje

Benefits for Elan: | Benefits for ski slopes: | Encourage people to ski -> more customers | Encourage people to ski -> more customers | | Encourage people to buy yearly passes |

3.3.6 RENTING STORES
Usually, in Slovenia’s renting stores, there are plenty of Elan skis to rent and use. But in other countries we checked, like Canada, U.S. and Russia for example, the situation was totally opposite. There were no Elan skis possible to rent, online competitors ones. So maybe Elan should consider communicating with renting stores and offering their skis, helmets etc. for rent. As the renting trend is getting bigger and bigger, Elan should concentrate on getting customers via renting and maybe also raise brand awareness with it.
We checked possible renting options in Russia and made a table of best and most popular skiing resorts in Russia.
Table of best ski resorts in Russia: MOST SPECTACULAR SKI RESORTS: | | Dombay, | “Sable (Sobolinaya) Mountain”, | Kirovsk, | “Mountain Air” - Gorny Vozdukh, | Krasnaya Polyana, | Abzakovo, | Sheregesh, | Gorny Vozdukh (Mountain Air) |

In Slovenia, people that would rent Elan skis in the renting store, would get a helmet (with huge Elan sign on it) include in this rent. So they would not need to pay extra to rent a helmet and Elan gets a promotion for free, on the ski slopes.
2.2.3 ELAN SKI SCHOOL / ELAN SKI JUMP SCHOOL / ELAN SKI CROSS SCHOOL
These schools would be organized, during the winter holidays in Slovenia, to encourage children to do winter sports, such as skiing, ski jumping or ski cross. School is meant for children, youngsters and adults, to increase the enthusiasm for skiing and the desire to ski. Duration of the school would be 7 days, so the children see if any of these sports is suitable for them. Firstly, it would start with beginner level, and then if the schools would be successful, it could continue with different levels or Elan could be promoting one of the schools and providing equipment.
If possible, also the well-known sports people that use Elan skis, would come to this school, to encourage and motivate the children. 2.2.4 COLLABORATION WITH PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN SLOVENIA
As Slovenia was always quite a skiing nation, nowadays it is not so anymore. In the past years, they have decided to cancel the obligatory one week skiing holiday with school, due to lack of money. So maybe Elan could provide part of equipment, for children, to go on one sports day, to at least teach them how to ski and to continue with the skiing tradition. 2.2.5 FUTURE SKIS
Nowadays, we live in the era of technology, so why not connecting skis with a mobile or computer application. You ski and the skis are collecting different information, after skiing, you transmit data collected to a phone or computer and it shows you different data you may be interested in, such as meters skied, calories burned etc.
There could also be a band around the wrist, which would give you a little buzz, when you would make a wrong turn. So therefor, you would know when you are skiing wrong and improve it.
2.2.6 PARTNERSHIP WITH SKI TRAVEL AGENCIES

Ski travel agencies offer a broad range of travel services, which include bus trips, local and regional accommodations, complete packages for worldwide resorts, exclusive private tours and mountain top chalets. ELAN has an opportunity to cooperate with ski travel agencies, where their target group is already captured and this is a big advantage of how to collect your customers and potential buyers. But why should travel agencies accept the partnership? The main reason is that they could offer added value to their travelers. They will feel a professional atmosphere, get professional knowledge with ELAN experts, get the chance to test the most innovative product, get to most attractive mountain places and feel the differences with Amphibio 16 Ti2. To grab attention of different generation, ELAN and travel agencies should offer two kinds of Ski tours. One should be for younger generation, where is also include sport events trough day, night events with famous artists and gathering with other skiers. What will attract younger generation is that, they will ski in the most remote places, what will fill them with adrenaline. Second offer should be for older generation. Ski resorts with best places for gathering with their family or some friends. To wrap the package ELAN and to build recognition, we will highlight ELAN logo on the buses, “pit stop” stations, accommodations, etc…
Price

Example: Austria, Schladming

| Ski TOUR Bomb (PP)
(younger generation) | Ski TOUR (PP)
(Older generation) | Accommodation | 15€ - 100€ Per night | 15€ - 100€ Per night | Transport | 20€/0€ | 20€/0€ | Ski pass | 6 days = 175,50€ | 6 days = 234,0€ | Event ticket | 30€ | / | Special transport | 20€ | / | PRICE
( 6 days tour ) | 335€ - 845€ | 285€ - 795€ |

3. FUTURE TRENDS
It is well known, that with every year there are less and less alpine skiers on the slopes. Yet the number of telemark skiers is continually growing in the last couple of years, especially in America. The SIA’s statistics from year 2013 also shows that telemarkers spend on average, the most days per season on snow, in comparison with other snow sports discipline. Telemark skiers spend on average 13 days per season and next are snowboarders, who spend on average 11.3 days per season, on snow. It is expected for free skiing to grow, as the skiing passes for resorts are considered too expensive. Alpine skiers and snowboarders still made up 49% of all snow sports participants in the year 2013.
As people’s lives are getting busier and they are lacking time for going skiing and driving an hour or even more, to get to the ski slopes. Maybe, with the increase of indoor skiing halls, people would be prepared to go skiing, as it would be close enough and weather independent. Due to an online survey made, people, especially students are more than prepared for skiing in an indoor skiing hall, for a reasonable price of course. Another option for Elan is, to think about broadening the range of its winter division products, from skis, jump skis to snowboards and other snow sports equipment.

Figure : Snow sports participation trends by discipline (2008-2013)

Source: http://www.earnyourturns.com/18754/skiing-down-tele-up-sifting-through-sias-data/

4. ATTACHEMENT

ONLINE SURVEY:

Gender * * Female * Male
I am a... * * Student * Worker * Pensioner
Age bracket * * 18-25 * 26-34 * 35-44 * 45-54 * 55+
Which country are you from? *

When was your first time on skis? * * As a child (3-10 years old) * As a youngster (11-17 years old) * As a student (18-25 years old) * As an adult (26+)
How often do you go skiing? * * < 5 days * 5-9 days * 10-14 days * 15-19 days * >20 days
What prevents you from going skiing more often? * * Skiing equipment is too expensive. * Skiing pass is too expensive. * There is not enough snow. * I don't like skiing so much. * Other:
What is your practice? * * Renting skis * Buying own skis * Lending skis from a friend, family etc. * Other:
Which brand of skis do you own or rent usually? * * Atomic * Elan * Fischer * Head * Rossignol * Salomon * Others * I do not know.
What do you think of Elan brand? * * It is of high quality. * It is expensive. * It is innovative. * I have never heard of it. * Other:
Did you know that Elan company offers free testing of their skis? * * I was aware of this. * I had no idea.
Would you try skiing in the indoor skiing halls? * * Definitely yes. * Maybe. * I don't like the idea.
Are you planning to buy new skis for the next skiing season? * * Yes * Maybe * No

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[ 1 ]. Based on VALSTM types, summarized and analysed for Elan (http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes.shtml)
[ 2 ]. http://travel.rbth.com/travel/2014/12/12/the_most_spectacular_ski_resorts_of_russia
[ 3 ]. SnowSports Industries America