There are certainly differences for those who use the shoes for an athletic activity and for casual wear although there will be common ground on some point such as the value expected through the use of the shoes. For sport participants the focus will on the performance and achievement in sports which means that they will need the detail information regarding the product attributes. The attribute will be used as a tool to achieve its main objectives in sports.
For the casual user, the goals will be different which in this type they will focus more to the self-relevant attribute rather than technical attributes. In other words, the product attributes will be seen in different way by each type of user either the technical performance or simple the style and color.
The means-end chain has four main levels; attributes, functional consequences, psychosocial consequences, and values (Peter & Olson, 2010). Determining the means-end chain for consumers is important when promoting products to different market segments of consumers who use the same products in different ways.
Essentially this shows that a product will have different meanings for two consumer groups or segments especially on attributes contained in the product (in this case sports shoes) although the end-value might be similar which is for their self-esteem. For example, Nike Free Flyknit 4.0 have a very good review for the road terrain, giving a neutral pronation for the foot anatomy, and it also claim that the shoes are made for competition grade. Meanwhile Nike create the design with bright and cheerful color which casual user that will appeals for