Chapter 7: Business Marketing

Manchester United is a company that is big enough to market in anyway and everyway. They use business-to-business electronic commerce, which is the use of the Internet to facilitate the exchange of goods, services, and information between organizations. You can find nearly everything on Manchester United online. For example their official website can be used to exchange goods, services and information. As a consumer of Manchester United products, the product being the team itself, many different factors apply. Manchester United has become a global brand, not only representing the city of Manchester but England, the country itself. So not all consumers of Manchester United will be people living in England but the whole entire world. This is why Manchester United needs to make good use of the Internet.
Manchester United has different sponsorship brands such as Audi, Nike, and Aon. These companies give Manchester United money to promote their brands by having fit men wearing their logo accomplishing what only the best can.

Chapter 8: Segmenting and Targeting Markets

Manchester United has implemented market segmentation in their marketing mix in many ways. Today, due to the increase in female consumers, Manchester United has created another product line that is more accommodating to female consumers. For instance jerseys were sold mostly sizes to fit the male figure but now there are jersey sizes for a more comfortable fit for ladies.

Manchester United as a club has been increasing the number to their fan base also meaning that it is becoming more diverse, having to become more marketable to a larger audience. Manchester United has been doing well with their geographic segmentation, not by adding more products but instead changing the ones that they already have in order to satisfy the demands of consumers. About four years ago Manchester United sold heavy duty winter jackets but recently the jackets have become lighter suitable for the fall season as well. Lighter jackets can be more appealing to a global market depending on where the consumer is located.

Chapter 11: Developing and Managing Products

At Mancheter United and any other sports team, their most valued product is the players. Manchester United has one of the most famous academys in the soccer world. Famous Man United players that were brought up from the academy are players such as Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, who are still playing for the club at the ages 38 and 37. They are both legends at Manchester United and over the years, despite the evolving play of the game they were both able to adapt to the changes and still find a spot in the first team.

Mancheter United's academy is famous for its scouting agents, coaching staff and the best facilities. The academy is great for training young players that have a dream in becoming one of the starting eleven. As a soccer player at a young age one can focus more on soccer, eating, sleeping and dreaming of only soccer at the academy. Definitely the competition is tougher compared to competitive leagues outside the academy. Though the academy players can become like machines being an expert at what they do. Of course the academy is not just for any kid who wants to be a soccer player but they have to have a great amount of potential as well. Kids have to request a tryout and depending on how the tryout goes they will be allowed to enter the academy.

Chapter 16: Integrated Marketing Communication

Manchester United communicates with their consumer in many different ways. Some ways they communicate is through their website, emails, Facebook, and the mass media. On Manchester Uniteds official website, you can find nearly everything about the team from player's profiles, schedules to ticket prices. In having such a diverse fan base, Manchester United's offical website is available in 6 different languages. On Facebook you can add Manchester United on your friends list, allowing instant notification from Manchester right on your news feed. Manchester United uses the popular social networking sites in order to better inform its audience of game schedules and recent news on the team. As a consumer you can subscribe to Manchester United in order to receive emails for different kinds of sales promotions and special events they are having. Emails are sent constantly nearly every two weeks advertising new products, prices and events. Consumers can also receive information on Manchester United by just changing the channel to MUTV (Manchester United TV) to find all the recent news on the team as well as footages of games, highlights, and what goes on behind the scenes.

Chapter 10: Product Concepts

Manchester United sells all kinds of products but the most popular product is by far the jerseys. Man United is on the top of the global shirt sales chart with an average of 1.4 million official replica shirts each year in the past five years. On Man United's official website, investor relations says that "over 5 million items of Manchester United branded licensed products were wold in the last year, including over two million Manchester United jerseys." On the official Nike online store, Manchester United is advertised by stating that this jersey is an essential for the serious athlete and fan.

This year Manchester United has been advertising, "superior athletic performance, lower environmental impact." Manchester United's replica shirt is constructed by DRI-fit fabric, which is 96% recycled polyester, that keeps you dry and comfortable on the field or in the stands. This fabric is made from 23% lighter fabric with a 20% stronger knit structure, comparing to previous years. The jersey also features laser-cut ventilation to promote localized cooling. This years jersey is the most environmentally-friendly jersey so far, reclaimed or discarded plastic bottles are melted down to produce new yarn and converted into fabric to create this high performance jersey. On another environmentally-friendly note, the recycling process saves raw materials and reduces energy consumption by an estimated 30% compared to manufacturing virgin polyester. On the inside of every shirt collar there is a motto embroidered: Forged in Industry, Striving for Glory. This motto pays homage to the city's industrial history and the jersey itself features the iconic gingham check that hailed form Manchester's famous cotton mills.

Chapter 18: Sales Promotion and Personal Selling

Manchester United uses sales promotion or short-term incentives to motivate consumers to purchase their products immediately by selling products cheaper for a limited time. On Manchester United's official site, they have what they call an "online megastore," which sells all kinds of Manchester United products. A promotion that they are having now is, jersey print of name and number of your choice for 5 euros or $8 when its usually 7 to 10 euros to have your jersey printed and this promotion lasts for a month. Consumers of Manchester United Jerseys would rather want to have a jersey with either a players name and number or their own personalized name and number rather than having nothing on it, so by having a promotion like this consumers that are going to buy a Manchester United jersey will look at this discounted price and ask themselves, why not pay an extra couple dollars?  Also on their online store they have a promotion that offers a free wallet with any bag you purchase. These bags are fairly small in size and run from $10 to $20 so from a consumers perspective it can seem to be a win-win situation but do these consumers really need this bag? Probably not. All of these promotions are available for a limited time only so consumers will act on impulses rather that thinking about it thoroughly.

Chapter 17: Advertising and Public Relations

Manchester United as a global brand, advertises in many different ways. Manchester United receives a lot of television air time because they do well throughout the season. Man United has to consistently win the title of the English Premier League and preferably win the Champions League in order to keep their television air time. General Motors has revealed that close to a billion people watch Manchester United games all around the world. At the moment Manchester United is not looking to well because in their last season they lost their title to rivals Manchester City and also Chelsea has won the Champions League so theres a lot of attention being diverted to other teams in the same league.

Nike has been Manchester United's kit manufacturer since 2002 till today. Their shirt sponsorer changed from Vodafone, AIG, and to Aon. On July 30, 2012, Man United signed a seven year deal with General Motors and the new deal that will feature Chevrolet as the shirts logo. General Motors agreed to pay $559 million from 2014 to 2021, which is more than double of what they have been receiving from Aon. Through various sponsorships Manchester United is given the opportunity to advertise, especially in the United States. Soccer in the United States is increasing at an exponential rate and in having General Motors as their sponsorer, Americans will be more aware of the sport of soccer and Manchester United as well.