Competitive Shopping

Finding the best prices in shops on the Corso can sometimes be a difficult task. All along the streets are many different shops that range in price from $10Euro a shirt at one of the peddler stands to over $500Euro a shirt at Fendi. On the bright side. there are clothing stores scattered the whole way down the Corso providing shoppers with vast opportunities to find the perfect outfit. With such a large range in prices, one would imagine there is fierce competition between stores for customers. As an advertising major, I look at the location of stores, the clothes on the mannequins, and the names of the shops and try to figure out what the stores are trying to advertise to me. Doing this I came across a somewhat strange combination of these while walking down the Corso.

The other day, I was wandering down the Corso and noticed a very peculiar sight-- the Adidas and Nike stores were not only on the same block, but were RIGHT NEXT TO EACHOTHER on the street. How could this be possible? The two biggest competitiors in athetlic gear worldwide, with stores side-by-side seems unheard of. My next thought was NEVER in the States would this happen. There is no chance. I can almost guarentee that there are some sort of laws and standards against it. Maybe the logic behind it is to be blatant about the competition between the two while forcing consumers to immediately make a decision between which store he or she wants to shop in. I'm not exactly sure of the logic of doing it, but it's my best guess. So if you are looking for some fitness gear in Rome, you won't have to travel too far down the Corso.