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Abercrombie & fitch case study
Abercrombie & fitch case study
Abercrombie & fitch case study
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Abercrombie & Fitch Marketing Strategy Introduction Abercrombie and Fitch is an international fashion retailer dealing in apparel, fragrance and luxury products at consumers aged 7 to 25. The brand describes its retailing niche as “casual luxury”. The Abercrombie and Fitch Company have a strong brand image based on a provocative communication and a specific in-store experience well suited to the cool lifestyle it advocates. The company operates under four different brands; Abercrombie, Hollister, Ruehl, and Gilly Hicks via U.S. based stores, international stores in Canada, Europe and Asia and online activities Abercrombie and Fitch is one of the ancient retail and clothing organizations in the world in the present day. It was founded in 1892 in the United States by its founder David Abercrombie in the United States. Eight years later, this company’s owner collaborated with Ezra Fitch to become Abercrombie and Fitch. The Company began focusing in the provision of outdoor clothing. In 1988, Abercrombie &Fitch Company made a decision to transform its image to that of a Luxury lifestyle brand in 1988. The company began expanding into other parts of the world such as the United Kingdom and Canada (Abercrombie &Fitch, 2006) this also corresponded with the introduction of numerous brands within a decade. Abercrombie &Fitch Company began its operations in 2007 in the United Kingdom, with its store being situated in London at Burlington Gardens to be specific. Relevant market Abercrombie and Fitch target a specific audience to make their customers feel young and beautiful. The young adult population is attracted into stores like Abercrombie and Fitch because of the store’s sex appeal. Young and beautiful adults are ready at the door rea... ... middle of paper ... ...t quality 3. While 31% bought Abercrombie and Fitch products as symbols of some important occasion Product related segmentation For the sake of completeness, it is possible to cluster products rather than consumers by using product segmentation .According to (Bamett, 1969), consumer segmentation should be abandoned and much emphasis should be laid on field specific criteria by which consumers distinguish between products and brands. Nonetheless, according to Lunn (1978, pp. 366-367), it is valuable to cluster consumers in terms of their requirements from product field specific variables as it is to cluster products in terms of the extent to which they are perceived to satisfy these requirements. Thus it is very important for Abercrombie and Fitch to do product segmentation as it is very useful in identifying which products or products are competing with each other.
The company then began to broad their inventory, making it more suitable for adolescents to also shop in their retail by adding more classic styles and occasion dresses.
Norms for consistency was another determinant of why Abercrombie decided to commit to reinvesting in its brand. Leaders are expected to take action when they encounter difficult situations. This expectation derives both from the public and from the employees as well. Thus, it was necessary for Abercrombie’s executives to act. Abercrombie believed that if they stay consistent with their efforts, the results were going to be positive. However, rebranding has proven to failed for several years
Nordstrom’s retail positioning strategy provides it with the competitive edge it needs to differentiate it from competitors who also serve similar markets.
Many factors should be addressed when defining a target market. These factors include market segmentation, product life cycle, and the four "P's" that make the marketing mix. Market segmentation is the process of dividing a total market into market groups consisting of people who have relatively similar product wants and needs. There are four major segmentation variables: geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral. Geographic segmentation includes world region, country region, city, density, or climate. Demographic segmentation can consist of age, gender, income, occupation, education, race, religion, or nationality. Social class, lifestyle, and personality fall into the psychographic segment. The behavioral segment divides buyers into groups based on their knowledge, attitudes, uses, or responses to a product (Bethel, 2007). Once the market segment is identified, that market can be targeted.
Facts of the Case: In 2008, Samantha Elauf applied for a job at Abercrombie & Fitch, Inc., who as part of their “Look Policy” prohibit the use of caps. Elauf, as part of her religious practice, wore a headscarf to the interview. She was interviewed by assistant manager Heather Cooke, who gave her a score that qualified her to be hired. Cooke, however, was worried that Elauf’s headscarf was against the store’s policy and called her district manager Randall Johnson. She informed Johnson of her belief that Elauf wore her headscarf because of her religion, and Johnson replied that headwear whether it was religious or not violated the “Look Policy” of the store. Elauf with the help of the EEOC sued Abercrombie on the grounds of religious discrimination. The U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is an agency established by the government of the United States that imposes federal laws that make it
Terrell, E. (n.d.). Market Segmentation. (Business Reference Services, Library of Congress). Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://www.loc.gov/rr/business/marketing/
For the purposes of this paper we will be discussing the boycott effects on Abercrombie & Fitch; a U.S based clothing company. At first we will analyse the concept of boycotting international companies to understand the different choices boycotters make when targeting the guilty company. We will look at the history of the company; it’s beginnings, evolution of concept, failures and successes. An important part of this paper will be assessing the main factors and reasons that led to the boycott. We are going to be analysing the effects of the boycott keeping in mind that although the reasons behind the controversial boycott have taken place a couple of years ago, only in 2013 has the boycott been initiated by several different parties involved. To be able to understand what triggered the boycott to begin we are going to try to understand how it all came about to begin with. There are several concerned parties in the boycott and each have their own agenda and reasoning to boycott the company. To give a more thorough analysis of the initiators of this particular boycott their relation to one another will be discussed in the paper. Another important part of the boycott is the different types of effects that these boycotters have on the company. We will closely study the reasons, the effects, the affected parties, and the path for damage control and reconciliation chosen by Abercrombie & Fitch as well as its results both the negative and the positive. Finally we will discuss the effectiveness of the boycott on the Abercrombie’s internationalization, market strategy, competitiveness, and market activities.
Dickson, P. R., & Ginter, J. L. (1987). Market segmentation, product differentiation, and marketing strategy. Journal of Marketing, 51(2(April 1987)), 1-10. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1251125
Yes there employee practices at A&F could be categorized as discriminatory. Discrimination is defined as the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex. There was a very public case of discrimination. 17 year old Samantha Elauf applied to work at Abercrombie at a mall in Tulsa Oklahoma in 2008. The assistant manager who interviewed her deemed her qualified but worried that her hijab would violate the company’s “Look Policy,” (Talbot). The case was published in numerous news outlets one of them being an article from the New Yorker which brought up what is meant by discrimination in this case. “Any employer can have a dress code, of course, but it cannot use
Let’s be honest, no one wants to be associated with a company that has a bad reputation, so people are no longer buying their clothing, shares of their stock, or putting in resumes to work for Abercrombie and Fitch. Sales have been down for the company since 2008, and the company is struggling to regain its appeal to teens and young adults, but are continuing to lose this battle. Their stock prices have plummeted in the last ten years, stock that once sold for $84.23 a share in October 2007 is now selling for just $28.51 a share, that a loss of almost 67% in less than nine years. Finding employees has been difficult since the company has been hit with numerous lawsuits over the years involving hiring discrimination practices within the company. The lack of qualified candidates means the company will have to hire people that are less qualified for jobs just to fill vacant
American Eagle Outfitters is a fairly new company but they are doing extremely well because they have a clear grasp of who their target market is. They posses a fresh new hip look with great quality clothing at a reasonable price for consumers (http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gte201w/aeostrat.html). This is one of the main reasons why teenagers and young adults are so attracted to the company. American Eagle is aiming to appeal not only to the targeted 20 year old but also consumers between the ages of 16 and 34 years old. This will widen the gap between their major competitors because they are trying to appeal to more segments than just one. American Eagle seeks to be assessable, fashion orientated, and has a strong value proposition, which has allowed the company to thrive and take shares from competitors over the past five years. Not only is their clothing line very comfortable, bold and fresh, the store layout and atmosphere is also major key factors in American Eagle’s success over the recent years. AE also has a strong competitive advantage because of their short lead times and their ability to position themselves in high-visibility, high-profile locations in key markets. American Eagle’s cycle time is about five months from design to delivery, versus about nine months for The Gap and six months for Abercrombie. AEOS minimizes lead times by maintaining sourcing relationships with a few key manufacturers and producing much of the merchandise in North America, versus 9% for The Gap and a minimal amount for Abercrombie. AEOS has the ability to quick-source some of its simpler product categories in order to react quickly to sales trends. (http...
Segmentation is the process of determining the breakdown of the target market into smaller specific variables that make it easier to evaluate. Gabbott M (2004, p 159) describes the consumer related segmentation variables as being Geodemographic, Psychographic and Behavioural.
Advertising has been a way of convincing people that they need to purchase an item in order to be a certain way or gain something they want. The purpose of advertising has not changed, but the way the ads go about convincing the public has changed drastically in the past decades. Susan Bordo wrote “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body” as a way to document and normalize these changes. A company that Bordo mentions multiple times is Abercrombie & Fitch. In the late 1900s, Abercrombie & Fitch began to use men as a way to convince young men and women into buying their clothing.
Segmentation is a marketing strategy that involves separating a wide target market into small groups of customers who share the common need of using or purchasing the product that needs to be marketed. Market segmentation strategies are utilized to identify these groups of consumers and strategies are designed and implemented to make the product or service appeal to them. Support and also the product will be strategically placed in order to successfully achieve the ultimate marketing goal. Businesses and organizations may come up with different type of strategies involving different products and catchy phrases depending on the product or the target segment.