Abercrombie and Fitch - Paper

Abercrombie & Fitch is a popular teen brand. It uses the same brand experience in every store across the western world. Each store, no matter where has the same style, the same sound and the same smell. The myth about the lean, white, and rich ideal coming from the American society is distributed in the same way in every country. Hence, I am not only focusing on the myth that has been used to position the brand in Germany, but how myth has been used to position A&F in every market they sell their products in.

Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), an American retailer that concentrates on upscale casual wear for young consumers, which was founded in Manhattan, New York City in June 4, 1892 by two young minds of David T. Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch. Beginning with a rough journey of selling sporting outfits and excursion goods such as fishing and hunting equipment, A&F had to file bankruptcy in 1977. Soon thereafter, the company was revived after Jake Oshman, owner of Oshman Sporting Goods, bought A&F in 1978. A&F was relaunched as a mail-retailer company specializing in hunting wear and novelty items, but was bought by The Limited ten years after its revival. The gradual shift to focusing on apparels for young consumers began when A&F was a subsidiary of Limited Brands, and since then, A&F has grown to become one of the largest apparel firms in the United States. In 1998, A&F launched Abercrombie Kids, targeting consumers from age 7-14, which further increases its revenue. In 1999 to early 2000s, A&F’s sales skyrocketed as it hit its zenith, by portraying A&F clothing as the “coolest thing” through billboard-winning song that compliments A&F in the lyrics, as well as other advertisements. Furthermore, A&F launched a subsidiary called Hollister to tackle similar age group of target audience but with lower income. This expansion to dominate the market of teenagers through consideration of other demographic factor, namely income, was exceptional for A&F’s revenue. Presently, A&F focused on

The apparel store industry within the USA is a highly competitive market, consisting of number of companies that are willing to fight for their share of the market. To remain afloat in this business, corporations must be highly innovative, price-conscious, knowing the trend, and with great responses to consumer needs. Each company within this industry must be aware of the competitors’ move, trying to match every trends and benefits offered by another, in order to steal the average consumers. Market-alertness is the key to survival; each company must balance marketing strategies and customer-service, responding to consumer demands within the shortest processing time

They need to work on earning the trust of their customers with their affordable prices and good quality of the garments sold. In addition to customer loyalty, not enough time is spent on advertising of the company. Because of the lack of advertising AE has experienced a loss of fashion sales in the recent years. The store needs to reach out to its target market by providing more commercial or doing more promotional work. American Eagle is challenged with determining what trends are appropriate for its customers and how to interpret thee trends. Over the past two years, competitors such as Abercrombie and Fitch have lowered their prices, which have created additional promotional pressure for American Eagle. Some investors believe Aeropostale has the value niche and Abercrombie has the high end positioning, so American Eagle is sometimes perceived as being stuck in the middle, without a true niche (http://www.tcnj.edu/~keyser2/Strategic%20Management/American%20Eagle/Datamonitor%20Overview.txt).

Abercrombie and Fitch has become a household name and you can find one of their three division stores in your local mall and or shopping center. The stores under Abercrombie and Fitch are Hollister and Gilly Hicks Brand. I have conducted an analysis that illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of Abercrombie and Fitch. This company strives off of their strengths, which included customers having great accessibility each of their divisions. They have a higher profit after they were able to close some of their stores to focus on their stores that high profitability and revamping those. Abercrombie and Fitch were able to get high brand names such as Ralph Lauren to help bring a fresh new style into the store that in turn doubled the net income

American Eagle has the opportunity to enter the market of collegiate apparel within their stores and have begun introducing a few products into this line. In our report, we will be reviewing how we think American Eagle can successfully enter this market and what adjustments to their current products and future plans can lead to their success. The original article we read to identify this opportunity, Selling to Millennials with Online Reviews by W. Glynn Mangold and Katherine Taken Smith, focused mainly on millennials and how online reviews affect their shopping habits. While we did not end up focusing on online reviews in our own studies, the article gave good insights on what millennials value in a product. College students, who are

American Eagle Outfitter, Inc is recognized as an apparel company in the field of highly trendy clothes and accessories retailers. Its products are found in more than 1,000 retail stores around the world and online. This essay presents an identification of what actually the company offers. In addition, it is an analysis of the positioning map where is compared American Eagle with its key competitors Abercrombie and Fitch and Urban Outfitters, a projection of the firm in the retail life cycle compare to its key competitors as well, and a SWOT Analysis that shows a list of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the this. The essay provides also actions the company could make to be more competitive and stand out in the Apparel

The apparel and clothing accessories industry, a subgroup within retail, reached sales of $32 billion in 2016. Given the industry’s highly competitive and rapidly evolving nature, Canada Goose Inc. (CG) and Roots Corp. (Roots) must focus on creation of innovative designs to remain relevant. Retail sales are forecasted to decrease, however, the luxury segment of retail stores and e-commerce segments are predicted to expand. This suggests CG and Roots have the capacity to remain competitive due to their high-end product offering and online sales presence.

Founded in 1977, American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) is a retailer that designs and develops fashionable girls’ and boys’ apparel and accessories. The company’s target audience is boys and girls between the ages of 15 and 25 years old. The target audience seeks trendy and fashionable apparel product that meets a high standard of quality at an affordable price point. As of the most recent fiscal year, ended January 30, 2010, American Eagle held 1,103 retail stores in total, operating under the “American Eagle”, “Aerie”, and “Martin+Osa” brand names respectively. In addition to the retail stores,

However, after the short period (i.e. a decade) of a fall from grace and accusations of promoting soft-core pornography, the Abercrombie and Fitch brand turned this controversy around by toning down nudity by utilising artistic images of models wearing Abercrombie and Fitch clothing. Hence, controversy in advertising placed fashion brands in the public eye (for better or for worse; whether it promotes or harms the brands). But, since that period, advertising has become more well behaved (Lockwood, Martens and McCarthy,

Activity Mapping Overview In light of the competitive pressures in the retail industry, Abercrombie & Fitch has strived to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage by enhancing their in-store shopping experience, implementing distinct HR practices and optimizing its inventory management system, to differentiate from its competitors. Marketing through In-Store Shopping Experience Relative to its competitors, Abercrombie has differentiated itself in the retail space by constructing a unique, in-store shopping experience designed to engage consumers’ senses. Specifically, the company achieves this through a number a simple consistent activities, including spraying cologne on garments and fixtures, playing loud background music and staffing the store with attractive employees.

Despite Abercrombie & Fitch’s efforts to win back loyal consumers with their new rebranding initiative, the company continues to experience a decline in annual revenue and dismal growth coupled with a poor return on investment, making it a risky investment option for potential shareholders. According to the company’s annual report, Abercrombie & Fitch saw a decline in revenue from $4,116.90 billion in February 2014 to $3,744.03 billion in 2015 with fourth-quarter revenues falling nearly 14% to $1.12 billion (Abercrombie & Fitch 41). The company contributed its dismal report to a decrease in the number of operational stores at the end of Q4 fiscal 2014, weak consumer demand for both Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch, slowing growth in

When a brand is created, many will ask the questions that haunt all of us trying to start a company. Will it work? Should we stay online or launch a brick-and-mortar store? Will I make profit or fail? These questions arise even more when the company is to start only online. Because of this, e-commerce fashion brands must constantly evolve and expand their styles to maintain the interest of their target customers. Fashion Nova is one fashion brand that manages to stay relevant among its consumers because of their edgy style and quality priced clothing. Fashion Nova was first established in 2010. It gained its popularity from celebrities promoting it on their social media platforms and the fact

Due to high level of competition and a steady trend in growth, the specialty apparel industry experiences same sales growth due to the shift in consumer preference if a firm increases prices. The Abercrombie & Fitch has few strengths compared to competitors. ANF has a strong brand recognition, which gives it advantage in barriers to entry against new rivals trying to create an image for themselves. Its international growth, over 1000 stores globally, have helped increase revenue for the firm.

While the company may be seeing the start to its decline, past years are proof that Abercrombie and Fitch have made a good name for themselves. How does the industry operate one might ask? There are many sides to the coin when it comes to determining how this company functions, but let’s start with its