Analysis Of The Article ' American Eagle ' By W. Glynn Mangold And Katherine Taken Smith

After careful review of the American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. 2014 Annual Report, it was noted that the company have four areas that they are focusing on. The first being to make more money by adding more “compelling product assortments” by providing an unique costumer experience both online and in stores. The second being to expand their Omni-Channel capabilities. The report defines Omni- Channels as stores including displays and kiosks, web, mobile devices, social networks and email. The third is growing their digital business. The final area is improving profitability.

In addition to these field observation, I made use of published material, specifically articles from scholarly journals. These included “Product-class effects on brand commitment and brand outcomes” by

Social media has become an influential ground for consumers to share their opinions about a company’s brand and products. In addition, it helps in having a strong brand that produces positive relations and distinguish the brand from competitors, is a critical component for effective marketing. According to Dahlén and Lange (2009) “the quality of the product is not the evident factor when it comes to purchasing a product, the deciding factor depends on how the brand is perceived” (Para. 1). This demonstrates the importance of incorporating social media as a tool to promote brands, allow for interactions, and customer satisfaction by engaging with customers more frequently for feedbacks or reviews. Thus create an opportunity for the company to show its devotion to their customers, and initiate good reputation, which can increase sales. In other words, social media has the ability to upsurge the awareness for businesses as well as the brand.

Accordingly, we have researched that the sustainable fashion is a growing trend in recent years and growing number of millennials are interested in the sustainable fashion market. More importantly, we anticipated that there are already big fast fashion brands like Zara, H&M, or Topshop that it is hard for J.Crew to recapture the lost customers in the fast fashion market.

Kerin, R. A., Hartley, S. W., & Rudelius, W. (2013). Marketing. (11th ed.). New York, New

In past and recent reports experts tell us that this is accurate and they rely heavily upon trendsetters to popularize new brands for them so that they are successful because often times this can either make or break a company. Now a days marketers are using crafty strategies to win over the hearts of young kids. In today’s youth the age group that market consists of includes kids which are age 6-9 years old, tweens which are 10-13 years old, and teens that are 14-18 years old. For example The

American Eagle should continue to appeal to their targeted market of 16 to 32 year olds. AE needs to remind their customers that their brand is comfortable, bold and fresh, and is unlike any of the competition. Store atmosphere is also very important when trying to keep loyal customers. American Eagle should hire fun and energetic employees to represent their company. Advantage of appealing to the 16 to 34 year old range is not many retailers in the market appeal to that wide of an age gap because is difficult. Customers being reminded of AE's comfort and freshness will in turn keep sales flowing. Although this could help American Eagle stay one step ahead of its competitors, it could also be a burden on AE because they must know what is appealing to

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. still continues to move forward in the business community. Sales are on the rise with an increasing focus on internal controls and management. This success was achieved with little dependence upon advertising. In a financial meeting shortly after the

Brown, T. (2014). Basic Marketing Research, 8e, 8th Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781305178571/page/24

The release of 2014 financial statements by American Eagle Outfitters and The Buckle Company require analysis to determine the financial position of the respective companies. A decision between the two companies is needed to decide which company Baruch College Fund should invest in. Findings in our research shows that The Buckle Company beats American Eagle Outfitters in terms of the key performance indicators of return on assets, profit margin, and asset turnover ratio. This information reveals that The Buckle Company is the better company to invest in.

The two companies that I decided to compare and contrast on their marketing strategies are Sephora and American Eagle Outfitters. The Demographics for Sephora are Age , 74% of them are millennials, for race It’s all races but mostly all of them are Asian and Hispanic. The income is upper class and the relationship status is single and married. The psychographics for Sephora is that if they are interested in hair, skin, and makeup products. The attitude is if they like spending money on beauty products. Also if they like to wear makeup.

Hyman, M. R., & Sierra, J.J. (2010). Marketing research kit for dummies. Wiley Publishing, Inc.

In addition to creating open forms of communication and direct access to consumers’ opinions and reactions, advancing social and visual technology delivers access to technologically advanced, eye-catching, and interesting design and media tactics formerly available only to the tech savvy generation. The internet has transformed the globe and it’s lasting presence is inevitable, proving that to discount social media’s new but important role will ultimately lead to failure in the long term.

This case study introduced how Kylie identified the gap in the market for teens and millennials and she tapped into it using her constant controversy and social media presence by creating Kylie Cosmetics. Because of her already booming platform, she had an advantage over other new companies, a fan base. She knew who her base was and catered to them. Kylie Cosmetics continues to expand by introducing new products regularly and as long as the company focuses on quality control and the customer’s wants, it would be a long existing

Armstrong, G. Brown, L. Burton, S. Deans, K., & Kotler, P. (2010). Marketing (pp. 4-40). New South Wales: Pearson