Quality Over Cynicism?
Are Hollister and Abercrombie products really worth it?
You have probably heard the saying, “Quality over quantity” before. In this case, it is not so much as the comparison between how much there is, over how well it is produced, but how well it is produced over the knowledge of knowing the immoral actions influenced by and preformed by the ex-CEO of both Abercrombie and Hollister, Mike Jeffries. Hollister Co. is owned by Abercrombie & Fitch. Both are relatively the same with a few minor differences like their logos and prices. They both target teens and pre-teens and most of their clothing style and colors are the same. The quality of their products is nothing to complain about though you can not say the same about the management and head of the company. In relevance to this, Hollister clothing line is a quality product but even the quality of the merchandise is not enough to sustain its worth when it involves several injustices.
Abercrombie was first founded in 1892 by David T. Abercrombie. At first the company distributed sporting and excursion goods but after struggling financially it was purchased by The Limited in 1988 (Daily Mail, 1). Abercrombie then created Hollister to attract customers between the age of fourteen and eighteen and was designed to have a “SoCal Surfer” look. The first store opened in Columbus, Ohio in July of 2000 (Daily Mail, 1). Noticing its success, Abercrombie then began to open more stores and can now be found in
Macy 's is one of the largest retailers in the United States. Macy 's was founded by Rowland Hussey Macy in October 28, 1858. Macy 's is an oldest brand in USA with 158 years old. Talking about Macy 's. Macy’s is a mid-range to
Abercrombie & Co. was founded by David Abercrombie on June 4, 1892. In 1900, Ezra Fitch
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
Charlotte Russe and Forever 21 are both trendy clothing and accessory stores that target a younger demographic, teens to age 35 specifically. The prices have been described as affordable luxury by an article published on Knoji.com. Personally I believe the pricing is a little high because of the quality, but deals I find at stores like Ross, TJ Maxx, and Marshalls may be to blame for why my anchoring prices may be a little low.
As alternatives to Hollister, customers likely consider brands located in the surrounding areas such as American Eagle, Forever 21 or Urban Outfitters. The choice to purchase Hollister, however, involves buying into the company philosophy and history. Hollister, similar to other Abercrombie subsidiaries, devised a fictional company history to aid in its credibility and marketing. Abercrombie designed a character, John Hollister, who founded the company in Southern California in 1922 after years of travelling the world. The brand also positioned itself as a sponsor of surfing contests and events in seaside California cities such as Santa Cruz and Huntington Beach. While these creative concepts remained fictitious, they became powerful assets in
Rowland Hussy Macy opened the first Macy’s on October 28 1858 on 204 & 206 Sixth Ave in New york, New York. In his store he specialized in selling Dry Goods but he also sold items like shawls, gloves, hosiery, and embroidery items like lace. Macy’s first day sales were only $11.06 however, “ On December 1, 1859, Macy’s first year’s sales total was $90,000, with an existing store inventory valued at $34,000. Significantly, Macy reported that advertising costs amounted to $2,800 a figure that was approximately 3 percent of total sales” (Grippo). This was a huge deal because most companies only spent about 1 percent of their total sales on advertising and did not make as much money especially in their first year of business. Macy’s also was the first store to have catalogs with all the items his store offered listed. In addition Rowland Macy developed the “odd pricing” strategy where, “ Almost all items were listed at one to three cents below the dollar, implying savings to the customer” (Grippo). This method pricing is now used to today by store worldwide. Since he used these clever techniques Macy’s stores attracted bargain shoppers and since no one can pass up a great deal his store became very successful.
Abercrombie & Fitch ANALYSIS REPORT Fundamentals Of Retail Design Group 03 Erik, Herr | I-Chu, Liao | Karan, Shah Kuan-Ling, Tseng | Chen-Hua, Wang ABSTRACT This report intends to analyze the unique brand values, the distinct marketing strategies and the compelling competitive dynamics of Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), the noted American retailer of casual luxury wear. The purpose of this analysis being to understand the context and motives that drive brand A&F; to draw insights from it‘s past and current strategies and use these to launch a, new sneaker offer‘ within it‘s existing product ensemble. For doing this, we‘ve researched the story of the brand; it‘s original and potential target market, it‘s financial
Lululemon is a high quality clothing brand selling items at an expensive price. Customers are willing to pay a substantial amount of money to purchase this clothing. Lululemon has the power to adjust prices constantly because they have a high budget. Hundreds of companies sell athletic clothes, but it can be argued that customers spend money to buy the logo rather than the clothing itself. Some of Lululemon’s competitors are Athleta, Nike, Fabletics, and Under Armor. Lululemon's $98 pair of leggings looks almost exactly like Athleta's $79 pair. Lululemon has the ability to do this because they know their customers will choose to buy their logo oppose to Athleta’s. The target area for Lululemon is typically upper middle class women but men and
Hollister Co. was founded in 2000 and is based in Los Angeles, California. The company operates as a secondary business for Abercrombie & Fitch Management. The company provides clothing and accessories for men and women. Hollister’s main target consumers are teenagers. Hollister retails its products through a chain of stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. They also sell their products online. The marketing strategies that Hollister use to promote their products are by using a logo, a slogan, and informing what their products are pertaining too. Two of the marketing strategies are very effective in attracting consumers while one of the marketing strategies needs more research to be done. Because of Hollister’s well known slogan, attractive logo, and the way they use celebrities to represent their product, this makes them unique compared to other clothing businesses.
Nordstrom was co founded 1901 by a 30 year old man named John W Nordstrom and his partner Carl Wallin. At age 16, John W of Sweden left his home and moved to Alaska where he struck gold. While in Alaska, he met a man named Carl Wallin, “who owned a shoe repair shop in downtown Seattle” (Nordstrom Employee, 2006). The two decided form a partnership and open a shoe store entitled Wallin & Nordstrom.
HollisterCo is a beach themed clothing company. It was founded in 1922 by Mike Jeffries where back then it was still not a well-known company until the founder of Abercrombie and Fitch takes over it. It offers a wide range of apparel and accessories for men and women which includes logo tees, graphic shirts, tanks, bottom wear and even sleepwear. It also provides colognes, perfume, gloss products, body care products as well as gift cards. (“Short Title”, 2014). Hollister has 51 outlets in 19 different counties. Hollister also enable buyers from other countries to purchase their products through their online store.
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
In this assignment, I have chosen to research Hollister to find out if they are discriminative to customers and in recruiting staff, and if they attract the target market. Hollister is an American brand found on July the 27th, 2000 by Abercrombie & Fitch. They welcomed their first store on July 27th in 2000, Columbus, Ohio.
Being an upscale industry, Abercrombie and Fitch would appear to be a successful corporation. Although the company was once successful for a number of years, it’s apparent that there has been a significant decline in its overall appeal and how much revenue the company acquires each year. With just over 1,000 retail stores in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, Abercrombie and Fitch has thrived to be one of the most avid corporate extensions.