Executive Summary This paper provides an insight into the business profile of Forever 21 Company. An analysis of the company’s objectives, competitive strategies, external and business environment, the strengths and weaknesses of Forever 21 as a major clothing company. This study evaluates the strategies employed, the alternative possible strategies or market play and the best selected strategic move that Forever may bank on to expand its capacity and exploit the opportunities in aggressive and temporal markets. This analysis factor in marketing methods, strategies, competitive advantages, disadvantages and methods of how Forever 21 can capitalize on these factors and move forward toward greater paradigms of success. Introduction Major Business Objectives Forever’s major business objective is to diversify and offer their products (clothes and fashion) at very affordable low prices to consumers across the world. Forever 21, according to, (Hicken, 2012), has established outlets in malls across the world. The company continues to expand as other companies and small retailers close shop. Forever 21 has been highlighted to have brought in profits of up to $135 million which are very significant in its strategy to advance its major business objectives. Competitive strategies As a major competitive strategy according to, (Hicken, 2012), Forever prices its designs to meet the budget of women in their teens and 20s so as to enable them to afford clothes within their financial
Saying it “is all about 'investment dressing' - buying one piece and loving it for a long time”. (Siegle, 8) When buying a product the shopper should not be afraid to spend a little extra cash so it won’t have to be disposed in a few months time. Making more of a relationship to care for what is in their possession. And repair the clothes they have since “just 2 per cent of the average clothing budget goes on services that repair or lengthen the lifespan of our garments and accessories”. (Siegle, 9) She goes over how the more you buy fast fashion the higher the price and the cheaper the material will be. Ending up in the garbage and repeating the cycle of devastating effects on the
For this growing population, we can track the merchandises and find out what kind of items the customers spend money on. We gather the data and analyze the pattern and what style the customer is looking for. We send e-mails to the customers when getting new items that fit the customer’s dress preference with style suggestions.
Context: TFC has been growing quickly within the fashion network industry for past decade (1996-2006). However, emergence of stiff competition in its field has resulted in TFC to rethink its strategy. Therefore, an appropriate marketing strategy needs to be selected in order to maintain TFC’s position in addition to boosting its viewership ratings and revenues.
Of the hundreds of named brand clothing that form part of the retail and fashion industry I chose to compare, for my analysis, Abercrombie & Fitch, Forever 21, American Eagle, and H&M. These stores are prominent, well-known for selling apparel, shoes, and accessories by the means of offering sales and promotions to their customers. This is a clever strategy for attracting customers, allowing them to believe that they bought goods at affordable, convenient prices – and not to mention the prestigious name prescribed to the clothing brands. Using keyhole.co as my main source, I obtained relevant and valuable information regarding the status of these brands. My intentions were to compare a period of 14 days, however, due to the limited access that I received from my free trial, the program only allowed me to see fewer of the dates than I anticipated. I want to take this opportunity and mention ahead of time that due to the various and distinctive products that are sold from these stores, when looking for the “spending capacity” I decided to focus on shirts/ jeans for men and women and compare the prices among them since each of these retailers carry those items and as a way to make this report easier to contrast and comprehend. Also, when approaching the section of “setting”, I screen-shotted some of the images on Instagram and made them into a collage to separate the type of clothes and trends that each of these brands sell currently. In the following modules
Lululemon is a large company, making clothing for athletic activities, not only are they in the women’s athletic range, but they have hit the men’s market and youth range as well. A SWOT analysis will be used to break down Lululemons strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the business. Strengths which Lululemon have achieved include multi-faceted and community-based approach strategy, making customers feel part of a community through marketing strategies like there “ambassador program, social media, in-store community boards and grassroots initiatives” (Lululemon, 2016 Annual Report, 2016, p. 3). Touchpoints which have been a part of this multi-channel include Lululemons websites www.lululemon.co.nz and ivivva.com which is based around female youth active ware. With Lululemon having 12,500 full-time employees worldwide (Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU), 2017) with 406 stores (Lululemon, 2016), their large market capital of $8.33 billion (Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU), 2017), shows the total value of Lululemons shares of stock. Lululemon having $581.1 million in net revenue, this is an increase of 13% while their gross profit increased by 17% rising to $297.4 million. (Lululemon Athletica Inc. Announces Second Quarter Fiscal 2017 Results, 2017). This shows a steady increase in profit for Lululemon for 2017 which is a strength for them.
Uniqlo is a retail industry which sells high quality casual wear at cheap and affordable prices under the company name of FAST RETAILING CO., LTD. It dominated the world with its presence and as of 2015 it has opened over 1’400 stores in 16 markets worldwide including big economy countries like China and The United States. Other than its flagship stores, they have delved into E-Commerce websites bringing in more profits. Due to the number of stores opened and popularity it has gained it has a big group of workforce of over 30,000 employees. (uniqlo.com, 2015)
The U.S. women’s apparel industry market is mature, given that the average growth rate from 2005 to 2007 was 4.66%. Within the industry, there are 6 categories of clothing in which companies compete: haute couture, designer, bridge, better, moderate, and budget. Each category targets customers with different needs and different price ranges, with haute coutre and designer clothing ranging upwards from $10,000 and moderate
Topshop in terms of gaining the competitive advantage inside UK’s fashion market tries to differentiate itself by promoting its online business, its international brand position and its collaborations with popular celebrities. The company’s objectives are following the SMART framework. The objectives are oriented on increasing UK’s market share, re-positioning the brand name in UK and following a tighter stock management. The Topshop marketing mix strategy is based on its STP strategies and is shaped by the UK’s external environment. However, the company is still strong focused on its digital performance and international expansion. Finally, the company in terms of examine the effectiveness of its strategies and objectives should implement, control and evaluate its strategies in depth.
The utility that Small provides for his customers is the fact that this clothing will last for so many years. This allows the customers to save their money. They will not longer have to go buy new clothes as often. The high price reflects another good thing about Small’s clothes, the fabric will be environment friendly and will not fade or shrink like the cheaper clothing items. The price creates the highest quality clothing. He makes it easy for customers to buy from his brand again.
There Is a similar relation among the clothes. Several customers shop there based on the quality and prices as well as the features associated with the products. An advantage of the store is that it has a wide product mix and various offering in different categories and all these can be located at one place. This attracts a wide variety of customers. In line with their positioning of offering quality, trendy products, the brand is consistently updating its product line. The brand does not focus on innovation but rather on always leading trends. In relation to the product life cycle, clothing has a short life span from the first to last stage as tastes change easily. For this reason, it is important to constantly anticipate consumer tastes and preferences prior to launching a product so as to retain and possibly build customers loyalty. It is also necessary to develop a successful marketing strategy to display product offerings.
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
Topshop is a one-stop shop for fashion conscious women. It is an innovative, British brand offering a wide product range, that is trend driven at an affordable price. With a target audience of women aged 15 to 30, particularly focusing on students, offering a 10% discount to all students who shop at Topshop.
The product life style of the department store is in the mature or declining phase of its product life style, because of the declining sales. Furthermore, according to estimates, market share has eroded away to 7 per cent, as of 2010, and is far below the desirable rate 15 per cent (Johnson, 2011, p. 3). Also, the brand image is being heavily relied upon and the bottom line is not showing significant increase in the years presented in the journal article. Macy’s is afloat due to a strong management team and the aggressiveness to deal with problems as they arise. For example, continuing to adjust its portfolio of stores, focusing on fashion, and developing private labels in bedding, outerwear, ‘tween’ clothing, increase national advertising and using celebrities. Additionally, Macy’s advertising is combining the national department store image with July 4 and the Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, which appeals to the American citizen. Solution
(2012) This leads me to question if fashion apparel is competing with industry’s sportswear markets by compromising the performance enhancing qualities for garments that are simply just aesthetically pleasing. (Morganosky, 1984) elaborates on this stating that consumers are willing to pay higher prices for apparel with a high aesthetic value regardless of the low functional value. Ko et al. (2012) agrees consumers’ value fashion and quality however argues they are not willing to pay a high price for something new and innovative. (Dickson & Pollack, 2000) add to this statement in relation to sports garments with female consumers regarding aesthetic aspects such as style and brand characteristics to be more essential than the functional aspects such as comfort and other physical performance-enhancing features. Similarly (Eckma et al., 1990) reports on the evaluation of purchase behaviour in women’s apparel. Style was chosen as more important in determining rejection or adoption of the garments. A visual criterion seems to have the greatest impact on selection of apparel such as fashion-ability or popularity, aesthetic appeal, and self-expression (Eckma et al., 1990). Although it seems there is a divide in opinion when it comes to retail pricing the majority of research studies seems to suggest there is a major emphasis on the aesthetic appearance.
VF Corporation, headquartered in Greensboro, NC, is a large lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories conglomerate, home to many popular brands that are recognized globally. VF Corporation is a global force of over 30 “diverse” and “iconic” brands that are well positioned internationally to serve customers and consumers (VF Corporation, 2016). The purpose of this analysis is to provide an overall outlook of the company and to create a strategic plan for the future of the corporation. Conclusions based off of the research into the financials, key strategies, SWOT analysis of VF Corporation will be discussed in order to form a strategic plan for the future of VF Corporation.