Case Study: The J. Crew

At J. Crew we take pride in offering fashionable clothes at affordable prices. Recently at our website you and a lot of other customers ordered a sensational turtleneck cashmere sweater. Which was listed at the amazing price of $18.

Abercrombie & Fitch is one of the leading clothing companies in the world. They manufacture

J.Crew as an iconic brand targeting young working professional by focusing on preppy and classy look failed in identifying brand focus. Also, their business model is performing poorly in the fast-fashion industry compare to traditional competitors, with its high prices, diverging quality, and undesirable brand image. Hence, the brand perception by customers has changed and many of them prefer to purchase the discounted products rather than full-priced items.

Macy’s Inc. ratio was .02 and JC Penny Co. Inc. was .00. To improve this ratio, both companies need to improve on their net income. If JC Penny doesn’t continue to improve its net income, then this ratio will begin to lean negative, signaling the company is losing money for every dollar is sales and may not be good investment. Macy’s Inc. still has room before it hits .00, however, if their net income continues to fall, they soon too may have the same profit margin ratio as JC Penny Co. Inc. Shutting down unsatisfactory stores – as each company is doing – may help improve this ratio as well. With less funding going to these stores, such as salary’s, rent, and wasted inventory, they will be able to improve their net income value.

The fiscal year is February-January. At the end of 2012, JCPenney’s reported $17.26 billion in sales/revenue down only 2.81% from the previous year. At the end of 2013, JCPenney’s reported $12.99 billion in sales/revenue, down almost 25% from the previous year. (Marketwatch) The factor? The new CEO Ron Johnson. Numbers do not lie. The transition in leadership in 2012 left the company in an even rockier state. Just after 17 months, Ron Johnson was released of his position as CEO and former CEO Mike Ullman was reappointed. J.C. Penney shares finished the regular trading session at $15.87 Monday. From when Johnson took the reins on November 1, 2011 the stock was cut in half, dropping 52.2%. (Schaefer) There were several reasons why Johnson

JCPenny was founded in April 1902 by James Cash Penny. The objective of JC Pennys is simple, to provide products to meet each and everyone’s’ needs. The stores have switch to promoting their house brands more than promoting brands that a shopper can get elsewhere. By promoting their house brands, JCPennys feels like they can increase sales because a shopper would have to go to Pennys to get those brands. The company is endorsing what they refer to as the omnichannel. This is the cohesiveness between stores and online to increase the ease of shopping for the consumer. Now the financial objectives are as follows,” the company provided financial performance estimates for the 2017-2019 period, as follows: Compounded annual comparable sales growth anticipated to be 3.0 %; Gross margin is expected to improve 75-100 basis points; Additional SG&A expense leverage of 215-240 basis points; Net income is expected to be between $450-500M by 2019; Earnings per share of $1.40-1.55 by 2019.” (JCPenny, 2016) I know that the company has tried many times to create a new image because they are struggling to meet the demand of the modern shopper. These latest objectives I

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

1. Considering the five forces of competition and how they direct the profit potential for a given industry, discuss how the forces help explain Lululemon’s performance.

As one of the major retailers in the United States, JCPenney has 1,104 department stores in 49 states and Puerto Rico as of February 2, 2013. The key success of its business is tremendously depending on the sales performance. However, the retail business is highly competitive, with low barriers to entry and low profit margin. Due to large sales plunge in 2012, the company is in financial trouble. The thorough analysis of JCPenney’s financial statements is vital to judge the future performance of its business.

J.Crew began in 1947 as a low priced clothing company that sold its merchandise door-to-door. It was originally called Popular Club but the name was eventually changed to J.Crew to better suit its preppy image. In 1983 the company released its first catalog in an effort to mimic the success of like Lands’ End and L.L. Bean. People fell in love with the company’s preppy aesthetic that was much more affordable than designers like Ralph Lauren. Within the decade, the company grew its customer base exponentially. Their sales increased from $3 Million to $100 Million in less than 10 years. In 1989 the company expanded into retail stores with their first brick-and-mortar location in South Street Seaport in New York.

At first I thought that Under Armor would be an exception to this but then I realized that they don’t have exclusive deals with the manufacturers that they acquire their fabrics from to make their products. Therefore if one of its rivals ever wanted to they could possible acquire some of the innovative fabric that Under Armour uses and then use the fabric you produce similar products.

American Apparel, is an American multi-national clothing manufacturer, distributor and retailer since 1988based in Los Angeles, California. Dov Charney, a Canadian business man was a founder and former CEO of the company. He was involved in nearly every part of the business process from design and manufacturing to marketing. The Ernst & Young named Charney Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004. He was also termed "Man of the Year" by various fashion

By comparing the profitability of the two major international retailers, we see that J. Crew Group has a lower return on assets at an average of 5% for 2011-2013 compared to Gap Inc., which has an average ROA of 16% for

Smart phones are allowing customers to shop with their phones inside stores; credit cards are accepted via phones vs. cash registers. Technology brings online shopping vs. in store shopping. And, advertising is popping up on smart phones as electronic messages as customers shop based on their location. Service is defiantly the key to keep a customer coming into a department store.

According to Keyton, organizational culture is "the set of artifacts, values, and assumptions that emerges from the interactions of organizational members" (Keyton, 2014, p. 550). Over the past few years, past and potential employees of the clothing brand Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) have taken to the media to explain the negative organizational culture that exists within the company. The management values and company policies that create this “image-obsessed culture” have led to multiple human rights lawsuits, which has damaged the reputation of Abercrombie & Fitch globally (Benson, 2013).