Environmental Analysis

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.

That is to say, the existence of website purposing the same products, is a threat for fashion retailers because it can push the customer to competitors and gives a significant power to them. Customers loyalty can oblige Abercrombie to re-evaluate its prices, because if they don’t they will lose their customer’s loyalty.

Urban Outfitters, often referring to itself as simply ‘UO’, is the corporate entity that includes retail chains Urban Outfitters, Anthropolgie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN, has became the greatest global retailer in the world. Back in the beginning, the first Urban Outfitter store was opened on a street nearby Pennsylvania University in 1970 by Dick Hayne and Scott Belair, both are the company’s chief executive officers (CEO). The first store’s name was Free People and it sold furniture, second-hand clothing, accessories, and decorative items. The store’s target market was young people, especially college students and it continues to dominate this market segment.

According to Ratner (2014), e-commerce can be a great opportunity for the company because 25% of its customers rely on the company’s online shop Target.com. The online store has attracted a large number of customers and therefore the company needs to focus on how to appeal to these customers in order to retain and attract more customers to the online store. Additionally, Target has a strong reputation as a fashion retailer, which has proved to be successful. Through the promotion of Lilly Pulitzer products. In brief, the company needs to focus on online marketing in order to compete with its rivals such as Walmart and Amazon, which seem to have established their reputation in the online

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).

Nordstrom’s product selection is probably the store’s most effective method of distinguishing itself from its competitors. The comprehensive categories of goods which the store supplies offers the initial disparateness from most other retailers in the market. Many stores offer a specific category of goods, such as food with grocery stores. Other retailers, such as Target or Walmart, offer a wide variety goods. Nordstrom’s has established itself as a retailer of clothing, shoes, and accessories. This over-all summation of the store

“Aeropostale clothing was an in-store brand sold at Macy’s but in 1987 Macy’s decide to open and independent Aeropostale store. In West LosAngles, California. The founded are R.H. Macy’s & Co, originally. R.H. Macy’s form the independent Aeropostale store.” (Aeropostale Company From 10-k (2015). However, their mean focuses were on trendy, casual apparel for young women and men. Aeropostale products can only be brought in Aeropostale store. Their products and services are casual apparel and accessories, principally targeting, 14-17-year-old young women and men. They also are targeting 4 to 12-year-old kids line of products. Aeropostale offer online shopping through its e-commerce Website ps.4u.com.

The retail industry is a sector of the economy that is comprised of individuals and companies

During this paper we will analyze how the department store industry has evolved and more important how companies are managing new strategies to remain competitive. Moreover we will use the case of JCPenney as a main focus to see how successful their strategies are. To provide a good analysis, we first need to understand how the industry has evolving and what the major companies like JCPenney are doing to continue in the industry.

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.

Franklin and Marshall College has a variety of ways to keep the campus and students environmentally friendly. However, there are various resources that can be utilized differently to make F&M an even more sustainable and green campus. Lighting fixtures; campus utility cars including: Pubic Safety, Facility Cars, Emergency Medical Service, nightly shuttle; minimal solar panels; heating water for uses like: showers, sinks, and the swimming pool; using disposable items; using excessive textbooks; heating and air conditioning are all ways in which Franklin and Marshall college can improve to make the college a more profound place for the environment.

My interest began to grow, and I started shopping online with Ebay and Amazon, trying to find prices under retail. After getting so many pieces of clothing from Nike and Jordan, I began to get tired of the style and decided to move on to another brand, and change my style completely. That brand was Ralph Lauren, which I now own a shirt in almost every color from them. I then decided it was time to move on from him as well. This is when I started to find more and more sites and apps dedicated to selling and buying designer clothing. “But it was the slew of second-hand clothing startups that launched at the end of the 2012 that really made a point in 2013. From digital clothing swap Bib and Tuck to online consignment store TheRealReal, there

The retail sector incorporates businesses that sell goods and services to consumers. Over the past couple of years, there have been changes to the industry which has provided favorable returns to some companies but adversely affected the bottom line of others. The retail industry was originally a made-to-order market which would require excessive need of brick and mortar operations. Due to technological advances, the industry has shifted towards a made to stock strategy in order to keep up with consumer demand. In addition, the consumers today prefer to browse through a catalog or through the internet in order to make spending decisions and then wait for the item to be shipped.

Zappos.com, established in 1999, has rapidly become a strong competitor in online apparel and footwear sales. With the original corporate vison of offering the absolute best selection in shoes; the vision has evolved over the past several years to include the goal of being the retailer that “provides the absolute best service online -- not just in shoes, but in any category” (Zappos, 2014). The online retailer stocks millions of reasonably priced footwear products; carrying thousands of hard to find brand named shoes, handbags, apparel and accessories via the company website and 7,000 affiliate partners. In recognizing their rapid success, Zappos credits it to their commitment to the customer, stating,

Social Factors - The California Pizza Kitchen sells pizzas, pastas, salads, etc. and the ambience of the restaurants is quite informal and homely. Its primary key to its success has been that they were the first pizza restaurant that offered fresh and non-traditional ingredients for its pizzas. On a whole, the American consumer base is traditionally not very nutritional conscience when it comes to dining out. Regionally, the consumer preferences are suiting the business model of the company in most areas; however changes in the consumer