Questions On The Marketing Strategy

Lululemon’s primary target customer is a sophisticated and educated woman who understands the importance of an

The brand discussed in this report is Lululemon Athletica Inc. The brand is an athletic apparel retailer, whose main objective is building a community with a healthy lifestyle. Lululemon’s target market is middle/upper class 30-year-old woman. The brand is positioned as a premium high fashion brand for the athletic community. Some of Lululemon’s main competitors include Nike, Under Armour and Gap.

Lululemon is one of the Canada’s best retailers of technical athletic yoga apparel. Lululemon’s yoga inspired apparel is marketed under the two brand names Lululemon Athletica for more mature women and Ivivva Athletica for younger girls. Lululemon primary target customers are educated and hard working women, who understand the importance of healthy and active lifestyle. Majority of these women are Caucasian who are mainly urban and have higher income, since Lululemon is an expensive brand .Most of their products are design to offer fit, performance and comfort while incorporating both style and function. On another hand, American Apparel

One of Lululemon’s ethical issues that it is currently practiced is that Lululemon encourages employees to ease drop on its customers to gain more knowledge on the current complaints/defects with its products. This practice was introduced to the company because Lululemon is known for wanting to avoid collecting large amounts of customer data through large data techniques. Rather, the company aims to have a close and open relationship with its customers. Lululemon would rather connect with its customers while they are shopping in the store or in its company offered yoga lessons after the store closes rather than collecting data. The company was founded on the mission of “creating components for people to live longer, healthier, fun lives” this philosophy led to Lululemon seven core values: quality, product, integrity, balance, entrepreneurship, fun, and greatness. In this case, the implicated values that have arisen are integrity, quality, and greatness. As a company, Lululemon values greatness as a key value in how the company functions, they do this by always striving to have the best quality products and to be the greatest company. However, another key value is integrity which it encourages its employees to have the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. The implication of having employees ease drop on its customers in order to gain feedback on the company’s product violates its value of integrity.

a few percent, in 2012 the gross profit margin is the highest it has ever been

The company plans to launch stand-alone men's stores by 2016 and expand their business globally. That same day, the company announced plans to quit the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) due to a lack of trading on the Canadian exchange, stating that the expenses associated with having a dual listing were not justifiable(Nichols, 2016). The one remark that sent the media in a frenzy was in response to the public criticism of the sheer yoga pants, Wilson explained, “Quite frankly, some women’s bodies just actually don’t work for it. Even our small sizes would fit an extra-large(Nichols, 2016). It’s really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there.” This statement triggered massive social outrage that was felt throughout many media platforms(Nichols, 2016). With this media “fire-storm” it was clear that Mr. Wilson needs to be reprimanded in the sense of being taught to speak to the media. Christine Day has stepped down from the CEO position and corporate will need to select another leader.

Through lots of feedback from the guests, ambassadors and elite athletes, Lululemon now designs for yoga, running, cycling, workout and most other sweaty classes for women and men.

Lululemon Inc. has a strong history of making quality fitness clothing for yoga and other athletic purposes by the founder of the company. Dennis “Chip” Wilson in 1998. After becoming “overwhelmed” by the company’s success in Vancouver, Wilson transferred management of the company to trained managers (Nicholes, 2016, p.6). During this time, Corporate CEO Christine Day’s leadership was put into question due to the low level quality of material used to make the Luon Pants, which had a “see-through problem” due to the extreme sheerness of the pant material. More so, in 2013, corporate leadership had a lawsuit brought against the company directors, including Christine Day, of massively raising the

The first Lululemon store was initially created as a place for people to gather to learn and share ideas about a healthy lifestyle. As the company expanded, Lulu could no longer target every individual walking into the store with knowledge of healthy living. At this point, the company shifted its focus to educating their employees who could positively influence everyone who walked into the stores. The thought and reasoning that went into the first Lulu store has continued as the company has grown. It has continued to target active people while pushing everyone towards a healthy lifestyle. Its main target market is young woman, between 15 and 34 years old, in the middle to upper classes. One of

Lululemon is a rapidly growing company with a different niche for its products. Its philosophy as well as their business model has allowed them to increase revenue over the past years. The dilemma they faced is how to continue expanding without losing their special niche, grassroots and a nontraditional feel of the brand that sets them apart from their competitors.

The women's apparel market is highly competitive. With the launch of a new active-wear line from Harrington Collection's, more and more competitors will start to realise the potential value in in producing an active-wear line of their own. The active-wear market is growing so rapidly (expected to double turnover from 2007 to 2009), that eventually all of Harrington's competitors would likely be expected to launch a line of their own, relying on existing brand loyalty and high-scale advertising campaigns to capture market share and move units.

Instead of conducting traditional marketing which has huge marketing budgets, Lululemon heavily relays on word of mouth. Moreover, the grassroots branding strategy make them differentiated from their competitors. Lululemon providing free class and made instructors be their models which become a very successful way to promote their products.

Popular athletic brands such as Nike, adidas and Under Armor are specializing in different aspects such as basketball and outdoor sports which are mainly for men thus, it has a different target market and brand identity as opposed to lululemon.

This paper commences by defining the problems that were faced by Lululemon Athletica Inc in 2013. After, the author explores the causes of the issues that the company was experiencing and the effects that they had on Lululemon Athletica Inc. The next step is to look at ways in which the issues could have been addressed both for the short-term and long-term. When all is said and done, the audience will fully appreciate why “Lululemon Athletica Inc should revert to its fundamentals – that is, to concentrate on the needs of the consumer”.

Chip Wilson had a passion for technical athletic fabrics and after taking his first yoga class in Vancouver, British Columbia he found a problem. The cotton clothing that was used for yoga was completely inappropriate and too sweaty for him. In 1998 he opened up a design studio for yoga clothing that also served as a yoga studio at night. He asked the yoga instructors to wear his apparel and in return he received positive feedback. In November of 2000, Wilson opened up lululemon’s first real store, called Kitsilano. Wilson had a vision that this store would be a community hub where people could talk about all aspects of healthy living. Wilson saw his brand as a way to fill the void in the women’s athletic market. Lululemon’s mission statement is providing people with the components to live a longer, healthier, and more fun life. More stores expanded in the Vancouver area and in 2002 even expanded into the United States. By 2005, the company had 14 company-owned stores and one franchised store. By 2007, the company’s owners elected to take the company public. Lululemon proved to be a growing company. Chip Wilson stepped down from his executive position as lululemon’s Chief innovation and branding officer executive on January 29, 2012.