The North Face SWOT Analysis

The North Face is a subsidiary of the VF Corporation. VF is one of the world’s largest apparel manufacturers with $7 billion in sales. This gives the company incredible financial flexibility, industry experience and management support. The North Face is also a market leader in innovation and technology. Two of their major innovations are Thermoball and Fuseform. Thermoball ushered in synthetic insulation that mimics the properties and the capabilities of dow, while Fuseform completely changed

two companies in 2008. It designs, manufactures, markets and distributes a large range of high tech leisurewear and

the original store, offer personal shoppers for their customers, and also the creation of Christmas windows with pure light. The most important “first” that Lord & Taylor have had is having a women president, Dorothy Shaver.

The database consists of customers that have purchased items with the last 12 months and their demographic information. The use of the catalog, internet, and retail stores has enabled the company to capture customer information, cross-market products, and provide a convenient shopping experience for customers. The company’s customers are primarily females with a passion for the riding sport. The customers are affluent and luxury oriented who tend to choose to buy from the company for the high quality and premier products. The customer base shows high repurchase rates and has been very loyal customers.

Dick’s Sporting Goods was originally opened in 1948 as a bait and tackle shop in Binghamton, NY. Since then, the company has grown into a major, full-line sporting goods chain with over 500 stores. Part of the company’s mission statement is to be “….the #1 sports and fitness specialty omni-channel retailer that serves and inspires athletes…” (Dick’s, 2015). There is no doubt Dick’s Sporting Goods has succeeded in fulfilling the mission as the company has been publicly traded since 2002 with sales today in

The North Face as an American outerwear company is the main competitor of Canada Goose among many premium jacket market.

Based on the opportunities shown by the SWOT analysis, and the factors presented in the Porter Five Forces, as well as the rivalry the company faces from other competitors in the industry Target needs to have a future plan. Some of the recommendations for the company includes expansion into new attractive markets with good income based and substantial population. According to Hahn Kwak, and Palys (2005), the company needs to expand its operations in the South and Northeast metropolitan regions in the US. In addition, the company needs to focus on gaining market share in the market the company already operates. This implies that the company needs to consider expanding its retail channels in grocery stores, stationary, and drug stores. The company also needs to establish its retail stores near the center of major cities in order to gain a market share against its rival Walmart. The company is normally viewed as an urban brand and therefore placing store in major cities gives the company the ability to attract and retain more urban customers as well as middle-class customers. Urban residents will readily accept the

Prince Sports has managed to remain in their field, but the task was not easy. They have been in business for over forty years and have continued to evolve to fit the needs of the consumers while also managing to expand their products. In doing so, they have needed to keep their company ahead of trends that have occurred in the market. So far, they have managed to do so, but with the continuously changing market and economy, Prince Sports needs to constantly be performing research on how to stay ahead. They also have to take in to consideration how these changes are going to affect the products and customers they

Nordstrom has a different corporate structure than most stores. The corporate structure in order, first to last: customers, employees, supervisors, middle managers, vice presidents, than the CEO. Nordstrom’s consumer culture and reputation is all about how it empowers the frontline employees to succeed. Nordstrom wants to do what they think is right for customers. Everyone at Nordstrom starts at the “top” regardless of the employee’s job title is currently (Haaff).

JD sports is an established business that have rights to sell top brands like Nike and Adidas at reasonable prices making them the first

RAD operates upwards of 4,800 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia, features a

The most serious threat to The North Face is Patagonia, as both companies target the more serious outdoor adventurers. But of the two outdoor apparel companies, The North Face is trendier and appeals to a younger market, particularly college students, and products are available in thousands of retail stores nationwide. Therefore, The North Face appeals to more of a mass-market. In comparison, Patagonia has a distribution strategy that requires the operation of a limited number of retail locations in areas where demand is not as popular for outdoor apparel. Moreover, Patagonia continues to target the same market and do not aspire to become a trendy brand that is similar to The North Face.

There are many companies in the sports apparel, footwear and accessories industry, such as Nike, Adidas, Puma,

Operational excellence is important in delivering quality education using functional areas such as learn and grow, look after customer, look after share holder and the business process to excel which are assessed using a balanced scorecard for their performance. A quantitative technique used with the supported tools in the decision analysis process for making in a situation where uncertainty exists. Strutledge can perform decision analysis using simple excel or OM tools which is a quantitative tool that organizes into a payoff table. The SWOT analysis is a quantitative tool used in the decision analysis to access the impact of adding a new MBA and other Master of Science courses.

According to What is SWOT Anlysis (2011), SWOT analysis is an analysis used to identify the internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) of the company as well as external factors (opportunities and threats) of the company.