As per our conversation last week, I have concluded my research and analyzes on Lululemon Athletica Inc. business pressures along with the competitive strategies used by the company amongst its opponents.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. encounters continual business pressure due to the increasing number of companies in the athletic clothing industry. Since the time Lululemon was founded in Vancouver in 1998, a rapid popularity has grown for top-quality athletic clothing especially in the yoga line. The success resulting from this industry created competition for Lululemon. As of today, Lululemon is not the sole company to provide consumers with high-end athletic clothing. Thus, causing business pressures like market pressure and technology pressure
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In today’s world, organizations especially Lululemon is required to keep up with these changes in order to excel in its industry. Lululemon implements a mass customization, e-business and customer focused environment to deal with its business pressures. The company is heavily customer focused and relies on its high quality customer service in order to attract, keep and prevent from losing customers to its competition. Also, it produces products that meet a variety of consumers need and preferences which is known as mass customization. For example, the company does not limit its clothing line to yoga, it extends it further to other fitness areas and is customized in order to meet with specific individual needs and wants. Lastly, the conduction of business electronically is a crucial asset in today’s business environment. Lululemon uses e-business to sell, transfer, and exchange products through their website along with servicing customers and performing electronic …show more content…
Lululemon also concentrates on making customers happy by offering discounts on purchases, in return for written feedback. Through providing opinions by consumers and athletes that tests the products, the company gets direct feedback on the fabric, quality, fit, design, and function of the garments manufactured.
Differentiation strategy – Lululemon implemented FlexPLM (Product Life Management), which manages the life cycle of products. As the corporation has quite short product life cycles, this tactic helps to implement new products quickly. The company creates a perception of unusual products and scarcity with the intention of having consumers buy products rapidly before the products get discontinued. This strategy makes the company sink the competition for its competitors.
Operational effectiveness strategy – the company uses people and technology to keep its relationship with the customers healthy, and to keep costs down. Lululemon implemented Vocollect’s Voice technology to improve communication and speed up processing at distribution centres. Lululemon also allows the option of online purchasing thus saving shipping time, costs and retail resources. By implementing technology that saves times, the company improves employee productivity and lower
The most recognized brands amongst US males in the sports and fitness clothing market are Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and Puma (Statista, 2014). However, there is a large amount of opportunity to gain market share as only Nike hold a high percentage favoritism from male shoppers (Statista, 2012). Multiple brands have a stronger focus on women’s clothing such as: Fabletics, Athleta, and Lululemon. Lululemon has a similar business model however the brand has a stronger connection with women and yoga.
Lululemon geographics have expanded into Asia, Africa, Europe, and have densified in North America with new openings of stores. The companies’ demographics have also expanded. Previously only focused on yogi’s, Lululemon is now focused on any one who sweats and is interested in athletic wear and the lifestyle it promotes. Lululemon also offers the same quality leggings to men and young females; one of Lululemon’s biggest market segmentation moments was when they opened their sister store Ivivva to market the same product to a younger female audience. However, they are still fixed on offering their products at a higher cost, meaning only customers who have money for discretionary products can purchase them; the high exclusiveness and quality has created a loyal fan base. The organization also continues to segment themselves as a leader in the health conscious market, promoting the better lifestyle with yoga ambassadors. With the rise of people being aware of their bodies, Lululemon fits perfectly into the new
Nordstrom is one of the top retailers in the United States. With a solid brand image and a sound financial situation, Nordstrom is relentless in their expansion in the US, and are beginning to expand into international markets. Nordstrom takes pleasure in providing state of the art client support and having experienced sales people. In order to hold their position as the most successful high-end retailer in the United States, Nordstrom must continue to figure out ways to improve their brand image and customer satisfaction. Nordstrom’s current business working strategy is successful but I believe there are a few ideal solutions that the organization could apply to further enhance the organization. Due to the aggressive characteristics of the fashion retail store market, it is crucial that Nordstrom preserves an aggressive advantage providing the highest level of customer support as possible.
Conclusion Since Lululemon started in 1998 they have expanded the company into North America and Australia and offered high end yoga products. Lululemon was able to corner the market in a market driven business, which has strengths and weaknesses to consider. This company could benefit from more aggressive advertising because they have such great brand recognition and consumer loyalty. With the retail market changing and more competitors entering the market, Lululemon needs to stay competitive and offer a broader spectrum of products and expand their markets into areas they already have great brand recognition. Lululemon takes pride in offering a high quality product and this company has changed the way the world sees yoga appeal today.
Lululemon, a premium yoga-focused retail chain, serves two market segments. One segment consists of consumers who are characterized as “trendy urban” and the other segment consists of “wealthy” consumers. The “trendy urban” segment, in summary, is fashion oriented or active women who live in metropolitan areas. The “wealthy” market segment is affluent women who live in either urban or suburban areas. As discussed below, these two market segments are defined by differences in demographics, geography as well as behavioral and psychographic characteristics.
Due to the good establishment of the business, it has huge market national. The company has therefore opened many retail shops and stores all over the country to ensure that their products are accessible to the customers. The entity provides a favorable environment, and many clients view the place as a fun shopping place to be. The retailer has targeted a big pool of customer because of the variety of products it sells. The stores products vary from kitchen goods, jewelry, and electronics clothes to hardware
Since 1998, Lululemon has transformed the way people dress to workout. Through innovative products and technical athletic fabrics, a brand was created to provide clothing for workouts such as yoga, running and cycling. Lululemon opened its first store in Vancouver in 2000 with the plan to have the store be a community hub for people to learn and discuss their physical fitness and overall health goals. As Lululemon was more than a store to provide products for consumers, their goal was to influence every person who walked into the store. A basic criterion for investment is Lululemon’s mission to create components for people to live longer, healthier, fun lives. All Lululemon locations maintain strong relationships with local communities and host in-store events such as complimentary yoga classes and goal-setting workshops.
Wilson has started many retail companies, foundations and programs. His most known company is Lululemon Athletica, often referred to as Lululemon. Started in 1998, in 16 years the company has become the leading brand in yoga apparel. The business started because female participation in sports increased in those years. The first store was in Kitsilano. It is a small town in Vancouver where Wilson was born and brought up. Originally, Lululemon sold all women sports wear. After the some success, the company launched a subsidiary in 2001 called Fashion Active Lab. This company specialized in yoga clothing. The success of yoga clothing, created a new opportunity for Lululemon. In 2009, they started a new subsidiary called Ivivva Athletica. This company’s target market was girls ages 6 to 12. On July 27, 2007, Lululemon hit the NASDAQ market for public trading under the symbol LULU. On December 10, 2013 Wilson sa...
What makes a person choose one brand of clothing over another? Is it the price? Or is it the style of the clothing? There are numerous factors that will play a key role in determining who will purchase your products and why they will choose to purchase your product. Kevin Plank, the founder of Under Armour and former captain of the special teams on Maryland University’s football team, would become infuriated at the amount of times he was forced to change his undershirt during games and practices due to how heavy with sweat they would become. He set out to create a shirt that would help keep an athlete cool and dry during intense physical activity. This simple idea would develop into a powerhouse in the sports apparel industry and has broken into the sports equipment industry as well.
Case Study: Victoria's Secret OVERVIEW Victoria's Secret, one of the world's most recognizable fashion brands, established itself in the Bay Area in the early 1970s. Originally owned by an ambitious Stanford graduate looking for a comfortable and high-end retailer to buy his wife lingerie, Roy Raymond opened the first store at Stanford Shopping Center. Styled after a Victorian boudoir, Raymond's success prompted him to open three other locations, a catalog business, and a corporate headquarters within a few years. His inability to balance finances with his creative vision, Roy Raymond fell into trouble and was forced to sell his company for the small sum of $1 million dollars to The Limited, an Ohio-based conglomerate owned by Les Wexner.
The corporation should invest more money in research and innovation since this is what has helped them to make a product that rivals their competitors. At the same time, it is imperative for them to improve their machinery for cheap labor costs which will help the company increase its production allowing it to meet the demand in the market. By improving production leading to lower costs of making shoes, apparel, and equipment, Nike will achieve higher demand assuming a quality product is maintained in that process. They will stand a better chance of competing in the industry (Hill, 2009). The organization is already in a better position for meeting the demand, customer taste, and needs. The company should improve quality by focusing on developing lightweight products that are more durable compared to those offered by the competitors. Also, Nike can keep up their success by continuing to reinvent and improve their items and continue to meet the current demand by using new technology. It can also use the Internet to communicate with consumers (Hill, 2009). By developing new technology, Nike will allow the customers to suggest and design their shoes online. To achieve this goal, it is fundamental to enhance areas such as their website to make it more user-friendly. Finally, the company should pay attention to small startup organizations that enter the
Lululemon’s competitive strategy is broad differentiation due to the company expanding its target market and product line. Although Lululemon was initially established to satisfy the apparel needs of adult women who practice yoga, the company has widened its definition to
With the increased monitoring and enforcement of labour practices; Nike being in the public spotlight and subject to negative publicity on their subcontracted factories is forced to readjust the working conditions of their cross ocean factory workers to abide with proper regulations. This has caused Nike to modify their factory standards and employee working conditions by; limiting the maximum hours worked a week, implementing proper ventilation systems to filter out toxic fumes, increase worker access to protective equipment, and increase the capacity of medical facilities and medical staff for their workers.
In reviewing the case of New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. it is clear that there are a few major problems that the company is facing. First of all, New Balance falls behind its other major competitors, Nike, Adidas and Reebok, in the area of marketing. Unlike its competitors, New Balance does not undertake celebrity endorsements. This puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to brand building. This also causes the company to lose out somewhat on gaining awareness on a global scale as it lacks endorsements in major sporting events. Most global brand names generate strong brand recognition through celebrity endorsements in sporting events that would give them the needed momentum to carry their brand name further into the global market.
Nike’s focus for fashion forward women is the following: lead the athleisure trend, increase advertising, and the introduce the #BetterForIt social media campaign. We need to focus on the athleisure trend by increasing our portfolio for the women target market. Athleisure is already 20% of the firm’s revenue and we need to recognize that women are leading this fashion movement. Under Armor and Lululemon are already making headways in this fashion focused market. We need to emphasize our athletic technologies, promoting lighter fabrics and better performance, while still maintaining a level of comfort and fashionability. Increasing the portfolio means nothing if women don’t know we’ve done just that. Nike will need to increase advertising specifically with this target market in mind. The #BetterForIt campaign is one important aspect of these advertising efforts. Similar campaigns should promote and help “normalize” athletic wear in everyday