Founded in Vancouver BC in 1998, the first Lululemon shared its retail space with a yoga studio. Lululemon Athletica inc. is a Canadian designer and vertical retailer of athletic apparel, which operates predominately in North America (“Lululemon Athletica Inc (LULU.O),” 2014). The Company’s garments are marketed under the brand name “Lululemon Athletica” (“Lululemon Athletica Inc (LULU.O),” 2014). Lululemon decided to go public in 2007, 7 years after opening their first store in 2000, raising $327.6 million (Urstadt, 2009). Dennis Wilson, the founder of Lululemon, believed that the cotton fabric that was being used for yoga at the time, was unsuitable for the sweaty sport (“Lululemon Athletica: Our Company History.” 2014).
In the early 1990s Starbucks started setting up coffee shops in Nordstrom¡¦s department stores, Barnes & Noble bookstores and ITT/Sheraton hotels. In 1995, the corporation began selling compact discs and formed an alliance with the Canadian bookstore, Chapters Inc. In 2000, Schultz promoted Orin Smith to the position of CEO. Schultz remained chairman for the corporation. This allowed Schultz to focus on Starbucks¡¦ global strategy.
Its ambitious international expansion plan, along with its many opening shops in the domestic market, has boosted the company to a high economic growth. In the Spanish fashion industry, opening new markets is definitely the main strength, which has taken the lead in other sectors of our economy by introducing their brands and products in international markets. (ICEX, 2012) (Appendix 2) 2. MARKET SCREENING AND SELECTION The market screening is an important decision, which should be evaluated carefully as it is based on the failure or success of the company in the foreign countries. It purposes is to allow the retailers to identify the best locations in a large geography to establish their business.
He convinced the Starbucks founders to give his idea a chance and in 1985 he opened the first coffee bar in Seattle, named Il Giornale. (Wilson) The new concept worked out and Il Giornale was a success. But Schulz aimed higher. He found local investors and bought Starbucks in 1987 for $3.8 million. That gave way for expansion and in the same year he opened new cafes in Chicago and even Vancouver, Canada.
To Broaden Product’s Appeal. Will selectively seek opportunities to expand the appeal of lululemon brand to improve store productivity and expand our market. To enhance product appeal, intend to: Expand Product Categories. To continue to expand product offerings in complementary existing and new categories such as swim, tennis and golf; Increase the Range of Athletic Activities Products Target. Lululemon’s guests purchase products mainly for activities such as yoga, running and general fitness.
In the light of gaining attraction as a new innovative-start-up company, our company introduces not only trendy sport shoes, but also a unique model of production that accentuates a special characteristic of our brand. In addition, to ease the distribution, all of our products will be available through retail stores and online shopping. Considering other famous shoe companies such Nike and Adidas 's success in online sales (about 30%), we are motivated to provide online website with proper range of customization. Also, as a complement of the effort to increase the number of distribution and responsiveness to customers, we greatly provide a flexible direct-shipping facility. Hence, along with all of these efforts, we entirely aim to become an outstanding company that is able to compete with other prominent shoe
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.
Grow the business by constantly adding more stores around the world: The Company has had tremendous success in opening stores around the world. It has applied its global strategy effectively and has enjoyed increase in sales from global operations. b. Store design, planning and construction are also part of the strategy. The company began to create its own in house architects and designers to design Starbucks locations.
Under the direction of the new CEO, a new strategy was developed to reinvent Avon’s image, improve customer satisfaction, and to increase profit margins and market share. Avon has gained an outstanding reputation as the best direct seller of beauty products. Through the continued efforts and achievements of its sales representatives, Avon is now known worldwide. Avon’s core competence has mainly been its direct selling busniess model. This led Jung and the management team to implement a Sales Leadership program that provided incentives to acquire, train, motivate, and retain the number of active sales representatives it needs to sustain significant growth.
Starbucks entered the UK market in 1998 with the acquisition of the then 60-outlet Seattle Coffee Company, re-branding all its stores as Starbucks. By November 2005, London had more outlets than Manhattan, a sign of Starbucks becoming an international brand. In April 2003, Starbucks completed the purchase of Seattle's Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia from AFC Enterprises, bringing the total number of Starbucks-operated locations worldwide to more than 6,400. On September 14, 2006, it was announced by rival Diedrich Coffee that it would sell most of its company-owned retail stores to Starbucks.