Lululemon Competitive Summary

The competitive forces in the market for yoga and fitness apparel are very strong. Even though the market is large and there are many potential buyers there is also a lot of suppliers in the market. These suppliers rank from Nike, Adidas, Under Armor, Reebok, Athlete, and several others. Also, Lululemon has a strategy of pricing themselves higher than many of the suppliers mentioned above. The threat of new entry is weak to moderate, the market has become a lot more settled. Despite, the huge demand for performance based yoga and fitness apparel, it is hard to compete with the already existing brands. The only real threat here is if already established brands add product lines to their already existing merchandise. Substitute products is

Not as strong brand recognition as Nike and Adidas.

Product line not too wide.

Narrow target market.

Opportunities:

Expand their product lines.

Global sales (personally, I had never heard of it before I moved to the US).

Women’s sport market, a growing market .

Threats:

Their major rivals have expanded their market for women’s fitness apparel.

New entrants or high end line in competitors can hurt them.

For the time being, Lululemon’s overall attractiveness is still strong according to the SWOT analysis above. However, the senior managers should use the strengths as the foundation for the strategy, take use of these potential opportunities, correct weaknesses and use strengths to ease up the impact of important external threats that might occur. The primary components of Lululemon’s value chain consist of five elements. First, the supply chain management needs input of real time from customers, to maintain long term relationship with their third party suppliers. Their fabric is sourced from about 65 manufactures. They also have strong relationships with their suppliers of raw materials. Lululemon also makes sure their suppliers share their commitment to quality and ethic in conducting

Lululemon’s product design is lead by a design team that comes from various countries. They choose everything from what fabrics should be used and developing the products. Lululemon focuses on innovate advanced techniques and convenience features. Distribution, their main facilities are in Vancouver, British Columbia, Washington and Melbourne, Australia. Further, they developed a network of online stores to expand their geographical market. Sales and marketing, community-based marketing and free yoga classes are both part of their strategy. Included here is brand ambassadors and community coordinators. These coordinators develop a customized plan for organizing, sponsoring, and participating in local athletic, fitness, and philanthropic events. Also, each store had a community events bulletin board for posting announcements of upcoming activities, providing fitness education information and brochures, and promoting the local yoga studios and fitness centers of ambassadors. Service, employees are referred to as "educators" by the company are highly trained and also encouraged to develop personal interactions with "guests" or customers as we know them as. They are there to create that extra special vibe and atmosphere. They are coached to personally engage and connect with each guest who entered the