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 Lulu’s top products is its yoga pants, which along with a majority of the products Lulu creates, are made to wear during exercise. The style and fit of this clothing helps men and women alike to look good while working out, this leads to a boost in self-confidence and self-esteem. On the other hand, the close fitting material incentivizes people to stay active and eat healthy in order to fit into the clothing that is offered by Lululemon. In the past few years Lulu has expanded its target market to include active males as well. The same material is used in the male products, so the male consumers benefit in similar ways as the woman consumers.
In 2013, Under Armour reached revenues as high as 2.3 billion, which focused on “sports apparel, active wear, and athletic footwear in the United States” (Thompson, 1). The brand had become so well-known that it could easily be compared to Nike or other large sports apparel organizations. Under Amour’s market share increased significantly from originally 1.1 percent in 2011 to 12.7 percent in 2012, and 14.7 percent in 2013 (Thompson, 1). Compared to Nike and Adidas, it was ranked number two between both companies.
American Eagle targets the younger generation with target brands, a strong brand image, and a variety of products. American Eagle has many opportunities for growth and expansion, especially, with the launch and continuation of the Aerie sub-brand and opportunities for online retailing. Unfortunately, competition, rising rental rates and its low level of liquid asset could put American Eagle and its thriving sub-brand, “Aerie”, in danger. Below is an in-depth description of some of the key factors presented in the SWOT analysis of American Eagle and “Aerie”
Created in 1996, Under Armour, Inc.’s principal business operations include the designing, marketing, and distribution of sporting apparel, footwear and accessories for men, women and youth. The company has engineered moisture-wicking fabric products, which come in many designs and styles for wear in virtually every climate. The firm seeks to provide a superior performance alternative product compared to traditional sportswear merchandise in the market. The HEATGEAR® products contain a microfiber blend fabric designed to draw off moisture from the body that helps consumers stay cool, dry and light. Consumers wear this product if temperatures are warm or hot and while working out in the gym. The firm continues to reinforce its mission to make all athletes better by growing worldwide with currently 19 offices around the world. Under Armour, Inc. utilizes its strong growth and revenues from the U.S. market space to help drive and support the company’s global ambitions. Ninety four percent of the net revenues for 2013 derived from U.S. sale revenues of $2,082.5 million.
As mentioned earlier above, Porter’s Five Forces is a tool to identify the stronger areas of a business. It assists in realizing the strength of the business in competitive situation and also the strength of the position it intends to move into. This analysis helps in improving the weaknesses, preventing wrong actions and highlights how to get the benefits from the strengths of the business (Mind Tools, 2012).
Understanding the competitive forces in the sport apparel industry is very important to analyze where Under Armour stands and where the brand wants to be in the future. Porter’s Five Forces model provides a frame which helps to determine the situation and attractiveness of the market.
An extensive research study will be initiated determining what the male customers want in an athletic shoe. These studies will take place online, by ground mail, and by telephone. Once the information is gathered the various types of men's shoes will then be developed focusing on the most popular needs determined by the survey results, which will include a question regarding price. L.A. Gear will then compare the needs of the customers to the industry leaders and determine how the leaders achieved the needs of the male customers and what opportunities L.A. Gear could use to "one up" the competition. L.A. Gear's shoes already focus on comfort, style, and fashion and will now include high performance.
The second recommendation for Under Armour is that they should develop a shoe line and marketing campaign for women, based on the idea of everyday athlete. Focusing on the fact that women want to compete and have the same performance benefits that everyone wants, but also have a shoe that is stylish enough that she can wear straight
For an extended period of time shoes have been an integral part of the modern consumer’s life. According to the vast majority of fashionably inclined individuals, shoes can either make or break a person’s entire appearance, which explains why people invest their hard earned coins into comfortable abodes for their feet. Particularly, the annual budget consumers spend on shoes in the United States is approximately $20 billion dollars, and $6.46 billion dollars stem from running shoes alone. This is what initially piqued my interest and compelled me to interview a manager from one of most popular shoe stores known as Footlocker. As a side note, the interviewee was only willing to share the information because he is no longer an employee of
When Under Amour started out they only marketed to male athletes, because that is what Kevin Plank knew best and that was men’s compression clothing, from playing football. Under Armour picked a big percent of the population to market to colleges and the universities, the NC...
Under Armour was founded in 1996 by 23-year-old Kevin A. Plank. As a walk on football player for the University of Maryland, he designed what would become the products of one of the top selling athletic apparel companies today. The tight compression shirt would wick away sweat and keep the athlete cooler and dryer than the cotton t-shirts they were currently wearing. The company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland went public in 2005.
There is a story happened at the 2014 Winter Olympics, when American speedskaters, which have always performed well, got poor grades with Under Armour’s brand new scientifically advanced Mach 39 speedskating suits. To defense the wrong perception, Under Armour put CEO Kevin Plank and exec VP-global marketing Matt Mirchin, front and center, vigorously defending the suit in multiple TV and print interviews.
White, B., 2013. Why it is all going wrong for M&S clothing? [Online] Available at: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG9986043/Lack-of-focus-and-complex-branding-the-problems-blighting-MandS.html [Accessed 19 March 2014].
Nike possesses a leading position as a supplier of sports products in the international market. The Sports and Apparel industry is the most competitive, characterized with participants like Reebok, Addidas, and so forth (Lipsey, 2006, p. 103). Nike having been around for some time has managed to outdo its rivals by having an immense possession of competition in this industry brought about by the unique business level strategy it has. Nikes business level strategy has three major components, that is, cost leadership, management of industry segment and product di...
Nike’s research facility processes focus on athletic desire and performance, but when it comes to fashion; the designs change rapidly as do the trends. Therefore if Nike cannot meet the fashion trends consumers will follow the next designer. Nike researches material and processes to ensure their products are in line with their corporate strategy and goals, but the increased cost of products could leave many consumers unable to purchase products. Nike expanding into global markets will increase their marketing strategy, but the exchange rate will affect their cost and may price them out of the local market. A marketspace is referred to as a place where a consumer can purchase goods on the internet (Kotler and Keller, 2012). Nike may do better in global markets by establishing a local marketspace in order to offset exchange rates and reduce costs for emerging