...Too Sexy Too Soon? A Case Study of Abercrombie & Fitch Stephanie Roussell / MC 7999 / 11.21.11 Introduction Abercrombie and Fitch, an American retailer with nearly 800 U.S. and international stores, is no stranger to controversy. The company has long profited from shock value and consumer backlash not only in its marketing, but also in its clothing and employment practices. Known for its preppy, casual style of mid-luxury clothing, the retailer is a mainstay in the American shopping mall. But recent controversies about its product style and marketing practices have kept the company continually in the news. The latest controversy is no different. In March 2011, the company posted a new product on its Abercrombie kids website: the “Ashley” bikini, a striped triangle bathing suit, sized for girls ages 8 to 14. It seemed innocent enough until one small word in the clothing description caused a firestorm of media and activist backlash. The website described the bikini as a “push-up,” complete with “extra padding for breast enhancement.” (Mendez, para. 1) Because this description was added to a website that markets to girls as young as 2nd grade, it caused an uproar about the company’s intentions of over-sexualizing young girls. Comments began pouring in decrying the company’s apparent lack of decency or sensitivity. All were asking the same question: “how soon is too sexy?” Did this controversy expose a company intent on objectifying young girls? Or is it another cog in the...
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...| ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH CO.A MARKETING APPROACH | Student Name | [Date] | [Course title] | | | ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH CO.A MARKETING APPROACH | Student Name | [Date] | [Course title] | | Abstract Marketing is considered as the key to the success or failure of any product or services which are provided by the company. In order to beat their competitors organisations keep on launching events and brand promotion campains. Also, with changing customer behavior it is very important for a company to keep his marketing strategies unique in order to attract more and more customers regularly. The study in this report moves around the different type of marketing strategies and models used by organisations these days along with the case study of Abercrombie and Fitch Co. to create their brand value and getting an international recognition among the top appeareal companies around the world. The paper is studied with respect to the most important related departments of a business marketing finction: services, human resources and finance. Furthermore, the case study of another retail business giant apple is studies to conclude about the research and findings. The structure of report includes discussion about the problem in martketing and analysis. The proposed solutions to the research post findings is also included in the thesis. Previous study for marketing research about Apple is also include in the report to conclude the research. Table of Contents Chapter...
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...{draw:frame} Abercrombie and Fitch Case Study 4/21/2010 Executive Summary: Abercrombieand Fitch was Founded as a High Quality sporting goods store in 1982 by David Abercrombie. Abercrombie Co opened its first store in Manhattan, New York with the intention of providing high quality equipment to an elite segment of the market. Throughout the years, Abercrombie and Fitch Co has proven itself to be able to adapt to the constant changing retail market and has slowly evolved in the retail giant we are familiar with today. Abercrombie and Fitch currently employ a focused differentiation strategy where they target customers ages 12-25. Instead of using conventional methods of strengthening their brand through advertising and a squeaky clean image, A&F instead takes full advantage of controversy and word of mouth advertizing in order to gain their customer base. It is through A&F’s unorthodox methods that they have been able to establish themselves as a highly desirable, high quality apparel retailer and due to these factors they are able to charge a premium price for their products. A&F’s current strategies have helped them to not only establish themselves in the United States, but they are now poised to expand into the global market. With the recent opening of flagship locations in Tokyo, London, Milan, A&F now has a solid foothold to tap into the Western European and Asian Markets. With the potential in these foreign markets, A&F should realize high levels of growth...
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...Abercrombie & Fitch Refuses To Make Clothes For Large Women; Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Explains Why He Hates Fat Chicks Articles taken from: The Business Insider (www.businessinsider.com/abercrombie-wants-thin-customers-2013-5#ixzz2So251mlk) Clutch Magazine Online: http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2013/05/abercrombie-fitch-ceo-explains-why-he-hates-fat-chicks/ Article by: Ashley Lutz (The Business Insider); Yesha Calahan (Clutch Magazine) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [pic] Teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch doesn't stock XL or XXL sizes in women's clothing because they don't want overweight women wearing their brand. They want the "cool kids," and they don't consider plus-sized women as being a part of that group. Abercrombie is sticking to its guns of conventional beauty, even as that standard becomes outdated. Contrast Abercrombie with H&M, another favorite with the teen set, who just subtly introduced a plus-sized model in its latest swimwear collection. H&M has a plus-sized line. American Eagle, Abercrombie's biggest competitor, offers up to size XXL for men and women. Abercrombie doesn't even list women's XL or XXL on its size chart. Its largest women's pants are a size 10, while H&M's standard line goes up to a size 16, and American Eagle offers up to 18. It's not surprising that Abercrombie excludes plus-sized women considering the attitude of CEO Mike Jeffries, said...
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...FOUR 10 Methodology 10 Research Design 10 Data Analysis and Procedures 11 Data Presentation 11 CHAPTER FIVE 12 Findings and Conclusion 12 Conclusion 13 Further Research 14 References 15 Abstract A brief insight of the research conducted on the case study of The Abercrombie and Fitch Co. - A marketing approach. The dissertation is aimed to add the information science literature on marketing, which often focuses upon the overall subject. The approach of marketing strategy from the perspective of services, human resources and finance is studied in the case study of the Abercrombie and Fitch Co. stating the marketing behaviour. The results proved to be hard to discover, given the fact that there is less attention given within a strategy for the three areas mentioned. By focusing upon the areas as independent ones, there could have been triggered the pieces of information necessary for the research along with personal conclusions. The paper offers a research and findings from a particular perspective, discussing as well the further development of this subject. CHAPTER ONE Introduction The research study conducted and the thesis was written on the Abercrombie and Fitch marketing model case study by beginning research with firstly identifying the subject area of interest. The conclusion that since living in a society within which marketing is present can be easily identified. Whenever anyone researches, choosing a subject for their...
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...STUDENTS MUST REGISTER- Registration Codes will be distributed in class. REQUIRED READING: REQUIRED READING:A Guide to Case Analysis (Student Center section of the website for the text at http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073530301/student_view0/ RECOMMENDED READING MATERIAL: The Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, & Business Week PRE-REQUISITES: Advanced Standing and Seniors only (preferably in last semester of program. COURSE DESCRIPTION: This is a capstone course for seniors covering the concepts of strategic management and developing perspective, judgment and facility in problem solving in interrelated areas of distribution, personnel, finance, control and the social aspects of business. COURSE OBJECTIVES: 1. To develop a holistic perspective of an organization which integrates the concepts, skills, and principles learned in previous functional area courses (e.g. Marketing, Finance, Accounting) 2. To develop an appreciation and understanding of the role of top management in dealing with complex and dynamic strategic questions. 3. To gain an understanding of the concepts of strategic management and business policy. 4. To be able to analyze business cases and to apply the knowledge gained from one case to a seemingly unrelated case. The objective of the course is not so much to accurately access an individual case as it is to begin to “think...
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...atrocious, or has made the employees experience with the organization so trying that the employee has no other choice but to resign and leave the organization. Under the law this type of resignation is not truly voluntary so it is viewed as a termination. The given scenario is relevant to the legal concept of constructive discharge because it paints the picture of an ex-employee who resigned due to a new company policy change that would require employees to work on a religious holy day. The new policy requires all shift-work employees to work 12-hour shifts with four days at work and then four days off. The four required work days can occur on any day of the week, Monday through Sunday. B. Title VII: The candidate provides a logical discussion, with sufficient detail, of a protected category under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that is relevant to the scenario. The law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal to discriminate against someone on the sole foundation of the person’s particular race, their color, their preference on religion, their national origin, or whether they are male or female. The protected category “Duty to Accommodate an Employees Religion”, under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is actually relevant to the given scenario. The protected category discusses that an...
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...Integrated Financial Analysis Urban Outfitters URBN Stephanie Stowers Table of Contents Executive summary 3 Company Overview 7 HISTORICAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT ANALYSIS 14 RATIO ANALYSIS 16 THREE-YEAR PRO-FORMA 18 SUMMARY OF VALUATION 20 MD&A AND TRANSPARENCY 22 CORPORATE GOVERENCE 22 CONCLUSION 24 REFERENCES 25 Executive Summary Urban Outfitters, Inc. is a lifestyle retail company that operates retail-clothing stores. It operates through two reportable business segments: Retail and Wholesale. The Retail segment consists of Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, Leifsdottir and BHLDN brands, whose merchandise is sold directly through stores, catalogs, call centers and web sites. The Wholesale segment consists of two divisions: Free People and Leifsdottir. The Free People division designs, develops and markets young women's contemporary casual apparel. The Leifsdottir division designs, develops and markets sophisticated women's contemporary apparel, including dresses, tops, bottoms, as well as shoes and accessories. The company was founded by Richard A. Hayne and Scott A. Belair in 1970 and is headquartered at 5000 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19112-1495, Phone: 1- 215-454-5500. Urban Outfitters is an Apparel Retailer in the consumer services sector with a projected Revenue of $2,441,876.80, Net Income of $265,353.48 and an estimated...
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...CASES CASE 9 casual fashion. Analysts had long worried that LOFT stores would cannibalize sales “as traditional Ann Taylor shoppers sought more relaxed, lower-priced merchandise, particularly during the recession.” Ann Taylor would be 59 years old in 2013 and needed to make sure it wouldn’t become a victim of a midlife crisis.3 Kay Krill, ANN’s CEO, had been reflecting on these issues for some time. Krill had been appointed president of Ann Taylor Stores Corporation (ANN) in late 2004, and she succeeded to president/CEO in late 2005 when J. Patrick Spainhour retired after eight years as CEO. Even back then, there was concern among commentators and customers that the Ann Taylor look was getting “stodgy,” and the question was how to “reestablish Ann Taylor as the preeminent brand for beautiful, elegant, and sophisticated occasion dressing.”4 Krill’s challenge was based on the ANN legacy as a women’s specialty clothing retailer. Since 1954, Ann Taylor had been the wardrobe source for busy, socially upscale women, and the classic basic black dress and woman’s power suit with pearls were Ann Taylor staples. The Ann Taylor client base consisted of fashion-conscious women from age 25 to 55. The overall Ann Taylor concept was designed to appeal to professional women who had limited time to shop and who were attracted to Ann Taylor stores by their total wardrobing strategy, personalized client service, efficient store layouts, and continual flow of new merchandise. ANN had two branded...
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...Chapter 1: CONSUMERS RULE CHAPTER OBJECTIVES When students finish this chapter they should understand that: • Consumers use products to help them define their identities in different settings. • Consumer behavior is a process. • Marketers need to understand the wants and needs of different consumer segments. • The Web is changing consumer behavior. • Consumer behavior is related to other issues in our lives. • Consumer activities can be harmful to individuals and to society. • A wide range of specialists study consumer behavior. • There are two major perspectives on understanding and studying consumer behavior. CHAPTER SUMMARY After reading this chapter, students should understand that: Consumers use products to help them define their identities in different settings. A consumer may purchase, use, and dispose of a product, but different people may perform these functions. In addition, we can think of consumers as role players who need different products to help them play their various parts. Consumer behavior is a process. Consumer behavior is the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires. Marketers need to understand the wants and needs of different consumer segments. Market segmentation is an important aspect of consumer behavior. Consumers can be segmented according to many dimensions, including product usage...
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...Fashion Marketing and Merchandising Summer 2016 All papers should include a table of contents, citations, bibliography. Number all pages. Single spacing is the preferred method. Include a cover page. Create a creative title for your paper. Case study papers should include the following sections, not necessarily in this particular order. Make the paper your own. The sections highlighted in green are optional; if these sections are executed, then that would qualify for the highest grade. Ensure that within your paper and presentation, you have included your brand’s Marketing Strategy and the 4 Ps of the Marketing Mix: Product, Price, Promotion, Place. In your presentation, include three slides with three separate probing questions to pose to the class, in order to ignite discussion. Corporate history * How did the brand get started? * What was its historic journey to now? * What is your brand’s history of Creative Directors? * Has your brand experienced any controversy? Was it resolved, and how? Product diversification * How widely diversified must a company be to succeed? * What kinds of products or services does your brand offer? * Is the company well diversified? * If not, why not? Brand expression * What are ways in which brands can express themselves? * How does your company express its brand? * House or brand color? * House or brand shape? * House or brand logo? * House or brand scent...
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...P6-38 (30 minutes) a. Best Buy (a retailer) reports a much higher receivables turnover rate than does the manufacturer, Caterpillar. The likely reason for this is that retail sales are usually via cash, check, or credit cards (which are like cash for the retailers). Recall that the turnover ratio includes credit sales, but, because most firms do not report credit sales, we are forced to use total sales when we calculate the turnover ratio. Using total sales instead of credit sales overstates the turnover ratio. Manufacturers, on the other hand, usually sell to retailers on credit and the accounts are not collected for a much longer period of time. CAT has a finance subsidiary that provides loan and lease financing. The longer term of these receivables reduces turnover rates. Walmart, on the other hand, is primarily cash-and-carry, hence its high turnover rate for accounts receivable. b. Dell’s relatively higher inventory turnover rate, compared with Caterpillar, most likely reflects the fact that Dell builds to order, not in anticipation of demand. That is, raw materials are not acquired until needed in the production process and components are built by sub-contractors. Both of these techniques reduce the amount of work-in-process inventories that Dell must carry. In addition, Dell does not generally inventory finished products since production commences once the order is placed by its customers. CAT, on the other hand, builds a relatively smaller...
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...The CASE Journal Volume 5, Issue 2 (Spring 2009) Ann Taylor: Survival in Specialty Retail Pauline Assenza Manhattanville College Alan B. Eisner Lubin School of Business, Pace University Jerome C. Kuperman Minnesota State University Moorhead In the summer of 2008, headlines announced that the declining economy was generating a “wave of retail closures” among many well-known companies, including Home Depot, Pier 1 Imports, Zales, Gap, Talbots, Lane Bryant, and Ann Taylor. The Chief Executive of J.C. Penney’s called the 2008 situation “the most unpredictable environment in his 39-year retail career”. i One industry group forecasted that nearly 6,000 retail stores would close in 2008, a 25 percent increase from the previous year. A representative from the National Retail Federation (NRF) suggested that these businesses should “look at where they’re underperforming and how can they change their operations so that they have a little bit more power in another area, or a little bit more growth potential.” ii Kay Krill, President and CEO of Ann Taylor Stores Corporation (ANN), was already considering this advice. Krill had been appointed President of ANN in late 2004, and succeeded to President/CEO in late 2005 when J. Patrick Spainhour retired after eight years as CEO. At that time, there had been concern among commentators and customers that the Ann Taylor look was getting “stodgy”, and the question was how to “reestablish Ann Taylor as the preeminent brand...
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...9-713-512 REV: MARCH 5, 2014 JOHN R. WELLS GALEN DANSKIN Hennes & Mauritz, 2012 In 2012, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) was the second-largest specialty apparel retailer in the world. Sales for fiscal 2012 were $18.1 billion, up 11% from the previous year, and operating profits were $3.3 billion, up 8.3%. H&M operated 2,776 stores, 93% of them outside its home base of Sweden. Over the previous decade, revenues had grown 15% per year and operating profits, 18%. Although Gap, Inc. (Gap) began the millennium as the clear global leader in the apparel retail market with sales more than four times larger than those of H&M, H&M had grown quickly and passed Gap in 2009. However, Spain’s Inditex, with its fast-fashion chain, Zara, had done even better. It passed H&M in sales in 2005 and, by 2011, had also become more profitable. H&M had also lagged behind Inditex in supply pipeline speed, brand diversification, online retail presence, and expansion into China. Meanwhile, the world’s leading hypermarket chains, including Wal-Mart and Tesco, were making significant headway in apparel. In 2012, CEO Karl-Johan Persson, grandson of the company’s founder Erling Persson, promised increased expansion into underdeveloped markets, a stronger push to online retailing, and the launch of a major new retail brand. He noted, “We are looking forward to an exciting 2013 full of new opportunities. We have great respect for the macroeconomic climate and how it may affect consumption in many...
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...Toyota (Chapter 1) Overview. This case concerns the systems used by Toyota to become the third largest automobile manufacturer in the world. The case illustrates how this organization strives to serve customers and achieve a profit. The case intentionally emphasizes features of Toyota's manufacturing system, rather than its marketing strategies per se, to show how the whole organization is focused on serving customer wants and needs, not just the marketing department. Suggestions for Discussion Questions 1. In what ways is Toyota's new-product development system designed to serve customers? There are a number of features to this system that make it customer oriented. The Toyota system responds more quickly than competitors, allowing the company to correct any mistakes and react to market trends faster than competitors. The system has a chief engineer responsible for the product from design to marketing. This may allow consumer research to function as a direct input into engineering specifications rather than become a secondary concern after the product is designed. Since the corporate philosophy is to serve customers, consumer inputs are more likely to be used develop better new products. 2. In what ways is Toyota's manufacturing system designed to serve customers? There are a number of features in Toyota's manufacturing systems that are designed to serve customers, including the following features. Employees, even on the assembly line, are trained to consider their...
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