Case Analysis #1 Problem Essay
Lululemon Athletica Inc
Samuel Ellison
Presented for: Professor Kannangara
Sunday, March 6th, 2016
BUSI4003

Introduction

Lululemon Athletica Inc., founded in 1998 in Vancouver by Chip Wilson, is a company which designs and produces high-end yoga and technical athletic clothing. They have operated primarily in North America and Australia; their initial target customer was an educated woman who lives an active and healthy lifestyle. They opened their first store in Kitsilano in BC in November, 2000. The first store was intended to act as a community hub where people could learn and discuss about the physical aspects and mental aspects of a healthy life, in addition to selling yoga clothing. However, the company started to realize the difficulties in using their store as a community hub and retail store as their store became very busy. This caused them to focus more on training their staff. One of their goals was to train their people so well that they could positively influence their families, communities and customers. Lululemon’s vision was to elevate the world from mediocrity to greatness. To achieve this, they partnered with the right people and developed three different kinds of strategic sales programs in hope of spreading yoga love and increasing the level of health within their communities.

2013 has been a challenging year for Lululemon due to production glitches and management uncertainty. In March 2013, Lululemon recalled 17 percent of its stretchy black yoga pants due to an unacceptable level of sheerness(Nichols, 2016). Management expects the recall will cause a loss of revenue of between $57 million and $67 million in 2013(Nichols, 2016). Christine Day, the CEO of Lululemon, announced in June her intention to resign. Christine will step down when a new CEO is found. According to Christine Day, 2013 is the