Introduction Lululemon Athletica was founded in 1998 by a visionary named Chip Wilson. The first store opened in Vancouver, Canada and they have now expanded their stores into countries such as New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. As a company they build an emotional bond with their customers and encourage them to buy into the Lululemon lifestyle. Lululemon “is a yoga-inspired athletic apparel company that creates components for people to live long, healthy and fun lives.
By producing products that help keep people active and stress free, lululemon believes that the world will be a better place”. (Lululemon Athletica Inc, 2013) Many famous celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Upton, and Ryan Gosling wear their apparel out and about and are seen in photographs. Their primary products are shirts, pants, shorts, sweaters, jackets, undergarments, accessories, and yoga gear. These products can be used for activities such as yoga, running, hiking, dancing, working out, and casual lounge wear. In
everything that Lululemon does, they incorporate their fun, active corporate culture. All employees embrace and actively promote their culture. Their manifesto includes statements such as: The pursuit of happiness is the source of all unhappiness Breathe deeply, and appreciate the moment. Living in the moment could be the meaning of life. Observe a plant before and after watering and relate these benefit to your body and brain. Practice yoga so you can remain active and in physical sports as you age. Sweat once a day to regenerate your skin.
The Essay on Total Product, Average Product And Marginal Product
In the background to supply, we notice about the terms “total product”, “marginal product” and “average product”. These three figures are the foundation upon which the analysis of short-run production for a firm is analyzed. Total product is the total quantity of output produced by a firm for a given quantity of inputs. The usual framework is to analyze total ...
Do one thing a day that scares you. Creativity is maximized when you are living in the moment. Their corporate culture is all about living a healthy life and achieving your goals. By embodying this into their employees, retail stores, and management structure they are proving to be a leader in the athletica retail division. Retail Merchandise Lululemon offers many athletic apparel items such as shirts, tank tops, shorts, pants, leggings, sweaters, jackets, and undergarments. They also sell water bottles, yoga mats, hot yoga mats, towels, gym bags, and many accessories.
When a customer walks in they are able to purchase all the items they need to attend a yoga class, or any work out session. Ownership Classification The ownership classification that Lululemon is classified under is corporate retail chains. This means that all the decisions and ownership is allotted to the head of the company. A single person is unable to open a store in any city; this company is not a franchise. When a new store is opened it has been strategically planned and a management team is brought in to open the doors and make sure its successful. Multichannel Retailing
Lululemon is classified as a store-based retailer. They use two main channels to offer their products to its customer base. With 226 stores in the world, they are able to reach most customers and satisfy their needs. They reach the rest of their customers over the internet by selling their products online at www. lululemon. com. By selling merchandise over the internet Lululemon has a greater opportunity to reach new markets and new customers. This way they are able to e-tail their customers and “gain valuable insight into their customers’ shopping behavior.
” (Michael Levy) Valuable information will be collected from the customers in their size, style, colour, and price. Lululemon does a good job on applying the same brand image represented in their store to their online channel. This is important to keep straight through all aspects of the company including online sales, retail location, charities, and any marketing schemes. Location Strategy Lululemons’ retail locations are designed to be part of a strategic approach to conducting its business.
The Business plan on Lululemon Case Study
Introduction Lululemon is one of the Canada’s best retailers of technical athletic yoga apparel. Lululemon’s yoga inspired apparel is marketed under the two brand names Lululemon Athletica for more mature women and Ivivva Athletica for younger girls. Lululemon primary target customers are educated and hard working women, who understand the importance of healthy and active lifestyle. Majority of ...
Having personally experienced visiting many Lululemon locations in Las Vegas, Edmonton, Kelowna, Vancouver, Calgary, Seattle, Spokane, Scottsdale, and Palm Springs I have noticed that many of their locations are located in the downtown district. The reason that they establish most of their stores downtown is to derive away from the corporate stigma surrounding malls and fashion. That is not to say that they do not have mall locations located in cities. By utilizing downtown locations, when customers visit they are not distracted by any direct or indirect competitors.
The customers’ full attention is on the merchandise located in the store. Central business districts are on the decline in many locations in North America, but being downtown, Lululemon is provided with many incentives. One of the major incentives in Kelowna during the spring/summer is when they are able to take the yoga classes outside to the beach. Being downtown proves to be a great advantage for Lululemon in Kelowna. Outside of Kelowna, being downtown still proves to be a positive in the strategic plan of Lululemon. Atmosphere
The atmospherics used by Lululemon is welcoming their customers into a warm, friendly environment. Peaceful music plays when you enter the store and you are greeted with bright, warm lightening. It is important for Lululemon to match their merchandise to their stores and to their target customers. Lululemon does a good job is fixing their lights around the edges of their ceilings to shine down on their products and make them stand out. This also makes their bright coloured merchandise pop even more against their walls. The lighter colours that they use on the walls allow their products to standout stronger.
Lululemon also creates a cultural feel by using wooden shelving and wooden beams. A key factor that they also utilize is having a physically warm environment. When customers walk into a warm atmosphere they feel more open into trying on new clothes; verses entering a cold store and not wanting to try on new clothes because you are holding onto your body for warmth. The last main atmospheric that Lululemon uses is scent. The first thing you notice when you enter their retail store is the fresh scent of clothes and workout gear.
The Essay on Starbucks Global Strategy
De Wit and Meyer (1998) refer to market tendency towards homogeneous variety and tighter international linkages as globalization. The need for global strategy is outlined by the fact that companies are subject to global forces and consumer demands. As a consequence, firms are faced with a challenge of modifying their existent strategies to gain and sustain their competitive advantage in a rapidly ...
To some people, this may be distasteful, but to athletes this is a warm welcoming scent. Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility “describes the voluntary actions taken by a company to address the ethical, social, and environmental impacts of its business operations and the concerns of its stakeholders. ” (Michael Levy) Lululemon Athletica takes this aspect of being a corporate business very importantly. They are very conscious about the footprint that their organization has on the world and work very hard to continuously improve the environment.
“As athletes and yogis, we understand that environmental health is the foundation for personal health, which is why we’re as passionate about reducing our environmental impact as we are about staying fit. Each year we measure our footprint and track the progress of our programs and initiatives, learning what’s working and what’s not. We approach our practice of sustainability like our practice of yoga: we always see room for improvement but we’re in it for the long run and know that with dedication and integrity our practice get stronger every day. ” (Lululemon Athletica)
The biggest contribution that Lululemon offers to their community is having each employee empowered to make changes. These changes range from tree planting, free yoga classes, decreasing box usage, and upgrading recycling procedures. Each employee has the full backing from their managers and corporate to fufill their duties. Lululemons branding strategy is very important to the success and growth of their company. In Lululemon’s annual report of 2013, they released a statements saying “We believe that we successfully compete on the basis of our premium brand image, our focus on women and our technical product innovation.
In addition, we believe our vertical retail distribution strategy differentiates us from our competitors and allows us to more effectively control our brand image. ” (Lululemon Athletica Inc, 2013) The retail design needs to be consistent with their brand image and strategy. The brand image that Lululemon represents is high end, luxurious athletica apparel. Pricing Strategy Lululemon uses a high pricing method on all the merchandise that they offer at their retail locations. The average apparel cost for an item is anywhere from $50 to $120.
The Essay on Ansoff's Product Market Grid
The Ansoff product-market matrix helps to understand and assess marketing or business development strategy. Any business, or part of a business can choose which strategy to employ, or which mix of strategic options to use. This is one simple way of looking at strategic development options: Each of these strategic options holds different opportunities and downsides for different organizations, so ...
They use a higher price for their products to attract their target customers. Lululemon is a higher-end athletica company and their price matches this strategic approach. They are not a company that uses price cuts, or downward pricing; instead they are priced higher than the industry average. Personal Experience My personal experience at Lululemon has always been extremely rewarding and satisfying. I participate in many physical activities such as yoga, hot yoga, running, weight lifting, and hiking. When participating in these activities, I am usually seen in Lululemon gear or Nike.
I have purchase many of their merchandise such as pants, shorts, shirts, vests, and yoga mats. Every time I visit their downtown location in Kelowna, I am greeted with a smile and feel very welcomed. There employees are full of knowledge and eager to help in any way they can. They offer many compliments and invite you to their weekly yoga session on Sunday mornings at 10 am. One unique feature they offer is in house alterations on all clothes complimentary. I have only ever had great experiences with Lululemon and
recommend all their products to my friends and family members. Communication Mix Lululemon uses a communication mix of online advertising, gorilla marketing, and personal selling. The primary strategy that they use is gorilla marketing. Lululemon has launched custom buses that were sent across the nation with the statement “Do You Lulu? ” This simple act brought in tons of customers and brought a lot of media attention to their brand. The bus would stop in cities and start yoga session, or hand out free gift bags, and essentially promote their company.
Retail Market Strategy Lululemon is a major player in the athletica fashion market. They participate in a competitive environment and strive to be on top using the main strategy of quality over quantity. The mission statement that each employee embodies is “Creating components for people to live longer, healthier, fun lives”. (Lululemon Athletica) They use a unique market strategy of using ambassadors as a main promotional channel. These ambassadors are “unique individuals in our store communities who embody the lululemon lifestyle and live our culture”.
The Term Paper on Motor Company Ford Web Product
INTRODUCTION The Twentieth Century was profoundly affected by the innovations of Henry Ford. The invention of the automobile gave opportunities to multitudes of people. These opportunities were not just in transportation, but in occupation as well. Today, no matter where a Ford is produced, the consumer knows that they are receiving a high quality product. The reason for this is that the majority ...
(Lululemon Athletica) Every ambassador is a personal seller of Lululemon because most of them teach, train, or are involved in the Lululemon lifestyle and they promote the clothing to all their friends and families. These ambassadors are walking, talking advertisements and help gain more market share in each community. A SWOT analysis assess the micro and macro environment that Lululemon competes in. It look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats the company faces. Here is a SWOT analysis of Lululemon: Strengths High quality products Vertical integration
Educated and qualified staff Innovative products Economies to scale Strong brand image in North America Weaknesses Few retail outlets Decentralized marketing Weak brand recognition internationally Higher prices than market evaluation Opportunities International expansion Growth of men’s wear Growth of children’s wear Conducting more yoga classes Threats Potential economic downturn Stigma of “cult company” Lack of consumer knowledge target market Lululemon’s target market is young, hip, fashionable woman ages 16-34 who enjoy fitness activities such as running, yoga, dance, and working out.
They define their target customer as a “sophisticated and educated woman who understands the importance of an active, healthy lifestyle. ” (Lululemon Athletica) Lululemon’s typical customer is generation “Zen Y”, which can be described as a youthful women who are very trendy, in tune with their bodies, has disposable income, and leads a healthy lifestyle. She participates actively in different genres of yoga and promotes her lifestyle to her friends. Lululemon has done an excellent job in appealing to their target market, and it proves to add overall benefit for the company.
By appealing to younger women demographics they have also caught the interests of active men, seniors, and children. When women find products that work for them they tend to spread the word and encourage more people to join in on the new “it” trend. The format that Lululemon uses to appeal to their target market is “yogi culture”. This can be described as a Zen environment, quality products, higher prices, and a strong name brand. When a customer enters into the store they are greeted and offered any assistance in navigated through their calm, clean environment.
The Research paper on Does Your Company Have A Competitive Advantage
Does Your Company have a Competitive Advantage? Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. was created in 1937 by Vernon Rudolph. Nowadays Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. is a popular chain of doughnut stores that offers quality coffee roasting at significant discounts because of direct buying channels and unique know-how recipes, new improved coffee and new Hot Doughnut Machine technologies. According to MSN ...
Competitive Advantage When looking at the competitive advantage that one company has over another company there are five major factors to look at in the industry. The five major factors are power of buyers, power of suppliers, threats of substitute products, rivalry among existing firms, and the threat of new entrants. A biggest competitive advantage any company can have is being sustainable. They would always be a major contender in the industry. When evaluating all these factors on Lululemon, I have come to the conclusion that they are not sustainable.
Even though they may not be sustainable long-term, Lululemon still has a competitive advantage over many other companies in the athletic industry. The competitive advantages of Lululemon are their quality, innovativeness, and customer service. They are known for their unique innovativeness in the release of their clothing apparel. Lululemon created and designed a special workout fabric called Luon. It is a “signature technical fabric designed to handle serious stretch and sweat”. (Lululemon Athletica) This fabric is implemented in their shirts, tank-tops, pants, jackets, and undergarments.
Because of the innovativeness of their products they have built a report of having good quality products. When purchasing any Lululemon merchandise, it is under full warranty and usually lasts many years if you take care of it. It specifically says on all their clothes to not put them in the dryer (this can cause major damage).
The last competitive advantage that Lululemon has over their competitors such as Under Armor and Nike is customer service. In most retail locations Nike and Under Armor products are sold by a third party such as Sports Check or Athletes World.
Lululemon has the privilege of being in direct contact and communication with their customers face to face. This proves to be very important and allows their customers to be fully satisfied. Growth Opportunities & International Success One of the major growth opportunities that Lululemon Athletica has is expanding internationally and building a larger base of loyal customers. Overseas growth would prove that this company is sustainable and innovative. With 226 stores currently in Australia, New Zealand, United States and Canada there is a major opportunity for international expansion.
Currently Lululemon has plans to expand into Hong Kong, China and London, England. Lululemon hopes that these customers will be as excepting as North America. When expanding into these retail markets, they need to be up to date with government regulations, buyer relations, cultural demographics, and supply chain considerations. Currently Lululemon is taking a low-risk approach with plans to expand internationally. Many retailers create an issue for themselves and loose money because of expanding too fast.
Some of the issues are that the new markets is being too saturated, higher operating costs, aging population, and restrictive policies on retail locations. An issue that Lululemon might face when going global is acceptance of their company culture. North Americas and Australians are known for being active, out door people, who are environmentally conscious; in return, the yogi, health conscious culture was openly accepted by these communities. This culture might not be as well accepted in Asia, Europe, and South America. Lululemon might need to alter their approach and adapt to the new country’s existing culture.
Conclusion In conclusion, Lululemon proves to be a dominant competitor in the athletic fashion industry in North America. With many plans to expand and grow their corporation internationally and create bigger brand recognition they will be putting their company ahead of the curve. They have a successful advantage of designing their stores “to create a warm, quality experience for you to come in for a chat, get answers about where to find different types of yoga, to give us feedback and help us improve our relationship with you. ” (Lululemon Athletica)
