Abercrombie & Fitch: Price and Promotion, Essay Example

Within the last several years, the world-famous fashion brand of Abercrombie & Fitch has made some splendid achievements, such as creating sleek stores filled with products that are coveted by millions of people. As a model, this has turned out to be a very fruitful endeavor with much business success. But more recently, Abercrombie & Fitch has experienced some problems, most notably being unable to adjust to today’s market changes. Therefore, A&F must focus upon promotion and price as a new strategy in order to fit into today’s thriving clothing market.

Before discussing why Abercrombie & Fitch must alter its market strategy related to promotion and price, analyzing why A&F has achieved such spectacular success in the past is needed. First of all, Michael Jeffries, the previous mastermind behind the success of Abercrombie & Fitch, was a talented product designer and a genius when it comes to promotion. Thanks to Jeffries, the dark style of A&F stores and its shirtless models help to create a prime example on how other fashion companies should operate. Jeffries also had much to do with attracting a new customer base between the ages of 18 and 22. Overall, thanks to Jeffries, A&F’s marketing strategy made the company a great success and a model for other fashion companies on a global basis.

Currently, Abercrombie & Fitch’s promotion strategy is particularly good, due to promoting their clothing styles as being cool for young people and basing their sales promotion on fantasy. This approach acts as a draw for teens and college students who believe that wearing Abercrombie & Fitch clothes is a cool thing to do. In order to maintain this strategy, store quality and environment, high entry standards, and strict rules are necessary. However, Abercrombie & Fitch is currently facing a number of problems, such as employee discrimination and unfair treatment which has caused some negative effects for A&F and its corporate image in the business world of fashion.

An additional problem related to promotion is that Abercrombie & Fitch does not treat its customers as they should be treated. In other words, it appears that A&F discriminates against certain types of customers. As an A&F spokesman has admitted, “Does A&F exclude people? Absolutely. We are the cool brand.” This type of attitude certainly affects the buying behavior of customers and helps to promote a negative image of the company. Obviously, buying behavior as a decision-making process related to purchasing a company’s products involves many variables, both psychological and social (BACW, p. 354). Thus, many customers would be insulted by what the spokesman had to say about excluding people; they would also be less motivated to purchase A&F’s products.

The reference group for Abercrombie & Fitch tends to be college students who take fairness seriously and often feel disappointed when they hear about unfair treatment at A&F, due in part to the chance that working at A&F might just be in their futures. Promotion-wise, all of the variables related to buying behavior helps to guide customers in positive ways and helps to reduce negative effects. In A&F’s situation, the company provides its customers with the impression that high standards equals a better shopping experience. Thus, eliminating all of the negative effects is very important, especially concerning some type of reparation for the employees who suffered unfair treatment. Perhaps a formal corporate apology is a good solution to help save the company’s image.

Another important point related to promotion is the personal image of Abercrombie & Fitch’s CEO. Take for example the late Steve Jobs of Apple and Elon Mask of Tesla who have made huge contributions to the corporate images of their respective companies. In the case of Abercrombie & Fitch, the company’s former CEO should be given the opportunity to contribute to A&F’s corporate image. It is a well-known fact that Jeffries attaches great importance to his image; however, when he was CEO, he tended to remain in the background. He seldom attended charity events and parties and did not take part in much charity experiences (Holding on). Therefore, because A&F’s reference group is mostly young college students, the next CEO must be more visible which in the end will benefit the corporation and its national and international image.

Secondly, the pricing strategy of Abercrombie and Fitch must change. Former CEO Jeffries refused to lower prices when other fashion brands were lowering the prices on their products. One of these was American Eagle which is more popular than A&F among young persons and which reported a profit of $61.6 million as compared to $44.4 million for A&F (Shows Strength). In the past, A&F refused to lower its prices because Jeffries thought that A&F is a “luxury” fashion brand and that lowering prices would affect its brand image (Holding on). Thus, if Abercrombie & Fitch would lower its prices, it would become more popular with the reference group and would be able to compete with other fashion companies on a global scale.