Contemporary Issues of Marketing, Essay Example

From the analysis presented in the sources, it is evident that Abercrombie & Fitch has lost connection with its potential buyers, and built a self-serving brand, which focused on an ideology that the target market did not share. The long term influence of Jeffries made the company less customer-focused, and more protective. Berfield & Rupp (Holding on) describes how the former CEO stuck with the image that appealed to the teenagers of the 60-s and 70-s, but failed to change as new generations grew up. Therefore, the main focus for revitalizing the company, and its marketing strategy would be two of the four P-s: product, and promotion.

Product

The current product line of Abercrombie & Fitch is limited and excludes some people. The brand for a long time did not have black clothing items, even though some people believed that it made them look more attractive. Further, criticism of customers and advocacy groups have hit the company when it introduced kinky underwear for pre-teen girls. As Berfield & Rupp (Holding on, p. 50) quotes Durando: “we were becoming more narrow in terms of who was able to wear our clothes”. The first question the new management needs to ask before creating a marketing strategy is why teen girls decide not to wear A& F clothes any more (Holding on, p. 51), and which brands’ product lines serve their taste and preferences better than Abercrombie & Fitch. Further, it is important to note that the global teenage and young generation clothing market is competitive. Some brands are already making success, taking away A&F’s market share that it earned through decades of hard work. Some of the successful brands are GAP, H&M, and the discount retailer, Primark (Pricing Strategy). According to Cheng (Pricing Strategy), the value proposition offered by these brands are more attractive than A&F’s. Finally, it is also important to mention that another rival. American Eagle managed to succeed in growing its business, by introducing “improved merchandise” created in “testing labs” designed to spot customer and fashion trends.

Promotion

The promotion of the company should reflect the organization’s culture (BACW, p. 210), which should also connect with the market. This is not the case at the moment, and advertising is based on highly sexual billboards (Holding on, p. 50). Further, promoting the products with models and salespersons who have a perfect body and exclude men and women who do not (Cheng). Further, the company failed to listen to what stakeholders were telling them, and built an image that excluded some groups, and triggered demonstrations, boycotts, and court cases (Holding on, p. 51). A classic example of failing to connect with the audience and market through promotion was the creation of A&F Quarterly, which clearly did not connect with buyers. It simply ignored the lifestyle of potential buyers, and talked about anything that the company considered to be relevant to their lifestyle: group sex and drinking games. The centralization of the organization (BACW, p. 219)  prevented the promotion to talk to customers instead of talking about the ideology of the CEO (Abrupt Exit).

Related Consumer Trends

During the recession, many younger buyers turned to discount retailers, and looked for promotions. Further, young buyers are now more focused on technology, and have a different lifestyle than those who grew up in the 80-s or 90-s. As Cheng (Pricing Strategy) confirms, customers have already turned to unbranded items available for lower price, offering the same style – and often quality –, therefore, special promotions do not help companies like GAP and A&F to increase their revenues (Pricing Strategy). Many customers “refuse to be weaned off sales” (Pricing Strategy). Many of them shop online, and web promotion is a cheap alternative to expensive billboard ads and magazine full page adverts. Brand loyalty, however, exists in the specialty clothing market, as Nike, Adidas, and Levi Strauss are still holding on to their market share, because they can connect with the customer through the product and promotion alike. This is something that A&F needs to re-learn in order to turn sales slump (Sales drop) into growth again.

Works Cited

Business: A Changing World. (BACW)

Berfield, S. & Rupp, L. January 16, 2015. “Holding on to relevance: Behind the Decline of Abercrombie & Fitch and the fall of its mastermind: Michael Jeffries”. Bloomberg Businessweek.

Cheng, A. March 5, 2015. “Why American Eagle has outperformed Abercrombie” MarketWatch.

Cheng, A. “Gap, Abercrombie need a pricing strategy shift” Market Watch.

Chen, A. & Dulaney, C. March 4, 2015. “American Eagle Shows Strength Among Teens” The Wall Street Journal.

Dulaney, C. March 4, 2015. “Abercrombie Sales Drop 14%, Warns of Tough Months Ahead”. The Wall Street Journal.

Kapner, S. & Lublin, J.S. December 9, 2014. Abercrombie CEO s Abrupt Exit Followed Weak Sales. The Wall  Street Journal.