Urban Outfitters Continuing, Essay Example

Explain why Sears or Wal-Mart cannot effectively create a trendy counterculture image.

The unique approach taken by Urban Outfitters in carving out a niche market demonstrates the manner in which exclusivity plays a key role in creating consumer demand.  Under the guidance of CEO Glen Senk, the retail chain has reinvented the shopping experience by deliberately and effectively creating the illusion that each store is as unique as the consumers who frequent them.  In this manner, Urban Outfitters enables the consumer to feel as if they are setting trends through the purchase of hip apparel and other items which appear to be one-of-a-kind.  The store limits the availability of any one item to maximize the appearance of rarity.  While this marketing approach can be risky, given that it refuses to capitalize on the incipient popularity of an item, it allows Urban Outfitters to cater to its clientele’s desire to display their individuality through the purchase of unique items, thus building brand loyalty and repeat business.

The marketing model used by Urban Outfitters is one that could not be translated to big box chain stores like Sears and Wal-Mart.  These companies have already established themselves in the marketplace as places to buy everyday items at low prices.  In contrast, Urban Outfitters has situated itself as a provider of trendy, specialized clothing targeted at a hip, urban, and youthful market (Case Study, 2011).  Although Sears and Wal-Mart offer teen and youth clothing lines which aspire towards trendiness, being essentially watered-down versions of the more ‘authentic’ items offered at stores like Urban Outfitters, Sears and Wal-Mart would not be able to market themselves as counterculture because their customer base is already decidedly mainstream.  People shop at Urban Outfitters as a rejection that everything big box stores have to offer, despite the fact that Urban Outfitters itself is a chain retailer more closely related to stores like Sears and Wal-Mart than the locally owned retailers it seeks to emulate.

Could the big box stores sell merchandise identical to Urban Outfitters?  Explain your answer.

It is possible that big box stores could retail the same items that are available at Urban Outfitters.  However, such a strategy would be unfeasible in the long-term because the merchandise sold at Urban Outfitters is successful primarily because it is available in limited qualities (Case Study, 2011).  In order for big box stores to carry such items, they would have to be mass produced and distributed to all of their locations, thus ruining the cachet that such items carry for Urban Outfitters specialized market.  The price of such items would likely go down, but their more intangible values would disappear altogether.  As stated in the Case Study, “customers [of Urban Outfitters] not only get a unique shopping experience, they are confident that whatever they purchase will not quickly become ubiquitous” (Case Study, 2011).  The target market of this retailer would become disillusioned to see that the same items carried in their beloved ‘unique’ stores available to anyone and everyone, thus destroying the total shopping experience Urban Outfitters has worked hard to create.

Identify at least three reasons why exclusivity is valuable.

Exclusivity is valuable primarily because it gives the illusion of a hierarchy, setting those who shop at Urban Outfitters apart from those who shop elsewhere.  This allows the Urban Outfitter customer to feel as if they are part of a select, exclusive group of consumers who buck the commonplace and set the trends that others follow (Case Study, 2011).  Exclusivity also contributes to the consumer’s overall shopping experience by enabling the consumer to feel privileged and unique.  As demonstrated by the Case Study, for the Urban Outfitter’s customer, the act of purchasing goods becomes secondary to the ability “to come away with a special or obscure ‘find'” (Case Study, 2011).  As well, exclusivity plays a social and political role by the manner in which Urban Outfitters situates itself as a small, local business that promotes sustainability, green initiatives, and other eco-friendly practices (Urban Outfitters Online, 2011).  The Urban Outfitters customer is able to define themselves by what they are not:  their decision to purchase at the retailer marks them as an ethical and responsible member of a counterculture which is against everything that the big box retailers stand for.

Senk says that shopping is largely entertainment.  Do you agree or disagree with him? Explain your answer.

The entertainment factor of shopping is hard to deny, given that the act of shopping seems to go beyond the need to purchase basic necessities.  The Urban Outfitters Case Study highlights gender differences in shopping, stating that the upscale market of consumers who frequent Urban Outfitters tends to be disproportionately female.  However, the level of disposable income for this activity may play an equal or greater role in the consumer’s enjoyment factor.  Shopping for unusual or trendy items is only entertaining if you are able to afford them.  The success of Urban Outfitters in carving out a very specific niche for itself demonstrates that retailers evolve along with their customer base.  It may be possible that those same college students who shopped at the early incarnations of  Urban Outfitters are now represented in the upscale clientele who continue to gravitate towards their trendsetting and cutting-edge appeal.

References

Case Study. (2011). Urban outfitters continuing case study part four: Marketing a business. Urban Outfitters Online. (2011). Retrieved from www.urbanoutfitters.com