In the past years Abercrombie & Fitch relied on the exclusionary marketing policies. The company received very positive image by selling high quality clothes that only the good looking people could buy. However, now there are complaints about the exclusion of plus-size people and the company has to decide to follow its principles or to be more inclusive.
Abercrombie & Fitch was established at the end of the XIX century and used to sell clothes and equipment for hunters and fishermen. Starting from 1988 the company focuses only on the apparel and its key customers are young people. In 1992 Michael Jeffries became a CEO of the company and it was he who decided to reinvent the brand and apply some exclusionary marketing policies so that the company could be profitable again. He thought that the company had to be “young, hip and spirited” in order to be popular (Blanchard 155). The strategy worked and the company was able to open 1,000 stores around the world. However, now there is very much criticism in the USA because a lot of people do not have an opportunity to buy clothes in A&F stores and feel offended about that. As the result of the controversy, some celebrities started to speak out against the Abercrombie & Fitch which led to decrease in sales and increased criticism on social media. For instance, in 2013 in just one quarter there were more than 80,000 negative mentions of Abercrombie on the internet. Partly because of that the sales decreased by 10% and some people wanted to boycott the brand (Blanchard 156). Therefore the company has to analyze two alternatives in order to respond to the unexpected problems – to become inclusive by offering larger sizes and being more flexible in terms of HR or to remain unique and target only the “good looking” people.
Each alternative has advantages. If the company decides to stop using exclusionary policies, there will be variety in sizes and more customers. The image of the company may improve and the company will be able to compete with the rivals American Eagle and Aeropostale that sell clothes for plus-size women and do not have bad reputation. If the company decides to follow the exclusionary marketing practices, it will act as a luxury brand that is not affordable for an average person. As the result A&F will be prestigious and rely on the loyal customers. The company will also avoid the high production costs and the problems with design of clothes for the plus-size people. Now it looks like the company is in the middle between a luxury segment and a mass market. In any case, Abercrombie & Fitch will need to reconsider its marketing practices in order to become more exclusionary or more affordable to the larger number of people.
The first alternative of adding the variety in sizes seems to be more reasonable, because the company has many stores and if the sales decline or the prices go up, some stores will need to be closed. Secondly, despite the criticism, A&F has a very good reputation and adding the new sizes will cover the losses in sales. The company should research the experience of the competitors that are more inclusive and apply their practices if they are successful. In order to keep the loyal customers and not to become an ordinary company, A&F should spend more money on advertising and changing the vision of “a good looking person”.
Finally, the company needs to think of the mechanisms how to control and monitor the changes and perceptions in the target markets. The company may use technologies and internet in order to research the consumers and their lifestyles and extend the product range or the variety in sizes. To sum up, A&F should rethink its marketing practices that were applied since 1992. The society changed since then very much and the company should try to save its positive reputation by adjusting its vision of the modern customers.
Works Cited
Blanchard, D. Abercrombie & Fitch: Is it Unethical to Be Inclusive? Richard Ivey School of
Business Foundation. 2015. Print.
