Abercrombie & Fitch - mArket reseArch kayla Barrera
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Abercrombie & Fitch
market research
Kayla Barrerabrand overview Objectives
Objectives if the research:
The reason for this research is find out if Abercrombie should expand their clothing
product to a wider range of people of all shapes and sizes.
Right now, Abercrombie & Fitch clothing line does not provide the opportunity for a
Abercrombie & Co. is a company founded by David Abercrombie in person of all shapes and sizes to wear their clothes, which in turn, becomes a prejudice
1892. Later he joined forces with Ezra Fitch and the company evolved to battle.
Abercrombie & Fitch. They almost always did not see eye to eye, and did not
know what direction they wanted to take the company. Abercrombie wanted To do this research we must first know who is currently purchasing the clothing. Then we
to sell outdoors gear, and Fitch wanted to sell mainstream clothing. With all must figure out who would like to purchase but cannot due to the size of the product.
the differences, Abercrombie decided to leave the company but Fitch decided We also need to take a look at where geographically are these stores located. Does the
to keep the company name as Abercrombie & Fitch. location of the store make a difference?
Fitch kept the idea of outdoor feel with adding the mainstream clothing
for the “average” person. Other then the store, the company started sending Research:
mail in catalog. The catalog was sent to 50,000 customers and included a lot
of the items featured in the store. Althought the catalog cost was running the According to Claire E. Driessen, a law student who researched the consumers who
bought Abercrombie & Fitch, A&F is sold predominately to Caucasians. They have an
company to bankrupsy, it was a very effective marketing tool and it increased
All- American look. Male and females consumers who buy the clothing fit well into what
their sales. The company kept expanding and opened a store in New York. By
A&F wants their consumers to be. In their catalog, which was taken off market, included
1929, Ezra retired and even when he left, the company kept growing.
only three African Americans and the rest were Caucasians. The in-store atmosphere also
represents exactly what their “models” represent in all their advertising campaigns. The
After several years, The Limited Inc. bought the company and changed its A&F employee is not overweight; therefore they can fit into the clothes. The clothing is
look and sales strategy. They re-launched Abercrombie & Fitch targeting 18-24 not meant for curvy or slightly over weight people. Even the typography on their clothing
year old college students. It was “upscale” and “preppy” and they described is relating a “thin” message.
their image as “sexy, classy, casual, and All-American.” Abercrombie & Fitch Corporation directly enforces this message. A quote that represents
the small consumer and target market comes straight from the CEO of A&F, Mike
Now in 2010, Abercrombie & Fitch launched other brands and is part of a Jefferies, “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-
controversial battle. Many law suits have been done against this brand and so-cool kids,” he says. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-
their sub brands. Everything from discrimination with employees, customers American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our
etc and to controversial clothing “quotes”. clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that
are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become
totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either.”
While visiting the Abercrombie and Fitch site, I went to see where their stores are located.
I came to find that in California there are 41 stores and in New Mexico they are zero
stores. I also checked in Miami, Florida, where they is great diversity and they only have 2
stores.
Other than the issues of who the consumers “can” be, we have a situation of who can
work there. There have been many lawsuits against A&F and their discrimination towards
African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian former employees.
In the case Gonzalez v. Abercrombie & Fitch, is one the largest discrimination lawsuits
filed against a company. In this case, many people of different races, other than
Caucasian, testified about the discrimination and prejudice ideals the company followed.target
Target Audience:
“I remember how discouraged I felt when I applied for a job at the Santa Clara store and
the manager suggested that I work in the stock room or on the late night crew in a non-
Hispanics are the primary target audience. Hispanics is a race that is denotes the culture
sales position,” Eduardo Gonzalez told reporters. “I felt it was because I was a Latino –
but there was no one I could report this to at the time.” This case showed different races and people of countries who were formaly ruled by the Spansih Empire. Hispanics
standing up to this company and stating reasons of discrimination. This showed that it perdomintaly speak the Spanish language. In the United States there is a huge
went further than fitting into the clothing, its showing the lack of tolerance with people’s percentage of Hispanics known and Hispanic American. As of March 2002, their was 37.4
races. millions Hispanic living in the United States, which is 13.3% of the total population. Just
alone April 2002 to July 2002 the percetage jumped 10%. Now, in 2010 the number be
A&F settled on paying 40 million dollars to all the minority races who have felt must higher from all the Hispanic immigrating here for better job opportunities. Hispanic
discriminated by the company. Joan Ryan wrote about the image problem in 2003 stating, rates grow 4 times the rate of the U.S population in just two years.
“ According to a class action suit, Abercrombie & Fitch discriminates against minorities by Hispanics is an ethinicity that identify strongly with family. People somtimes percieve
pressuring stores to hire sales associates who fit the “A&F look,’’ which from their catalogs, Hispanics as only being Mexican, but Hispanics has much more diversity. Hispanics are
advertisements and looping videos in their stores, is white, young and preferably blond. from many different countries, they could be white, black or mulato.
The plaintiffs claim they were denied jobs or squeezed out of jobs because of their race
or ethnicity.” Later in his article he mentions that a black talk show host, Larry Elder said
Specific Target: Hispanic women ages 15-25, who live in the United States. They are
on “60 minutes”, “This is about a business deciding, pursuant to its best interests ... that
Maintreemers. As their name implies, they are the mainstream of society.They respond to
a particular kind of salesperson is more likely to generate more dollars. A&F ought to have
big established brands, to ‘family’brands and to offers of value for money.
the right to set their own policies for good or for ill.’’
Their core need in life is for security.
After the settlement, Eduardo Gonzalez, the lead plaintiff, stated, ”I love this settlement,”
Mr. Gonzalez said. “It’s a landmark thing for an American icon. They were portraying this
image that all-American is all white. That’s not the case.” Hispanic shopping characteristics:
The New York times said that Abercrombie & Fitch agreed on adding more blacks, According to Shopper Marketing, Hispanics are 15.5% of the total U.S. population.
Hispanics, and Asians to its marketing materials. “Marketers know that Hispanic shoppers represent a huge and growing customer base,
and that this group is critical to the future success of their brands,” says Donald Longo,
A&F has always inforced a policy preferring white employees to be in the sales department, editorial director for Stagnito Media Food Group, New York (producers of the Hispanic
but they don’t hire white basketball players from colleges. They have an exact look Retail 360 Summit). “The difficulty with reaching them effectively stems from the many
and they want to keep it that way, but they cannot use their policy to cover for race different types of Hispanics -- it’s not a homogenous group.” Typically Hispanics have
discrimination. The company has hired people of differnt races, but they keep trying to
different ways of buying depending on what Hispanic country they are originially from.
push the non-American look to the back rooms. There are countless blogs and websites
This represents the need of having diverse clothing, especially in brands that are “All-
that still have people commenting and postig on situations in these stores. this issue has
American”. Hispanic who live in the United States have been more in tune with fashion and
yet to be resolved
what is acceptable in the country. “The Hispanic shopper today is much more savvy and
sophisticated than before,” adds John Echeveste, principal at VPE Public Relations.
Hispanics like feeling comfortable when shopping, because they go as a family. Stores who
have a comfortable appeal will most likely get more business from Hispanics.
Many Hispanics feel that Abercrombie & Fitch does not provide clothes for their body
type. Hispanics are curvier then most American girls and therefore, they do not fit into the
same clothes. They do not shop there because they feel there not supposed to wear them.
According to a quote from the CEO of Abercrombie, Abercrombie does not want them to
use their clothes. “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there areSWOT/Conclusion
the not-so-cool kids,” he says. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive SWOT ANALYSIS
all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our
clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionar y. Those companies that are in trouble are
Strength:
Strong brand recognition
trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t
Strong financial performance
alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either.” – Mike Jeffries CEO Abercrombie and
Committed stockholders
Fitch.
Weakenesses
Low inventory turn over
Limited geographic reach
Limited customer base
Controversial marketing strategy
Over priced
Products and Services that appeal to the target market.
Opportunities
Right now, Hispanics are consuming most of their clothes with brands/ stores who do cater to Expansion in new market
their body type such as; Forever 21, Aeropostal and H&M and The Gap.The generation who was High demand by other markets
born here, 15-25, have an American mentality when it comes to dressing. These stores provide the Investment in infrastructure
latest fashion but for all shapes and sizes. A lot of Hispanics have American friends, therefore they Expand product/service lines
want to wear what theyre friends can wear. These stores appeal to the Hispanic market because
Expand internationally
of the freedom of choosing what they can wear.
Threats
Competion from other apparel offering same product, lower price
According to the Label Networks’ Hispanic youth Culture Study’07, it shows that between 13-
Change in consumer preference
24 year olfs in the united states are impacting the future of fashion. They say that it is important
Counterfit goods
to notice these trends and companies need to take advantage of the growing growth rate of
U.S economy
hispanics. This study looks at the Hispanic Youth culture and compares it with other races. Top
named brands are considered to be favorite for these Hispanics.
Conclusion
Technically, A&F co. is a very successfull company selling to their opinion on the all american look.
But from the data collection and the different law suits that they have been part of, A&F can profit
more if they start to cater to all types of people. In 2007 A&F revenue was 3,318.2 million dollars
with catering just to their target audience, imagine with the 37.4 million hispanics(which to date is
much more) living in the United States. Let’s take it further, imagine with the other races who live
and are born in the United States, A&F can double even triple their profit.Works cited. http://juantornoe.blogs.com/hispanictrending/2004/11/abercrombie_fit.html http://retailindustry.about.com/od/frontlinemanagement/a/AbercrombieFitchMikeJeffriesquotes.htm http://collegecandy.com/2010/04/12/abercrombie-fitch-is-the-worst-place-on-earth/ http://www.uwlax.edu/urc/JUR-online/PDF/2005/driessen.pdf www.abercrombie.com http://psucomm473.blogspot.com/2007/10/abercrombie-fitch-discrimination-case.html http://www.shoppermarketingmag.com/articles/?nid=62765 http://www.census.gov/population/www/pop-profile/natproj.html http://money.cnn.com/magazine/fortune/fortune500/2007/snapshots/11.html book: Why I hate Abercrombie & Fitch http://www.mercurymambo.com/blog/2008/03/hispanic-youth-culture-fashion-trends-influence-the-us- landscape/
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