Lululemon Identification of Strategy: Lululemon provides high quality athletic yoga apparel at a premium price. To do so, Lululemon uses a focused differentiation strategy. Lululemon concentrates on a niche market of athletic women within the size range of 2-12. The company’s primary target customer is women who are upper-middle class and have an active, healthy lifestyle.
When first founded, the company had discovered a void in the women’s athletic apparel market and focused on those women as their ideal consumers. By finding the void in the market first, Lululemon was able to be a first mover, which is a complementary strategy. By being a first mover, Lululemon was able to build their reputation as the first company to focus on women’s
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They have had management switches multiple different occasions. One of their biggest management issues was with the founder Chip Wilson. Wilson attacked larger women’s bodies during their pants recall scandal. His apology was not received well, which can suggest that customers were angered by the statement he made. Lululemon is being threatened by many competitors. Brands such as Nike, Adidas, Under Armour are also in the athletic and fitness apparel market. Nike is one of the largest performance athletic apparel companies. Nike is the world’s largest seller of sports apparel, as well as athletic footwear. Their sales of women’s clothing totaled $7.4 billion in 2019 (page C-82). Other companies like The Gap, Nordstrom, and Victoria’s Secret are also entering the women’s athletic apparel market. All these rivals sell apparel less expensive than Lululemon’s products. Another major threat to Lululemon, like many retail stores, was the impact from the outbreak of the COVID-19 disease. The virus impacted performance of the stores and resulted in many store closings or store hour reductions. The lack of ability to open stores again, as well as all the reduced in-person shopping due to the virus, has impacted Lululemon. They have yet to regain footing from these closures and bring their business back up to pre-closing