Formative Feedback - Brand Market Position

Original Brand Market Position:

Strengths –

1.       Abercrombie and Fitch are a well-known brand and have global recognition.

2.       They have the A&F loyalty club which offers members exclusive promotions such as £10 off a £50 purchase which gives customers more of an incentive to buy and will also keep customers loyal to the brand.

3.       Abercrombie and Fitch are technologically advanced in terms of their stores and offer a unique in-store experience as they unveiled a new store concept in Ohio in 2017 that included personalised changing rooms featuring light and sound controls. This customisable experience puts A&F ahead of their competitors as a positive instore experience can heavily impact whether customers will return for repeat purchases.

 Weaknesses –

1.       Abercrombie and Fitch have been involved in many controversies in the past such as their former CEO Mike Jeffries claiming that A&F would never stock about a size 10 and the strict rules on who could be employed to work in the stores as he only wanted typically attractive people to wear Abercrombie and Fitch clothing. This has tarnished their reputation and left people with often a negative opinion of the brand.

2.       Their products are highly priced and arguably too expensive for the younger side of the target market of 21-24 year olds.

3.       As their stores are known for being dark and loud this has turned people away from going in the store as people still see it as intimidating despite them changing the store atmosphere.

Opportunities –

1.       There are only 2 Abercrombie and Fitch stores in the UK and so they could open more to enhance their presence in the UK market.

2.       All of their social media accounts upload the same posts and so they could diversify the posts and make specific content for specific accounts to make the user experience more personal.

3.       They need to continue to rebuild their image and reputation by continuing to launch positive campaigns such as their 2018 denim campaign “Do it in Denim” as this featured 30 different styles of jeans to reflect the versatility of denim and the wearer’s personal take on it.

Threats –

1.       Abercrombie and Fitch are part of a saturated market with a lot of competitors, from Jack Wills at the high end of the market, and H&M at the low end of the marker, price and quality wise.

2.       Trends and consumer tastes are constantly changing and have already affected Abercrombie and Fitch as they used to be on trend in the 2000s but is now seen as outdated and stuck as a 2000s trend.

3.       Due to lots of competition differentiating can be difficult and Abercrombie and Fitch will find it hard to stand out, especially with copy cat sellers being able to easily replicate designs and sell for cheaper.

Feedback:

Good start made to your SWOT, highlighting some of the brands threats and weaknesses. Please make it more discursive than bullet points or; you could pick two important points from each element and provide more succinct details. Also, provide evidence to support your statements.

Brand Market Position after Feedback:

Strengths of Abercrombie and Fitch include that they have the A&F loyalty club which offers members exclusive promotions such as £10 off a £50 purchase which gives customers more of an incentive to buy and will also keep customers loyal to the brand. They are also technologically advanced in terms of their stores and offer a unique in-store experience as they unveiled a new store concept in Ohio in 2017 that included personalised changing rooms featuring light and sound controls. This customisable experience puts A&F ahead of their competitors as a positive instore experience can heavily impact whether customers will return for repeat purchases.

Their Weaknesses include that the brand has been involved in many controversies in the past such as their former CEO Mike Jeffries claiming that A&F would never stock about a size 10 and the strict rules on who could be employed to work in the stores as he only wanted typically attractive people to wear Abercrombie and Fitch clothing. This has tarnished their reputation and left people with often a negative opinion of the brand. Also, their products are highly priced and arguably too expensive for the younger side of the target market of 21-24 year olds.

There are clear opportunities that A&F could take advantage off to improve themselves. For example, all of their social media accounts upload the same posts and so they could diversify the posts and make specific content for specific accounts to make the user experience more personal. They also need to continue to rebuild their image and reputation by continuing to launch positive campaigns such as their 2018 denim campaign “Do it in Denim” as this featured 30 different styles of jeans to reflect the versatility of denim and the wearer’s personal take on it.

 Their threats include that Abercrombie and Fitch are part of a saturated market with a lot of competitors, from Jack Wills at the high end of the market, and H&M at the low end of the market, price and quality wise. Also trends and consumer tastes are constantly changing and have already affected Abercrombie and Fitch as they used to be on trend in the 2000s but are now seen as outdated and stuck as a 2000s trend.

Comments:

Based on my feedback I cut down more SWOT points to include 2 rather than 3 and also made the content more discursive rather than bullet points.