Formative Feedback - Competitors

Original Competitors:

Abercrombie and Fitch have a wide range of competitors, all with a variety of quality, price and design and come from high end and the high street. For example, one of their closest competitors is the British clothing brand Jack Wills who offer high quality items at a high price, similarly to Abercrombie and Fitch. One thing that Jack Wills does better than Abercrombie and Fitch is their brand image as they are instantly recognisable through their signature pink and navy stripe where as Abercrombie and Fitch don’t achieve this as well as they have multiple logos from written text, symbols and their old traditional logo of the moose which can lead to confusion for the customer.

Feedback:

Marketing mix is all-encompassing with some good detail for each mix. Could using an extended marketing mix be more suitable since they provide both products and services plus online?

Competitors after Feedback:

Abercrombie and Fitch have a wide range of competitors, all with a variety of quality, price and design and come from high end and the high street. For example, one of their closest competitors is the British clothing brand Jack Wills who offer high quality items at a high price, similarly to Abercrombie and Fitch. One thing that Jack Wills does better than Abercrombie and Fitch is their brand image as they are instantly recognisable through their signature pink and navy stripe whereas Abercrombie and Fitch don’t achieve this as well as they have multiple logos from written text, symbols and their old traditional logo of the moose which can lead to confusion for the customer.

In terms of a brand positioning map Abercrombie and Fitch sit at quite a high price with basic designs, but are still somewhat fashionable. Close competitors include Jack Wills, who share the high price and basic design and American Eagle Outfitters who sit at a high price but are further on the fashionable side of the map.

With their recommended rebrand as a homeware brand A&F’s new competitors would include premium homeware brands such as Anthropologie, The White Company and Urban Outfitters Home. New dimensions of the brand positioning map would include traditional style and modern style with Abercrombie and Fitch fitting in between Urban Outfitters Home, being slightly high priced with modern style, and The White Company being high priced with traditional style with some modern style. This will be a good middle ground for Abercrombie and Fitch to fill a gap in the market as Urban Outfitters Home appeals to a younger demographic of 18-28 year olds and The White Company is more for an older customer of 25-50 year olds and so A&F can fill the gap of around 26-34 year olds.

Comments:

For my competitors section I went into more detail about other competitors and where Abercrombie and Fitch fit on a current brand positioning map and where they would sit on a proposed map after my recommendation of them relaunching as a homeware and lifestyle brand.