Abercrombie & Fitch Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

COMPANY BACKGROUND:

A&F came into existence in 1893. Initially the clothing line brand started its operations by selling camping goods, hiking goods and weapons. It soon became the leading store in providing most popular sports clothing British Expeditions. Due to professional differences between the founders, A&F soon dissolved. Now the business solely belonged to Fitch and she continued the business operations with other partners. She made quite some changes to the core offerings of the brand and included several other products at her appealing stores.

A&F continued to grow as a business in several dimensions. A&F expanded its operation into several urban locations of the country. Despite the growing patterns, the company began to experience financial falters and faced bankruptcy. After facing all these ups and downs and number of acquisitions, the company was finally acquired by The Limited, known for creating several successful brands in the US.

ABERCROMBIE & FITCH:

Since it initiation A&F has come a long way from selling camping and hiking goods to creating extravagant brand experience for a niche segment of the market. A&F is known as one of the largest name in fashion distribution to urban areas with informal clothing.

A&F operates through its own chain stores and has been successfully characterizing the image of the brand, which has acted positively for the growth and success.

The brand has s strong history and it helps the brand to connect with the customers. The higher the history profile of the company, the chances of brands being engaged with the customers are comparatively higher.

The brand has strong image in the customer minds as the signature logo of A&F represents a sense of privilege, exclusive lifestyle of young American people, mainly representing the famous and the good looking individuals. A&F successfully caters to all the segments in the market. It has product lines kids or school children, teens who are in higher schools with energy and fitness and it also caters to the feminine segment of the market with free and relaxed clothing.

PROBLEM STATEMENT:

A&F has been criticized for its unethical behavior towards the population which lies out of its target are and now the brand wants to take some measures for tackling the elevating controversies.

ANALYSIS:

SWOT:

Strengths:

A&F has a strong brand recognition. The brand enjoys a vast history of its development and how it has survived and evolved overtime. A&F has a strong brand name and enjoys a fair market share in the apparel industry.

The positioning process of A&F take places in the stores where the brand has created an environment which differentiates the brand form any other store on the corner. The consumers entering the store go through visual experiencing of the brand as well as other senses of the human body. A&F mainly focuses upon the image of the chain stores and the customer experience in the stores.

A&F has entered new territories with its flagship stores. The expansion has enabled the brand to target a higher number of target audience. Despite the expansion into new countries, the brand is still focusing on its core brand positioning even in different demographics of new countries.

Soon after the initiation of the business operations of A&F, the company had shown a great financial performance and has still been able to constantly perform well in the financial aspects of operations. The company has to face bankruptcy and after those challenging times the company has never looked back and successfully has been and is performing excellent financially.

Weaknesses:

A&F has huge business operations, which increases the cost of the structure it has to use for efficiently completing its operations. The brand mainly focuses on a specific segment of the population which eliminates an important part of the population. The exclusivity created by the brand has ignored some groups of the audience.Abercrombie & Fitch Case Solution

Opportunities:

The company has a strong brand image and is well recognized by the market. A higher level of brand recognition over the borders opens gates for A&F to reach out to its potential target market overseas. The expansion can lead the company towards generating a higher number of sales with an increased market reach of the brand.

Threats:

The brand continuously looks to strive for a certain look and style which can lead the company towards trouble if the look gets obsolete. The company should look towards entering new product lines and service lines. The limitations to the clientele of the store of the brand might potentially be pushing away the potential income the company can earn.................

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