Question

Lululemon 2017: sales revenues down and inventories are rising fast. Retail stores are not as popular and competition is increasing with undercutting brands and high level competitors entering the market ( Nike, underarmour, etc.)

The recent expansion into male apparel has proven successful as customers are warming up to the brand. Now that there are so many forces in the market that seems to be playing against Lululemon, what should it do to remain competitive and keep its edge?

Answer 1

Answer

Lululemon enjoys strong reputation, customers loyalty, and a global presence. Inspite of its effectivene strategies, strong relationships with suppliers and marketing tactics, it faced with increased inventory and revenue downfall. Retail stores are getting side tracked by the e commerce stores and retailers and brands like Nike, underarmour, etc are giving cut throat competition.

Though Lululemon is good at its promotion and positioning, it needs to enhance its strategies and use innovation for increasing the sales. It needs to have its own e commerce platform, retailing it's Products worldwide, with various distribution centers at various countries. It has strong suppliers support and effective distribution channel, therefore, the company needs to take advantage of it to reach out new customers and add new product lines catering to different demographic segmented groups.

It also needs to revise it's pricing strategies and use relatively competitive prices to attract more number of customers. It also needs to tie up with various e commerce retailers so that it's products can be reached to wide area. It needs to get into the trend for utilising the internet and social media for its advantage, promotional activities, to stay connected with the Audience who can be potential customers.

Have an inventory management plan, which manages excess inventory and ensure that Products gets sold and revenues will be high.