Urban outfitters case study urban outfitters

Counterculture, Metropolitan Development, Selling, Entertainment

Excerpt from Case Study:

Metropolitan Outfitters Example

Urban Outfitters has identified a highly differentiated and exceptional shopping knowledge, supported by the eclectic and highly varied store layouts and products strategy. This approach to retailing appeals to the individuality and uniqueness every single consumer as well sees in themselves, allowing the consumers to define themselves by what they will like. INA actuality, Downtown Outfitters is somewhat more aligned to key advertising concepts and strategies than its bigger and less differentiated competitors which include Sears and Wal-Mart. Appearing non-conformist and counter-culture within its image, Urban Outfitters is actually featuring an escape to get consumers to work with their acquisitions to define who they are really and the actual actually proper care out. Selling that interests the beliefs and individuality of a individuals are highly effective in creating loyalty and continuing repurchase (Puccinelli, Goodstein, Grewal, Price, Raghubir, Stewart, 2009). The intention of this research is to describe why Downtown Outfitters continues to be successful with this counterculture image versus its much larger and more well-distributed competitors, how come their uniqueness is so essential to their achievement, and how searching really is a form of entertainment as it is a very personal customer experience (Grewal, Garnishment, Kumar, 2009). The basic pieces of the promoting process will also be assessed.

Examining the Functionality of Downtown Outfitters

To fully appreciate how differentiated Metropolitan Outfitters is usually, consider just how effective their very own supply cycle is in getting access to extremely unique items, how exclusive their stores designs happen to be, and how widely varied their particular marketing and advertising is. The entire value chain of Urban Outfitter is what differentiates the store string relative to their much larger, slower-moving yet far more vertically integrated competitors (Patton, 2008). The supply chains to get Sears and Wal-Mart would not be able to support this same standard of product uniqueness and sourcing, nor will they manage to set as being a goal the sourcing of one-of-a-kind products not found anywhere else. Both of these stores plus the superstore rivals they regularly compete with have supply string specifically designed pertaining to high efficiency, low variability, and a strong give attention to inventory becomes. In short, Pep boys and Wal-Mart are looking for items with as little variation in them as possible to ensure they might be managed through distribution, logistics and to stores with as little cost as it can be. This is the biggest operational difference between Downtown Outfitters and the larger, more diverse competitors. The operational emphasis and supply string operations in Urban Outfitters look to carry on the value idea of every consumer having a very unique item purchases, which in turn also contributing factors to the development of a unique searching experience that cannot be conveniently replicated in larger retail outlet operations (Verhoef, Lemon, Parasuraman, Roggeveen, Tsiros, Schlesinger, 2009). For City Outfitters the first merchandise they purchase, their design of fresh stores, as well as the launch of stores in international locations almost all contribute to the image of a store that promotes range and nonconformity of its customers’ acquisitions of products (Slater, 2004). Target and Wal-Mart cannot remain competitive in this area of retailing due to their pricing structures for suppliers as well. Not merely are these kinds of chains created for high amounts of inventory speed and lessening the levels of product variance, they are also designed to support very low cost buildings where suppliers are expected to continually drop prices as time passes. This approach to managing suppliers is how Sears and Wal-Mart still drive down their prices over time. For Urban Outfitters in whose suppliers will be smaller and even more interested in a great eclectic, exclusive and highly differentiated products, this approach would not work. City Outfitters rather partners with suppliers and attempts to anticipate the needs of its buyers and make products interesting (Arndt, 2010). Sears and Wal-mart performs this with Proctor Gamble in special bundling programs of products that are incredibly inexpensive to create already which include soap or perhaps detergent yet could by no means scale to perform the type of collaborative product preparing that City Outfitters will with its more compact suppliers (Arndt, 2010).

Studying Exclusivity as well as the Customer Experience

Where Urban Outfitters does a great job relative to the larger opponents is in the way the customer experience is planned, executed and sustained through the combining of each and every element of the marketing mixture. Each element of marketing strategy, such as the product strategy of finding from small and more eclectic suppliers, for the pricing technique that as well conveys value, to the composition and design of its stores, all convey uniqueness and a spotlight on a nonconformist shopping encounter (Patton, 2008). Promotions by Urban Outfitters are also very differentiated through the use of non-standard promoting channels and an increasing reliability on social media which is the perfect communications channel for the demographics of customers the store needs to reach (Arndt, 2010). All four aspects of the marketing blend are zinc-coated around the communication of exclusive, nonconformist searching and 2 allows someone to be who they actually are by what they will own.

Exclusivity is what Downtown Outfitters is additionally striving for in the definition of every single aspect of the marketing blend. The three most critical factors in defining uniqueness for a product include the progress a unique and defensible benefit proposition that other retailers will have an extremely difficult time replicating. Exclusivity of products and the buying experience is known as a powerful differentiator of stores, brands plus the merchandise that they carry. The second reason why exclusivity is so important is that launched executed over the supply sequence of a business, it can galvanize the entire value chain, making the objectives created with customers much easier to turn into positive encounters (Verhoef, ” lemon “, Parasuraman, Roggeveen, Tsiros, Schlesinger, 2009). City Outfitters features successfully carried out this across all their programs, from the online ones for the in-store locations. The third aspect as to why uniqueness is so critical is that it might serve as the catalyst intended for stores getting hubs of social activity and occasions, not just a place customers arrive to buy goods. The use of uniqueness conveys top quality to a company and can act as a galvanizing force in unifying buyers into events they get pleasure from together (Puccinelli, Goodstein, Grewal, Price, Raghubir, Stewart, 2009). Exclusivity then simply creates a extremely defensible and unique worth proposition, unifies multichannel advertising operations in retail by creating a solid brand and reason to hold returning to your local store, and also can act as a catalyst of events that unify people of the same marketplace segments. Exclusivity can also sustain higher rates over time, making products capable of supporting a premium cost relative to rivals. The price of an item in a Saks’ Fifth Method will be repeatedly more than in a Wal-Mart, yet both items, take a sweater for example , provide the same friendliness in winter. One from Sak’s however will have a developer label and most likely will have been worn by a superstar as the marketing teams at the high end sweater maker had that as part of their particular marketing strategy. This same allegory holds true for Metropolitan Outfitters relative to its rivals. It is not the snob appeal that is the catalyst in this instance; it is the opportunity to possess apparel and accessories admit the consumer is different, non-conformist and proud of it.

Exclusivity as well as the customer encounter also support each other highly as well, because exclusivity connotes a specific group of values and orientation in the customer knowledge that clients either adopt or decline (Grewal, Garnishment, Kumar, 2009). Shopping in that case really is entertainment; it is the opportunity to define whom one is and enjoying the selection and trail process of items (Verhoef, ” lemon “, Parasuraman, Roggeveen, Tsiros, Schlesinger, 2009). Purchasing is also entertainment from the context of how shops are furnished and the physical experiences penalized within these people. All of the elements of the marketing mix as well contribute to the shopping experience, which is

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