Lululemon Business Strategy

Lululemon Athletica Inc., founded in 1998 in Vancouver by Chip Wilson, is a company which designs and produces high-end yoga and technical athletic clothing. They have operated primarily in North America and Australia; their initial target customer was an educated woman who lives an active and healthy lifestyle. They opened their first store in Kitsilano in BC in November, 2000. The first store was intended to act as a community hub where people could learn and discuss about the physical aspects and mental aspects of a healthy life, in addition to selling yoga clothing.

Lululemon is a rapidly growing company with a different niche for its products. Its philosophy as well as their business model has allowed them to increase revenue over the past years. The dilemma they faced is how to continue expanding without losing their special niche, grassroots and a nontraditional feel of the brand that sets them apart from their competitors.

The women's apparel market is highly competitive. With the launch of a new active-wear line from Harrington Collection's, more and more competitors will start to realise the potential value in in producing an active-wear line of their own. The active-wear market is growing so rapidly (expected to double turnover from 2007 to 2009), that eventually all of Harrington's competitors would likely be expected to launch a line of their own, relying on existing brand loyalty and high-scale advertising campaigns to capture market share and move units.

Lululemon’s primary target customer is a sophisticated and educated woman who understands the importance of an

The Rivalry among competing sellers of sporting goods such as Under Armour, Nike, and Adidas-Reebok is strong and likely to intensify. The rivalry among sporting good sellers of energy will keep growing and will become stronger in coming years. Under Armour. Nike, and Adidas-Reebok have similar or competing product offerings and that is why competition among them is so high. If these companies want to stay in business they need to come up with different strategies that will set them apart from the opposition. Competition is intense and revolves around performance,

Popular athletic brands such as Nike, adidas and Under Armor are specializing in different aspects such as basketball and outdoor sports which are mainly for men thus, it has a different target market and brand identity as opposed to lululemon.

This report has been created with the intent to analyze the athletic apparel industry with a specific focus on Lululemon Athletica, Inc., further refered to as Lululemon. In this report you will find that the strengths and weaknesses of Lululemon’s current strategies and future goals are analyzed and compared to that of its closest competitors. In conclusion to the analysis, recommendations have been made to potentially guide Lululemon Athletica, Inc. in a positive direction in regards to its future endeavors. The following

The brand discussed in this report is Lululemon Athletica Inc. The brand is an athletic apparel retailer, whose main objective is building a community with a healthy lifestyle. Lululemon’s target market is middle/upper class 30-year-old woman. The brand is positioned as a premium high fashion brand for the athletic community. Some of Lululemon’s main competitors include Nike, Under Armour and Gap.

Lululemon is a large company, making clothing for athletic activities, not only are they in the women’s athletic range, but they have hit the men’s market and youth range as well. A SWOT analysis will be used to break down Lululemons strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the business. Strengths which Lululemon have achieved include multi-faceted and community-based approach strategy, making customers feel part of a community through marketing strategies like there “ambassador program, social media, in-store community boards and grassroots initiatives” (Lululemon, 2016 Annual Report, 2016, p. 3). Touchpoints which have been a part of this multi-channel include Lululemons websites www.lululemon.co.nz and ivivva.com which is based around female youth active ware. With Lululemon having 12,500 full-time employees worldwide (Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU), 2017) with 406 stores (Lululemon, 2016), their large market capital of $8.33 billion (Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU), 2017), shows the total value of Lululemons shares of stock. Lululemon having $581.1 million in net revenue, this is an increase of 13% while their gross profit increased by 17% rising to $297.4 million. (Lululemon Athletica Inc. Announces Second Quarter Fiscal 2017 Results, 2017). This shows a steady increase in profit for Lululemon for 2017 which is a strength for them.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. was incorporated in the month of November 2005, and is a manufacturer and vendor of practical strapping rendering attire for men, women and female adolescence. The objective of the attires is for healthful situations such as running, cycling, general fitness exercise and yoga. In the attires, it comprises aptitude britches, shorts, tops, jackets and other fitness related products like underwear, bags, bras, socks, yoga mats, yoga instruction discs and water bottles. They primarily operate in North America and Australia.

There are many companies in the sports apparel, footwear and accessories industry, such as Nike, Adidas, Puma,

As shown in Figure 2 of the Appendix, a Porter Five Force Analysis makes it clear that the overall rivalry within the athletic apparel industry is medium to high. Because Nike and Adidas already have a substantial amount of capital resources and other assets, Under Armour struggles against them to gain market share. 8Also, private labels of retailers and newer sports apparel companies could potentially pose a threat to Under Armour, but mostly due to the fact that Under Armour does not hold any fabric or process patents. This makes it extremely easy for any competitor to duplicate a product or process with no consequence. However, the threat of new entrants is not too troublesome within the industry because of the great capital cost required for branding, advertising, and meeting product demand. Furthermore, the sports apparel industry is in the maturity phase of the industry life cycle. This means that each company included in the oligopoly must

Companies in this industry also attempt to differentiate themselves by technical advancements in the apparel. Companies compete to find the technology that consumers believe will help their overall performance in sports and activities; whether it’s a sweat wicking shirt or lighter shoe, consumers seek the product they believe will give them the greatest advantage. Overall, the rivalry amongst competitors is a strong force that ultimately lowers the profitability of the industry.

Lululemon, a yoga-inspired athletic apparel company for women and men was founded by Chip Wilson in Vancouver, Canada in 1998. What began as a design studio by day and a yoga studio by night, became an independent store in November 2000 (Lululemon Athletica, 2017).

I am pleased to write a recommendation letter for Alicia Panganiban, the International Student Awardee for Academic Excellence and Display of Christian Character and Commitment. I have known Alicia for more than six years as my student in Church & Ministry and Leadership Coaching courses. I came to know her very well when she was my intern, Summer of 2011, and hired her as my graduate assistant the following semester until her optional practical training which ended June, 2014. And then volunteered in my non-profit organization, Transformational Leadership Coaching, that provides Christian value base ambassadorial training to leaders who will become role models, solution providers, and key influencers in their respective communities.