Abercrombie and Fitch

External Analysis

Target market

Abercrombie and Fitch is one of today's most popular clothing companies that cater to American's youth culture. Abercrombie and Fitch clothing is worn by children and young adults, but is largely marketed to the college-age population. Abercrombie and Fitch have been in existence since 1892, beginning as an outdoors sporting goods supplier. Today, A&F stores can be found in malls across America and the A&F logo is easily seen on any high school or college campuses. Abercrombie and Fitch clothes are even worn by cast members of the hugely popular television show, friend.

The company claims 18 to 22 year olds as it target market, but it's marketing appears to be aimed at all teens in general. The claim of a college-age target market is likely designed to counteract backlash form its erotic "shockvertising". Abercrombie and Fitch recently introduced toned-down "Abercrombie" stores with a target market of 7 to 14 year olds. Abercrombie and Fitch have received both positive and negative publicity as a result of its target market. Abercrombie's positive publicity is mainly due to the positive reaction of 18 to 22 year-olds. Alternatively, Abercrombie's negative publicity is attributable to parents, legislators and consumers advocates. Such individuals feel that the Abercrombie's depiction of the American college experience is not seen as responsible by growing number of parents and lawmakers, especially because the company's message are reaching children under 18.

Competition

As the company struggle to capture its target market, they are also face with major competitors. Abercrombie and Fitch primary competitors are Gap Inc, Banana Republic, Old Navy, and J Crew. Brand positioning due to the nature of the retailing business, Abercrombie and Fitch must and had been constantly focus on the customers needs with high levels of service on order to capture, create, and retain a competitive advantage. Ultimately, brand image, service and quality are the winning criteria for Abercrombie and Fitch. Their competitive advantage stems from their ability to communicate these qualities to their customers successfully, while also maintaining high profit margin. Many retailers, including Gap competitors Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle have also experienced ugly first-half results, especially in the same-store sales category.

Social, legal, and regulatory issues

The Asian Pacific American Resistance & Empowerment Network (APAREN), a national collective of progressive Asian Pacific Americans (APA), denounces Abercrombie & Fitch for its racist actions directed toward Asian and APA communities.

A recent line of t-shirts sold by the major clothing retailer displayed racist slogans and caricatures, depicting stereotypes of APAs with the intention of being funny. The shirts alluded to the stereotype that Asians cannot speak proper English by using bad puns; the illustrations were simple rehashing of old stereotypes. One shirt even had a caricature of the Buddha with the slogan "Buddha Bash: Get Your Buddha on the Floor;" Another Abercrombie & Fitch shirt, which is reportedly still being sold by the company, features the Chinese name of Li Hong Zhang (also known as Li Hung-chang), a Chinese official in the late 1800s well known for his weakness when dealing with European governments. This is certainly the product of research done in order to come up with a name that would embarrass people of Chinese and Asian descent.

The fact that Abercrombie & Fitch has not taken responsibility for selling racist shirts indicates the company obviously does not understand the issues at hand. Regardless of its specific reasons, the behavior of this massive company indicates racism at the highest levels of its corporate ladder.

Although some of the shirts were pulled from the stores, the company released a statement saying the company "thought Asians would love" the shirts, a blatant indication that the company lacks basic sensitivity toward minority communities. At rallies at Abercrombie & Fitch store in different cities, protesters have been harassed, threatened and racially profiled by security guards. All of these practices are illegal, but somehow it seems a large portion of mainstream America supports the company's racist and illegal practices.

The egregiousness of these products no less than proves that the company's intention was to offend APA communities. The company is not merely stupid or ignorant as many had believed, but it is unquestionably malicious toward communities not in their target market. At best, Abercrombie & Fitch intentionally exploited stereotypes of Asians and APAs to increase foot traffic in their stores out of curiosity; at worst, the company perpetrated racism because they thought insulting a disadvantaged community would be funny.

Not only has Abercrombie & Fitch intentionally offended the APA community, but also continues to mindfully exploit laborers of color - mostly of Asian or Pacific Islander descent. APAREN condemns the company for this practice in Saipan, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific Ocean.

APAREN joins other members of the APA community - including a broad coalition of APA college students - in urging all APAs and decent people not to support Abercrombie & Fitch. Do not purchase their products or visit their website; do not work for an Abercrombie & Fitch franchise. Its actions have not only been morally reprehensible, but also racially motivated, disproportionately affecting Asian and Pacific Islander communities in this country and elsewhere.

A lawsuit filed in federal courts in recent weeks reportedly states that "Abercrombie discriminates against blacks, Hispanics and Asians by enforcing a nationwide corporate policy of preferring white employees for sales positions, desirable jobs and favorable work schedules (Mattei 2003).

The allegations, initiated by nine Hispanic and Asian plaintiffs who were employed by the retailer, claim that the company requires its sales people to exhibit an all-white "A&F look," posts store advertisements that feature mostly white models, and typically hires minorities to work stock room and overnight jobs (Mattei 2003)

According to a reporter (Jacob Anderson).

If you look at the material they put out, they are cultivating an all-white look. It is difficult to understand why, given that their target age demographic is even more heavily minority than the rest of the population, they would choose to do this.

In other words,

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