Lululemon's Public Relations Crisis

This assignment examines Lululemon's handling of a public relations crisis sparked by derogatory comments made about female customers. It analyzes the company's response, discusses potential strategies for addressing the situation and future growth, and explores the strengths of Lululemon's organizational culture. The document delves into topics like product quality, customer experience, competitive landscape, and the company's financial position.

Running head: BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Business Administration
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 What is the value proposition for Lululemon? Is a shift warranted?
Lululemon initially wanted to offer something very unique to the customers that no other
brands had ever provided earlier. Their main objective was to provide the customers with
something that would give them immense fun and satisfaction. They wanted to provide a long,
healthier and a fun filled life for their customers. They also wanted to fill a gap that was present
in the athletic market of women. So, they wanted to provide their women customers with good
quality athletic products. However, soon after they opened several new outlets particularly for
women athletic wear, there were several problems with the yoga pants of women (Sousa, 2016).
The women customers were not really very happy with the quality. Even when, this problem was
considered, they were not happy with the behavior of the staffs. Even when the company
apologized for their faults, women customers were unhappy because they thought that they were
not really getting what they want. Though Lululemon had set up many new outlets for their
women customers, there was still this complaint that they were not really finding what they were
looking for. So, Lululemon must make sure that if they are trying to develop products for their
women customers, then they must make sure that the women customers are getting equal
respects and opportunities both in terms of the quality and quantity of products and also in terms
of respect from the staffs of the company.
 What should Lululemon do to address the public relations firestorm?
Lululemon had made a huge mistake by posting some very vulgar and insulting comments
about the women customers saying that not every woman has a fit body to wear their products.
So, this was really taken as a highly resented comment by all the customers. This comment had
taken the entire social media by storm. So, making such comments about the figure of their

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women customers was really very unfortunate and disgraceful. Chip Wilson being a founder
must not have made such derogatory comments. Though he apologized later, there was not even
a single mention about the bad and hurtful comments that he had made about the women
customers. So, in order to deal with all these problems, it is n necessary for Lululemon to make
some efforts that would show their real apology towards women. They must take responsibility
for holding some interviews and casting it either through television or through YouTube
channels so that they can convey to all their female customers that they are really shameful for
what they have done. They can also compensate their female customers by providing them better
quality products at a much lower or affordable price. They can also offer several free gifts along
with the actual purchases by their female customers (Chikovani, 2018).
 How is the company doing? Describe Lululemon's strategy, and comment on its
performance?
Lululemon started their venture with a very new, innovative and unique idea. They
wanted to give their customers something new and something exciting that had not been
provided by any of the other brands prior to this. They wanted to provide some very unique
products to the customers that would give them a fun-filled and healthy life. Their main
strategy was to fill the gap that was present in the female athletic products market. So, they
opened up several new stores for their female customers. However, Chip Wilson the founder
of this company had made several derogatory comments on social media platforms like face
book, about the female figures when there was a complaint regarding the quality of the
product. Though he was apparently apologetic on behalf of the whole company he did not
take any such measures to compensate the female customers for the insult that they had to
suffer (Horvath, 2016). So, they have to be really careful about their Public Relations in the

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near future. They have to be very alert about their comments and the way they are handling
their customers. They have to be very careful about their comments that they are reflecting
on social media. Apart from this, they will also have to find out several strategies that will
help them combat their competitors (Chikovani, 2018). There was also a complaint from
their customers that they are not getting sufficient variety of products. If they want to survive
in the athletic product company, then they will have to extend their varieties of products.
They must adopt several strategies like finding out new and innovative products that would
really attract the attention of customers. They can extend their production and find out
strategies for improvement both in terms of the quality and quantity as well. There can be a
demand in the recent future regarding Lululemon shoes along with Lululemon athletic wears.
In other words, they must adopt several strategies that would enable them to create superior
quality products in the recent future that would help them to satisfy their customers.
 How should Lululemon evaluate its different growth options?
One of the most important ways by which Lululemon can evaluate its growth is by
considering the number of people around the globe who are becoming health conscious day by
day. It is based on this evaluation, that they can design products. The growing and changing
American culture has also given a major boost to the growth of this company, as wearing casuals
have become highly popular almost everywhere (Zehndorfer, 2015).
 What are the strengths of the Lululemon organizational culture?
The major areas of strength of this company are that they provide superior quality products
that suit the interest of their targeted customers like the high-income group, health-conscious
women. Though this company has to keep pace along with the recent trends in the market and

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make some additions in their price, at the same time, they make sure that they deliver the best
quality products. They make use of all the modern technological methods to deliver superior
quality products and thus, charge high price from their customers. The strength of Lululemon is
that their financial base is quite good and they can make use of this finance for expanding the
quality and quantity of their products to give a strong competition to their competitors.

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References
Chikovani, A. (2018). Building the successful customer experience for competitive advantage
(based on example of Lululemon company).
Chikovani, A. (2018). Building the successful customer experience for competitive advantage
(based on example of Lululemon company).
Horvath, N. (2016). The Role of Language in the Creation and Development of Corporate
Culture: A Case Study of the Lululemon Culture.
Sousa, S. (2016). Lust for Lulu: An Examination of Lululemon Athletica's Marketing
Authenticity and Branding.
Zehndorfer, E. (2015). Charismatic leadership: The role of charisma in the global financial
crisis. Routledge.