INTRODUCTION: Lululemon is a premium sportswear brand founded by snowboarder and surfer Chip Wilson. The company quickly captured markets in North America and became the fourth biggest fashion and luxury brand in 17 years. Despite successful business and marketing strategies and focus on quality, the company made a number of missteps in their marketing and product departments.
IMPACT OF PRODUCT AND MARKETING MISSTEPS The phrase “Who is John Galt” on a new tote bags got the company into trouble The phrase was by author Ayn Rand, known for his outlook of unregulated capitalism Product received negative feedback. against the company’s goodwill Bad impression among its customers- both existing and prospective
Customers complained about black yoga pants which were too sheer. Could be seen through design flaw affected the company’s central business strategy of ‘getting the product right’ Misconduct by the store’s employees. Asked customer to bend over in the pants to prove whether they were see- through (Thomas and Peters 2015) Major blow in customer service and marketing. Discouraging customers from availing company’s services
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IMPORTANCE OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN QUALITY CONTROL Quality control is a vital part of a company’s production department, directly affecting sales. The management of supply chain impacts the quality of the product and the overall profitability of the company If the supply chain quality control is inferior, the likelihood of products to or wear out or get damaged increases before the expiry of warranty (Chen, Zhang and Delaurentis 2014)
STEPS TO PREVENT FURTHER SIMILAR MISTAKES Ensure structural, functional and ethical appropriateness of all products before entering the supply chain No design elements like phrases or symbols should hurt the sentiments and beliefs of customer Strict employee guidelines should be incorporated into the company’s policy. Impose heavy penalty against employee misconduct
IMPACT OF TOXIC CULTURE ON BUSINESS A company’s leadership influences its business, culture and reputation (Eades, 2019) Illicit workplace relationship and misconduct by former CEO Laurent Potdevin left a black mark on the image of the company Attracting negative publicity, affecting the share prices, leaving the company in a toxic environment, which affected work- culture and shared trust between the employees
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CONCLUSION In this report the different marketing and product missteps that Lululemon were identified and analysed to understand how they affected its business-level strategies. Some corrective measures were also discussed to ensure the company did not repeat those missteps.
REFERENCE LIST Chen, C., Zhang, J. and Delaurentis, T., 2014. Quality control in food supply chain management: An analytical model and case study of the adulterated milk incident in China.International Journal of Production Economics,152, pp.188-199. Eades, J. (2019).Research on Hundreds of Companies Showed Toxic Cultures Have These Characteristics. [online] Inc.com. Available at: https://www.inc.com/john-eades/research-on- hundreds-of-companies-showed-that-toxic-cultures-have-these- characteristics.html [Accessed 15 Aug. 2019]. Thomas, J.B. and Peters, C., 2015. Lululemon Athletica and a Series of Bad Marketing Decisions.Journal of Critical Incidents,8, pp.102-05.