As most of the facebook users includeing myself are receiving tons of events invitations every day, the one that actually catches my eyes these days is the grand opening event for Forever 21 on this coming Saturday in Richmond Centre.
Speak of the company itself; it was originally known as Fashion 21, first founded in Los Angeles in 1984 by a South Korean couple Dong-Won Chang and his wife. Their target was initially the Los Angeles Korean-American community; however, people from other ethnicities began noticing the trendy design of the clothes, it became increasingly popular and now Forever 21 is operating in 19 countries around the world.
The Forever 21 Retail Inc. not only sells clothing for women under 21, it also carries men’s apparel, lingerie, shoes and accessories in various brands such as 21Men, Heritage 1981, twelve by twelve, For Love21…etc. Last year, the company even introduced a new product line “Love 21”, a collection of maternity wear which is said to target mainly pregnant teenagers. Apparently, the firm is using a differentiated segmentation strategy to target several market segments with a different offering for each so that bigger share of the market is obtained and the market for their products overall can be increased.
The retail chain targets consumers in various segments with different needs. Among them, tween girls are their biggest target. These young consumers are known to be having significant buying power and strong desire to have the latest fashion accessories. The company has matched its strength of providing trendy products with affordable price with these young consumers’ ability and needs.
Today, the retail chain has been positioned as an affordable trendy brand, with kids, men, and women’s apparel sections inside the stores, where high school and college age shoppers can be found browsing the racks next to career women and moms.