In response to blog entry by Harnoor Gill “Too Fat for Lululemon“. I agree with his argument about this issue and I wish to elaborate on this news about the (dis)connection between customer relationship, of what is demanded by Lululemon’s customer segments, with Lululemon’s value proposition through their products.
Thursday, Nov 7th, Lululemon founder and chairman Chip Wilson blamed the company’s customers for the retailer’s product issues. He argues that some women bodies actually do not work for Lululemon products.
One example is the Full-on Luon pants, a generation of pants which took two years to develop and was launched in July with positive reviews. Through this product Lululemon hoped that it will remind guests of its ability to make great products, however, Lululemon yet faces another round of complaints.
The SVP of Design and Creation of Lululemon comments that Lululemon’s size range does not harmonize with North American standards. Lululemon purposely avoid vanity sizing and suggests their pants to be the “denim of the yoga world”, which means that the styles are very much dependent on the customers’ body shapes, sizes as well as their athletic activities.
Lululemon is very confident in their design approach; to market their products, they inform store guests about their products’ materials and fabric as well as their specific uses. There exist a confrontation between Lululemon’s brand image through their products being fitted for specific bodily sizes and uses, and their customer’s complaints on how the designs are too sheer; this conveys the disconnection between customers and their knowledge of what is offered by Lululemon through the products, portraying the absence of effective customer communication and relationship.
“Lululemon’s Failure to Communicate.” Fortune Management Career Blog RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2013. <http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/11/08/lululemon-chip-wilson/?iid=A_L_News>.
With references with key terms from Class 8 Brand Positioning and Value Proposition