Abercrombie and Fitch, the innovative retailer affectionately known as A&F, has been described in many colorful ways.

Boring in not one of them!!

With a new 2015 year maturing and speeding towards early teens, A&F is set to captivate a young audience with style and energy.

They say as much in their Mission statement. “We are committed to providing comfortable and long lasting clothes that look good”

Marketing concepts come and go but one thing that is consistent is that they are constantly in need of innovation, enhancement and energetic youthful infusion.

The concept of their product is to provide the target market which are males and females between the ages of 14 and 20 years old clothing that allows them to be comfortable and casual while still looking stylish and trendy and maintaining a sense of a luxurious lifestyle.

The teen oriented retailer is reportedly switching from targeting teenagers to focusing more on college students with new marketing, merchandising and prices. Additionally, the company’s Hollister brand is seeking an expansive role in the fast fashion space.

Their plans call for a sharper focus on the college market. This is a group as a whole that is likely to demonstrate more brand loyalty than younger teens.

This speaks well to Female Competition International’s (FCI) young athletic female readers who work hard at their sport but have plenty of time for fun.

As we get closer to our dignified female wrestling events that will take place in a regal Dojo, some reminders might be in order.

Our shows will present excitement that has never been seen before. The attire will be similar to volleyball with virtually no skin up top to provide plenty of room for bright designs bursting with color and aggression similar to what we see on the boy’s side at NCAA football games.

In addition, our events come alive with girls who compete in virtually any indoor sport that can be performed in a Dojo like cheerleading routines, heart stopping dance numbers, breath taking ballet, acrobatic gymnastics and of course accelerated, competitive female wrestling.

Nothing would wrap it up in a neon ribbon better than an entrancing singer who can amp things up or cascade feelings down with a tune of calm.

Have you had a chance to take another look at Ambercrombie and Fitch lately?

The retailer is turning to social media to update its image, working with fashion bloggers and teens with huge followings on Instagram to incorporate Abercrombie products into their posts. The company itself posts more than 300 times a week to social media sites.

Abercrombie & Fitch hired tech firm First Insight Inc. to help the global retailer better understand its shopper. First Insight’s technology utilizes online data to determine which products are best for a retailer to offer. The idea is that Abercrombie & Fitch could potentially eliminate some sagging promotions by understanding which products are most popular in product categories.

That is good news. Recent market trends show the need for continual company self-reflection and consumer analysis.

Research indicates that younger consumers have changed since the 1990s and early 2000s. Some of that was due to the severe recession. Now being stylish can mean being thrifty as well.

Today’s retailers current generation of young customers also now curate their own look. Rather than wearing everything from one brand, they will pair cheap shoes and T-shirts with expensive jeans and jackets, for example.

A&F decided to rethink the brand’s marketing strategy. It partners with various fashion bloggers and teens who post images of their Abercrombie products on Instagram to help promote the brand online. The store’s dark, loud nightclub atmosphere has disappeared as window blinds were taken down to help create a more inviting, rather than exclusive, look.

Their retail stores are now experimenting with window displays for the first time. Abercrombie is also replacing the posters of shirtless male models with images and mannequins modeling their clothes.

These innovative changes are just the beginning of its rebranding project.

Abercrombie & Fitch, 1800Flowers, Netflix, Ancestry.com and Fanatics beat the five-click-to-purchase average on retailers’ mobile sites with only two clicks to make a purchase, according to a recent report from LightningBuy.

The “Mobile Commerce Conversion Index” ranked merchants on how likely it is that a consumer will complete a transaction from the merchant’s mobile Web site. Twenty-eight of the top 100 Internet retailers did not even have a mobile commerce-enabled site, and some company’s websites required as many as nine clicks to complete a purchase.

The more clicks a manufacturer requests from potential buyers, the higher chance they will abandon the purchasing process.

FCI views partnering with us and our readers as taking a positive step to help honor a social responsibility. The current professional women’s wrestling environment presents three options for a woman to compete and receive compensation. The choices are to engage in extreme eroticism, MMA cage violence or circus like Diva characters in the lady pro squared circle.

Without judging the other options that are available in a free society, with FCI, the fourth option is to wrestle at a Dojo, funded by corporate advertisers in dignified attire where your family, friends and business associates may attend.

Abercrombie & Fitch speaks to their social responsibility at anfcares.org. “Abercrombie & Fitch and our associates believe in supporting the communities where we do business. We are committed to being an exemplary philanthropic citizen by giving back and making a positive impact in our communities.”

They engage in important charitable initiatives as well. “We are proud of our donations to two nationally renowned hospitals located near our corporate campus in the Columbus, Ohio area:

Nationwide Children’s Hospital

The gift to Nationwide Children’s Hospital will help fund a new emergency room and trauma center for one of the busiest pediatric emergency rooms in the United States. A&F has donated $6 million to date with a total commitment of $10 million.

The Ohio State University Hospital/The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital of The Ohio State University

The gift to The Ohio State University Hospital/The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital of The Ohio State University will support research and patient care initiatives in digestive diseases and women’s oncology. A&F has raised $5 million to date with a total commitment of $10 million.”

It was nice to get a closer look at one of the world’s most dynamic retailers. Since their inception A&F have been trail blazers and we are certain the best is yet to come.

~ ~ ~

Sources:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abercrombie_%26_Fitch_store_in_New_York_City.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Abercrombie_%26_Fitch_store_in_New_York_City.jpg

http://abercrombiemar100.blogspot.com/p/marketing-plan.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-05-22/abercrombie-and-fitch-tries-to-win-teens-back-from-online-retail

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-a-brand-loses-its-cool-and-what-it-should-do-to-get-it-back-2014-11

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2014/10/26/back-to-cool.html

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/abercrombie-fitch-aims-to-recoup-losses-with-new-loyalty-merchandising-strategy

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/abercrombie-1800flowers-lead-the-way-with-fewest-clicks-to-purchase-on-mobile

Femcompetitor.com subscribes to fciwomenswrestling.com news source, no affiliation.

Sources: brainyquote.com, Wikipedia, fciwomenswrestling.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com, FCI Elite Competitor, https://femcompetitor.com, photos thank you Wikimedia Commons.