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When I asked my middle schoolers where they would like to shop, abercrombie is usually at the top of their list. But as a parent, do I want to shop in a store that promotes kids looking like their older college aged counterparts with questionable images,
pricey ripped jeans and tees with “Girl Bait” on them?
While shopping in the store whose target buyer is the cool attractive all-American kid, music blares in the background as you purchase your $50 jeans and $38 moose logo polo shirt from a young “all-American” sales clerk doused in fragrance who you can’t hear just to make your child happy. Which makes me ponder…. Am I mom of the year? or Does this chain have a brilliant marketing strategy? After all, here I am buying and I really don’t want to be here.
I also questioned how a store such as this was fairing in these tough economic conditions. While their competitors are slashing prices to stay afloat, abercrombie is staying the course. Come to find out, the teenage apparel chain has had some of the worst sales declines in the retailing industry. In the last three months Abercrombie & Fitch lost $26.8 million, in contrast to a profit of $62.1 million a year ago.
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Now what are they going to do? Lower the volume in their stores? (I so candidly was told to shop online instead.) Will they change their images to appeal to a broader shopping base? Highly unlikely since CEO, Mike Jeffries wants the stores to have an “emotional experience” which is exclusive to the “good-looking” crowd. 
So the last thing to do is offer up some promotions and discounts for their loyal customers, a tactic A&F refused in order to maintain their high end image until recently. They have announced they will seek better deals from suppliers and pass the savings along to their customers with some more affordable merchandise. In addition, they admitted to missing the trend mark this summer and will be offering more dresses rather than skirts and add colorful and patterned clothing to their lines.
Now, if we can just rally to lower the volume…
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Great insights Tina, I’m curious if most Moms feel this way about the store. For me — I am SO tired of the exact same images on the website, so even shopping on-line to avoid the over-the-top sensory experience in the store is getting old. Seriously… where’s the creativity?
Funny story… we are down here in West Palm Beach and were walking through The Gardens Mall. Since its not our regular mall, we don’t know where all the stores are. BUT.. we could smell abercrombie from about 5 stores away. My husband caught it first, he said “Smell that! There must be an abercrombie ahead” … and, sure enough! We both felt it was very rude and obnoxious for the store to so abruptly interrupt the shopping experience of everyone in the whole mall. Even the kids (who are right in target abercrombie kids market) walked by the store plugging their noses!
Oh my gosh! Just visited abercrombiekids.com and they changed their photos!!! Looks like Back to School Fall shots (maybe a little premature, since its still June – but changed nevertheless!) And, their are decent photos too – no skin. Maybe I wasn’t the only one complaining about their images
I’ve been reading about several discrimination lawsuits against Abercrombie these days, not good. e.g. one store wouldn’t allow an autistic 14 yr. girl’s mother to go in the dressing room with her; An employee who had a prosthetic arm was told to wear long sleeves, but then was determined to be violating their “look policy”; etc. Watch the news – there’s stuff out there practically daily. This store is a terrible role model for our kids and our society. They need to get into the 21st century!
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