Lululemon
Case Analysis
Lululemon Athletica
Executive Summary
lululemon is an athletic apparel company that gears its merchandise towards yoga. Founded in Vancouver, Canada by Chip Wilson in 1998, the company aligns itself with many of the same values that yoga displays: balance, harmony, and culture. As of July 29, 2012, lululemon owns and operates 189 retail store locations all over the world. In 2007, the company’s owners elected to take the company public. Its initial public offering took place on August 2, 2007, and began trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol LULU and on the Toronto Exchange under the symbol LLL. Currently, lululemon is very successful brand all around the world with its sales per retail square food significantly higher than any other publicly traded apparel retailer. As lululemon’s sales revenues climbed rapid toward $1 billion annually, the company’s stock price had risen from $2.25 per share on March 9, 2009 to close at $64.58 per share on February, 2012. The main ideas are about lululemon’s successful and how long it will last in a competing industry.
The first part of this report displays some characteristic of external environment where lululemon have been doing business. From that point, we will evaluate how external environment affect lululemon. The second part analyze lululemon’s strategy and business model which will answer the questions: how the company reacted with the external environment to gain profitability and are there any problem they have to deal with? From that analysis, we can consider how long the lululemon athletica phenomenon would last and whether the company could carve out a sustainable market position for itself in the fitness and athletic apparel industry against such competing names as Nike, Under Armour, adidas, and Reebok. The last part will be my recommendation for lululemon to enhance its performance and sustain its growth.
I. Introduction
After selling his eight-store surf-, skate-, and
Lululemon Athletica
Executive Summary
lululemon is an athletic apparel company that gears its merchandise towards yoga. Founded in Vancouver, Canada by Chip Wilson in 1998, the company aligns itself with many of the same values that yoga displays: balance, harmony, and culture. As of July 29, 2012, lululemon owns and operates 189 retail store locations all over the world. In 2007, the company’s owners elected to take the company public. Its initial public offering took place on August 2, 2007, and began trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol LULU and on the Toronto Exchange under the symbol LLL. Currently, lululemon is very successful brand all around the world with its sales per retail square food significantly higher than any other publicly traded apparel retailer. As lululemon’s sales revenues climbed rapid toward $1 billion annually, the company’s stock price had risen from $2.25 per share on March 9, 2009 to close at $64.58 per share on February, 2012. The main ideas are about lululemon’s successful and how long it will last in a competing industry.
The first part of this report displays some characteristic of external environment where lululemon have been doing business. From that point, we will evaluate how external environment affect lululemon. The second part analyze lululemon’s strategy and business model which will answer the questions: how the company reacted with the external environment to gain profitability and are there any problem they have to deal with? From that analysis, we can consider how long the lululemon athletica phenomenon would last and whether the company could carve out a sustainable market position for itself in the fitness and athletic apparel industry against such competing names as Nike, Under Armour, adidas, and Reebok. The last part will be my recommendation for lululemon to enhance its performance and sustain its growth.
I. Introduction
After selling his eight-store surf-, skate-, and