American Eagle Outfitters Marketing Mix (4Ps) & Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategy of American Eagle Outfitters through marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion).
American Eagle Outfitters Product Strategy:
American Eagle Outfitters is one of the leading apparel and clothing brands in the world. Target segment of the company is 15 years to 25 years old men and women. Thus, the product offerings are trendy and high quality. The product range in the marketing mix of American Eagle Outfitters includes sweater, graphic T-shirts, fleece, outwears and accessories. These products are categorised into Men’s wear, Women’s wear, Mena’s Jeans, Women Jean’s, Swimwear, Lingerie, and Tailgate. American Eagle Outfitters design their merchandise which is then manufactured in outsourced factories all of which are non-American and are mostly based out of Asia. AEO deploys strict quality control inspection at distribution centre for incoming merchandise shipment and at manufacturing facility to identify quality issues prior to shipment. Aries line of products include lingerie, activewear, dorm-wear and personal care products. American Eagle Outfitters targets 15 years to 25 years old girls and offers trendy products. 77 Kids line of product offerings are for the kids of ages 2-12 years with focus on 7 years to 12 years old kids. The product offerings are casual clothing and accessories.
Image: company website
This concludes the product strategy in American Eagle Outfitters marketing mix & strategy.
American Eagle Outfitters Price/Pricing Strategy:
Below is the pricing strategy in American Eagle Outfitters marketing mix strategy:
American Eagle Outfitters stands for providing quality and trendy products at affordable pricing. Thus, standing by its motto it does a balanced pricing in its marketing mix of its product.
According to Forbes, the average estimate for American Eagle Outfitters in 2012 stood at $25 which was about 25% premium on average market price for the similar product. However, its price mark-ups were lesser than the brands like Victoria Secret in comparable categories. The company follows product line pricing thus segmenting its product into opening priced tier, mid-priced tier, and high-priced tier. American Eagle Outfitters’s strategy is not to give heavy discount on clothing as it changes the perception about the brand in the consumer mind space and they do not want to pay the full price forcing drastic discounts as a norm for the brand. American Eagle Outfitters provide clearance sale regularly where it does provide slight discount for eliminating excess inventory. This helps company in stocking less thus bringing overall inventory management cost down. Also, because of regular clearance company can update its collection frequently on which it charges premium.
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American Eagle Outfitters Place & Distribution Strategy:
Following is the distribution strategy in the American Eagle Outfitters marketing mix:
American Eagle Outfitters has retail stores located in shopping malls, lifestyle centres and street locations in USA, Canada, Mexico, China, and Hong Kong. As of 2017 AEO has over 1050 stores in these locations. In United States alone company has more than 800 stores. Company owned Aerei brand of stores are present in USA and Canada. Apart from company owned stores, the company also license its merchandise to be sold at third party stores. As of January 2017, American Eagle Outfitters merchandise are being sold at 170+ locations in 20+ countries which include countries in East Asia like Japan and South Korea, Middle East countries like Israel and Qatar, South East Asian countries like Singapore and Thailand, and Latin American countries like Guatemala. American Eagle Outfitters sells it product through digital channel which is referred as American Eagle Outfitters direct. The company sells its product through “ae.com”, “aerie.com” and American Eagle Outfitters mobile apps in 81 countries.
Its brand for kids, “77 kids” line of products is only available through American Eagle Outfitters direct channel.
American Eagle Outfitters Promotion & Advertising Strategy:
The promotional and advertising strategy in the American Eagle Outfitters marketing mix is as follows:
American Eagle Outfitters follows 36o degree integrated marketing plan which include advertising using TV commercial, advertising on mobile phones, and using social media partners for promotion of brand. American Eagle Outfitters uses real life stories and models without any makeup to bring authenticity to its fashion wardrobe offerings. Its ad not only feature women but also focus on men clothing which most of the competitors do not focus. Given, the trendy teen segment it targets the variety becomes a key factor for the preference of clothing brands like American Eagle Outfitters, hence to keep strong its brand perception AEO focuses on increasing the variety and latest fashion contents in each consumer segment offerings. American Eagle Outfitters spends on CSR activities to build relationship with community. It uses social media platforms like Pinterest to advertise its CSR activities. American Eagle Outfitters awards which recognises and displays amazing achievement of suppliers and contractors in clothing industry builds its bond with designers stronger and create a buzz which influence brand recall in consumer mind space. Hence, this completes the marketing mix of American Eagle Outfitters.
About American Eagle Outfitters:
American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) is an American clothing, accessories, and personal care products retailer. The first of its retail stores was opened in 1977 in Michigan, United States. It was originally founded as a subsidiary company of Retail Ventures Inc. In 1989 the its founders sold of other businesses to focus on retail chain. It is headquartered at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. AEO has three subsidiaries namely “Aerie”, “77 kids” and “Martin+Osa”. Martin+Osa which targeted men of age between 28 to 40 has been closed in 2010. The company has an annual revenue of US$3 billion in 2016-17.
It reported an annual increase of sales by 3% in 2016 compared to previous years. Arie line of products have shown greater growth of around 32% in 2016 over previous year.
Browse marketing strategy and 4Ps analysis of more brands similar to American Eagle Outfitters. The Marketing Mix & Strategy section covers 4Ps and 7Ps of more than 800 brands in 2 categories.
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