Dear tutor need help, please Case Study, Exam: Lululemon faces competition in the sports clothing market

The degree to which the Athletic Leisure Clothing market has evolved since the startup days of Lululemon Athletica Inc. can be observed in a busy neighborhood of Toronto. Toronto-based Michi, started six years ago by Michelle Watson and it has become high-end competition for Lululemon.

Ardith, opened by Miranda Bryden in January 2015 is spare in presentation and clear-headed in its objective: to offer what Bryden calls "gym to the street" fashion in a boutique setting.

It's the lines Bryden carries that must keep Lululemon designers worried. From London's Lucas Hugh laser-cut leggings (the brand is renowned for its high-end technical wearand it gained considerable media coverage for designing the training gear for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) to the designed-and-manufactured-in-Toront o Michi line, which somehow manages to blend allure, empowerment and athletic prowess.

It's worth noting that Michi is one of the lines carried by Bandier, the new retailer that has caught the notice of Forbes magazine for its high-end multi-brand incursion into athletic wear, or maybe street wear. The growing chain is run by a woman, Jennifer Bandier.

In a New York Times interview last week, Bandier was described as a fitness-wear seeker who wanted her clothes "to be as stylish as the Frame Denim and Isabel Marant she prefers." Bandier carries Lucas Hugh, with its careful detailing and sometimes-stratospheric prices. The line's Nordica leggings are priced at $420 (U. S). At Ardith, Lucas Hugh pants start at $220 and top out at $320 for its "spark" print pant, made from custom fabric. To complete their strategy, Michi promotes its product line using advertising commercials with several Social Media players.

"Our customers are busy women with busy schedules," Lucas Hugh founder Anjhe Mules told the Telegraph last year in addressing the pricing issue. "They are committed exercisers who'd spend that much on a pair of jeans, but actually they wear their gym gear more."

Miranda Bryden digs into other aspects of this building upheaval in the market — let's call it the luxury fitness-wear market. Fabric sourcing. Milling. Place of manufacture. "It's another consideration for people carefully considering their environment when buying," Bryden says..

What does all this mean for Lululemon? Not all that long ago, Lululemon with their Yoga pants was deemed the strongest supplier of yoga wear using premium prices, selling through their own retail stores and advertising in sports magazine and Television commercials. In the past decade, that market has become increasingly fractured, with Lululemon finding itself somewhere in the middle, having lost something of its high-end image in the market. Among the competitors of Lululemon, Yogasmoga who last week declared that his company, with its absolute superior product line was going to be "better than Lululemon, just more authentic." Then there's Prana, Lol, Zobha. And Under Armour. Faced with this strong competition Lululemon is planning to introduce a new line of sports jackets in order to keep growing.

Question # 1

Describe the complete Marketing Strategy ( 4p's and Target market) that Lululemon had been using. Use specific information from the case in order to answer this question

Question # 2

Has Lululemon lost its positioning in the market? DISCUSS, supporting your answer by using specific information from the case.

Question # 3

Explain which Strategic Alternative for growth will Lululemon use in order to keep growing in general as a company? (Support your answer with information in the case)

Question # 4 Which kind of Competitive Advantage does Yogasmoga seem to have? ( support your answer from specific information contained in the case.