SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
Marketing
One of the wide ranges of strengths that Lane Bryant Inc has is in their marketing agenda, is when Lena Bryant did her survey about the wants and needs of woman, along with the practical internal data of the measurements that the consumers had given them. The results of this survey provided a good foundation for the marketing plan that identified their customers and provided them with what the company is looking for retaining loyal customers.
At present time the focus of marketing is about the same as it has always been, which includes product identification, the right pricing, doing promotions, and the right location; this particular form of procedure has been improving over time and have been incorporated with today’s marketing quality. Lane Bryant is now selling merchandise that the consumers are wanting and are accustom to seeing in stores. Lane Bryant’s product strategy is providing products that are easily recognized as the Lane Bryant brands. According to Lane Bryant’s web site, “The company has partnered with Spanx, Bali, Goddess, and Seven7 jeans as a retail distributor for these third-party brands (Lane Bryant, 2018). Lane Bryant is working hard to continue to focus on keeping cost as low as possible for the merchandize to make the items as affordable for all women regardless of what size they may wear. One way to accomplish this goal is to offer discount coupons to consumers along with discount and reward coupons through Lane Bryant’s credit cards. Promotions are in various forms such as printed ads in popular magazines, television commercials, social media accounts, and through our sales associates. One of companies best advertisers are our sales associates. By talking with the consumers on what they are looking for, and what their wants and needs are.
Technology
Lane Bryant focuses on being a number one fashion advanced discoverer. In 2001, Lane Bryant was the leader in the fashion world and successfully brought to the world the 3-D imaging. According to Kurt Peters, Lane Bryant was the first in fashion to install the 3-D virtual model technology on the web site (Peters, 2001). According to Funding, “The My Virtual Model that was made public in 2001, gave the customers a glimpse of what the clothing would look like by creating a 3-D image and the perfect opportunity to see how an outfit looks and feels” (Funding, 2004). This imaging allows the consumers to have a close up look of how an outfit would look especially on them. The reaction to this imaging from the consumer had a very positive effect. According to Kurt Peters that any consumer that tried the new 3-D imaging of online clothes fitting technology would receive a coupon for in store use. This coupon increased sales purchases 233%, and on-line purchases 66% higher (Peters, 2001).
Customers that did use the new mobile apps were allowed to find what they wanted quickly and where able to find answers to any questions without a lot of hassle. According to Jonathan Lacoste, “regardless of the reason, if it was part of a wish list, or looking for a very special item, the consumer was able to receive recommendations for what they should wear with it” (Lacoste, 2016). The consumer would have information at their fingertips explaining the item. This app was also used to make the checkout process quick and easy that possesses the company credit card. The mobile app allowed the consumers to find other objects, do shopping, make credit card payments, and also have access to any coupons and special offers. The drawbacks are the user friendliness of the phones; however Lane Bryant is in the process of listening carefully to its customers, and coming up with a correction to the multiple problems and issues with the app, since it is a fairly new addition.
Ethics
Employees at Lane Bryant Inc are their most important asset and the company cares about each team member who works for them. They also expect any third party that work with the company to give their employees the same care. Lane Bryant Inc. along with their affiliates makes a effort to insure that the products that are produced are done in a socially responsible manner. By going further, Lane Bryant makes sure that “all our product vendors are bound by contracts to abide by all applicable employment and human rights laws, and the companies “Code of Conduct”, which emphasizes the importance of well-treated, fairly compensated workers. In addition Lane Bryant has a monitoring and compliance program” (Monitoring Program), which seeks to promote the maintenance of quality and safety standards in our manufacturing facilities and compliance with our Code of Conduct” (Lane Bryant, 2015). The corporation constantly monitors the supply chain for any risks to the industry or location and activates their own Monitory Program investigations. The monitoring Program includes “Vendor/Factory Certification Agreements, Verification of Supply Chain and Auditing of the Suppliers, Accountability/Vendor Non-Compliance, and Training (Lane Bryant, 2015).
Diversity
Lane Bryant is not only very appealing, but also a very gratifying organization to be a part of. Employees enjoy going to work every day and being able to help an individual fell like a “VIP”, and leave the store with a happy smile on their faces. So often a woman will go into a store not looking for a pleasant experience especially in the clothing industry. The customer is convinced that they are not going to find anything that they can wear that looks idea on them. The sales personnel at Lane Bryant Inc. are trained to help the consumer to find just that ideal fit. Regardless of what the consumer is looking for whether it be under garments or a business suit, the employees listen to what the customer are saying and reacting to the item. By listening carefully to what the customer is vocalizing the associate can tell exactly what to help the consumer pick out and what the store has to offer them. All of the associates carry with them a tape measure to insure the customer is obtaining the correct outfit along with the correct size. In this way the customer able to get the proper fitting size, along with the choices of garments, and are given an explanation of the different styles available to them. Work out clothing discussions would entail exactly what the physical activity the consumer will be using the clothing for. One thing will be how comfortable the item is to wear. Our associates are passionate about how to respect our customers at Lane Bryant Inc.
Recruiting employees for Lane Bryant is made through the company’s website, social media accounts and word of mouth. Job openings are posted not only on the company website, but also on such sites such as Careerbuilder.com, Careerbliss.com, and Indeed.com. On these sites the job descriptions make it clear exactly what Lane Bryant is looking for and that is a passion for fashion and sales positions are all about the product, the placement, and the customer (Indeed.com (2016). The job openings are also listed on LinkedIn.com, where there are employees on the site to offer any assistance with any questions. Employees are also recruited simply by word of mouth, loyal customers see the passion of the team members and the level of commitment to help customers and become interested in working someplace where they can make a difference to someone.
The demographics of Lane Bryant’s team base is mainly women; however there are many males that also work for the company. Looking at the career page on the company video the team base is diverse in the roles that the individuals fulfill (Lane Bryant, 2016). This video also shows men as sales associates, team members of every size and ethnicity.
Finance
The Lane Bryant Inc. is owned and operated by Ascena Retail Group, that do own many other clothing companies that include Ann Incorporated the and the Loft are owned and operated by Ann Taylor, Maurices Incorporated, Catherines Incorporated, along with the Dress Barn are all owned by Ascena. All of the above stores do sell the women’s plus size garments deal with the women’s plus size or have a special section in the stores that are devoted to just the plus size line.
The fiscal year for the parent company Ascena Retail Group begins and ends in July. Lane Bryant’s net sales have been increasing over the last several years past. In 2015 they were $1,080 million, in 2016 they were $1,095.9 million, and in 2017 they were $1,130.3 million. The sales figures shown above are somewhat smaller in comparison to what could be Lane Bryant’s potential were expected to be. Linsey Carman commented that Plus-size women sizes sales were up 17% since the year 2013, making the new business worth of Lane Bryant $20 billion today” (Carman, 2017). Even with these figures there is still room for growth in expansion and sales. Carman also stated “for the past years, plus-size apparel sales have exceeded total women’s clothing sales (Carman, 2017). Lane Bryant Incorporated would still need to take full advantage of any of these opportunities to capitalize when it comes to gaining more of the market shares.
Looking at Lane Bryant’s operating income is bouncing back after showing a loss of $308 million in 2015. In 2016 they did show a gain of $20.6 million. The operating income losses of $308 million was due to the result of Lane Bryant Inc. of their goodwill and intangible assets being marked down to fair values. With this reduction in net income meant that Lane Bryant stores were well overvalued, however, over time they should regain all of the value back with the global expansions.
Lane Bryant has been increasing in the number of stores it is operating. In 2016 the number of stores went up to 7, and in 2015 there was a net loss of 5. With consideration that the sales growth of each pf the stores would depend on the quality of the products availability when they were being offered. Using the most effective method of advertising has brought an increase in consumers from around the world and will help to increase the share of the market.