Urban Outfitters Case Study

Structure

URBAN OUTFITTERS offers an alternative vision of retail. Its customers choose it for daring to offer something authentically different. With a creative, individual and progressive voice, Urban Outfitters champions youth culture and new ideas. It is a lifestyle retailer dedicated to inspiring customers through a unique combination of product, creativity and cultural understanding. Founded in 1970 in a small space across the street from the University of Pennsylvania, Urban Outfitters now operates over 200 stores in the United States, Canada and Europe, offering experiential retail environments and a well-curated mix of women’s, men’s, accessories and home product assortments. The company URBN is run by a board of directors and corporate officers. Each retail brand has their own president who sits on the board.

Merchandising segment

 The idea of Urban Outfitters’ being a place for likeminded creative individuals and as a creation of community spaces continues today. They share their customers’ interests and values, representing community at all times by offering inclusion in social media, events, community involvement, and entrepreneurial opportunities. Offering a mix of in-house and branded product and covering apparel, accessories and shoes, UO Women’s provides a fashion destination for customers who define their own sense of style. “We say that this is the customer you want to have at a dinner table. She’s an optimist. She’s aware of what’s going on in the world, but she chooses to focus on the positives, not the negatives … She shops at J.Crew, she shops at Nordstrom, she shops at boutiques … She may go to Banana Republic for a basic pant, but she’s not buying her wardrobe there. She’s not shopping at Ann Taylor. She’s certainly not shopping at Chico’s.” — Former Urban Outfitters CEO Glen Senk, November 2011

 With a focus on lifestyle and culture, UO Men’s presents a continuously updated mix of premium basics and on-trend fashion pieces, featuring denim, exclusive collaborations, limited edition sneakers, graphics and accessories. Because music has always been central to the Urban Outfitters brand, UO Music uniquely combines curation and a sense of discovery while offering a wide assortment of vinyl, cassettes, electronics and accessories. UO Home continues the mission of the very first Urban Outfitters store, offering bedding, home textiles, décor, furniture and gifts that feel relevant in the context of our customers’ lives.

Marketing segment

Apparel retailer Urban Outfitters, Inc. is dominating the segment with its social media strategy. The social media is an area where the company is seeing tremendous customer growth and audience engagement. The company's engagement on Snapchat is a leading example of what it's doing right with social media. Urban Outfitters' Snapchat viewership is increasing 25% month over month. Urban Outfitters was the most prolific brand on the platform, posting 458 snaps," 83% of which featured video content. The company also invites users to explore new products and can measure which items are popular by number of screenshots. Another social realm the company is flourishing in is Instagram. Urban Outfitters' Instagram followers exceeded the 5 million mark during the second quarter 2017, increasing 65% over the prior year. The company is now capturing over 200,000 new followers a month. In terms of marketing, their visual merchandising is a huge tool they incorporate to sell their items. In any storefront you visit, there are well set up displays of clothing and furniture that allow you to visualize a way that you could incorporate that style into your lifestyle. This is a large draw for young adults since our generation is such a visual, hands on consumer group. Urban Outfitters really has proven that they are reaching out to their target market by being one of the first retailers to employ social media as a marketing tool. By creating a Twitter and Facebook, the company is able to keep better track of how their consumers are spending their free time instead of through magazine advertisements and mail coupons, etc.

Target Market

Urban Outfitters has been incredibly successful in reaching their targeted market. Whether consumers like the style of the store or not, all groups of individuals know what they sell and what type of consumers shop there, and that is successful marketing. They have found a large enough group of buyers in order to make a profit, however their niche is still small in comparison to the total population allowing for fewer competitors and easier positioning in the market. The biggest asset to Urban Outfitters in recent years has been their use of social media, as talked about previously. They have learned how to use untraditional marketing in a way that is not overwhelming to their consumers but still gets the recognition they desire and creates the important relationship between the consumer and the brand. Urban outfitters target customer is more likely to be an 18 to 28 year old, college students / young adults. Customers at Urban Outfitters are a directional crowd, interweaving indie and pop culture with vintage sensibilities to create a look that often differs radically from what might be considered "trendy". Buyers combine fashion forward own-brand pieces and off-the-wall streetwear labels with affordable designer diffusion ranges in a haven for early adopters. "Our customers are experimental, They mix own-brand items with vintage items from our 'remade' section, and brands from our boutique section. They want unique pieces that you don't find in other stores – we are very influenced by vintage finds and I think that is key to our handwriting." - Becki Clark, womenswear buying manager.