Thumb Holes are Genius

Hi.  My name is Laura and I am a lululemon addict. I clearly remember, a few years ago, when this was not the case.  I heard about lululemon from my lady bosses.  They raved and raved about it while once in a while commenting how expensive it was.  The fact that the word expensive came out of the mouths of my bosses who probably made 3 times as much as I did was the only deterrent that stopped me from running immediately to the store and try on the "most amazing fitting and comfortable pants that make your butt look awesome."   Miraculous pants below: 

A few years went by, I moved jobs, got into Bikram yoga and this lululemon brand made in appearance again.  All I saw in yoga class was women AND men wearing clothing with the teeny, weeny, infamous lululemon logo:

 That tiny dot, lululemon logo, on those pants (and on any of their clothing) is the only overt reference to the brand you'll find.
   

And the love rang out in the locker rooms for this brand.  People had bags, pants, shorts, tops, mats, pretty much anything they made and were continually going back for more.  Now, I the studio I was doing Bikram in was in Irvine, CA a very affluent suburb of Orange County so of course my thinking went back to well this people can afford it.  I mean they all live in multi-million dollar homes.  Then I became close friends with the studio owner and all the teachers and all they raved about was lululemon.  Apparently, I wasn't going to escape this brand regardless of how much I tried.  So, I finally gave in and went and I did confirm the prices for their items were outrageous coming from the fact that I was accustomed to buying all my workout clothes at outlets and T.J. Maxx.  Then the very convincing sales woman at the store persuaded me to try some of their stuff on and let me tell you it was love at first try on.  Long story short: I came out with about 2 bag fulls of clothes I thought were way out of my price range.  The rumors were true, the fit of the clothes couldn't have been better if I had them custom made.  Actually working out in them was even better because apparently lululemon had thought of all the small nuisances that often irks you about workout clothing AND added even more genius details, like thumb holes (for the sake of keeping your sleeves down and hands warm!!!!)  So who is lululemon and why are all the women so gaga over it?  

lululemon, for those who don’t know, is a clothing store that makes mainly workout clothing and has been vastly successful with a cult like following.  While it’s a tiny brand (about 100 retail stores around the world) I believe they’ve done a great job on how they’ve handled themselves as a brand.  lululemon is much more than just your typical clothing or typical retail store for the following reasons: 

HISTORY
A little history on how the brand began:  Chip Wilson, the founder, was a fan of yoga himself because he felt it helped him stay fit and limber for squash and several other sports. But when he looked around the almost entirely female class, all of whom were wearing men’s clothing but in a smaller cut, he saw an opportunity and began designing women’s yoga clothing.  Today the products have expanded to men and other sports. 

DESIGN

I believe the love at first sight happens with the trial of the clothing because of how its designed.  To say these clothing are designed well is an understatement and every person in love with the brand can confirm.  Not only do the clothes fit like a glove they actually make you look better!  They are meticulous in their design methods.   User feedback is key to the design of its clothing, and so lululemon garments are designed by athletes, for athletes. It doesn’t offer sponsorships per se, but each store provides a select few people from a variety of sports—in different age categories and with varying abilities with clothes in exchange for their views on how each item performs.

The company also holds design meetings in every city where it has a retail presence to get its designers up to speed with that market, what’s being asked for, and what people are wearing. Its people also want to know what competitive offerings are popular. To carry the close connection with its customers one step further, every member of the company’s executive team works one day a week on the sales floor.

In addition to its ambassadors (unique individuals in our store communities who embody the lululemon lifestyle and live their culture), lululemon also lends its support to local athletic communities by providing an R&D (research and development) discount for anybody who is a certified yoga instructor, personal trainer or coach.  “We know a lot of these people. Sometimes it’s not the most lucrative position, but they’re the ones wearing our clothes eight hours a day.”

This mountain of firsthand information helps lululemon continue to be at the forefront of innovation. For example, it recently added silver the metal, not the color as a material (up to seven percent) in nine different pieces of its lineup.

Celebrities wearing lululemon gear

WARNING: MORE LULULEMON LOVE
When I ran my marathon I went into lululemon looking for appropriate clothing for the big day and the reason they ended up selling me into, what I thought was a way overpriced T-shirt is all the design elements that they had built into the shirt.  Now it may look like any other t-shirt but the way it was built & designed (lightweight seamless knit with mesh venting in high sweat areas, Silverescent for anti-stink * anti-static, body shaping with loose fit and long length, seam free to reduce chafing, Lycra for shape retention, wicking)  told me that not only had they thought about everything use wise(how I would use it, what the usual problems are for women and wearing t-shirts to work out in, running for long periods of time, the aesthetic likes of women, etc) but because of it I’d have better running performance overall.  This shirt was a TOTAL SOLUTION for my event as well as future trainings. 

RETAIL
lululemon isn’t just offering up top-of-the-line clothing, it’s selling a way of life and I believe because of this, this is why the people keep coming back to the brand.  They’re looking at lululemon to not only buy their products but to embrace the lifestyle they promote (again they are promoting TOTAL SOLUTIONS, a holistic view on your health vs. just focusing on the clothing itself and the performance aspects as a Nike or Adidas store might do) which ultimately builds more value in the product and the brand.   

As much as a year before it opens in a new market, it sends missionaries to attend every yoga and exercise class they can find, sniffing out and befriending the most influential instructors.  Once a store opens, lululemon formalizes the relationship with its yoga-instructor "ambassadors." The ambassadors get free swag plus a billboard-size portrait in their local lululemon, which helps them expand their clientele. They then complete the karmic exchange by driving clients back to the retailer. "Not only has it helped me build my business," says Leila Cunningham, a Pilates instructor in Hermosa Beach, California, who was courted by Lulu staffers, "but we started becoming friends, hanging out, going to parties. They've become part of the community." Ambassadors hold free weekly classes in the stores, which are meticulously designed to feel like homespun local boutiques, not cookie-cutter outlets from a public company competing against Nike. ("It's designed to be a little bit messy," Christine Day, lululemon's CEO , says of the stores' calculated nonchalance.) Comments from customers who can monitor progress toward their life goals through a Lulu micro Web site are scribbled on chalkboards outside the dressing rooms, then funneled back to HQ every two weeks. Your job is pretty easy when you are authentic with people," says Eric Petersen, lululemon's community director. "They realize you don't have some sneaky agenda.”

In case you wanted to know, I just made a lululemon purchase while writing this post. 


UPDATE: The items I ordered yesterday are already here.  WOW!  That is probably the fastest I've ever gotten an item and I chose their free shipping option which often time means the priority of sending the items out for shipping is pretty much at the bottom of the list and is sent in the slowest method possible.  Ohhhh lululemon, you keep winning me over...I'm already thinking about making another purchase.  

Don't Underestimate the Power of Customer Service

I had a lot of errands to get done this week.  Get my oil changed, rotate my tires and check out a few beauty products I was interested.  This list is nothing out of the ordinary though the extraordinary customer service I received compelled me to write about why I continue to frequent these retail brands and why its so important that the brand's values are at all levels of the company, whether you're the CEO or the guy behind the cash register.

My first stop was America's Tire.  Now I don't usually interact with this brand unless I need tires which is not very often but what I didn't realize until recently is that they provide free, FREE tire rotations which saves me a lot of money since you're supposed to rotate every 5,000 miles and I drive lots.  I give the guys at the store credit for drilling this fact in my brain and actually taking time to walk me through why this is important and how it affects my car in layman's term.  I give them kudos for not treating me how almost every mechanic and car salesmen treat most women, like a dope.

Next was Jiffy Lube.  I am a die hard fan of theres.  Now why would anyone be a lover of oil change places? Well because like America's Tire they've never treated me as dopey and have taken all of my questions seriously.  "What's an air filter again?"  And I've visited many locations in both North & Southern California and I've always gotten the same treatment. They are always able to give you straight answer on how long things will take vs. the generic mechanic answer of  I won't know til I take your car apart.  They always, ALWAYS walk you through what they'll be doing before they even start the labor so you are fully aware and for those, like me, who don't know why the engine needs flushing or what coolant is, Jiffy Lube has these awesome tutorials with big simple pictures and easy to understand terms.  I always relate them to kindergärtner's picture books and I want them all!  The service I appreciate the most is that they log all of the services completed in their system and regardless of what location you go to they have a history of what you've gotten done.  They even take notes if you said you'd wait until next time for blah, blah, blah service which makes it so convenient given that you only come in a few times a year.  Plus the fact that I got 50% off my service because I've been consistent at that location is definitely a bonus and much appreciated.  They have TV's with news & celebrity gossip in their lobbies with free coffee and water and the fact that they also wash your windows and vacuum your carpets is like the cherry on top.   I know that oil changes can be found much cheaper but its the service that keeps me coming back

Sephora is by far my all time favorite retailer.  They had it right from the first store they opened and they've only gotten better over time.  Sephora is like the Disneyland for women.  You can spend all day in there and come back repeatedly and you'll always find something new you didn't see last time.  I believe the all time fascination with that store is that you can try EVERYTHING.  EVERYTHING!  I sometimes just go in to give myself a make over and not one sales person looks at you weird.  They actually encourage you to try and have all of the tools necessary to facilitate that like q-tips, cotton pads, eye make up remover and so on.  They even offer samples you can take home and test out!  They're return policy rivals Nordstrom's.  You can bring anything back even if you've used it which is rare in the beauty industry and much needed given that products look different on a person's skin than it does on the actual packet.

These extra perks, the helpful attention, and the thought out details always help me make the decision on what place I'm going to go because it makes a REALLY BIG difference.

Oh Tar-jay, How Much Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways...

I heart Tar-jay!  Who doesn't?  Even if you shop at Walmart, you still find yourself in there wondering what cool new designer they brought out (as of late, Jean Paul Gaultier and Liberty of London) or cool new marketing push they've rolled out (the last one I was head over heels for was the Target gift card that doubled as a digital camera).  So it was not so surprising to hear that Walmart is losing ground to Target.  Why say you?  Well because it comes down to experiences.  This is a great example of branding 101, yes everyone  will run to the retailer who offers the best price but its only a short term strategy at best.  With all things being equal, in this case price, giving people a thrilling experience, an added benefit, making their life easier (no matter how big or small - see Target gift card) they'll be back for more.


The interesting thing about Walmart is that its now considered being the middle ground for higher end retailers (a la Target) or bottom discounters (think 99¢ stores).  While Walmart's core positioning as the low price leader rang true to everyone regardless of class level, retailers at both ends didn't have a hard time attacking it.  Actually Target did so well it has under priced Walmart, according to Kantar Retail's Management Ventures competitive pricing-tracking survey, while Walmart has actually raised prices. Walmart is also increasingly losing out in pricing battles to conventional supermarket operators in addition to dollar stores, hard discounters and discount clubs. What do you do when you've strayed away from you're core positioning that you've spent your entire brand life building? Not sure where to begin with this one but I will tell you what Target is doing which brings me to reason 3,845,241 of why I love Target.   


Maybe I'm late to the game on this one but nonetheless I'm in love with Target even more because of it. Target Text Alerts are my new favorite thing!  It's mobile coupons for you're phone that Target texts* you every week  No more printing out coupons (but Target has that option too), placing them in a "I hope I don't throw these out by accident but actually remember them when I'm at the store" spot and putting them in your purse if you do remember just to dig around the bottom of it to realize you left them in your other purse.  Now all I have to remember is to carry my cellphone which is permanently attached to my hand and find it in my text msg folder.  EAAAAAAAAASSSSY!  And everyone loves easy regardless of income class.  


*standard text rates apply of course