Initiating a new blog was a natural reaction to this need to write more frequently. The start of a new blog does not mean an end to "The Issues," my politically motivated blog. It simply means there are countless other things worth writing about, and I have a lot to contribute to those discussions as well. So this blog is my "commentary" on anything and everything, and thus the birth of something different and new (for me.)
While relaxing on the couch during a much treasured River nap (River being our 14 month old son), my wife asked if I had heard about what the "Abercrombie & Fitch" CEO had said. Being a man of zero fashion sense, I advised her that I hadn't. She then sent a link from an "Elite Daily" article to me about why Abercrombie doesn't carry XL or XXL clothing for women (source.) CEO Mike Jeffries states, “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he told the site. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either."
Let's get the negatives out of the way here. Thinking like this makes you arrogant, selfish, and to most people, despicable. However, what is Jeffries actually saying? He's saying, we have a target market, and we're not afraid to admit it. Most companies will target, advertise to, and attempt to saturate a segment without ever overtly admitting it. In this regard, Jeffries is doing what everyone else is, but he's overtly admitting to it.
Does this make him better or worse than the competitors? Foolish for segmenting, or smart for targeting a niche market. Try and put your instinctive disgust aside and be objective when answering these questions. What do you think?
Let's get the negatives out of the way here. Thinking like this makes you arrogant, selfish, and to most people, despicable. However, what is Jeffries actually saying? He's saying, we have a target market, and we're not afraid to admit it. Most companies will target, advertise to, and attempt to saturate a segment without ever overtly admitting it. In this regard, Jeffries is doing what everyone else is, but he's overtly admitting to it.
Does this make him better or worse than the competitors? Foolish for segmenting, or smart for targeting a niche market. Try and put your instinctive disgust aside and be objective when answering these questions. What do you think?
