Abercrombie and Fitch is a popular retail store, founded in 1892 in New York City. The store’s original owners, David T. Abercrombie and Ezra H. Fitch, created Abercrombie and Fitch to be a sporting store. It was known for it’s excursion goods, expensive shotguns, fishing rods, and tents.[1] The store eventually went bankrupt, and was bought by another sporting goods store in Texas. After transferring ownership, the Texas based retailer decided to sell the Abercrombie and Fitch brand to The Limited (a clothing store), which is why Abercrombie and Fitch now primarily sells clothes. The company encompasses a family brand[2], which includes stores such as Abercrombie Kids, Gilly Hicks, and Hollister Co. Each of its stores has its own identity and target customer market[3]. I feel that Abercrombie’s success is in part, due to their ability to condition their customers. I believe that Abercrombie is able to effectively condition both classically[4] and instrumentally[5]. Through learning[6], extinction[7], observational learning[8], stimulus generalization[9], semantics[10], and identity marketing[11], the Abercrombie brand creates a strong customer demand and retention for their product lines.
Classical
conditioning is a crucial part to Abercrombie and Fitch’s marketing plan. The
conjunction of Atmosphere and Brand are the two main focuses of their classical
conditioning efforts. The atmosphere is very unique; it is unlike any other
retail store, giving them a competitive advantage. When you walk into the store,
the lights are dimmed and placed strategically; there is constant ventilation
of perfume, loud upbeat music, and an attractive staff. The unconditioned stimuli
they use are the atmospheric dynamics, which include, loud music, dim lighting,
and scents. These unconditioned stimuli evoke and unconditioned response of feelings/concepts
of, happiness, fun, energy, hip, cool, nightlife, and trendy. These feelings
are then inadvertently associated with the Abercrombie brand. The conditioned stimulus
being Abercrombie and Fitch, and the conditioned response is associating all of
these feelings and thoughts with the Brand. Customers are convinced to think
that this is a place they want to shop, not because of what the clothes look
like, or the prices, but because of what the brand stands for. The meaning in customer’s
minds is created quite cleverly from the Abercrombie brand. They position their
product to be cool, hip, and popular. This in turn, makes customers shop there, to
embody these emotions, feelings, and perceptions.
In
combination with their classical conditioning, Abercrombie also uses forms of
instrumental conditioning, on their customers. Through learning, the customer
understands what to do, in order to produce a positive outcome. For example,
Abercrombie uses extinction to force customers to buy their merchandise. Some
customers may only buy clothes when they go on sale, or when they receive
coupons. For Abercrombie to avoid these types of sales, they take away the
positive event (sales, coupons) to force consumers to purchase products at full
retail price, instead of waiting for a sale.
Fused
together with Abercrombie’s classical and instrumental conditioning, is
observational learning. The Abercrombie brand uses observational learning to
teach customers what to wear and buy. They do this through hiring attractive
staff, who are forced to wear the latest designs to work. This is done, because
Abercrombie has never had televised commercials, they use their staff to
advertise for their company. Their employees act as models for correct
behavior, customers observe this behavior and then model[12]
it.
To
conclude, The Abercrombie brand effectively markets their products to
customers, through forms or learning and conditioning. This creates a strong
brand awareness, and customer base. They also use forms of stimulus
generalization to further their conditioning through their other three brands.
Abercrombie uses their stimuli (atmosphere, brand name) to evoke the same
conditioned responses in their other brands. They also use semantics to derive
meaning from their symbols, most commonly their “moose.” When customers see
this symbol it evokes the same emotions that Abercrombie's conditioned response
creates. This is just another form of conditioning that Abercrombie has used effectively.
My overall satisfaction with the brand on a scale from 1 to 7 (where 1 is extremely
dissatisfied and 7 is extremely satisfied) is a 5. I
enjoy going into the store, but I feel that their products are not comparable
with their prices. I feel that the brand could offer more sales, or incentives
to repeat customers, in order to increase satisfaction. The likelihood of me going
back to this company is a 7, and the likelihood of me recommending this company
is a 6. Overall, I feel that Abercrombie is a great brand that stays on trend,
and creates a fun, interactive environment for its customers.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abercrombie_%26_Fitch
[2] Main brand
under which several other products or brands are introduced to take advantage
of the main brand credibility.
[3] These are
the set of customers that a brand wants to reach.
[4] A stimulus that elicits a response is paired
with another stimulus that initially does not elicit a response on its own
[5](Operant conditioning): the individual learns
to perform behaviors that produce positive outcomes and to avoid those that
yield negative outcomes.
[6] A relatively permanent change in behavior
caused by experience.
[7] Removal of
positive events, which weakens responses preceding the event. People learn that
a certain response no longer produces a positive outcome.
[8] We watch
others, and then model their behavior.
[9] Tendency for stimuli similar to a conditioned
stimulus to evoke similar, unconditioned responses
[10] Symbolic
associations
[11] Consumers alter some aspects of their selves
to advertise for a branded product
[12] Imitating
others behaviors.
