Lululemon personal selling and the customer experience

Lululemon is a 1998 Canadian company, that uses personal selling and the customer experience as promotional tools to stand out in a highly saturated market. Personal selling refers to sales activities that take place face-to-face and when dealing with B2C marketing (Posner, 2012, p. 204). According to Gajesk (2018), the brand’s exemplary use of customer service has become habitual for the company and helps to generate a positive culture.

Figure 1: Lululemon Educator, 2019

Lululemon sales representatives, “Educators”, follow strict sales rules when approaching customers about their goals and lifestyle. For example, “if a guest was looking at a product for six seconds, an Educator had a thirteen-second window to educate them about the item. Barring any follow up questions, the Educator would then leave them alone until they looked at another item for around six seconds”. This enthusiasm and knowledge impresses the customer and makes them feel valued. Personal selling is beneficial as it gives the customer a sense of appreciation and allows leeway for the sales representative to tailor the promotional message for their specific needs (Posner, 2012, p.204). This success was reflected in sales per square foot equivalent to Apple (Lieber, 2018). Furthermore, the changing rooms are recognised as a consumer touchpoint. Educators write the customer’s name on the changing room door and refer to them by this for the duration of their consumer journey; this helps to build trust with the consumer (Gajesk, 2018). As part of their in-store experience, Lululemon regularly convert the stores into yoga studios, building further positive connections to the brand.

Figure 2: Lululemon In-Store Yoga, 2016

These personal selling tools are successful because they respond to changing consumer behaviour. Market research, titled “Keep Me In (KMI)”, shows that to achieve customer retention, companies must build “enduring, reciprocal and authentic relationships with customers”. Consumer attitudes indicate a shift from price to experience in terms of how they connect with a brand and perceive its value. In response, brands must establish trust with the consumer and actively nurture the relationship, to deliver “compelling experiences” (Accenture, 2019). These stages are fully exemplified by the personal selling of Lululemon.

Moreover, word-of-mouth marketing occurs as a result of personal selling, which is effective in the growth stages of a brand (Palmer, 200 p.428). Customers are increasingly reliant on recommendations, because it is accredited by “people like me” and has therefore become an influential communication channel. Since negative feedback impacts more heavily than positive, leveraging this “free” promotional tool is a marketing objective for Lululemon (Palmer, 2000 p.432).

Consumers associate human traits with a brand, to make it relatable and lifelike. This is conceptualised by Aeker’s five personality dimensions of a brand (1997). Lululemon expresses personality traits of quality, fun and enjoyment, that link to the dimension of sincerity, as the consumer trusts the brand. This makes Lululemon more appealing to their target audience, “successful women in early thirties doing yoga who need gear designed for modern practice” (Gakesk, 2018), by communicating values that the customer connects with emotionally (Posner, 2012, p.30). Lululemon are renowned for having a positive company culture. There is a focus on the people that work there, encouraging them to discuss their goals and have a work life balance (Happy Girl Fit, 2017). This organisational culture incentivises the high-standard personal selling.

Figure 3: Yoga 2019

This approach is adopted by competitor, Sweaty Betty, who demonstrates similar personal selling by creating a personal relationship with the customer, through smaller, intimate boutiques. They also offer in-store classes, which is not surprising, since both brands are of a similar market level. However, brands from a different market level, such as Fabletics, who focus more heavily on online sales

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References

Books:

Palmer, A. (2004) Introduction to marketing: theory and practice. Oxford

Posner, H. (2012) Marketing Fashion. Second Edition

Online:

Aeker, J. L. (1997). Dimensions of Brand Personality. Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Aug., 1997), pp. 347-356 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. [Online] Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3151897.pdf?ab_segments=0%252Fbasic_expensive%252Fcontrol&refreqid=excelsior%3Ae879088a9b111537859f3ee16fe90179[accessed 13/12/2019]

Accenture (2019). Are you a keeper? Accenture 2019 Keep Me Index. [Online]. Available from: https://www.accenture.com/gb-en/insights/communications-media/playing-for-keeps[accessed 13/12/2019]

Gajesk, D. (2018). A Medium Corporation, [Growth Study] Lululemon Athletica – How to Beat Nike by Creating a New Category. [Online]. Available from: https://medium.com/@dgajsek/lululemon-athletica-how-one-company-succeeded-in-one-of-the-most-ruthless-industries-bd3f2bf685aa[accessed 13/12/2019]

Lieber, C. (2018). Vox, Lululemon’s ex-CEO wrote an “unauthorized” history of the brand. Here’s what we learned. [Online]. Available from: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/10/22/18010410/chip-wilson-lululemon-athleisure-book[accessed 13/12/2019]

Videos:

Happy Girl Fit (2017). YouTube. WORKING AT LULULEMON: My Experience. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=587&v=Z8Nc2bgCbQE&feature=emb_title[accessed 13/12/2019]

List of Figures

Figure 1: Lululemon Educator, thekrazycouponlady (2019) [Online]. Available from: https://thekrazycouponlady.com/tips/store-hacks/31-lululemon-hacks-to-save-you-a-freaking-fortune [accessed 14/12/2019]

Figure 2: Lululemon In-Store Yoga, Drapers (2016). Available from: https://www.drapersonline.com/news/lululemon-beats-analyst-forecasts/7016801.article [accessed 14/12/2019]

Figure 3: Yoga, DoItInParis (2019). Available from: https://www.doitinparis.com/en/lululemon-yoga-event-paris-24684 [accessed 14/12/2019]