http://bluebellcrewemini.co.

uk/business/ FOREVER 21

MARKETTING MIX

PRODUCT:

Forever 21 is a fast fashion retailer which sells the latest trends and styles at economical prices. It
Offers products like Clothing, Bags, Shoes and Accessories for men, women and kids. Although the
brand has something for everyone, however its target market is mostly teenagers, who are always
very keen on trying new styles, however are restrained with budget. Forever 21 enables these
teenagers to buy the latest fashion at affordable prices. A Forever 21 Product i.e. Clothing can be
divided into three levels of product:

1. Core Product: A core product is the intangible value that you may obtain from the product. In
other words, it is the main benefit that you obtain from the product. In terms of our Brand, which is
a Fast Fashion Brand, the main element of the product is its Design. It brings in the latest designs
from high end celebrities and makes it available to common people and this is the essence of this
brand. It enables common people to afford the style and fashion that was previously affordable only
by celebrities. One of the major strength of the company is that it is able to respond very quickly to
the changing needs of the customers. Its unique selling preposition is to imitate or create the latest
trends. Another very important aspect of its core product is the Quality. It is a very important factor
as if the Quality is not very good, people may not want to come back again. The Brand have average
Quality clothes, however, as per the reviews from some customers, the brand needs to put in
additional focus on this aspect.

Actual Product: Actual product is the tangible form of the core product. Forever 21 offer a wide
variety of Clothing for Men, Women and Kids. Most of the collection by Forever 21 caters to young
men and women as they offer more casual range of products that may include Dresses, Tops,
Jackets, Jeans, Shorts, Skirts for women and Shirts, Graphic Tees, Sweatshirts, Shorts for Men.
However, they also offer a range of formal wear for Men & Women, however, it is generally more
famous for its trendy casual wear. Apart from Clothing, the Actual Products include Make-up, Shoes
and Accessories like Bags, Belts, jewellery, hair accessories

3. Augmented product: The Augmented products for Forever 21 includes the sales assistance which
is provided by the very fashionable staff that is present in the store. Also, Forever 21 engages in
visual merchandising by releasing photoshoots and mannequin styling that can inspire its customers
to try on various new and stylish combinations. Also, with the trial rooms facility in their stores, they
allow customers to try on various outfits before they have to choose what they want to buy

PROMOTION

Forever 21’s website is a great example of content marketing. It has a page on their website, i.e. The
Social Media Hub, which, as its name suggests contains a link to all its social media destinations. This
is one page that will tell you everything that is new and latest with the brand. It is harboring
Facebook, Twitter, You Tube badges. This is how the page looks like:
http://newsroom.forever21.com/social-media It creates a visual collage of all their trending
products, in a way that it will last in the consumer’s heart and mind. The brand also maintains a
Facebook page to feature its latest offering and this page is updated daily to keep its customers
engaged. It is also a primary mode of interaction with their customers as they can know the
feedback of their customer when they comment on their pictures. The page can be viewed with the
following link. https://www.facebook.com/Forever21/

Twitter is another way they allow their customers to interact with their brand. They also have
created a Forever 21 Mobile App on which you can stay updated, shop find new deals and also
has an option of sharing how the outfits can be styled in different ways.

PRICE
Product Bundle Pricing: It is a marketing ploy in which several products are offered for sale in one
combined unit that is often marked at a reduced price compared to the sum of their separate
purchase prices. Forever 21 uses this strategy by bundling a number of different styles of a product
which can be purchased at a lower price as against the total price when each product is bought
individually. Example: If you buy 1 Denim Jean at Forever 21, it will cost $15, however, if you buy 3
different denim jeans, it will cost $40 rather than $45. 2. Promotional Pricing: It is a marketing
strategy where products are temporarily priced very low in order to increase short-term sales.
Recently there was a sale by Forever 21 at Big Box with everything at $10. This was promotional
pricing as they also had other products which were priced at regular prices. As the

15. promotional pricing bought in a lot of footfall, people also bought the regular priced products
along with the discounted products. 3. Psychological pricing: Psychological pricing is a
pricing/marketing strategy based on the theory that certain prices have a psychological impact on
the customer’s behavior. This pricing strategy is also used by Forever 21 by expressing the retail
prices at an odd number which is a little less than the round number, as it is evident from the below
pictures:

16. While Forever 21 is managing quite well in terms of the pricing strategy, however there is one
more pricing strategy that can be used by the brand quite well. Forever 21 invests a lot in visual
merchandising. This is evident from the very stylish mannequin that we see in the store. Forever 21
can use Optional Product Pricing, where they can provide a discount when people wish to buy the
clothes and matching accessories or bags that are used by the designers on the mannequin. This will
also help them to sell more products, rather than just one dress. Also it will encourage the shoppers
who can get fashion advices in terms of mixing and matching and also get a discount on the same.
PLACE

he company has strategically established its huge outlets in the Countries like India, Germany,
Australia Japan, China, Brazil and United Kingdom. Forever 21also eyeing to go to the countries
like Israel, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Russia and Greece. The retail stores are at least as large as
Thirty Eight thousand Square-feet.

In terms of Marketing Mix a Place is the process that is a followed by a particular company in order
to make the final products available to the customer all the way from where it is manufactured. The
process may involve one or more intermediaries like distributors, wholesalers, retailers etc.
Furthermore, a Place also denotes the Ambience of the final Place where the product is offered to
the customer.

Forever 21 has always followed a One level distribution channel, with most of their manufacturers
being in India and China, from where the merchandise is made available to the customers through
their retailers which are available around the globe. It has one of the finest Distribution channel in
the Fast Fashion industry as this is the one brand that is ever changing and always updating its
collection as per the changing trends and styles. However, they have also recently started with a
zero level by introducing their mobile app, where there is no need of a retailer and customers can
choose and buy the products directly from the Mobile App, which can be downloaded for Free on
any of the Softwares, and thus it will be sent straight from manufacturers to customers. This
introduction of a new channel has made the distribution system even more faster and convenient.
The Retail Stores for Forever 21 are specialty stores as the Brand is not sold at any other outlet
except for their own Specialty stores. Furthermore, at these specialty stores we find clothes from
no other brand, except for Forever 21. This works hugely in favor of the brand as it is never sold
with its competitor’s product kept next to it. Also, they are able to design their showroom
according to their choice. As far as the location and ambience of these stores is concerned, Forever
21 outlets are generally located in Malls or Shopping Markets, where people generally go to shop.
In Singapore, Forever 21 has four location, namely Forever 21 SMRT Orchard Station, Forever 21
Sports Hub Kallang Wave Mal, Forever 21 Vivo City, Forever 21

18. 313@Somerset. All locations are easily accessible and usually crowded with shoppers. The
floor of their outlets are always sparkling and the store is very bright with white lights filling the
space. Store is generally organized basis the selection as well as basis the price. Generally, for high
priced products, it is assorted basis dress, shirts, tees, sweaters etc. However, for low priced
products, they have generally bundled together different products with similar or same price
range. This enables people to easily move into the section that is the most preferable to them.
However, the clothes are not very well organized in terms of being folded and kept in a line, as we
find in Zara. It generally gives you look of being cool and a bit messy. But it seems like it is done on
purpose. Also, Forever 21 is an open display store as one can not only touch and feel the clothes,
but also can try and see how it looks on them. Another important factor of Forever 21 is its very
apparent investment in visual merchandising. The mannequins are specially styled and displayed
in order to catch attention on passers-by. It also gives ideas to its customers that how can the
different products be styled. The music being played in the stores is generally rock and fusion and
not very loud. The volume is absolutely optimal to enjoy shopping. Forever 21 was recently a part
of controversy which was caused due to their negligence towards one of the very important factor
for a Brand’s image. According

19. to the reports, a well-known actor Gurmit Singh's daughter, Gabrielle visited a Forever 21 store
in Singapore and was offended with the music being played in the store. According to Gabriella,
the music was disgraceful towards women and insulted women. Fashion retailer Forever21 has
apologised to actor Gurmit Singh's daughter, Gabrielle, after an open letter she wrote criticising
the music played at one of its outlets went viral online. Post the apologies from Forever 21, she
wrote: "F21 has responded and apologised for the music, which is pretty great! However,
misogyny as a common occurrence in our everyday lives is still a big issue, which is why I'm leaving
this post on my blog." This is a huge lesson for Forever 21 as well as its competitors that the
ambience of ther store is an image of what the Brand represents. Hence it should be in line with
what appeals to your Target Audience.

Stp

The Company uses the mix of the psychographic, demographic and geographic segment. 
The variables like age, expectations, gender, income group, region, family size, loyalty, social
class, price sensitivity, personality attributes, and lifestyle.

Mass targeting strategy is used by the company to be competitive in the fashion industry
and target the customer group with the distinctive features and offerings.

The speciality retail store has positioned itself based on young, trendy and fashionable
offerings which create the image of being young or ahead of fashion.  The company has
positioned itself based on value-based positioning strategy.
Target

Customers of the brand are from the middle, the upper-middle-class

majority of which live in urban centers and are in the age group of 15-40
years.

There are many types of positioning strategies like positioning based on

price, quality usage, competitors etc.

Forever 21 has chosen to position itself based on culture “always changing

and always in style”. the company that keeps you up-to-date with style
trends and keeps that young person inside you alive (Official website).

Even though many stars’ way much older than 21 were seen wearing and
using forever 21 products because they still target that age group with their
movies and songs so they still try to fit with their styles and trends.

TECHNOLOGY

Forever 21 has introduced an AI-enabled feature that will allow consumers to

engage with visual search when browsing online.

The feature, titled “Discover your style”, allows shoppers to search for items by
clicking on icons that represent features that they want in an outfit – such as length
or fit of a skirt, or the neckline and color of a shirt. For this launch, the fast fashion
retailer worked with visual search experts Donde Search, whose recommendation
algorithm aims to mimic how shoppers think about products.

“Visual search technology bridges the gap between the convenience of online
shopping and the rich discovery experience of traditional retail by enabling our
customers to search for clothing in the same way they think about it

BRAND IMAGE
Forever 21 originally started as “Fashion 21”. As the company grew, the
founder Don Chang decided to renamed it to “Forever 21”.

The meaning behind the brand name is not clear, but my guess is it simply
means “forever young”. It’s a fashion brand targeted toward women around
20 to 30 who are transitioning from girls to an adult and probably starting to
become more aware of their age due to both physical and mental changes,
so the word “forever” seems appropriate to create the image for these
women to always be forever young and beautiful.
Apart from the images of youth and beauty, Forever 21 is also subtly, or not
so subtly, promoting the founder’s religious view.

Take a look at this:

John 3:16

Did you know that there’s “JOHN 3:16” printed on every Forever 21 shop
bag?
This is a reference to a passage from the Bible.
(This reminded me of a scene from Mission: Impossible where the code “Job
314” turns out to be about the Bible.)
The passage goes:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Yes, the founder of Forever 21 is a Christian and this passage summarizes
Christianity and represents his faith.
Again, the reason why he put it there to represent the brand is not clear,
but I wouldn’t say the company is trying to push the religious view or
spread it to the public because I didn’t even notice there was a reference
until I started researching about the brand. I shop at Forever 21 quite often,
so they are being subtle enough to keep it ambiguous and not let it affect
their customers’ loyalty or purchases.
(Also, with their clothing design and ads that promote materialism and
women’s sexuality and beauty, I don’t think anyone would think Forever 21
is a religious brand.)
So why is the reference there on every shopping bag? My guess is that it’s
some kind of homage to the company’s and his and his wife’s success after
immigrating from Korea and starting a small store in the new country.

2. Forever 21’s focus on retail locations rather than advertising has allowed them to occupy
some of the most sought after real estate in major cities around the globe, making their
products readily available and accessible to almost every market available.

Typically, mid-market competitors need three to six months to take an item from design to
rack but for Forever 21, the cycle is reduced to weeks. Forever 21’s use of larger fashion
houses’ designs allows them to produce so quickly. Immediately after the season’s latest
styles hit the runways or trade shows, they are duplicated by the company’s journeyman
designers around the world, and often arrive on shelves before the originals do.

Forever 21 brand also has a mobile application which consumers can make purchases from,
and rate the brand’s clothing on a scale of “I like it” to “Not my style” – this allows the team
behind apparel design to understand consumers’ ever-changing tastes and preferences