Eileen Fisher :

Repositioning the brand

Group - 12

M149-18 Ashish Xalxo

M154-18 Himanshu Xalxo
M166-18 Rakesh Kumar
M168-18 Rashmi Joshi
M190-18 Anuj Rawat
 Introduction
● Eileen Fisher, Inc. is an American clothing company that was founded in 1984 and is headquartered
in New York
● Had an impressive environmental sustainability and social responsibility record
● Fisher’s initial interest came from her wardrobe challenges as a working women who wanted stylish
yet comfortable clothing

BRAND STATEMENT

● “Beautifully simple clothing designed to move with real life.”

TARGET MARKET

● The primary focus for Eileen Fisher included middle-aged women, specially aged 35-55
● The secondary focus market for the brand included younger women, aged 25-35
 Current Situation
• Well Known and Reputed • Brand Associated with Old and
Women’s Clothing brand ‘Large’ people
• Strong Social and • High-Priced Product range
Environmental consciousness • No Social Media Presence
• Very Loyal customers
50 stores in
21 states
478
department
stores in
USA
STRENGTHS
S W WEAKNESSES

315 specialty OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

stores in all 50
stores
•
•
Significant gap in the O
‘Bridge Line’ clothing segment
T •
• Economic Recession
Price sensitive customer
• Boomer are 33% of US • 28% of market does not
population consider the brand “for them”
Distribution
• Eileen Fisher E-Commerce • Core Customer segment is
store ageing and will be replace
soon
 Problem Statement

Problem Symptoms

Problem Statement
 Brand no longer attracted the
women customers in their 30s and  Strategic changes should be taken
40s . to increase brand’s relevance and
 Stereotyped as a brand for older as change the brand’s perceived
median customer age was currently image in the minds of potential
at 59 and increasing each year future customers
 Brand could eventually become
extinct
 Repositioning has risk to customer
who are loyal

7/11/2019 4
The THREAD Project: The vision and Meeting New Women

• Initial struggles while discussing how to broaden the customer base

• Hired IDEO a leading design and innovation firm

• interaction with 60 HQ employees
• worked as sales people in 2 company stores
• conducted multi phased consumer research project by interacting with customers to understand
them in context of their everyday lives.

• Two “aha” moments

• Non Customer: ‘It looks like a sack.’
• Existing Customer: ‘looking for more edginess from EILEEN FISHER and was going to other brands
because she feel like it was present in their collection.’

• Research Illuminated 3 distinct customer segments: Established, Emerging and Nascent

The STITCH Project: Repositioning The Brand
• Communicating to customers about the evolution of the Company and its products

• Transformation of offices by IDEO

• Gallery of images created at an ‘illicit’ photoshoot
• Photos featured models mixing company’s clothes with other brands
• Highlighted relationship between products with body-conscious fits
• Appearance of metallic fabric, biker jacket and miniskirt in the line
• New art direction with focus on clothes along with some edge in the frame, with high heels and
lipstick

• Changed the way clothes were merchandised in stores to create synergy between advertising and
merchandising: clothes with accessories, clothes with high heels and boots rather than flat shoes

• Redesigned the website to match with advertising

 Customer Segmentations
Established Women Emerging Women Nascent Women

25% of the market 12% of the market 16% of the market

45-64 years 35-44 years 21-34 years

Established lifestyle with little Busy lifestyle, with building Experimental lifestyle,
obligations careers exploring freedom

Value based Blend of heritage and modern Happy go lucky

Loyal Non-Loyal Non-Loyal

Inelastic Price sensitive Price sensitive

 Recommendation
Targeting the “Emerging women” segment under a sub brand

Keeping the original Eileen Fisher brand and its positioning

Pros
Broader market base Cons
Original brand equity preserved High costs
Closest to the current target segment Different design values from Eileen Fisher
No threat of cannibalization