Visual Narratives: Urban Outfitters Brand Report
Urban Outfitters are also known as URBN is a multinational lifestyle retail store founded by Richard Hayne, Judy Wicks and Scott Belair as the retail store Free People in 1970 as a project for entrepreneurship at the University of Pennsylvania, it was later rebranded as Urban Outfitters in 1976. The brand currently merchandises a mix of both women's and menswear alongside footwear, accessories, beauty and wellness products, homeware and a collection of vinyl and cassettes. All of their products are produced by their wholesale team and their multiple private labels.
Urban Outfitters Target Audience
Urban Outfitters mostly targets their products at young trendy consumers with a range of 18-28- years olds making these their core customers however some of the items and brands they sell cross over several demographics. These groups represent the “trailing edge of millennials and the heart of Gen Z”.
The company itself describes its audience as: “young adults, who are culturally sophisticated, self-expressive and concerned with acceptance by their peer group”.
Urban Outfitters Business Model
The brand currently uses the omnichannel model in which they have devoted more of their resources in an attempt to retain their millennial consumers. This model creates a shift in priority towards digital capabilities and the potential to significantly improve their customer's experience they’ve also used this model to create a higher reach in potential consumers. The omnichannel model has also been the answer to declining footfall within areas where stores are located it has also created a relevant shopping experience for their customers.
The brand relies heavily on social media content and the use of campaign launches to attract its customers. They also use images fans/ customers take to sell products (their Instagram is mainly made up of customer images). Urban Outfitters is currently testing social commerce platforms from analytics firm Curalate which pulls in user-generated information from Facebook, Instagram, mobile phones and desktops.
Urban Outfitters stores and locations
The company operates in numerous countries such as the United States, Sweden, United Kingdom, Spain, Denmark, France, Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and the United Arab Emirates. The majority of Urban Outfitters stores are located in the United States with 527 stores as of 2021 to which they have a total of 645 stores around the world as of 2021.
The company currently has 50 stores across Europe including 28 in the Uk and Ireland.
This is a list of the top Uk stores:
Urban Outfitters Brighton
Urban Outfitters Cambridge
Urban Outfitters London (Oxford Street)
Urban Outfitters London (Westfields shopping centre)
Urban Outfitters Birmingham
Urban Outfitters shopping experience
The Urban outfitters' experience can be described as an “experiment” for every store is slightly different from how they visual merchandise to the products sold. Stephan Briars “believes that the unique, carefully curated product mix, covering women’s wear, men’s wear, accessories, footwear, jewellery, homeware, is what helps set Urban outfitters apart from other retailers on the high street”.
Urban outfitters look for “simplicity” within their stores making it easier for customers to shop, the visual identity within stores is also what attracts customers for the stores are always promoting the newest trends and products.
Urban outfitter's communication channels
In recent years urban outfitters have mastered the art of maximizing their social media and their social engagement. The brand uses a variety of social media platforms to communicate to its audience (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube and most recently Tik Tok) Urban outfitters mainly use Twitter as a way to engage in customer support in which they respond to customer complaints and questions about orders whereas Facebook is used as more of a marketing tool for the brand. One of the most interesting things about Urban outfitters and how they use their communication channels is by using photo sharing to connect with their consumers for example the brand runs a program called #UOonyou and #uocommunity (this hashtag has 10,164 posts) in which consumers post pictures to either Twitter or Instagram creating a greater engagement. The brand's Instagram is mainly filled with customer images mixed with a few posts that the brand has created.
Urban outfitter's online presence
Urban Outfitters has a massive online presence for they have fully utilized the digital platform by introducing their innovative loyalty scheme via their mobile app. The brand has experienced an influx in sales due to the brand adding a new feature to its app allowing its consumers to stay up to date with the latest styles and products, the app also allows for customers to discover new items they might have never seen in stores (the brands online presence has had a huge impact in the brand's sales for it has doubled in the last quarter however this is also due to the fact that there has been a reduction in, in-store sales and a general decline in footfall). Another reason why they have such a good online presence is due to the fact that the app is visually appealing and is very easy to use the app also has multiple ways of paying for your purchase you can use layby and klarna pay (which allows you to pay small amounts throughout the month).
Urban outfitters store design
Urban Outfitters has a unique store design and a more tailored and unified approach to how they create their store environment. One of the key factors the brand thinks of when creating a store layout and how they can establish an emotional bond between their customers and the store. “Through creative design, much of the existing retail space is modified to incorporate a mosaic of fixtures, finishes and revealed architecture details”. The brand prides itself on creating the right ambience in its stores for example: playing music that appeals to the customers, the use of unique signage and dynamic visual merchandising and display techniques.
Urban outfitters competitors
Urban outfitter has a fair amount of competitors such as: American Eagle, PacSun, GAP, H&M, Topshop, Zara and Modcloth and in recent years they’ve gathered even more competitors due to their prices going up and general incoming trends from other brands and companies. One of the brands biggest competitors is American Eagle for they have their main headquarters in the same state as URBN and due to the fact that it is a publicly- traded company generating almost $3.7 billion which was similar but not as much as Urban outfitters main average another reason why American Eagle is considered to be a top competitor is due to their audience, American Eagle offers a similar product range and styles and it also has worldwide presence that sets it apart from other competitors.
Wholesale- The company competes with numerous wholesale companies on the basis of quality, price, performance and merchandise offers. Many of their wholesale competitors have a broader product distribution network and have greater name recognition, and financial and marketing resources than Urban outfitters.
Urban Outfitters brands and partnerships
Urban outfitters has around 393 brands within the company selling everything from clothes, accessories, furniture, music products, photography products and much more, they’ve also done many brand partnerships to boost their popularity and to attract customers with different aesthetics and preferences making the brand more appealing to a greater audience. Urban outfitters is also apart of the ChannelAdvisor Partner Network which allows the brand to connect with an evolving lineup of culturally- minded brands.
Urban outfitters have their own line among all the other brands they sell (let’s trans, BDG, out from under and Urban Outfitters along with their Urban outfitter's exclusives)
Urban Outfitters brand ethos
Urban outfitters mission statement: “Lifestyle merchandising is our business and passion. The goal for our brand is to build a strong emotional bond with the customer. To do the we must build lifestyle environments that appeal emotionally, and offer fashion correct products on a timely basis. Our customers are the reason and the inspiration for everything we do.”
The main components in their mission statement are: exceeding expectations of customers and to deliver distinguished quality goods and services.
One of the most important things at UO is the satisfaction of their customers, they do this by offering top of the range brands and products at competitive rates they’ve also instilled a very good returns policy and if customers aren’t satisfied they have the option to return or exchange the products that fall below expectation.
Although there is no official vision statement for the brand the prides itself on being “dedicated to inspiring customers through a unique combination of product, creativity and cultural understanding.”
Urban outfitters customers fit into three different categories of people/ aesthetics (the trend setter/ curator, edgy and ambiguous and the bohemian/ hippy) for the brand targets young self-expressive who have a sophisticated outlook however they combine their knowledge of being fashion forward with a mix of ready to wear street wear that is affordable yet is a diffusion of designer items. Urban outfitters is a centric brand bringing focus to its unique characteristics, personality and topics and campaigns discussed by the brand.
Although Urban Outfitters are considered to be affordable it is slightly more expensive than your typical high street brand thus making it more exclusive than other brands this also depicts the lifestyle choices of the urban customer.
Urban outfitters are considered to be a futuristic brand for they rely heavily on social media attention and engagement to attract new customers and to sell products however due to the brand having an app this allows a greater reach to Gen Z and tech-oriented consumers.
The current consumer could be considered to be a fashion-focused individual with a mixture of personal style and a trend-focused aesthetic. The classic urban outfitter's customer would be between ages 18-28 years old (both male and female) with interests in current pop culture, trends and vintage styles/ retro (indie aesthetic) styles. The consumer might have a relaxed and down to earth quality to them with an urban/ city lifestyle but might have concerns with regards to social acceptance from current peer groups, in today’s society the typical UO consumer will have more disposable income to spend than the average teen due to the influx in price ranges.
Awareness: How do we make customers more aware of our products?
Urban outfitters could host exclusive pop up events in which they sell limited edition stock to their silver or gold customers (this would be linked to their loyalty program).
The brand could do more campaigns relating to their demographics interests and current social state.
Interest: How will we gain their interest?
One way in which the brand could gain more interest from their consumers is to hold a donation day in which the brand could encourage its customers to donate any old clothing to receive a 10% discount (the brand could reuse the fabric for their ‘Urban renewal line’ this would also help the sustainability of the brand and could potentially attract a new kind of customer.)
Desire: How will we make the customer ant the product?
One way UO could make their products more desirable would be to work with current influencers and celebrities to promote products and certain causes.
Action: How will we get customers to actually buy the product?
Although UO already offers student discounts and has constant sales they could introduce further discounts and loyalty programs to their most loyal customers (gold customers linked to loyalty program).
