Marketing Currents - Business and Marketing Current Events

Old Navy Made Clothing Sizes for Everyone. It Backfired.

Old Navy set out to make clothes shopping more inclusive for women of all body types. It ended up with too many extra-small and extra-large items and too few of the rest, a mismatch that frustrated customers and contributed to falling sales and a management shake-up.

Click here to read the story at wsj.com.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is a parent company?
  2. Who is Old Navy’s parent company?
  3. What is profit?
  4. Why do you think Old Navy represents the majority of its parent company’s sales and profits?
  5. According to this story, why are sales falling at Old Navy?
  6. Why is that a problem for the parent company?
  7. Why would Old Navy make clothing sizes for “everyone”, as suggested by the headline of this news story?
  8. What is market research?
  9. What are the different types of market research?
  10. How did market research help the company to make decisions relating to sizing?
  11. According to this story, that strategy backfired. Why?
  12. How did the Covid-19 pandemic complicate the product launch?
  13. What is supply chain?
  14. How have supply chain issues created additional challenges for Old Navy?
  15. What do you think Old Navy might do to try to get back on track?
Chris Lindauer
After working for nearly a decade in professional sports, Chris Lindauer, formed Sports Career Consulting to provide unique sports business education opportunities in and out of the classroom. In the eighteen years (and counting) that followed, Chris has inspired thousands of students to pursue their passions and explore the career of their dreams. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, two teenage daughters and their dog.

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