Guest Voices! | Abercrombie & Fitch Fall 2013 Sales Bargins...

GUEST

PETER

FROM

ENGLAND, UK

DISCUSSING

AMERICAN MARKET SALES

Well as much as I don't like the racks of clearance items or promotions (see my previous post), the cynic in me can't help but to bag a bargain at Abercrombie & Fitch...especially with the ridiculous amount of promos on. However, if you are expecting more controversy in this piece, the only thing you will find is the crazy low prices I paid in comparison to the full prices back here in the good old UK. So without further ado, I want to share with you some of the items that were too good to pass up and made their way into my suitcase for my return home! (I've also made notes of some bargains for the ladies, too!)...

Now my price conversion guide is as follows: original GB£ price in UK market compared alongside original US$ price in America; then clearance price of that item in US dollars, and then finally that clearance purchase price converted to UK pounds at a rate of US$1.56 (which was the rate at the time I used to covert my pounds to dollars). State tax has not been included.

All men like to smell good, (me too ha-ha!) so what better than a bargain cologne! A&F Crest will do nicely: GB£46; US$44, but at sale price of US$25 at £16!! A saving of £30 per bottle! Right, I'll have four of those then!

New tees? OK, let's have three different Newcomb Lake crew tees. UK£30; US$24.99, but at clearance for $12.49 at £8!! Yep you read that correctly!!

Cool denim shirts anyone? GB£78; US$78, but at sale price of $39 at £25! That's £53 I can spend on something else!

Pants, good for casualwear and workwear: UK£78; US$50, but on clearance for $25 at £16! Really? And we are talking olive not some of the crazy bright colours.

And as a final example for the men, you can't beat a nice comfy pair of sweatpants for loafing around the house: UK£68; US$68, but on clearance for $39 at £25!

What about ladies apparel I hear you cry? Long sleeve ladies' tees, as one example: UK£38; US$38, but on clearance for $9 at £6!

Another one for the ladies, a pink plaid shirt: UK£58, US$58, (this item had been red lined four times!) on clearance for $14.99 at £10!!

This is just a selection of my bargains in the crazy land of promotions that is Abercrombie & Fitch in the United States. One final thought: I wonder what the sales value is from other visitors to the US spending in A&F at the present time? Because no doubt this will be propping up domestic sales figures. Without these additional sales, the wheels would well and truly be coming off the A&F wagon...let's just hope one of them hits that damn fox (then what will it say)!!!

Over to you Mike...

Peter

P.S. Get a load of what I came home to in the UK. Limited and not as steeply low as in the US, but other international readers can get a look at how it is here. To get the same free shipping deal as in the US, here you have to spend the pound-to-dollar equivalent of US$160+...

Written by Peter for The Sitch on Fitch series, Guest Voices. Edited and published by Editor-in-Chief, C.E.R. Images by Peter for The Sitch on Fitch.

Guest Voices! | Abercrombie & Fitch Promotional Sales and Clearances...

GUEST

PETER

FROM

ENGLAND, UK

DISCUSSING

AMERICAN MARKET SALES

Now as most of you may know financial results for Abercrombie & Fitch in the US haven't been anything to shout about – what with sales across all brands down, and comments from Mike Jeffries coming back to haunt him and the brand. Mike's 2000s comments that he would sooner destroy clothes rather than having the wrong type of people wearing the brand resurfaced and sparked celebrity backlash with the likes of Ellen Degeneres bashing A&F over its decision to drop size 12 jeans for women. Based on what I have experienced this past week or so, Mike might need furthermore to start up a mass bonfire as the amount of clearance merchandise cluttering up A&F stores across Florida makes the brand seem more like a bargain basement rather than a near-luxury casualwear brand.

Now I like a bargin like the next person, but in all my years of shopping at the brand I have never found it harder to pay full price for an item of clothing than I have now. And this led me to think: why clutter up the stores with so much reduced merchandise? I mean, if you pop into the back room of an A&F store they look like a grenade has gone off!! You really need to have the perseverance of a saint or a lot of time on your hands to sort, as a customer, through the endless piles of jeans and tees. And why aren't the associates ("models") trying to make it easier for us customers to buy items by actually sorting out the sizes instead of standing around looking pretty! Good thing I don't run a store as I'd know what my associates would be doing - helping to shift the endless piles of reduced merchandise!

So what to do, what to do? Well if it was me, A&F need to open more outlets to allow them to shift more of their reduced items out of stores and into the right arena where customers expect to find bargains as currently the amount of clearance merchandise cheapens the look and feel of the stores.

Secondly, if you can't sell it at full retail, why not lower the retail price in the first place! Can't quite see this happening, but if a woman's tee can be reduced from $38 down to $9 then surely a price point could be reached somewhere in the middle?

Thirdly, too many offers makes it confusing for the customers. At the time of me writing this in the US, all clearance was between 40-70% off; jeans 50-60% off; if you spend over $100 you get 25% off; all denim shirts at $39; sweatpants for $39; puffer jackets 50% off...I could go on and on and on! But I'm not finished: in certain stores, they even give you a voucher for 25% off! Did I pay full price for a single item that I purchased on this trip? Hell no!!

Among the storm of promotions rolled out recently...

 

Free shipping at the Club has even been dropped to US$75.

Fourth, the person who gives final approval for some of the designs has a lot to answer for! But I'm sure we have all gone into stores and thought they are never going to sale those not-even-reduced, garish coloured twill shirts, anyone? Or racks and racks of men's tank tops!

And if all else fails Mike, could just get the BBQs going because he is going to need to pull some all nighters to shift what's left in this season's clearance.

All that's left for me to say for now is that if you are planning a vacation to the USA and intend to shop at A&F, then don't even think about paying for the over priced pieces we all pay outside North America...it's a discounts circus here and chances are you won't have to pay full price – unless you want to – when you shop on your vacation. But spare a thought when you are bagging a bargain: does a store rammed full of reduced items still give off that "aspirational" "casual luxury" feel? I'll leave that for you to decide.

Peter