- Abercrombie & Fitch has been working hard to execute a turnaround — it's investing in stores, improving its product assortment, and working on its marketing strategy.
- This week, it announced it would be partnering with sbe, a hotel and lifestyle chain, to launch pop-ups in its hotels and offer A&F Club members benefits at these locations.
- The retailer is doubling down on its efforts to shed its image of being a teen retailer and appeal to the millennial consumer who might stay in these hotels.
Abercrombie & Fitch is doing everything it can to shed its teen image.
The retailer is in the midst of a major turnaround effort led by CEO Fran Horowitz, who took the helm in 2017.
It's turned up the lights in its stores, ditched its shirtless models, and traded overly sexualized ads for wholesome, outdoorsy images in an effort to appeal to the trendy millennial consumer.
The company is continuing to ramp up its efforts to reach these customers in other places and spread awareness about its new image.
This week, it announced it would be partnering with hotel and lifestyle chain sbe, which operates trendy hotel brands such as the SLS Hotel & Residences, Delano, Mondrian, and The Originals in cities such as Los Angeles, Miami, and New York.
The idea is to offer pop-up Abercrombie shops at some of these hotels and reward members of its A&F Club loyalty program with special benefits at sbe's hotels and entertainment venues.
"As global brands targeting a similar customer, we align incredibly well and we are excited to work with the A&F team," Sam Nazarian, founder and CEO of sbe, said in a statement to the press.
"We plan to make further marketing investments in experiences: communicating with our target customer through the right channels and creating authentic, customer-inspired events," a spokesperson for Abercrombie & Fitch told Business Insider.
Its turnaround strategy seems to be working. In June, Abercrombie & Fitch announced its second quarter of consecutive growth — same-store sales at the Abercrombie brand itself were up 3%, and overall, sales were up 5%, thanks in part to strong sales at Hollister, its teen sister brand.
At the company's investor day in April, Horowitz emphasized that the brand had changed.
"We are not the Abercrombie & Fitch that you once knew," Horowitz said, and then outlined its strategy to grow into a $5 billion business.
