From leggings to belt bags, Lululemon has arguably made a dent in the athleisure market, given its high revenue projections and plans to expand internationally. Since Lululemon’s start, the Canadian retailer has built and grown a customer base willing to pay premium price tags by marketing its values and driving a sense of community within the brand. That said, Lululemon favorable consumers are unique from other athletic retailers’ consumers.
CivicScience ongoing tracking shows that the quarterly percentage of U.S. adults who ‘love’ / ‘like’ Lululemon has actually decreased four percentage points over the last year (excluding those unfamiliar with the brand), currently standing at 25%. This could partly be attributed to the wavering price sensitivity over the last year. However, unfavorability has remained relatively consistent over the last year (18%).
So, who’s most likely to be favorable toward Lululemon? CivicScience data show that favorability is nearly identical among females (25%) and males (24%), which makes sense as Lululemon is also building interest in its menswear.
When it comes to age, young Gen Z adults are overwhelmingly the most likely to love / like the brand (49%). This age bracket also values exercise and physical activity and is the most likely to pay more for sustainable fashion than any other age group. Young Millennial adults take second place in favorability.
Financially, Lululemon favorable consumers are much more likely to say they are better (45%) than worse off (21%) after the pandemic. They are also much more likely to say they are ‘better off’ than consumers favorable to other athletic brands like Adidas (33%), Nike (32%), and Under Armour (34%). Fans of these brands (excluding Under Armour) are more likely to report they are financially worse off due to the pandemic.
Not to say Lululemon is isolated from economic issues like inflation and shortages, but its favorable consumer base is largely better off as a result of the pandemic, which could be one reason why the retailer has high growth projections. On top of that, Lululemon has also built a large following among Gen Z, who value sustainability over price. At the same time, unfavorability could continue to grow toward the brand if the percentage of consumers ‘worse off’ increases.
At CivicScience, we believe everything affects everything. So, how consumers view their finances, as well as other factors (like price sensitivity concerns, hobbies, dining habits, etc.), influences their spending habits. If you’d like to see a full picture of your customers, let’s talk.
