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:
- What is a parent company?
- Who is Old Navy’s parent company?
- What is profit?
- Why do you think Old Navy represents the majority of its parent company’s sales and profits?
- According to this story, why are sales falling at Old Navy?
- Why is that a problem for the parent company?
- Why would Old Navy make clothing sizes for “everyone”, as suggested by the headline of this news story?
- What is market research?
- What are the different types of market research?
- How did market research help the company to make decisions relating to sizing?
- According to this story, that strategy backfired. Why?
- How did the Covid-19 pandemic complicate the product launch?
- What is supply chain?
- How have supply chain issues created additional challenges for Old Navy?
- What do you think Old Navy might do to try to get back on track?