Chapter 6: Consumer Decision Making

Abercrombie & Fitch over the years has used perception to get consumers to make purchases. They brand themselves as being this casual luxury clothing line and the people that buy truly do perceive it as that. I remember being in High School and seeing the girls I thought to be "cooler than me" all wearing Abercrombie & Fitch which led me to believe that if I wore that specific brand I too would be cooler. Of course non of that was needed to actually make me any more of a popular person, but after discovering the brand and seeing how well their jeans fit and how comfortable the sweatshirts were I continued to shop there. Its the perception of being cool that brings consumers in and the actually clothing itself that keeps consumers coming back. If i felt like that growing up in New York City, i can imagine how High Schoolers in more rural areas feel, places where Abercrombie & Fitch is much more popular..

That has much to do with the reason Abercrombie & Fitch got into a dispute with the cast of the Jersey Shore, when the company offered the cast money to stop wearing the brand. Perception played a big part in that because in the summer of 2010 when Jersey Shore was the biggest thing ever, Abercrombie & Fitch released a set of men's graphics tee shirts using popular Jersey Shore phrases, such as "GTL" because at that time it attracted consumers to have anything Jersey Shore related. Fast forward a year, now societies thoughts on the Jersey Shore cast has changed, and Abercrombie want to distance themselves as much as possible from the cast, even paying them to stop wearing the brand. All because now the company no longer wants to be associated with something seen as trashy and goes against its idea of casual luxury. Its all about making use to give the consumer the best perception at literally any cost.