Urban Outfitters Inc. Competition

Urban Outfitters Inc. Competition

Urban Outfitters Inc is a retail company founded in 1970 and incorporated in 1976. It deals with fashion apparels and accessories, footwear, gifts, furniture and antiques among other items. The company has 327 stores across North America and Europe. The company’s brands include Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People Leifsdottir and Terrain, with each brand specializing with different clients. The urban outfitters and the Anthropologie brands account for almost seventy percent of the sales. It has different sections, which include retail, wholesale, e-commerce and catalog. The company targets young adults aged between eighteen and forty five years. To cater for the needs of its vast clients, the company has four websites through which their customers can purchase different items. It has also located its stores strategically, including areas around universities and colleges, enclosed malls and upscale street locations, where most of its clients are. The company has also diversified its products and this attracted many people to its stores. The company has not opened market in any of the Asian countries and this has cost it a chance to expand its clientele (URBN, 2011).

American apparel had 258 retail stores and ten thousand employees operating in twenty countries by the end of the first quarter of the year. The company has a wholesale business and sells online. H & M has about 2,200 stores and operates in forty countries with a workforce of more than 87, 000. It has 16 production offices in Asia and Europe and 700 independent suppliers. H & M brands include H & M, COS, Monki, Weekday and Cheap Monday. H & M opened in America in the year 2000 and since then it has opened over 200 stores (Reuters, 2011). Unlike other stores, it does not offer online shopping. This has cost it many customers since a significant number of people nowadays prefer to shop online. Abercrombie and Fitch Company deal with apparel retailing, accessories and personal care products. The company’s brands include Abercrombie & Fitch, Abercrombie, Hollister and Gilly Hicks. The company targets teens and college students. As part of its strategy, the company has established stores in Asia, particularly China and Japan. Most of its net sales are from America. Europe and other areas make up a small percentage of its sales.

Stocks at Urban Outfitters Inc. are higher than stocks at the other companies. By January 31, the closing price of the shares was $33.82 at a volume of 1,847,600. The price dropped marginally to $32.99 at a volume of 3,432,700 by the end of February. The share price dropped further in March with the closing price of the shares at $29.83 at a volume of 4,206,200. By the end of April, the share price had gone up and it closed at the price of $32.99 at a volume of 3,432,700 (URBN, 2011). Urban Outfitters Inc is a big company compared to American apparel. The closing price of shares at American Apparel was $1.03 at a volume of 415,573 by 31 January. By the end of February, the closing price of the shares was $1.14 at a volume of 310,209. The shares dropped further in March and the closing price of the shares was $1 at a volume of 824,173. The situation improved the next month and by the end of April, the closing price was $1.45 at a volume of 1,882,657 (American Apparel, 2011).

Abercrombie and Fitch Company have increased its revenues impressively over the past few years. In 2010, the company was valued at 6billion and the shares were sold at $75.20. During this time, Urban Outfitters Inc was valued at 5billion with shares valued at $32.99. Volume for Abercrombie and Fitch was 2,076,872 while that of urban outfitters was 3,321,478 (Forbes, 2010). By the end of April, the shares price was $70.80 at a volume of 1.59million shares. The share price has however increased since then and the current readings show that the share price is at $74.26, showing a major improvement from the previous price. H & M Company is based in Sweden and it is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The current shares are between 231.80kr and 227.90Kr with an average volume of 4,799,825 (Reuters, 2011).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

American Apparel. Historic Stock Lookup. 2011. 13 May 2011.

Forbes. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) | At A Glance. 2010. Web. 13 May 2011

Forbes. Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) | At A Glance. 2010. Web. 13 May 2011

Reuters. H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMb.ST). 2011. Web. 13 May 2011

URBN. Historical Price Look. 2011. Web. 13 May 2011