Report: Abercrombie focusing on customers, cleaning up brand image

New Albany, Ohio – Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is overhauling both how its stores operate and how it markets its brand image. According to the Columbus Business Journal, Abercrombie will focus on the in-store customer experience with features like order-in-store technology and techniques to keep lines short.



In addition, Abercrombie will make stores more responsive to the needs of local shoppers by giving individual store managers control of product placement and also giving managers local sales goals and incentives. In-store scent, lighting and music will also be altered to provide a more pleasant sensory experience.



Other changes designed to improve the customer experience include a pivot away from Abercrombie’s notoriously sexualized brand image. By July 2015, the retailer will have eliminated all sexual imagery from its marketing materials and also have stopped using shirtless models at store openings and events. Store employees will now be called “associates” instead of “models.”



The store employees themselves have a less stringent dress code than the previous “look code,” although visible piercings other than earlobes and facial or neck tattoos are still prohibited.



“The brand is moving to a customer-centric store operating model and making it more convenient, friendlier and easier to shop,” Abercrombie said in a statement.