What is their mission?
On today’s trip we visited VF Jeanswear, which is a worldwide leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear, and related products. It was organized by Coalition in 1899 and is currently based out of nearby Greensboro, North Carolina. The mission of VF is “to grow lifestyle brands that excite consumers around the world.” In addition, it wants to offer its customer branded products at compelling values. VF is the owner of over thirty different clothing brands, the largest and most well known of which are The North Face, Vans, Timberland, Wrangler, and Lee. VF currently employs over 57,000 employees and plans on growing the work force in the future to help manage its planned growth.
Who is their customer?
There is no single customer of VF because of the wide variety of clothing items all of its companies offer. VF does not deal directly with the common person but instead it supplies retail stores with the clothes needed to fill their shelves and space. VF has three separate marketing units, which it calls its Mass Retail Customers, Middle Retail Customers, and Specialty Retail Customers. The Mass customers include major stores such as Walmart, K-Mart, and Target, while the Middle and Specialty customers include stores like Kohl’s, Sears, Macy’s, and Tractor Supply Co. Since so many stores want VF products the company has encountered a problem they call “cannibalism.” This is a reference to their customers getting angry that other stores are selling the same VF products that they are, and subsequently ruining business.
What does their customer value?
Just like the customers of the other corporations we have visited, the customers of VF value the high quality of products they purchase from VF. However, unlike companies such as Sandvik, the customers of VF want high quality products at the lowest cost possible. The customers are also looking to trust VF that they are producing the newest trends in the fashion world so they can keep up with the current trends. They value the fact that VF pays their employees to come to the customers so the customers don’t have to come to them to talk about business and share their newest ideas with the company.
What are their results?
The results of VF are very impressive. VF had revenue of $10.9B in 2012 and operating income of $1.5B, which is excellent. 25% of sales were through e-commerce or owned stores and 40% of sales were outside of the U.S., mainly in Europe and China. VF has representation in over sixty countries currently and last produced 486,000,000 units last year alone, which comes out to 15 units per second. This is possible because of the 32 internal manufacturing facilities they have and is also the reason why they are the largest jeans producer in the world. Lastly, their stocks increased 69% last year, which is a ridiculous amount and has created a lot more business for them.
What is their plan?
VF’s plan in the future is to continue to increase its growth and expansion around the world and especially in Asia. In 2015 VF wants to have its revenue to around $12.7 billion and by 2017 to get that number up to $17.3 billion. They also want to increase their targets on the Hispanic, baby boomer and millennial demographic of customers because they are increasing rapidly. One way they plan on expanding their business is by purchasing other companies and brands to increase their already wide area of business to target new customers. However, they are planning on working hard to keep their current customers because they do not want to risk losing them for new customers they may not even get.
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