Founded in 1998, Lululemon Athletica, the Canada-based maker of stylish, upscale workout clothes, had grown very quickly. A pioneer of the “athleisure” trend for women—that is, wearing casual clothing outside of the gym—Lululemon had been best known for its yoga pants. Lululemon has a thriving online business, as well as physical stores in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia. Although Lululemon’s core strength had been its women’s clothing, the company also sold men’s clothing. Lululemon’s sales had grown rapidly, but the company faced some important challenges. First, other activewear companies, such as Nike Inc. and Under Armour Inc., had begun to directly compete with Lululemon in the athleisure market. Also, Lululemon had difficulty recovering from a 2013 controversy, in which the company had to recall a large number of black yoga pants because their fabric was too transparent. Chip Wilson, CEO of Lululemon compounded the problem by explaining that “frankly some women’s bodies just don’t work for it.” Mr. Wilson resigned from Lululemon, and the company continued to grow under new leadership. Lululemon has been pursuing the strategy of growing its male market. Despite Lululemon’s association with women’s clothing, men’s clothing has had strong profits and some loyal customers. Your task is to consider what secondary sources can be used to examine Lululemon’s current strength and potential in the men’s athleisure market. Should Lululemon invest more resources into its men’s market?
1. What internal secondary sources does Lululemon already have that the company could use to gain insights on its men’s market? Be sure to consider the supplier records, retail store records, website information, and sales force records.
2. Which external published sources and data aggregators have useful information about Lululemon’s current position and the potential for the men’s athleisure market? In your investigation, include the following:

a. Business publications (e.g., New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Economist, etc.)

b. Trade and professional association information (e.g., athleticbusiness.com, wewear.org, etc.)

c. Academic journals (search using your library’s database of business journals)

d. Industry information (check your library’s sources, such as those found in Table 5. 1)
3. Where does Lululemon currently have men-only stores? Use the American Community Survey to identify a promising metropolitan statistical area (MSA) for Lululemon to locate its next men’s only store. Justify your decision.

4. Investigate social media to examine user-generated content related to Lululemon.

a. What are the trending topics on social media related to Lululemon? (Use a free social media aggregator, such as Addictomatic or Twazzup, to investigate.)

b. What is the sentiment of the comments related to Lululemon? Compare the sentiment ratio of Lululemon to two of its competitors. What does that mean?

c. What other sources of user-generated content can you find on social media? Do consumer perceptions appear to be supportive of the sale of Lululemon’s men’s clothing? Explain.
5. Integrate your information from the preceding questions to determine whether or not Lululemon should invest more heavily in its men’s market. Justify your response using information from your search of secondary data.