How Social Media Helped Lululemon Thrive Throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic
- haya nazih
- Apr 5, 2022
- 2 min read
Lululemon is more than just a brand, its a community!
When the coronavirus started, many businesses were struggling and some even forced to shut down. However, Lululemon took that as an opportunity to expand and increase their online sales, and they did!
Lululemon sales increased by 40% in the year 2020 as in comparison to the year before 2019. This is truly shows us the meaning of "when life hands you lemons", because they solely relied on social media, mainly their Instagram as well as Facebook, where they created a brand community. They relied on brand community marketing using social media in order to create a wider attraction, keep their consumers happy and engaged, as well as attract new consumers.
I was one of the people that started getting interested in Lululemon throughout the pandemic, I even purchased clothes online on Lululemon's website because I was so excited to be a part of something in which they sold was bigger than just "workout attire" now is this really true?
It did not matter in the moment when I was doing the purchase, and now I always stay up-to-date on what Lululemon is doing, because Lululemon has an international instagram page as well as a localised ones for each country.
How did they do it?
When the pandemic started Lululemon got to work! Lululemon realised that now that the whole world is on Lockdown people would spend more and more time on the internet, meaning this was a great time to take advantage of those that are addicted to Instagram, people on lockdown were always excited to try out new things. Lululemon gave us just that!
During the pandemic, social media took over the world. Lululemon seized the opportunity and took advantage of the moment, and they started heavily marketing the brand community, and created a sense of feeling that "we are all in this together". Many people wanted to stay fit and find ways to stay fit when locked up at home.
Lululemon instantly reacted to this lockdown, and they started introducing online sports challenges and activities, such as their "Move and Stay Connected"
Lululemon decided to do daily streams of workout classes that people can join and do while staying at home via Facebook and Instagram. What was also interesting is that Lululemon on their social media platforms went way beyond just trying to sell their products. They instead started building a brand community for their consumers to feel a sense of belonging, by even starting discussions on mental health awareness.
They used indirect marketing methods in order to sell their products, this was done by creating this community feeling, which then made people want to buy their products to feel like they are a part of the "Lululemon Family"
Hi Haya,
What you wrote really inspired me! I've heard about Lululemon through a friend because she works there, and that's about it. After reading this I just can't express how impressed I am towards Lululemon's strategy of their brand community, taking advantage of how the majority of people are living a lazier lifestyle and gaining weights during COVID, and creating a community where people can gather to keep fit. Creating this brand community really hits the jackpot, existing users can invite their friends to join into the community as well, growing the community, creating brand loyalty, and therefore increases sales. Customers feel like they belong in this place, and will grow more attached to Lululemon. However, from where I…
Hey Haya,
Lululemon has been killing it with their marketing campaigns as you described so perfectly. I love the way they pushed to build a community because at the end of the day, that is what creates brand loyalty. They are no longer selling products but instead selling a lifestyle. In some ways, I feel like they've always strived for a feeling of us vs them with their campaigns, targeting mid to high range clientele. I would personally love to see more outreach programmes by lululemon to give back to the community they've enriched. Do you think corporations should uphold their roles in communities and give back? If so, what are the upsides to this?
Hi Haya,
This was such a fun and informative piece!
I am a Lululemon customer myself, so I found it extremely interesting to learn about the online brand community that they created and I wish I knew about it during the lockdowns so I could get involved.
I am quite impressed with Lululemon's utilisation of an online brand community as a form of indirect marketing and to strengthen their customer base, especially because this can be a rather controversial method. Whilst online brand communities may encourage loyalty from existing customers, I have learnt that sometimes they do little to draw in new or unaware customers, and therefore don't do very much for increasing their customer base. However, Lululemon's idea of…
Hi Haya,
Totally agree with your insights on how Lululemon's success is largely predicated on their brand message of being part of its "community". I think I can relate to that sense when I purchase their products hence your post is a great insight into the way, I, as a customer, ascribe my values to their products. However, just curious on your thoughts on how Lululemon would be able to improve its marketing campaign/brand image in the future? Asking this because while we all know the COVID had a significant impact on increasing its market share, hype in general is often quite expedient in nature. In another sense my question is, do you think the "hype" that has been generated…
Great content Haya! You highlighted some very important parts in showing Lululemon’s social media marketing methods. I think their so called ‘indirect marketing’ as you mentioned above is done very tastefully and almost shadowed by their attempts of community building. This was a genius approach especially during the pandemic when the main thing we lacked as people was a sense of community. Lululemon profited on the fact that people were not doing their best mentally which makes me wonder if any of their social media community building had any good intention was was purely to sell their products, what do you think about this? Is it wrong that they monetised mental health ?