Brands, Brands, Brands , you Name it!

HEY! Have you checked out the latest addition to the PacSun brand? That Kylie and Kendall shirt was totally cute, right? For those of you who don’t know PacSun, also known as Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc., it is a U.S based retail clothing brand and store. What makes it unique is it has its own “feel” that plays off of the look and lifestyle of the California culture. This brand is full of style and variety, but there is definitely some information that most people who buy from there don’t know about. Let me share it with you and some of my thoughts.

Being a fan of PacSun, there are a lot of good things I could say about this company. The variety of options you get for shirts, pants, swimwear, shoes and etc. are very trendy and always up to fashion date. Realistically, PacSun does have more of an edgy skateboarder/ surfer feel to it though, which can limit the fan base or retail sales that they need, for people who are not into that or don’t live on the west coast. This company would be known as a “hybrid” in relation to its brand, due to the fact that they work with and sell other stand-alone brands such as: Hurley, Roxy, Volcom, Vans, and Converse for example. All of this information is obvious while looking around in the stores and online website though the clothing logos and designs but may help you understand how they compare to other retailers.

With this being said, PacSun has fallen on some hard times over its history. Due primarily to a lack of sales revenue, PacSun has gone bankrupt three times, the last time being in April of 2016. To get out of this situation, the company was bought by another, called Golden Gate Capital. Takeovers like this can go well or go poorly, take a toll on business and customers and even destroy a company completely if changes are not made to the business plan that found them in bankruptcy. Fortunately for PacSun, it was a good deal and they came out successful in the deal. Another area that has hurt PacSun are the complaints posted online where every potential customer has access to the comments. After doing research, I noticed that people have posted complaints about bad service, rude employees, and issues with online shopping/shipping. Those are all bad for any type of retail business. Customer satisfaction is what gets people coming back! Personally, I recognize that no store is perfect and I’m pretty accepting of small issues if I like the clothes but PacSun did do something thing that I am not fond of and find bad for business in my opinion. They completely disrespected and ignored their customers when they did complain. People need to know that they are being heard and that their problems will be managed, otherwise customers will start decreasing rapidly.

According to the book "Trust Agents", trust is looked at as a key element in every situation. The book also looks at how technology can influence trust. In the case of reviews of the store and professionalism of the PacSun brand, they are potentially losing the trust of the customers in regards to the lack of response, but also in their lack of acknowledgement of going bankrupt. People need to feel as if things are going to be alight and by not bring awareness, by a statement, or custom personal responses, they are losing the trust bond and the customers willingness to buy from PacSun. This book also mentions how trust agents are who they are by making it clear that their agenda is non sales oriented and a non high pressure market. I mentioned before how I think it is highly nessecesary to respond to complaints or bad reviews made about the company, but when doing this a company needs to make sure their responses are for the people and not the business. I mean who likes to be badgered about more in the future purchases when we are already mad about the past, am I right?

The areas that PacSun has failed in seem like they shouldn’t be that hard, but then again, I’m not running a major company yet. But I do recognize that leading and being part of a company means a lot of teamwork, consistent hard work, and respect for both customers and employees. PacSun does a great job of showing off their items and is very popular throughout the U.S. Having multiple stand-alone brands can bring in more customers and more publicity, but to keep them and the business strong, lots of customer care, respect, and flexibility are needed and clearly a better business plan to avoid bankruptcy when times are less successful.