There has been a lot of chatter online lately about some changes lululemon has made to customer policy. No more ‘send-sales’, no new Sweat Collective applicant approvals, Sweat Collective no longer applying to WMTM items, and no more WMTM sales racks in stores etc. I get the anger at this. I too feel disappointed but I want to share my perspective on this. 

It’s important to realize the context of all of these changes. The last two and a half months in retail have been NOT GOOD to put it mildly. Sales have been dismal everywhere. Sales across all retail has tanked to levels not seen in a very long time.

In blogger world, retail commission programs have been cut drastically or discontinued. I have one retail brand that hasn’t paid me since August of last year. In Canada, Nordstrom has shut down operations and yesterday they have been approved for liquidation. This is huge news in Canada and I don’t think we’ve quite processed what that means. There are many retailers right now that are on the brink of making really tough decisions. A Canadian big box book store is hanging on by threads. 

As disappointed as I am to lose out some of these customer service perks we get from lululemon (and believe me, my bottom line is very affected), I think anything a retailer can do to remain in business without having to lay-off employees is a good thing. I don’t want any more businesses to shut down, even the ones I don’t shop at. Boarded up stores and layoffs create a really negative cascade effect.

I have no doubt that once the economy stabilizes, and customers are back to the usual retail habits, lululemon will want to go back to providing the perks to customers that we love. In the meantime, lululemon continues to treats employees very well. Product quality has remained high, and we are still getting regular product drops thanks to good corporate planning. lululemon is doing the things they should be doing to be able to survive the challenge, and I support that.