by lulumum

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Cyber Stripe Naval Blue High Times Pant And Comments on Lack Of Store Photos

You may have noticed a drastic reduction in store photos being posted. Lululemon shared a statement with me on July 6 assuring readers that despite the store facebook page amalgamations and rumours about stores no longer sharing product shots,  product images would still be shared and wont change. As you can see there has been a drastic reduction in information sharing from lululemon so if you are bothered by the lack of store photos do let them know how useful those photos are for you. Unfortunately because we are heading into fall and with the Wanderlust upload and seawheeze coming up there is definitely a big uptick in traffic and sales which means that Lululemon may not realize that the lack of store photos is actually a problem. Voice your thoughts on HeyLululemon, email the digital media team, post comments on this blog. Also, let them know what you think of the new website photos. I know readers have some strong thoughts on the new website photos and how none informative they are so be sure to voice your opinions on that. Between lack of store photos and bad website photos with 3/4 profile shots on pants we are getting very little information about the items we may be interested in. I'm happy to do fit reports on as many items as possible but readers benefit from a huge variety of model shots on different body types, lighting and context. 

Cyber Stripe Naval Blue High Times Pant
Cyber Stripe Naval Blue High Times Pant

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28 comments

  1. You are so right - the only reason many of us buy is because we can see how the product looks on non-model bodies.

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  3. I love the new website photos! My stores never posted pictures to their Facebook anyway so no loss there! I prefer chatters try ons anyway :)

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    1. All the blogs grab the store images from all the stores, not just their own local store. It's nice to have an aggregate collection of store photos.
      From what I've learned, the chatters that often post on the groups have moved the show privately to a more exclusive group.

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  4. I agree with anon 10:23. I don't care about store photos & I actually don't pay attention to the photos. I go straight to the comments. I prefer reading the comments in the blog section regarding reviews from people's try-on reports. I also appreciate people's comments on if they went to the store & noticed details/colors of an item. People's experience & observations are the most helpful for me.

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    1. In September with both my kids in school I will be able to fully focus on the blog and will definitely do more store reports and fit reports with lots of try ons. I am happy to use reader fit reviews and photos as well in a community post.

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  5. Personally I would love to see more try-on comments and photos from blog readers, they seem more valuable and timely than reviews on lululemon.com.

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    1. Thats great feedback guys. I wonder if readers would be interested in contributing to a weekly post (say Monday or Tuesdays before the upload) where they email me try on photos and a comments on fit. Then I can add them all to the same community post.

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    2. I love this idea! The more photos, the better as far as I'm concerned. Though I do want to add that I think it's important the Lulu stores continue to put photos out because they're in a position to take better quality shots and show off the product better than some of us. My iphone selfies/mirror shots will give people a general idea of fit and style, but they're obviously not on par with more professional photos taken by the stores.

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    3. This is a great idea! It doesnt even have to be comprehensive for each upload, maybe one monday it could just focus on that weeks jacket or hoodie drop, the next week crops, crbs, etc. Might be easier. It's easy for me to get to stores to try things, but i always appreciate your reports first just to even gauge if its worth it. Id be happy to pay that forward and i bet others would, too!

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  6. I don't think Lululemon realises just how valuable those photos are to their sales. I know the photos are a big influence on what I purchase and how much stuff I end up purchasing! I do almost all of my Lulu shopping online so the photos ( and all the info shared between us in the comments as well :) ) are extremely helpful to me. I'd probably end up passing on a lot more things if it weren't for the photos and comments shared on the blogs. I don't like to take chances on stuff I'm not sure of as returns are such a hassle. There are so many things I've almost passed on just going by the website photos but then I'll see photos and comments on the blogs and they end up changing my mind so then I end up going for it and ordering!

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    1. I'd just like to add that I very rarely end up having to make a return too :) so the photos and comments are very helpful to me for sure!

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    2. I'd just like to add that I very rarely end up having to make a return too :) so the photos and comments are very helpful to me for sure!

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  7. I used to be in love with everything LLL, now I'm just tired of their sh*t and think they suck! I can't stand the website product shots; they redesign items that always seem to fit worse and are made of cheaper fabric. They need to start making all items available for all regions. Also, they never have tall pants available here, yet they do in Hong Kong (where more people have a short inseam). They never release all items in a new color/print (bra, top, pants) at the same time so you can actually buy a f'ing outfit!

    PS - I liked the store photos because I could see the clothing on different body types and I didn't have to rely on the horrible website product shots (even more important now).

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    1. One more reason they suck- they can't even manage to stop the spam problem on their heylululemon site. It doesn't make me feel confident purchasing from their website!

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  8. My purchases/ obsessive addict has really slowed down with this new no Facebook pics policy. My husband even noticed. It kind of feels good. The girls at my local store even made a comment that they don't see me much anymore. The photos fuel that gotta have it mentality. Maybe it is what I needed anyway, my collection actually makes me feel "icky";)

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  9. I love store photos, I want to know how clothing items look like on "normal" people, not models.
    Anyway, do you know which short sleeve top is worn by the girl on new high times photo? I love the look on her!

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  10. kiwihusky - I believe that's the Superb SS

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  11. Educator here. The statement from lulu is not honest. They told all the stores in April we could no longer share any pictures of product, only pictures of lululemon in the community. Not sure why they aren't letting guests know that...so obviously you can notice the huge change. P S no one likes the new photos online either, when we actually see it we don't even recognize it from the website

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    1. Thank you for your comment. That is what I suspected as far as their statement and it's accuracy. They sort of skirted the real question with their statement. I know they have this big push to focus more on ambassadors and mutual promotion and their involvement in pumping up the brand but I find the ambassador program is always a very transparent and short term arrangement. Its the online fan community that is there for free and already engaged without being pad in kind and this sort of sends the message that the ambassador is more important than the organically driven fan because they are a higher status customer. Very elitist.

      The website photos have been so terrible. I find I have to post 2-4 pictures now in place of the usual single front or back picture.

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    2. Same educator here and I have to say that there have been a lot of other changes that are really hurting the employees and the customers. The smaller stores are really hurting because of it. I can also tell you that it is now a permanent shift that the quick turnaround products are not being made in 2 or 12 because it isn't cost effective.

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    3. I think my local store is one of the ones really hurting. They have always been a 'b' store being that we are out in the suburbs but over the last 6 months or so, maybe a bit more, they have really gotten very few new products. Meanwhile the other 3 or 4 nearby stores are getting double the product drops and full color ranges. This really bums me out because I know that customers in this suburb are then buying online or other stores instead of at that store - and less store commission and sales for this store. It's easy for the other stores to be high selling stores when they get all the product and draw all the customers from all corners. I honestly would not be surprised if my store gets eaten up by another of the stores at some point.

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    4. And I'm sure catering to the customer with charge sends is adding to other stores scooping up sales.

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  12. I'm the poster above that said LLL sucks... anyway, I used to go to my store at least twice a week and I'd always know about new items coming because of all the store pics that were posted in these blogs, etc. There was an educator at my store who had worked there for the past 8 years and she suddenly quit about a month ago. I thought it was odd and asked her about it and she said there were a lot of changes coming from headquarters that she didn't agree with...

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    1. Yes I know of three local people with the same stories who have told me a little bit. I wrote a post about it after the last earnings call (here: http://www.lululemonblogger.com/2015/06/lululemon-q1-2015-in-context.html). People that have stayed on are eager to tow the party line but enough people have suddenly left that there is talk.

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  13. It's sad to see this happening. Being in NZ, I know we have a tiny market. We used to have city pages (because there's only 1 lulu in 1 city), and it was kinda cool to interact with our local store. They posted some new goodies they had, when the sale is on, who will be guest teacher for Sunday classes, etc. We rarely had store photos (that's why I always go to blogs for this), but still we felt we had a "real" connection with the store. Now there's literally nothing after the amalgamation. There are only announcements about Sunday classes, or othe ractivities all over New Zealand (which is annoying because we aren't able to attend anyway). Some people has voiced their protest, all of which are answered with robot-generated answers. Seems like they're leaning towards being just another athletic apparel company - not a community anymore. Sad.

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  14. Anon 7:44pm: me too! My husband has noticed that my spending & interest in lulu has slowed way down. It feels so good not to feel like I need to have this or that,mand for me the photos do that-they feed the feeling that I need an item. My lulu collection doesn't always make me feel good, because a lot of it I have bought because I felt like I had to have an item and not because I actually needed it.

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