What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest

Chapter 4

Great Brands Don’t Chase Customers

Lululemon Athletica has become one of the fastest-growing retailers in the world by doing a lot of nice things for its customers. The highly trained Lululemon staff members, called “educators,” offer plenty of personal attention and advice to customers, whom they refer to as their “guests.” Lululemon hosts free yoga classes and running clubs at its locations, even for the benefit of “guests” who never buy anything. In every way it can, Lululemon tries to build a sense of community around each of its retail stores.

But one decidedly unfriendly feature at Lululemon is its strictly enforced return policy. The goods must be brought back unwashed and unworn, with original tags still attached, and nothing ...