Beyond the Price Tag: Why is Urban Outfitters So Expensive?

Do you think Urban Outfitters is expensive? This popular lifestyle retail brand has a loyal customer base that flocks to its online stores as well as the 200+ outlets across America, Canada, and Europe. They market themselves as a brand for everyday wear, but often, their prices miss making the ‘pocket-friendly’ tag. This often prompts the question – Why is urban outfitters so expensive?

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6 Factors that Contribute to Urban Outfitter’s Prices

From brand marketing to design and material, there are several considerations that go into pinning down a selling price for each product. Here are some of the key factors for UO’s prices –

1. They Source Designs from Independent Artists

Urban Outfitters is well-known for the unique designs that they showcase. These exclusive patterns and motifs set them apart from other retailers and are often acquired from independent artists.

In fact, the brand prefers to choose unknown artists over bigger designers for their fresh takes. This creates an opportunity for local artists, and in order for them to be compensated fairly, UO adds a bit more $$ to their tags.

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2. The Demand for their Products is High

Urban Outfitters’ target audience largely consists of teens and the young adult age group. This category of customers is keen on finding fresh, new styles, and the store caters to this by stacking their shelves with unconventional designs.

Their themes are largely punk and cult art – options that are hard to find in other stores. These designs appeal to a young audience’s rebellious nature. Since the demand for this type of clothing is high and not easily accessible in other stores, they’re able to raise the price a bit.

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3. They Play Up their Exclusivity

Like many other high-end brands, Urban Outfitters sets premium prices to preserve the exclusivity of their products. High-profile brands believe that by lowering their prices and making their products too easy to access, they would be lowering their appeal.

The brand also understands that their target audience (teens) likes to buy trendsetting clothes and outfits that make them feel unique. This further motivates UO to retain their premium price tags.

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4. They Offer Limited Edition Collections

You’ll often find Limited Edition products at Urban Outfitters. For example, they are well known for their vinyl record offerings. Some artists even make these records exclusively for Urban Outfitters, potentially making these collector’s items.

A-List celebrities like Taylor Swift and Lana Del Ray have records for UO. Since these will not be available anywhere else, their prices automatically go up. We need to also consider that the royalties owed to the artist by Urban Outfitters will be high. To offset their costs, their selling price point goes up.

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5. A Mixed Bag of Product Lines

Urban Outfitters doesn’t only sell clothes, their shelves also showcase home accessories and commodities. The designs of these product lines are also unconventional and often unique. This makes them more attractive to a large target audience.

From the brand’s perspective, they need more warehouse space to store all these products. Sourcing, shipping, and displaying all these products translates to higher costs. Marketing in both departments also contributes to the costs.

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6. Premium Materials for Premium Products

Urban Outfitters tends to source and use materials that last longer, feel better against your skin and even look better with high-quality colors as well as prints. This doesn’t just apply to their clothes and shoes. If you ask brand loyalists they’ll tell you that products from Urban Outfitters can withstand a great deal of wear and tear before they need to be retired.

Some collections feature difficult-to-source materials, which can be expensive to do. If the materials are premium, the production costs rise and, consequently, the selling points too.

Also read: How Carrot Can Help Influencers Double Their Revenue

How Can You Get Around These High Urban Outfitters Prices?

Even if you can now acknowledge the necessity for those weighty price tags, these products may still be out of your reach. You don’t have to give up on UO just yet! Whether you’re a fashion influencer or an occasional shopper, we have a few hacks that can help –

1. Keep an Eye Out for Sales and Deals (Or Let Carrot Do that for You)

Source: Paris Hilton’s Urban Outfitter’s Collection On Carrot

Urban Outfitters has sales at least a few times a year, and that’s the best time to score the outfit you’ve had your eye on. Make this easier on yourself by using a free tool like Carrot to save your favorite products, compare prices, browse coupon codes, and be notified of price drops! You could even follow/shop from collections created by your favorite tastemakers and Influencers on Carrot.

2. Browse Online and Offline Thrift Stores

As we’ve already established above, the quality of products from Urban Outfitters is superior, and their clothes last a long time. So even pre-loved outfits are bound to have plenty of wear left in them. You never know what treasures you could unearth at a thrift store! For good leads, follow Creators who go thrift shopping regularly.

3. Shop from stores like Urban Outfitters

While you may not find identical styles to Urban Outfitters, brands like Madewell, Reformation, and WildFox have similar styles. Expand your search, and you may find designs (+ price tags) that work for you.

Related: 6 Stores Like Urban Outfitters That You’ll Love