Ross stores is the largest off-price apparel and home fashion chain in the United States with thousands of locations across the country. It offers quality, in-season, name brand and designer apparel, accessories, footwear and home fashions for the entire family at steep discounts compared to department and specialty stores.
Ross Stores engaged Reputation Partners after it became a recurring target of unfair scrutiny and criticism from a large garment worker advocacy group. While Ross Stores was already monitoring and flagging posts from the group that were specific to the company, it was not monitoring the activities of the group’s allies in the fashion industry, legislature and elsewhere, leaving it vulnerable to issues that could impact the company’s ability to operate and its reputation.
The Reputation Partners team began with a due diligence phase to identify as many organizations and influencers driving conversations about fashion industry issues as possible, including those focusing on the working conditions of garment center workers across traditional and social media channels.
Following the due diligence phase the team developed an ongoing monitoring system to help flag areas, topics or issues of concern to Ross Stores. Topics were organized into three trend categories, “low coverage/not of immediate concern,” “trends to monitor closely,” and “trends that should be addressed as soon as possible.”
With the monitoring system in place, the team began compiling and delivering bi-weekly monitoring reports outlining new coverage and conversations related to the company’s association with garment facilities. The reports include an executive summary so the Ross Stores team can quickly understand and identify significant issues that need to be addressed as well as links to the corresponding traditional and social media conversations.
As a result of Reputation Partners’ efforts, the team has been able to alert Ross Stores of pending legislation that could impact their business, significant social/activists movements targeting other companies (which could be replicated for Ross Stores), and regularly identify new influencers, unions, nonprofits and more that are focused on the garment industry and could target Ross Stores in the future.