Fast Fashion Brand Gap Promotes Brand In The Minds Of Consumers

The fast fashion Gap group CEO Art Peck made bold promises at the San Francisco investor conference last June. In 2016 spring, the company and flagship store will be free from two consecutive years of recession and declining turnover, opening up a new chapter.

He assured investors that the top management team would try to achieve performance goals.

Art Peck said at the time: "spring is a market opportunity without any excuse, especially in women's clothing business."

However, ten months later, this commitment has not been achieved, and the performance of Gap Group continues to be disappointing.

Art Peck has been in service for 14 months, and Wall Street analysts have not seen its strategic results. The company's performance has improved. Since he took office, the company's share price has plummeted by 42%, and the company has questioned the ability of Art Peck.

Nomura Securities analyst Simeon Siegel said: "spring should be a good season for them, but let all investors be disappointed."

Even in February, more than expected optimism was released in March.

And then disappeared.

According to the latest March earnings report, the group's net sales amounted to $1 billion 430 million, compared with a record decline of 6.3% in the same period last year, while the performance of its brands was not satisfactory. The same store sales fell 6%, up 2% in the same period last year. Among them, the Old Eyre Navy, which has always been eye-catching, also suffered from Waterloo, with a 6% decline in turnover and a 14% increase in the same period last year.

Gap stores and stores that have been open for at least one year have continued to slide over the past 8 quarters, and the stock will be larger than expected in April. Under these circumstances, the company will have to cut sales to achieve sales.

In order to satisfy the wider consumers, Gap frequently pays no price at the bottom line, and consumers are waiting for the promotion period to buy products.

Gap and Banana Republic are not the only ones that use high sales promotion to attract customers. The brand Old Navy of the group is adopting the same strategy.

Some analysts pointed out that their continuous and low price promotion measures, Gap, became a promotional brand in the eyes of consumers and plunged into the curse of discount stimulation.

Gap has been too long to eliminate inventory through discount sales, and 30%, 35% and 40% discount on billboards are everywhere.

In view of this abominable

Gap Global CEO Jeff Kirwan had to stand up and say, "it is not appropriate to assert that we have become a promotional brand, but we can change the way of value communication with consumers."

Analysts and investors questioned whether Art Peck and its team had any further plans. They wanted to know how much trouble the company was in.

Old Navy former CEO Stefan Larsson after job hopping Ralph Lauren, 4 months ago, Gap group appointed the former supplier director as Old Navy president. The industry expressed concern that the ability and advantage of Sonia Syngal is the outlets business. Now the company is in a predicament and needs an experienced leader.

Many consumers say that Gap has lost its reputation for being cool and stylish years ago. Today, stores are filled with mid-range commodities, all kinds of boring products with lower quality than competitors.

Fashion Anderson Poor Little It Girl Cathy Anderson also said: "here is just a large number of T-shirts and striped socks, very popular, can not stimulate consumer interest and desire to buy."

A retail analyst in the US pointed out that Gap will be very difficult to attract customers, as many other large apparel retailers have also launched a cheaper basic style.

"Gap's iconic products are all too simple, everyone has similar clothing, and when everyone else is digging your corner, you will remain behind this basic category and be left far behind," said Michael Appel, President and founder of Appel Associates, a retail consultancy.

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At the beginning of its establishment in 1969, Gap launched a bloody path in the fashion industry from the cool and stylish everyday wear style.

It was still dominated by the market until 2002, but the company's financial situation was embarrassed by the rapid expansion of the company.

After introducing a large number of executives and cutting costs, the company has been struggling and struggling for more than 10 years.

In 2011, Art Peck became president of Gap North America, and soon introduced the color jeans product line, which led to the growth of the same store sales for two consecutive years, and restored the position of the leader of the brand leisure style in the US.

Michael Appel revealed: "when the color cowboy cloth just came out, everyone thought it was very good-looking, because no one owned it, this is a brand-new creative product."

Since then, Gap has been plunged into a brand crisis.

The company owns Old Navy and Banana Republic as the best-selling brand, especially the industry is worried that the most eye-catching Old Navy's same store turnover is also declining. With fast fashion retailers such as H&M and Internet clothing companies gaining a larger market share, consumers, especially the millennials, prefer online shopping, because these channels have more choices and cheaper prices.

"There are too many physical stores in Gap," said Joan Volpe, managing coordinator of the center for professional research at the US Fashion Technology Institute.

The mobile electricity supplier has become a new trend, not that the retailer mode is no longer prosperous, but that the retail mode must be changed.

Now, every retailer is fighting for customers, and consumers are more willing to spend money on food or services recently.

Gabriella Santaniello, President and founder of A-Line Partners, a retail research firm, says that they still need more expensive clothing purchases. If fashion retailers can't find a way to maximize the flow of consumers, they will have a long-term impact on retailers' performance.

Last June, the company announced that it would close 1/4 of Gap stores in North America, about 175.

That means cutting 250 jobs.

Industry analysts say that the Gap brand has been stumbling in the new market environment, and now it is because it lacks a clear target consumer positioning.

As a former sales leader of the fashion industry, Gap was rated by Forbes as one of the ten fashion brands that might disappear in the next ten years. The factor behind it may be that the Gap brand blindly cater to all consumers. "In 2014,

Michael Appel and other retail industry experts point out that Gap needs to be differentiated in the saturated market.

Guggenheim Securities analyst Howard Tubin said that this needs to change the replication of past successful experience to some extent. He said: "Gap needs to choose a more niche or unique angle to participate in competition. Consumers will not run into stores because of the color change of seasons or products, and brands need to find more amazing elements."