Afternoon!

Let’s talk about GAP with prisca, candied and moostela.

Gap,[3] commonly known as Gap Inc. or The Gap, is an American multinational
clothing and accessories retailer. It was founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and
Doris F. Fisher and is currently headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Doris and Don Fisher opened the first Gap store in 1969 In San fransisco with 60 000
dollars. The reason was simple.
Don couldn’t find a pair of jeans that fit.
The idea to found gap was borned and the generation gap with.
Donald and Doris Fisher opened the first Gap store on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco
on August 21, 1969; its merchandise consisted of Levi's and LP records. They had
raised $63,000 to open the store,[1] and reached $2 million in sales in the first year of
operation

1970: Openning of second store and corporate headquarters

In 1970, Gap opened its second store in San Jose, California and established its
corporate headquarters in Burlingame, California with four employees.

By 1973, the company had over 25 locations and had expanded into the East Coast market
with a store in the Echelon Mall in Voorhees, New Jersey. In 1974, Gap began to sell
private-label merchandise.

In October 2011, Gap Inc. announced plans to close 189 US stores, nearly 21 percent, by
the end of 2013; however, it also plans to expand its presence in China.[19][20] The company
announced it would open its first stores in Brazil in the Fall of 2013.

STRENGTH
GAP is globally recognized as American style, pop culture and the emotional affinity.
GAP’s main strength is through franchising. it operate through franchise agreements in
more than 20 countries including au Australia, Chile, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Mexico,
Russia and Thailand. These franchise agreements are with unaffiliated franchisees to
operate Gap or Banana Republic store worldwide. The company has stores present in the
US, Canada, the UK, France, Ireland, Japan, China and Italy making it more globally
recognized.

 Multiple brands and brand extensions for a wide range of segments

GAP has 5 distinct brands such as Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Piperlime and
Athleta and
brand extensions such as GapKids, babyGap, gapbody and GapMaternity.

Gap’s presence online offers user-friendly websites, easy online check-out for consumers,

convenience, gives consumers variety as well as making the latest international trends
accessible to consumers who are on the go while they enjoy international shipping.

The company’s online presence is not only beneficial to the consumers but also to Gap
because they are also able to enjoy low operational costs. Consumers are able to shop all Gap
brands (Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Piperlime) at the same time and ship all
products for a flat rate of $7.

WEAKNESS

Outside Vendors

Nearly all merchandise depends on third-party vendors, which are not in the United States.
Almost 1000 vendors in 60 countries with 27 percent is produced in china. With the fact that
Gap does not manufacture it’s items, this practice has led to quality issues due to the
company’s reliance on third-party agents. According to the Datamonitor only 1% of
merchandise sold in 2011 was manufactured in the United States while the remaining was
outsourced in the other countries.

Low productivity in 2011

Having a marginal increase in FY2011, the company still reported a decline in sales in 2011
fiscal year. Gap experienced low sales per average square foot, with sales per average square
foot decreased to $329 in FY2010 compared with $412 in FY2006. This in general
represented a compound annual rate of change of 5% during FY2006–10.

 Less attractive in trendy clothing

Gap’s product lines are less attractive clothing to consumers who are interested in
trendy clothing than competitors

 Uncontrollable production processes

Control of production processes is a key factor among fast fashion retailers