What Made The World'S Largest Clothing Retailer GAP?

It is reported that some people choose to travel on eleven long holidays, and others choose to go shopping.

All kinds of

Consumer goods tend to offer discounts during long holidays.

Perhaps foreign brands are high-end products in your eyes, but GAP (Gap), who likes to open stores in outlets such as outlets, is actually a popular brand in the US.

On the eve of national day, the town of Florence, a discount boutique in Tianjin, ushered in the newly opened GAP store with an area of up to 1000 square meters.

In the eyes of many Chinese, GAP and Zara, H&M are also high quality foreign brands, but you may not know that in the US, GAP is famous for its high quality and low price, and is a well-known mass brand.

The casual clothing business, which was born in 1969, is loved by the salaried people in the United States.

In 70s, it was called the only profitable clothing store in talk shows.

At a Oscar prize presentation ceremony in 90s, when the famous movie star Sharonstone said he was wearing GAP, journalists did not believe it because the brand was not high-end.

It is one of the largest clothing companies in the United States.

When the company was founded in 1969, there were only a handful of employees.

Now, it is a multinational company with three brands, more than 4200 chain stores, an annual income of over 13 billion dollars, and 165 thousand employees.

The voice of the economy commentator Kuang Jie recalled the experience of buying direct selling stores in the United States, and lamented that GAP did not sell very well.

Kuang Jie: the price is relatively moderate, which is much cheaper than the famous brand. It should be said that both the old and the young are suitable. Now the popular brand is very popular.

But GAP also had a detour.

When Fisher first launched the brand of GAP, he was going to sell jeans and tapes.

Later, in the market, Reaves, a professional jeans maker, lost Levis to GAP.

Fisher finally decided to take the younger and popular route. The products sold include clothing, such as T-shirt, short and lean cotton blouse, jeans and so on. Plus, the first to welcome customers to try on the shop, GAP suddenly became angry.

Central University of Finance and Economics professor Cui Xinjian believes that adjusting the market positioning is the key to GAP's success.

Cui Xinjian: in addition to the cowboy plus T-shirt and shirt, in fact, it is more omni-directional leisure positioning.

Positioning is not only what the enterprise wants to be clear about what I do, but also more importantly, your information can be passed on to consumers. When consumers enter your store, you will think of your products: This is what I need.

GAP, like McDonald's, has achieved the biggest expansion in the shortest time.

Luis Nivo, an American writer, wrote a book entitled "reading GAP inside and outside". The analysis of GAP is very deep.

In his book, he wrote, "what is the philosophy of GAP expansion? That's how to get together."

"In the early 1990s, the clothing retailing industry began to become popular." a brand would open a lot of shops in one place, close to shops and shops, and there might be 4 or 5 houses near a commercial street.

In this way, it will bring great pressure to your competitors. When your opponent is forced to shut down, you will have a place. "

In the commercial center, a large number of shops have opened up, and sales of GAP have been greatly increased, and business is booming. Especially in some direct selling stores, the so-called outlets, business is booming.

However, Kuang Jie, the commentator of the voice of the economy, believes that under the impact of some new brands, GAP's young rivals are catching up.

Kuang Jie:

When H&M comes out, they are a shock to GAP.

One is that the price is slightly lower than that of GAP, and the other is the fashion like Zara and H&M.

In recent years, GAP has gradually allowed franchised stores to expand, but on the whole, GAP stores are mainly direct outlets.

Cui Xinjian, a professor at Central University of Finance and Economics, commented that franchising can expand rapidly, and the direct marketing mode is conducive to publicizing its market positioning.

Cui Xinjian: now many.

The advantage of using direct stores and direct stores is that it will be relatively simple to concentrate on the advantages of brands, show its individuality, highlight its fashion positioning, or product positioning.

These positioning functions can be directly communicated to consumers through direct stores, and even to consumers through the style of service or service characteristics of the shop assistants.