American Fashion Chain Gap Inc Is Optimistic About Chinese Market

Clothing displayed in a Gap store in San Francisco this February. This family U.S.A Fashion chain stores are planning to open dozens of new stores in China.

Gap Inc., a fashion chain store in the US, hopes to offset the impact of the sluggish sales in the US market through China's business, because China is one of the fastest growing and fiercely competitive clothing markets in the world.

The San Francisco based company runs many brands such as Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta. Jeff Kirwan, the company's chief executive, said in an interview last Saturday that the company plans to open 25 Gap stores and more than 10 Gap factory outlets in China in 2014. At present, GAP has 80 stores in China.

Ke Weijie said that the opportunities in the Chinese market are undeniable, and Gap's sales and sales in China are growing strongly.

Ke Weijie said that Gap will introduce the lower end brand Old Navy into China to cater to price sensitive Chinese consumers, and plans to open five Old Navy stores this year. Last Saturday, Old Navy opened in Shanghai, China, with a business area of 22000 square feet (about 2000 square meters).

Chinese clothing Demand is huge. According to Boston Consulting Group Inc., clothing sales in urban areas will reach $156 billion by 2017, up 58% from 2013, according to Boston.

Gap has been focused on international expansion to cope with slowing domestic business growth. In the fourth quarter, Gap sales in the US dropped by about 7% to $1 billion 50 million, compared with $1 billion 130 million in the same period last year. In the same period, US sales of Old Navy and Banana Republic also declined.

By the end of February 1st, the company achieved net profit of US $307 million, compared with us $351 million in the same period last year. Sales fell from $4 billion 730 million a year ago to $4 billion 580 million. Some industry experts warn that Gap may face similar problems in overseas markets. Barton Button, senior manager of SmithStreet, said that the problem with Gap is that its brand recognition is not very high. (James Button) Many consumers in China prefer fast fashion brands, such as Spanish Company Inditex SA's Zara brand and Swedish fashion company Hennes &Mauritz AB, he said.

Barton said that Old Navy will face many competitors, including Shanghai Metersbonwe. Clothes & Accessories Limited by Share Ltd (Shanghai Metersbonwe Fashion &Accessories Co.) is short: American bond dress and sun rising enterprise Limited (Glorious Sun Enterprises Ltd.): sun rising enterprise. Asahi Corporation operates about 3000 JEANSWEST (Jeanswest) casual wear stores in China. Barton said that if Gap expands its high-end brand Banana Republic in China, it is possible to achieve higher profit margins.

Ke Weijie said that Gap plans to introduce Banana Republic into the Chinese market, but preferred to set up Old Navy stores in China to find the highest return and the least difficult access path. He said that after analyzing the size of the market and the source of customers, the company believes that the impact and opportunities brought by Old Navy will be the biggest. He said that this brand caters to the family needs, while China is a family dominated shopping market.

He Xiaoqing, partner of A.T. Kearney, a consultancy, said that as many companies entered the high-end clothing industry, low-cost clothing brands still had a good profit. Sherri (He) The low-end brand competition is very intense, nor is it in the fast growing period, but the market scale is quite large.

Japanese apparel chain brand Uniqlo Fast Retailing and Forever 21 Inc., the US chain clothing company, have been eager to expand in China to buy consumers of casual wear, work clothes and entertainment costumes. Forever 21, known for its fast fashion, plans to open five stores in Huaxin this year. The brand has opened three stores and one store in mainland China and Hongkong respectively.

Ke Weijie said that Gap is also expanding in Japan, and will open 20 new stores on the basis of the existing 38 stores this year.