GAP Initiatives To Actively Seek Development, Hope To Return To The Peak Period

No longer fast fashion? GAP is experiencing growing pains.

As the United States has been loud.

The brand, Gap, has made brilliant achievements. Even Sharon Stone wore their turtleneck sweater to the Oscar prize presentation ceremony.

But with the rapid rise of fast fashion brands, more and more consumers are turning to embrace cheaper and faster fashion brands. Gap has lost its status.

In the era of Instagram and fast changing fashion circles, brand design seems to be out of date.

Today, the top US apparel retailer is looking for a pformation plan. It hopes to rebuild the supply chain, adjust the market plan and hire talents to catch the eyeballs of consumers and compete with the competitive brands H&M, Zara and Forever 21.

The quicker and faster supply chain is the core of the Gap plan.

Gap is trying to get rid of these "mistakes" as soon as possible.

Gap President Jeff Kirwan said at this year's Investor Conference: "so what I mean is that we are going to invest in various refinement schemes on the product line.

We have a seasonal line, but we now have a more perfect feedback mechanism.

And we have the ability to go back to the quicker way of working and get rid of products that are not fast enough to produce.

Gap CEO Art Peck said at the earnings conference earlier this year: "so, as we mentioned before, we are continuing to carry out a lot of work. The promotion of fabric platform enables us to quickly test and research products for the season."

In Gap's brand Old Navy, a price of 35 dollars, known as "Pixies".

Shows how companies adapt to the fast fashion market.

Phil Wahba reported in Fortune magazine: "Old Navy's goblin pants are the result of a brand new, faster and more flexible production mode.

Before large-scale production, the brand first introduces small batch products to test the market demand, so that the relationship with suppliers is more closely than before, and can be adjusted and adapted according to the market trend changes at any time through the storage of cloth inventory. "

This fast strategy may be the reason why Old Navy is catching up with Gap rapidly.

In 2014, brand revenue totaled $6 billion 200 million, making it the third largest clothing company in the world.

Peck mentioned Banana Republic in the previous performance conference call this year. "Old Navy is obviously better aware and executive in finding changes and actions in the industry trend, while Banana is in the middle and Gap is lagging behind," she said.

One of the highlights of adapting to the digital age brand is its digital branch.

In April, Fast Company reported that Peck was trying to focus on the development of mobile terminal shopping experience, though he realized that it would face great challenges.

He told Danielle Sacks: "I hope to develop a broad road that will enable all of our stores to successfully implement reform and development.

But I think it will be more difficult than I imagined.

The combination of technology and technology is the key to attracting consumers, "said BFG CEO Kevin Meany, a consultancy." in 70s, Gap was a must go shop.

For millennials, this is the place to buy things for their children. "

Recruitment of elite talents

Back in the past (when Oscar was wearing Gap in 1996), Gap's "cool" part was due to its basic style.

Jessica Navas, chief planning officer of Erwin Penland, told Business Insider: "their basic money is not only a sign of clothing, but also a spirit. When you wear Gap, you will feel a strong attitude."

The brand has recently realized some mistakes, such as not providing enough clothing color choices, or creating too fashionable goods.

Earlier this year, Peck began to solve this problem by replacing creative director Rebekka Bay.

Rebekka is known for her advanced fashion sense and H&M's working experience, but she seems a bit overly fashionable for Gap's discerning customer base.

Subsequently, Peck launched a series of key staff recruitment to revitalize the brand.

In February, Gap dug Wendi Goldman from competing product C.Wonder as vice president of Gap, responsible for product and R & D, Fast Company pointed out that he was the first hand of brand.

Gap also hired Steven Sare, formerly the Japanese UNIQLO, as senior vice president of global sales and Alessandra Brunialti.

Vice president of design.

Can this new marketing team attract the capricious consumers?

The key to the problem is advertising, which Gap has been working hard recently.

Gap's latest autumn advertising blockbuster is slightly more concise than a series of failed advertisements earlier, including the 2014 "normal dress" advertisement, which has led to a decline in turnover for several months.

Gap has also tried to launch social media games with the advertising blockbuster on the dating software Tinder.

Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, Instagram and other social media platforms have also hit the bottom of Gap's experience, which makes Gap feel "outdated".

All this is very frustrating for the company. After all, Gap has run a series of successful commercial advertisements, even with many stars.

During its heyday, the company launched a series of advertisements to show Ernest Hemingway, James Dean and Zsa Zsa Gabor retro photos of brand khaki trousers, implying that artists and creative people love to wear Gap pants.

Television advertisements, including iconic khaki pants, have resonated with consumers.

But now everything is gone.

"This is an era," Meany told Business Insider.

Consumers can only read these histories from past stories, but they can not experience them personally. For them, Forever 21 and H&M are real experiences, and maybe they are also resonating with the world. "

The next generation of Gap may just experience growing pains.

Meany told Business Insider: "this spirit is hard to pass on to the next generation.

When I look at Gap, as a brand, it is at an awkward stage of development.

For innovative brands, it is too old, and for retro brand, it is too new.

In May, Peck seemed optimistic about the prospects of Gap.

"I am optimistic about the future," he said in a conference call.

Three months later, it is not known whether Gap can regain its status.

But the company's goal is to see a positive change in 2016.

Kirwan said at this year's Investor Conference: "the foothold of the brand has been reestablished. Now we just need to implement it and try to create new value over time.

The strength of the product line will change with time.

I think we will see new achievements in 2016. "

When Gap announced its performance in August 20th, we will see whether the brand has made substantial progress on its way back to its peak.