Can Gap Rely On Marketing To Return To Glory?

According to the world clothing shoes and hats net, on Tuesday,

Gap Inc. announces: Gap

President and chief executive officer Jeff Kirwan resigned from the office for three years.

Gap Group CEO Art Peck said in a statement, "although I am satisfied with the healthy development and product quality improvement of our brand, we know that Gap has the potential to achieve excellent operation and profit growth has not yet arrived."

Once used casual style khaki trousers and white.

The popular Gap brand has always wanted to recreate the splendor of 1990s. At that time, the brand leader was Mickey Drexler, the "marketing king".

But the fact is that Gap has been stagnant in the past more than 10 years.

The change of consumer tastes, the decline of American shopping centers, and the emergence of "cheap and fashionable" fast fashion European players such as Zara and H&M have brought great pressure to the brand and its business mode.

But according to the experts and people familiar with the company's situation, many problems also come from Gap itself.

To be commended, Gap has taken measures to manage the huge retail network rationally, to shut down the poor performance stores, and combine the Gap main store and Gap Kids and Baby Gap shops to make better use of the retail real estate space.

As Peck said, brand has also made progress in product quality.

But these measures are far from enough to make up for consumers' expectations of the company's innovation and the general design of "Gap is not cool."

In terms of brand, Gap has a strong tradition in history. Peck said he was satisfied with that.

But what the Gap represents, what the target group is, is still not clear now.

At present, the market is full of precise and professional niche brands, and it is becoming increasingly impossible for every product to fit everyone.

"Youth brands, Millennial brands, women's brands and so on are competing.

Every subdivision in the market has a professional brand, and the best brand will push the most preferred Gap to the next election, "said a former Gap senior who declined to be named.

This brand, which is in the heart of San Francisco, is making slow progress in utilizing the technology ecosystem and benefiting from the more powerful innovation strategy.

But it also points to a deeper problem: Gap did not look at the future as it should.

Part of the reason comes from the pressure of shareholders on short-term performance requirements, but the root is that it is difficult to really keep pace with the times.

To be precise, Gap has not adapted to the new reality, that is, the technology led supply chain is as important as product design. Zara is the best example of this.

Gap needs less reliance on design driven series to invest more to achieve faster speed, higher flexibility, better response to consumer demand, thereby increasing profitability.

Peck is clear.

He values data instead of design. He says creative directors are just "false saviors".

But truly leading change is easier said than done.

"It's hard to pform the glories that have gone away," said John S. Thorbeck, chairman of Chainge Capital, a supply chain consultancy. "It's hard for you to pform old models into new models to compete," she said.

To achieve this pformation, we need not only the right strategy but also the strong leadership.

"Mickey Drexler is unable to adapt, Paul Pressler indecisive, Glenn Murphy can only control costs and spend time, now to the Art Peck tough guy, he believes in strategy and data is king," Thorbeck said, "but we all know that corporate culture is not embezzled every moment and every moment."

"Gap must create a new culture of style, speed and flexibility," Thorbeck added. "Gap can no longer rely on marketing to return to glory."

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