How Would You Fix The GAP?
AdAge Asks the Experts
AdAge Asks the Experts
By Mya Frazier
January 10, 2007
January 10, 2007
Can the ailing Gap brand be saved?
Published reports that $16 billion Gap Inc. might be on the block -- and may consider
a private-equity play or a break-up of its brand trio, Gap Stores, Banana Republic and
Old Navy -- prompted Advertising Age to ask the experts what they would do to repair
the sales gulf at Gap.
Paco Underhill, author of "Why We Buy" and founder and CEO of behavioral
research firm Envirosell, New York: "They have to stick with Monday through Friday,
which is where America works and plays, and not be distracted by Saturday night.
They have to be in the uniform business rather than the costume business. They
have to follow their customers. I wouldn't compete with Abercrombie & Fitch and
American Eagle. I would focus on Gen Xers and boomers."
Lee Peterson, VP-brand and creative services at WD Partners, a retail design and
development firm in Columbus, Ohio: "I'd hire better merchants and close some
stores and spin off Banana Republic. There is too much similarity to the Gap and Old
Navy, which goes back to the merchant problem. If you made a hard-core effort to hire
some merchants, you could start to turn things around. They just have too many
stores, and their fashion sense is just awful. If their target customer is really baby
boomers and just below that cusp -- something like 80 million people -- they are just
clueless to what those people like."
Joseph Beaulieu, retail analyst at Morningstar, Chicago: "They need to be less
low-end at Old Navy. The store is starting to look like a cheap discount store. If you
freed the Gap brand from having to avoid competing with Banana Republic at the high
end and Old Navy at the low end, that could improve their target focus. They have
these three segmented brands and don't want them to step on each other. It's more
of positioning and merchandise issue."
Kerry Feuerman, creative director at Fallon, Minneapolis: "I'd live in the practical,
and create campaigns for the next fashion season, but that's defensive. Offensively, I
would have a team creating an image for them that is above and beyond clothing. If
you can penetrate deeper, beyond 'Do I look cool?' and stand for something deeper,
there's a long-term benefit to that. They are missing some form of reason to believe in
the brand beyond the faded jeans and the new hoodie of the month."
Seth Godin, marketing guru and author of "Small Is the New Big and 183 Other Riffs,
Rants and Remarkable Business Ideas," via e-mail: "I don't think it can be done. The
Gap represented a movement. It nationalized something regional at the same time
they profited from the death of business dress. Both are over, quirkiness is back, and
that's that."
Love Goel, a former Federated executive who heads Growth Ventures Group, a
Minnesota-based investment firm: "I would work to really understand what
customers want. You need people who understand the product, but the Gap has
gotten so reliant on analytics and data, I would bring a balance to fashion
merchandising and analytics. You can't let just data and analytics drive the business.
You can't just have computer programming figuring out what the right assortment is
for the season. I would also move into direct marketing and internet advertising and
shift away from mass advertising on TV, which is too expensive."
Published reports that $16 billion Gap Inc. might be on the block -- and may consider
a private-equity play or a break-up of its brand trio, Gap Stores, Banana Republic and
Old Navy -- prompted Advertising Age to ask the experts what they would do to repair
the sales gulf at Gap.
Paco Underhill, author of "Why We Buy" and founder and CEO of behavioral
research firm Envirosell, New York: "They have to stick with Monday through Friday,
which is where America works and plays, and not be distracted by Saturday night.
They have to be in the uniform business rather than the costume business. They
have to follow their customers. I wouldn't compete with Abercrombie & Fitch and
American Eagle. I would focus on Gen Xers and boomers."
Lee Peterson, VP-brand and creative services at WD Partners, a retail design and
development firm in Columbus, Ohio: "I'd hire better merchants and close some
stores and spin off Banana Republic. There is too much similarity to the Gap and Old
Navy, which goes back to the merchant problem. If you made a hard-core effort to hire
some merchants, you could start to turn things around. They just have too many
stores, and their fashion sense is just awful. If their target customer is really baby
boomers and just below that cusp -- something like 80 million people -- they are just
clueless to what those people like."
Joseph Beaulieu, retail analyst at Morningstar, Chicago: "They need to be less
low-end at Old Navy. The store is starting to look like a cheap discount store. If you
freed the Gap brand from having to avoid competing with Banana Republic at the high
end and Old Navy at the low end, that could improve their target focus. They have
these three segmented brands and don't want them to step on each other. It's more
of positioning and merchandise issue."
Kerry Feuerman, creative director at Fallon, Minneapolis: "I'd live in the practical,
and create campaigns for the next fashion season, but that's defensive. Offensively, I
would have a team creating an image for them that is above and beyond clothing. If
you can penetrate deeper, beyond 'Do I look cool?' and stand for something deeper,
there's a long-term benefit to that. They are missing some form of reason to believe in
the brand beyond the faded jeans and the new hoodie of the month."
Seth Godin, marketing guru and author of "Small Is the New Big and 183 Other Riffs,
Rants and Remarkable Business Ideas," via e-mail: "I don't think it can be done. The
Gap represented a movement. It nationalized something regional at the same time
they profited from the death of business dress. Both are over, quirkiness is back, and
that's that."
Love Goel, a former Federated executive who heads Growth Ventures Group, a
Minnesota-based investment firm: "I would work to really understand what
customers want. You need people who understand the product, but the Gap has
gotten so reliant on analytics and data, I would bring a balance to fashion
merchandising and analytics. You can't let just data and analytics drive the business.
You can't just have computer programming figuring out what the right assortment is
for the season. I would also move into direct marketing and internet advertising and
shift away from mass advertising on TV, which is too expensive."
