The Gap, Inc. (NYSE: GPS) is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008, Gap, Inc. has approximately 150,000 employees and operates 3,465 stores worldwide. Gap, Inc. remains the largest specialty apparel retailer in the U.S., though it has recently been surpassed by the Spanish-based Inditex Group as the world's largest apparel retailer.
Despite its publicly-traded status, the Fisher family remains deeply involved in Gap, Inc.'s business and collectively owns a significant portion of the company's stock.
Donald Fisher served as Chairman of the Board until 2004 and remained on the board until his death on September 27, 2009. His wife and their son, Robert J. Fisher, also serve on Gap's Board of directors. Robert Fisher succeeded his father as chair in 2004 and also took over as president and CEO on an interim basis following the resignation of Paul Pressler in 2007.
Glenn K. Murphy is the current CEO of the company. Previous Gap, Inc. CEOs include Millard Drexler and Paul Pressler.
History
1969–1980
On August 21, 1969, Donald and Doris Fisher opened the first Gap store on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco. The store's merchandise consisted of Levi's The Fishers had raised $63,000 to open the store, and in one year, Gap's sales had reached $2 million. Gap opened its second store in San Jose, California in 1970. Along with this second store, Gap established its first corporate headquarters in Burlingame, California, employing only four employees. Gap continued to expand rapidly and by 1972–1973, had grown to over 25 stores and had expanded to areas outside of California and was entering the East Coast market with its store in Voorhees, New Jersey. In 1974, Gap began to sell private label merchandise in its stores. Gap's rapid growth led one Gap's new "Tagg's" chain.mjfu74q89753q-75869NMYHU9M8-,
Brands
Banana Republic, formerly a small retailer selling safari-themed clothing, was purchased by the company in 1983, and eventually was rebranded as an upscale clothing retailer in the late 1980s. Old Navy was launched in 1994, as a value chain with a specialty flair. Forth & Towne, the company's fourth traditional retail concept, was launched on August 24, 2005, featuring apparel targeted toward women 35 and older. On February 26, 2007 after an 18-month trial period, Forth & Towne was discontinued, and the 19 stores were closed. A fifth brand, the online footwear retailer Piperlime, was created in 2006. A sixth brand, Athleta, a women's athletic wear line was added in 2009.
Current
Gap
- Gap
- Gap Outlet
- GapKids
- babyGap
- GapBody
- GapMaternity
Non-Gap
- Athleta
- Old Navy
- Banana Republic
- Banana Republic Factory Store
- Piperlime
- Editions
Discontinued
- Forth & Towne
- Old Navy Outlet
- Gap Warehouse
- Brands
- Hemisphere
- Pants %ff
- Pottery Barn (sold to Williams-Sonoma)
- Structure
- SuperGap
- Tagg's
- You & You
Store count
There are 3465 Gap stores. Those in Canada, France, Ireland, Japan, UK, and US (and Puerto Rico) are company-owned stores. Stores outside of these countries are owned and operated by franchises.
Marketing strategy
The Banana Republic stores try to convey a more sophisticated image for an upscale customer seeking "modern, accessible luxury," whereas Gap stores appeal to a broader demographic of customers. The Old Navy chain is designed to appeal to families and younger customers by emphasizing "fun, fashion, and value" through a store experience that aims to deliver "energy and excitement." Although Gap, Inc., along with other retail-store chains, has been criticized for blandness and uniformity in its selling environments, the company maintains that it tailors its stores "to appeal to unique markets" by developing multiple formats and designs.
Products
When Gap was founded in 1969, its targeted customers were younger generations (hence the name of the store, which refers to the generation gap of the time). Gap's hottest seller at the time was its "basic" look, which consisted of its signature blue jeans and white cotton t-shirts. Its founders realized that jeans were becoming popular among the younger generation of customers. Nevertheless, the company recognized that despite its popularity among the youth, there were not enough assortments of jeans in the clothing outlets. Capitalizing on this deficit was merely the next step in expanding. Gap's founders were sure that jeans could be sold through a chain of small stores devoted solely to that product. As this business idea became successful, Gap expanded its offerings and now Gap offers a range of clothing for men, women, and children. As Gap's business began to boom, it also began to expand and send its manufacturing jobs abroad. Gap, Inc. added two new entities to its company, Banana Republic and Old Navy.
Gap also owns an online shoe store called Piperlime, selling shoes for all ages.
Promotion
Gap's promotion strategy has been blamed for the company's bust. Due to lack of a clear message, it has been alleged that Gap has lost contact with its core customers, which the company is attempting to win back. Gap was the only national retailer to spend more than 2% of its marketing budget for online marketing in 2003. As a result, the company's Internet commerce website has been cited numerous times as a model of stylish efficiency. Gap promotes its products through gift cards, catalogs, advertising programs on television channels and magazines. Gap tries to position itself as a stylish casualwear retailer in a fair price. However, its marketing efforts to reach out to upperclass, luxury consumers is blamed for recent problems in the company.
In addition, Gap's garment designs and products varies from North America and Europe. Products sold in Europe are targeted towards a European sense of style, whereas the Gap's North American garments and accessories are designed particularly for North Americans. This has recently changed and the firm has as of Summer 2009 reverted back to an enthocentric marketing model, based on North America.
Place
Gap's main opportunity to reach its customer is through its stores. Gap operates stores in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Korea and Japan. The Gap, Inc. also has franchise agreements with unaffiliated franchisees to operate Gap or Banana Republic stores in Singapore, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia,Cambodia, Indonesia and Mexico. As of February 3, 2007] The Gap, Inc. operates a total of 3,131 store locations. In January 2008, Gap signed a deal with Marinopoulos Group to open Gap and Banana Republic stores in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Croatia. In February 2009, Elbit Imaging, Ltd. secured a franchise to open and operate Gap and Banana Republic stores in Israel.
Online
The domain www.gap.com attracted at least 18 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey.
Trademark dispute
The company owns a trademark to its name, the "Gap", which is also a common English word with multiple definitions. This has led to conflicts over use in other products and locations. For example, the company threatened litigation against Bootleg Gap, a golf course in Kimberley, British Columbia, named after the visible gap in the nearby Bootleg Mountain. After three years of negotiations, and lacking the funds to defend itself in court, the golf course agreed to remove the word "Gap" from its restaurant and 27 holes. It also renamed its clothing line "Bootleg Golf." The legal costs from the negotiations and rebranding delayed landscaping and cart paving projects for the golf course.
Labor practices
In 2003, Gap, along with 21 other companies, was involved in a class action lawsuit filed by sweatshop workers in Saipan. The allegations included "off the clock" hours, where workers were not paid for working overtime, unsafe working conditions, and forced abortion policies. A settlement of 20 million dollars was reached whereby The Gap did not admit liability.
In 2006, an online advocacy group, Labour Behind the Label issued a report naming The Gap a top-rated company among 37 UK retailers it evaluated. www.cleanupfashion.co.uk, a group working in conjunction with Labour Behind the Label, reported that although not complete, the supply chain compliance is the most sophisticated they had seen, and that the company has taken significant steps to resolve the systematic abuses of worker's rights.
Gap actively participates in the "Joint Initiative on Corporate Accountability and Workers Rights" and is independently assessed by the Social Accountability International (SAI) and Verite. The Gap encourages its vendors to be SA8000 certified. The company also inspects factories for
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