Marketing

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-11517129

In 2010, Gap attempted to change its’ logo to be a more contemporary and current look with the small blue box above the ‘P”. This was meant to still honor their heritage with the blue box while still being current. This change did not go over well with the Gap customers. Some of the customers even threatening to stop shopping with the company if this change went through. At the time the president of Gap North America was Marka Hansen, she defended the logo on The Huffington Post, saying in a blog post that the new logo brings Gap into the modern age. This change was short-lived, lasting only a few days. After the criticism Gap agreed to run this change past a board of customers’, days later the company admitted a mistake in not consulting with the customer first.

The logo effectively does its job because when you see the traditional logo, blue box with the capital letters for Gap in white, it is immediately recognizable as the Gap logo. This logo recollection also allows for the customer to have a general idea of the type of clothing sold at Gap. We do feel that the Gap logo is a very old-school logo and does not show any changes in the company’s style.

In 2016, Craig Brommers took on the role of Chief Marketing Executive. Chief Marketing Officers are responsible for creating, communicating and delivering offerings that have value for customers, clients or business partners. Brommers used to work for Abercrombie and Fitch and Speedo before coming to work for Gap. I think that he will be responsible for the Global Marketing for the company and the execution of it among all the stores. Jeff Kirwan, the Global President for Gap says, "As we remain focused on delivering optimistic and elevated American style, it's our goal to continue telling engaging and emotional stories that are uniquely Gap, Craig is known for being a passionate and innovative marketer, who is not afraid to take risks and push boundaries." (Pasquarelli. & Pasquarelli, 2016) This comes just a year after the brand removed the CMO position from Gap and the Banana Republic. It is said that Brommers will have a lot of work ahead of him due to the company reporting falling sales and consumers looking for different products.

Gaps’ Marketing Strategy varies depending on their five brands; Gap, Banana Republic, Athleta, Intermix and Old Navy. The Old Navy brand appeals to the lower middle-to-middle income consumer. Old Navy’s primary demographic is usually young women, ages 24-35. Gap’s target market ranges from lower middle to upper-middle income. The target market of Gap is adults between 18 and 35. However, the consumers range from babies to baby boomers. The Banana Republic targets adults between 25 and 35 years old and its brand is very fashionable and pricey. Athleta is not directly trying to appeal to the millennial and is in fact not chasing them. The CEO says “We inspire her to keep living this full, healthy, active, rich life, no matter what her body type is, no matter her age.” (Lieber, 2017) The primary age for Athleta is between 35 and 55. Intermix primary audience is those looking for more fashionable, high fashion items.

Gap utilizes multi-channel and e-commerce. They have their online stores and can return to stores. This allows for not only sales online but allows the consumer to come into the store to return promoting business. Since Gap has a well-established brand and reputation consumers are more willing to make purchases from their online store.

The marketing mix refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to promote its brand or product in the market. This consists of the four P’s - product, place, price, and promotion. For Gap Inc., the products tend to be t-shirts, jeans, jackets etc for use in daily life, sunglasses for everyone, shoes, jewelry, and perfumes. We were speaking about how companies use marketing mix for their advantage in selling their products through Dr. DeLong’s presentation.

Product:

The specific products depend on the specific store. For Gap, it would be trendy shirts, t-shirts, denim apparels, sunglasses, etc., basically for summer and spring seasons. The Banana Republic is slightly premium segment dealing in better craftsmanship and luxurious materials. The products include clothes, sunglasses, accessories, footwear, bags, and perfumes. Old Navy is widespread in the types of apparels, with a target of lower middle to the middle-income consumer. Athleta is sports apparel including yoga, tennis, skiing and seasonal sports.

Price:

Gap’s major competitors are brands like American Eagle Outfitters, Urban Outfitters inc., and Macy’s inc. Gap protects its market share by having lower prices, still high quality, goods. Since the demand for clothing is very inelastic, but the market is very price sensitive. People tend to buy apparel that is more affordable to them. Since 2014, Gap has shifted its market towards a larger segment of people by optimizing its market for decreased operations cost allowing for lower prices. This gives Gap a competitive advantage in the pricing market.

Place:

Gap has an extensive distribution system that allows for a strong presence worldwide. The products can either travel from company to wholesaler to retail or to the direct Gap stores, for consumers to buy from them. There are 3,727 stores around the world, 2,406 of which are located inside the U.S. Most of the stores are open year round. Gap utilizes both the in person and online channels to make its sales. The gap allows for consumers to shop all four of its brands on the same website. Gap products are even allowed to be purchased online and returned in store to increase convenience. Gap Inc. is recognized all over the world and their stores are in most metro cities.

Promotion:

Gap used several different promotion techniques in its marketing mix. They have loyalty cards available for all four of their companies. All of the companies also have their own gift cards and e-gift cards that can be purchased. They also use traditional things like posters and flyers to promote their store. They use coupons like “Gap Cash” which features the idea of buying a certain amount to qualify for money off of the purchase.

Gap could use a lot of the Think with Google to conduct their  Marketing Research. When looking at the different tools that they have to offer I noticed that Gap could benefit from Google Trends and the Consumer Barometer. Google Trends uses real-time information to gauge the consumer's interests in your brand and competitors brands. Google Trends allows marketers to predict search behaviors over time. Google Trends can be used for the U.S and abroad which makes it perfect for a brand like Gap. It would allow for Gap to see what consumers prefer and help them to make changes to increase sales. The Consumer Barometer allows you to create your own custom analysis to understand how people are using the internet, see how internet access and device usage is around the world, learn more about the internet’s role in people's lives, and highlights from that research. This would be good for a brand like Gap that needs to become more involved in the e-commerce world. This would allow Gap to know where to display their ads online depending on their target demographic.

When going to the Google Trends page for Gap Inc. it gives information about the company. Google Trends shows that Gap has had a decrease in interest overtime over the past year. The states where searches for Gap are the most popular are New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia. The top searching history for Gap inc. was related to their black Friday sales in 2017.

Google analytics allows for an understanding of your online presence, who your customers are and where they come from. Google Analytics provides solutions to the small problems involving their website. Using Google Analytics allows for a better understanding of the consumers visiting the websites. Gap having this knowledge will allow for a better marketing plan to be in place as well as a knowledge of their primary audience. Knowing the primary audience would allow for the brand to make sure that the products that they’re supplying fit the needs of those consumers. Dr. DeLong spoke about these tools in her presentation and how useful they can be to know your audience and appeal to what they’re looking for.

I feel that Gap Inc. has designed and produced its new products based on the changing times and their customer basis. Since Gap Inc. has a long-held reputation of its products it has to make sure that it still provides for the customers that have been with them for a while. However, the times are changing and Gap is trying to keep up with the competition around them. They are coming out with more trendy and fashionable clothing in an attempt to gain a younger audience. They are still keeping the prices low to appeal to those middle-income buyers that their brand target.