Gap at the crossroads
The SF Chronicle recently summarized Gap’s current marketing and merchandising makeover, which includes new fashion lines and new store designs. Gap has taken some recent financial hits, so the changes are a big step toward a hoped for turnaround. To me, it’s a test of how far the Gap brand can go as a value driver independent of Gap merchandising. (A&F shows one way this can be done.) I like Gap, and would like to see the brand step up and be more than just packaging the customer in a certain look.
Several years ago, when I first entered an Apple store, I thought: “Wow! This is just like Gap . . . only cooler.” For a while Steve Jobs was on Gap’s board, and Mickey Drexler of Gap was on Apple’s. Somehow in this intermingling, a healthy part of Gap’s retail mojo ran off to Apple, and hasn’t come back.
