GAP Sales Have Been Declining, Can Stores Turn The Market?

There is no doubt that Gap is declining - it will close 175 stores, compared with 140 this year alone.

At the same time, the company's younger sister brand Old Navy has surpassed Gap.

Erwin Penland, chief executive officer of Erwin Penland, said in an interview with "business observation": "a simple marketing plan can make Gap return to the root, that is, close to the price of the public.

Looking back at the heyday of Gap, Gap represents not only a clothing brand, but also a spirit - it has a clear attitude and full of vitality.

Before the Canadian brand Gap, the sales volume was driven by celebrity effect. In the autumn and winter advertisements of 2015, celebrities had been replaced by models.

Gap hired Andreea Diaconu, Karolin Wolter, Aya Jones, Angel Rut and Liu Wen's many international supermodels for endorsement.

The strategy is simple: it allows models to display Gap's clothing in a plain background.

But this strategy has not been successful, and its "featureless dress" has been widely criticized in 2014, so its sales have been declining in the coming months.

It is reported that Gap has hired creative director Wieden and Kennedy to carry out the new marketing plan.

Gap hopes to keep up with the trend of normcore.

Normcore is the word created by the trend prediction agency K-Hole combined with Normal (usual) and Hardcore (core).

Its characteristics are simple, plain, comfortable, solid and neutral, and the "celebrated" series emphasizes the personalization and authenticity of the dress.

Celebrities such as Elizabeth Moss and Shama Shama appear in advertisements and others.

It has been emphasizing some cliches, such as wearing what you like, not caring about others' opinions, and telling your personality to clothes.

The author, Isha Aran, summed up the influence strategy of Gap with a very clear headline. Gap's so-called "normal dress" is cliche or even not enough to be the object of normcore's satire.

In addition, Gap released a mini series starring Jenny Slate and Paul Dano on Instagram, which is called "grotesque spring" in an attempt to win back consumers in this way.

Before these weird advertisements, Gap has been looking for its own position, especially in advertising.

Gap used to have symbolic advertising activities, such as the famous "rocking Khaki" business activities, and now new advertising campaigns are always being awarded.