In the 1990’s, Gap Inc. was really harmonized to American pop culture and tastes. The brand was really popular at that time. Everybody was using it. It was also very affordable and stylish. However the company’s fast expansion during that time, was accompanied by the addition of long-term debt of few billions. Then we saw the quality of the cloths declining and the style’s popularity going down.
Besides their fame of being so perfectly sync to the American Style in the 1990’s, they began to decline in 2000 and only could see some turn around of this situation by 2010.
Company History and Overviewed:
The company had brought in a new CEO in 2002 and then again in 2007, both with turnaround strategies that we could see some positive results by 2010.
Gap came into the market in the 1970’s initially as a jeans retailer in San Francisco. The idea was “to make it simple to find a pair of jeans” and came up to a variety of styles that, in the first sight was perfect to San Francisco’s teenagers.
After Millard Mickey Drexler being hired in 1983, the company grew from $400 million revenues and 450 stores to a $14 billion revenues and more than 2,000 stores by the year 2002. Drexler have made a pretty good job expanding the brand with Banana Republic in 1986, going internationally in 1989 and helping Gap to be the second-largest apparel brand in the world in 1992.
By 2002 Drexler was replaced by Paul Pressler who launched the Internet-only retailer Piperlime.com and expended into new market in Asia and Middle East in 2006. In 2007, Pressler was replaced by Glen Murphy who began franchising both Banana Republic and Gap stores in Middle East and Asia.
Globalization:
The level of globalization in the U.S. family clothing stores were relatively low. In the year 2010, the international operations of stores from this industry generated only 10 to 20% profit from their sales. However, some international brand