Gap Inc. ready to start selling on Amazon?
On the occasion of the shareholders' AGM, Art Peck, CEO of the Gap Inc. group, remarked it would be "delusional" not to envisage selling on Amazon. A change of tack for a group that is experiencing difficulties, and which until now has refused to enjoy a presence on the US website.
The statement was made as the Cowen & Company consultancy firm very recently reported that, by 2017, Amazon could well become the USA's leading apparel retailer. In 2015, Amazon indeed generated sales for $107 billion (€93.9 billion), equivalent to a 20% rise, and a 26% one at constant exchange rates.
As for Gap Inc., in 2015 the group had to resort to closing down 175 stores, and has recently announced both the closure of another 75, and that it will cease trading in Japan. This is less due to competition on the internet than to its product range imbalance with H&M and Zara.
Gap Inc.'s arrival on Amazon is a near certainty, and it could mean that US retailers, usually wary of making their products available on third-party websites, are finally giving in to this eventuality.
In the fiscal year closed at the end of January, Gap Inc. generated $15.81 billion (€14.12 billion) in sales. Even Old Navy, previously playing the role of the group's lifebuoy, did not manage to save the day. The result led to a 6.25 % downturn in sales, for an organisation which now operates 3,794 stores.
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