US largest clothing retailer GAP landed in Shanghai market

Recently, the world's second-largest clothing retail brand GAP (Gaiyi) announced its official landing in the Chinese market. The first four flagship stores in Beijing and Shanghai will be opened within the year. Each store has an area of ​​more than 1,000 square meters. At the same time, GAP also plans to provide online shopping services. However, compared with the number of stores and expansion speeds of competitors such as H&M, Zara, Uniqlo, and other competitors, GAP entering the Chinese market three years after the competition is not advantageous.

The GAP Shanghai flagship store will be located at Venture Tech, Nanjing West Road, covering 1,796 square meters and occupying two floors. GAP will also open a second store in Huaihai Zhong Road with an area of ​​1140 square meters.

GAP, which is good at jeans, khakis, and T-shirts, will introduce baby toilets in flagship stores and provide various humanized facilities such as online orders. Yang Deming, president of GAP Greater China, revealed that if there are long queues outside the store during the promotion period, the store will extend the business hours for the customers. “Originally 10 stores were opened, but if there are already customers waiting before, GAP’s shop opening time will be advanced. 8:30."

Three years ago, H&M, the second-fastest fashion brand in Europe, set up the first mainland store in Shanghai. At present, its stores have opened to some of China's second-tier cities. Zara, another major fast fashion brand, opened 33 stores in China in 2009 alone. The Uniqlo brand owned by Japan’s Telecommunications Corporation opened its first global flagship store in Asia in Nanjing West Road in May this year, and 64 in Huamen.

Yang Deming said that compared with competitors such as Zara, H&M, and Uniqlo, GAP entered the Chinese market relatively late and found it difficult to find a location, so this year it only opened four stores. He disclosed that next year will open more stores in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, certainly more than this year.

In addition to the disadvantages of the number of stores and awareness of the brand, industry insiders believe that the "slowness" of GAP will also adversely affect its expansion. From design to ready-to-wear sale, international brand names typically take 120 days, H&M's cycle is 21 days, and Zara is even shorter, taking only 12 days. In contrast, GAP requires 3 months.

"GAP has a long process time. For those Chinese consumers who are accustomed to fast-fashion brands, it is not attractive from the point of view of the style and type of clothing." Analysis of the industry.