Gap Research Paper

Assignment 5

FIN 534

Rafael Diaz

Strayer University

09/02/2010

RESEARCH PAPER

INTRODUCTION

Gap, Inc. started as a company in 1969 to sell comfortable jeans at a reasonable price. Today, it has grown all around the world and has several different brands for all types of people, for all types of tastes. Gap, Inc. now has approximately 3,100 stores. It is a U.S. publicly traded company but its brand is known throughout the world. Today, it’s a billion dollar global company with over 100,000 employees worldwide.

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Gap, Inc. is a specialty store. It offers clothing, accessories and a variety of personal care products for men, women, young children and babies. The different brands they sell under are known as Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime, and now Athleta. The Gap brand is the main name brand and sells American style clothing for all types of people. The Banana Republic brand is of better quality and a more luxury brand. Old Navy is more for the cost conscious consumers. Piperlime is the online store for Gap to sell shoes and handbags to customers. Athleta is the new brand that is made by athletic women for athletic women and sells athletic clothing for the woman who is active. As you can see they cover just about all types of people and different age groups.

The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California but also has design offices in New York City, San Francisco, and London. There are Gap stores all over the world including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, and Japan. Its 2009 revenue as a whole was $14.2 billion with each brand doing its part for the company.

Gap, Inc. continues to be not only one of the most recognized brands by people today but it is also widely recognized in its achievements as well. In this year alone, it has been recognized for several different awards including retailer of the year. Another recognition it has earned is that it is one of...