Retail Channels
10 November 2022
Gap is opening a storefront on Amazon
The retailer is the latest name brand to start selling on the ecommerce marketplace.
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Once, Amazon was seen as overtaking the mall. Now, the mall is coming to Amazon.
The latest sign came Thursday, as Gap announced that it will begin selling apparel through Amazon Fashion.
Gap said that it will have a dedicated brand store on Amazon. The available apparel will include “basic, modern essentials for the family,” the brand said, including hoodies, T-shirts, denim, socks, underwear and sleepwear for adults, teens, kids and baby. Additionally, babyGap-branded items will be available, including nursery furniture and baby gear like strollers, bassinets, cribs and more.
Customers will be able to shop items by searching for “Gap,” and they will be available for delivery through Amazon’s Prime service.
“Collaborating with Amazon Fashion provides us a new channel to deliver Gap’s modern American essentials to even more customers in the U.S. and Canada," said Mark Breitbard, President and CEO, Gap brand. “We are excited to take this step with Amazon Fashion, to expand our product offering and to deepen our connection with consumers through the Gap brand store.”
The move comes as Gap is among a number of retailers that are seeking to move inventory as a result of a pileup that happened due to supply chain issues. There has also been a pullback at the retailer. Parent company Gap Inc. cut 500 corporate jobs earlier this year, and saw the exit of company CEO Sonia Syngal and Old Navy CEO Nancy Green.
Gap marks the latest brand to open an Amazon storefront this year, following Victoria’s Secret beauty and Peloton. There has long been a debate among retailers about signing on with the ecommerce giant. On the one hand, it draws massive traffic, and consumers may be already searching for a brand's products on the site, anyway. On the other hand, Amazon owns of consumer data, as well as the wholesale structure through the 1P arrangement. However, Amazon has appeared to position itself as being friendlier to the mall-based retailers it once disrupted. One new Prime service is delivering items from retail stores to nearby customers.
“At Amazon Fashion, we continuously expand our product offerings for our customers,” said Muge Erdirik Dogan, President of Amazon Fashion. “We’re excited to make shopping for Gap products even more convenient for customers with fast, free Prime delivery.”
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Economy
02 June
Job market keeps booming as employers add 339K roles in May
A key indicator of consumer demand is still running hot.
Photo by Eric Prouzet on Unsplash
The U.S. economy continued to post job gains in May, even as the unemployment rate ticked up.
Data released for May 2023 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the following:
Employers added 339,000 new jobs this month. The gains crossed the 300,000-mark for the first time since January. That’s in line with the average of 341,000 jobs added over the last 12 months.
Retail employment remained relatively unchanged for the month.
The unemployment rate ticked up by 0.3 percentage points to 3.7%. It remains within the historically low range of 3.4%-3.7% seen since March.
Average hourly earnings rose by 11 cents, or 0.3%, to $33.44. Over the last 12 months, earnings have increased by 4.3%.
What it means for brands and retailers: The job market is a key indicator of consumer demand. If people have job stability, it means they are likely to feel more confident about spending. In the prior three months, there were signs that job gains were beginning to decelerate after months of growth over the last two years. But this report shows that the robust labor market remains intact. Even though unemployment ticked up to its highest point since October 2022, it is still historically low. When it comes to jobs, this was a bounceback month to the roaring upward trendline.
What it means for the Fed: As it has raised interest rates repeatedly over the last year in an effort to contain inflation, the Fed has focused on rebalancing the booming labor market as a key priority. This report doesn’t deliver the data that would show progress on that front, creating an environment where it could choose to raise interest rates that have the side effect of curtailing demand. Still, the Fed has maintained that it may pause the rate hikes when it meets later this month, and that option will remain on the table. The central bank has slowed down interest rate hikes in recent months, even as the labor market continued to show strength. The decision will likely be down to the wire, as key inflation data in the Consumer Price Index will arrive just as Federal Open Markets Committee members are gathering for their meeting on June 13.
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