Expansion
Zalando’s Gap store, a first of its kind for Gap in Europe, will launch in the summer of 2015, with several collections on sale. Among those are Gap Women, Gap Men, Gap Kids and Baby Gap.
“This partnership represents Gap’s first foray into multibrand retailing in Europe,” Stefan Laban, head of Gap’s international business, said in a statement. “Zalando is the most visited fashion e-commerce site in Europe with more than 100 million visitors per month. This collaboration is a strategic step to help us expand our brand in these markets.”
Gap undoubtedly hopes to increase its turnover through Zalando. It had to lower its full-year forecast after it had to deal with a turnover drop in its third quarter. Analysts had expected a 4.04 billion dollar (3.26 billion euro) turnover, but Gap only reached 3.97 billion dollars (3.2 billion euro). That is a slight drop compared to the 3.98 billion dollars (3.21 billion euro) it managed last year.
Gap opened its first European store in 1987 in London and currently has 190 stores of its own and 33 franchise stores in Europe. The group’s net profit, consisting of Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy, did grow 11 % to 351 million dollars (283 million euro).
