Gap Inc. Corporation Study Part 3
Corporate Case Study Part 3
For a three-week period I monitored Gap Inc. mentions in news, on the web, and blogs. Many of the mentions were discussing reports for Gap Inc. The news mentions were highest in week one. There were 134 mentions of Gap Inc. in the news. Each news source explained Gap’s stock increase, promoting the “Next Faces” for GapKids and BabyGap, along with job offers. With Gap Inc. the news compared the company with similar retail competitors. By comparing, customers can see that Gap Inc. is still growing and keeping up with companies like Target. The subsidiaries of Gap Inc. were mentioned throughout the three-week period as well. Banana Republic along with Google Offers were the first two companies to join Starbucks Corp. to raise money for a U.S. job creation fund. Getting involved in fund raising always paints a good image for a company. Gap Inc. has also recently expanded to South Africa, with a new pricing strategy. Gap Inc. has opened two stores in South Africa and plans to reposition the company as a luxury brand. Throughout articles it seems that Gap Inc.’s transition has been smooth and well worth it, with customers still shopping at its stores. There were many blogs posted about Gap Inc. but the most interesting to me was a blog written by a soldier’s wife. Old Navy, a subsidiary of Gap Inc. offer’s military discounts and has recently just made every Monday, “Military Discount Monday”. Throughout the blog, the author is extremely excited and it’s obvious that she is a devoted Old Navy customer. People writing blogs about a company gives exposure along with personal experiences that can be read by anyone. Blogs can be free publicity for the company, and in this case positive publicity.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/03/starbucks-idUSL2E8F34WW20120403
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gap-enters-south-africa-will-shoppers-follow-2012-04-04
Gap Inc. is highly involved with social media. I monitored Gap Inc.’s Facebook and Twitter for three weeks. Many of the tweets posted by the company were personally talking to its customers. The company comments on customer’s outfits purchased from Gap. An example of a specific tweet is “@clc_philly we love the way you look this morning!” Gap Inc. also posted tweets about the company history, what they do, and advertising for campaigns coming up. The company also uses Twitter to reach out to disappointed customers. On the company’s Facebook page, many of the posts were about the “Next Faces” contest. Gap Inc. told its customers what the steps in entering the contest were and kept them updated. Gap uses its Facebook page to publicize its apparel along with other products sold by the company. People have the ability to comment on the posts, which is a good way for the company to get a feel for what customers want and what they do not want. On the Facebook page, it’s easy to see that Gap cares about its customers and wants them to get involved with the company. For example, a picture was posted of a new jacket and the caption said, “Like this photo if you’re a fan of neon buttons”. The post received 1,517 likes and 25 comments. This gives the company an opportunity to see if customers are enjoying the products or if they’re not. Social media is an extremely effective tool for Gap Inc. The company takes full advantage of the use of social media and has the ability to reach its customers fast. By taking full advantage of social media the company’s use of social media has been helpful in expanding its growth and reaching out to customers.
