Management consultant Tom Guarriello, with 16 years advising apparel retailers, presents Gap's 4% December sales decline and 8% drop in same-store sales. He asks viewers to diagnose what went wrong and suggest concrete fixes.
Well, hi guys, it's Tom Guarriello. A very quick video to ask you guys a question. You know, we do management consulting and I haven't talked about this a lot, but one of the— for the past, gee, 16, now going on 17 years, I've done a lot of that consulting. In the retail business, and specifically a lot of it in the apparel business. I've worked with a lot of apparel design organizations and still spend a good deal of time working in the apparel world. So the question that I have to ask is prompted by an article that I just saw in the online version of Women's Wear Daily which the headline of which reads, uh, Gap posts a 4% sales drop, brand strategy reconsidered. In the month of December, Gap sales fell 4%. Their same-store sales were down, um, 8%, uh, yeah, 8%, uh, from last year, last year's being 9% below the December before that. So bad news for Gap. And the question that I wanted to ask you guys is why, why do you think the Gap is, um, in the kind of— having the kind of performance that it's having now? And what would you recommend? What would you say would make a difference in, um, in improving the way the Gap is performing? What would you like to see at Gap that you don't see there now? What would you like to see, uh, less of at Gap that you do see there now? It's a question I, I'm thinking about, and nowadays when I think about something, I usually throw it out here. So, um, but there's my thought. What about the Gap? What's wrong with it? Take it easy. I'd love to hear from you. Videos would be great. Showing me videos of, you know, particular apparel items would be great. Anything, anything would be appreciated. So thanks a lot. See you. Bye. Oh, and by the way, just for the record, Gap is not a client at this point, so just wanted to let you know. Thanks again. Bye.
