It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Gap Inc. and its online retailing operations. Since taking down all three of its e-commerce sites on Aug. 24 in anticipation of a major relaunch, Gap has struggled with bringing the sites back up.
As of the early afternoon of Sept. 2, Gap.com was still down, while OldNavy.com and BananaRepublic were up. But OldNavy.com and BananaRepublic.com also came down at different times on Sept. 2 and were slow to load for some shoppers.
Gap, which generates estimated annual web sales of more than $400 million, isn’t saying much about its performance problems and what’s causing them. The company says only that when the retooled e-commerce sites are back online they will feature better technology and other enhancements that will improve the shopping experience.
But the fact that a major web retailer is having such a hard time relaunching its sites is the virtual talk of the Internet merchant community. By any account, Gap is losing a significant amount of business as a result of extended downtime, say industry analysts. “Time is money and right now the longer they are down the more sales they are going to forfeit to someone else,” says Lauren Freedman, president of Chicago-based consultants The E-Tailing Group Inc. “Nobody in this day and age wants to be down. My biggest question is: Why did they decide to do all three sites at once?”
Industry analysts expect that Gap will recoup its lost customers and sales in time. “There won’t be any long-term fallout because they do have very good customer loyalty,” says Robert Antall, CEO of LakeWest Group LLC, a Cleveland retailing industry consulting firm. “But they are losing money on the web now and that’s not a good thing. I would not be surprised to see some heads roll over this.”
Gap’s performance problems also extend to its online customer service program. Customers e-mailing Gap and asking for an explanation were sent back an e-mail reading: “Thank you for your e-mail. Your customer service inquiry is very important to us. However, due to system enhancements, we are unable to answer your inquiry at this time. Please be assured that when our system is available we will take the time to research and answer your question thoroughly. We appreciate your patience in this matter.”
Freedman says Gap’s biggest potential loss of web buyers are customers looking for Gap merchandise for last minute back to school purchases. “They definitely lost a lot of potential impulse buyers who just clicked elsewhere,” she says.
Back...
