Overview Old Navy is a US and Canadian born clothing and accessories retailer that boasts over 1000 locations. Recently they’ve even extended their reach to the Japanese markets.
The brand, founded in 1994 as an affiliate of the GAP, is also linked to its sister companies Banana Republic, Piperlime, Intermix, and Athleta. Based out of San Francisco, Old Navy has dominated the affordable casual wear business until recent years when the brand experienced a decline in sales. In this paper I will provide a an explanation of that decline, a thorough organizational assessment of Old Navy’s current marketing strategies as well as the macro and micro environments surrounding their current customer base.
Background Feeling the demands for discounted clothing, the GAP opened GAP Warehouse in 1993. In an effort to distance the two brands GAP warehouse was renamed to Old Navy the following year. And thus a 5 billion a year company, as well as GAPs biggest division, was born. While GAP owns several brands it spends a majority of its marketing budget on Old Navy-spending over 200 million in…show more content… They’ve refocused on what they do best by putting their values at the forefront of most of their advertisements. They’ve tried to regain confidence in their brand by running ads during women’s shows such as Grey Anatomy (Howard; 2014). They’ve tapped into the growing segments of environmentalists by going green. Some Old Navy locations have gone as far as applied for certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Kristy Poole Schmidt, the senior manager of store design has capitalized on this cause related marketing saying, "For any new initiative or opportunity, we ask ourselves 'what can we apply to make a difference in over 1,000 stores? We are always evaluating lighting and examining ways to bring energy consumption down. It is an evolving process, and we are doing the best we can" (Display & Design Ideas;