GAP BIG DATA
Computer Sciences and Information Technology
1. Why is Gap doing poorly in 2017?
There are few factors that have resulted to GAP performing poorly in 2017. Some of the reasons for its poor performance are rise of e-commerce, high competition of brands in the fashion industry, GAP poor supply chain management and brands forging. Poor supply chain management can be considered the main problem that GAP faced. This can be compared to Zara which have a more responsive supply chain than GAP that has enabled it to keep up with new fashion trends in the market.
2. Was Peck correct in firing his creative directors and replacing them with a big data-driven creative process? Why or Why not?
The decision of Peck firing his creative directors is not correct. This is because creative directors have the ability to bring product uniqueness to the company and are also trendsetters as they create fashions. Instead, Peck would have incorporated both the creative directors and the big data-driven creative processes in the company to utilize their both methods of different business model.
3. What do you predict will happen to Gap Inc.’s sales going forward as a result of this decision? How will it affect each of its brands’ equity?
The decision of firing creative directors would results to sales of GAP Inc. to decline. The creative directors’ primary responsibility is to develop and formulate a new fashion design. Without creative directors, the company cannot be able to form a vision that portrays a specific style such as for a design concept of a fashion magazine. With the company decision to use data analysis, it loses the ability of fresh idea generation of fashion that is appealing to the market at that particular time something that can be done by the creative director. With fashion changing continuously, the creative director should be the best option to keep an eye on the trends rather than the big data analytics.
4. Does the big data approach work for all three of Gap Inc.’s primary brands: Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic? Why or Why not? Which brands are better/worse served by this strategy? Why?
The big data approach may not work for three of Gap Inc.’s primary brands. This is because the three brands: Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic differ entirely in terms of business model, market analysis, and trends making them to work differently. The difference in perspectives of people towards the three brands is another factor that makes it hard for big data approach to be effective. The use of one approach on three brands that differ in different ways will definitely be hard to make it work.
The brands that are worse served would be Gap and Banana Republic since they are both high-end brands making it difficult to remain valuable to the company supply chain improvement as they are expensive and require more new fashion creation. The better served brand would be the Old Navy since it can implement fast fashion and compete effectively through digitalization.
5. Should Peck allow Gap Inc.’s brands to be sold on Amazon? Why or Why not? What Opportunities and Challenges does this plan present? If Gap sells through Amazon, should the company be a wholesaler or a third party seller? Why?
Peck should allow the brands of Gap Inc. to be sold on Amazon. This is because it allows the brand to get exposed to more customers as the marketplaces expand. However, the possibility of brand recognition reducing is there since selling on Amazon can make the product more generic. If Gap sells through Amazon, it should consider being a third-party seller. This will allow it to operate independently and help it avoid incurring direct loses in the selling process.
6. What is your assessment of Product 3? How would you improve it?
The assessment of product 3 is that it relied more on customer analysis purchase data. in order to improve product 3, there would be need to conduct real-time predictions of sales and trends in the market.
7. Would you change other elements of the marketing mix to address Peck’s problems? Which ones and how?
Some of the elements to be changed to address Peck’s problems include fast fashion which can help the company to improve its performance if it is effectively implemented. In the fashion industry, consumers mostly want to have a wide range of products offered to hem with a quick continuous change of fashion. Gap improving its speed in designing new fashion to meet the consumer demand will see its performance nourish.
8. For which purposes is big data/predictive analytics more or less useful in marketing? As we move into a world filled with more data, what is the role of art versus science in marketing? Under which conditions should “science” rule and what conditions should “art” rule?
The role of big data analytics in marketing is to evaluate the bigger market for both goods and services, conducting consumer reaction measurements towards goods and services provide and analysis and predict the selling trends within the market. The role of art versus science in marketing is to develop different statistical relationship between different variables within the market such as customer buying habits and profitability. Science should rule in statistical condition while art should rule in creativity and innovative conditions.
