Organization Mission and Vision.
The company’s organizational mission and vision is not expressly stated in their website, although from their purposes and values, it can be asserted that Gap’s most basic mission is to make it easy for customers to express their personal style throughout their life. The company is, as quoted in their official website, ‘committed to serving the needs of our customers while delivering quality earnings and long-term value to our shareholders’ (Internet, 2008).
Their vision is to become a leader in the retail clothing trade, so that they could present the highest return for their shareholders through developing great leaders, holding them accountable for what they expected to achieve and working hard to retain the talent that is critical to a large, customer-facing like Gap, Inc.
Products and Brands. The brands and products of Gap reflect their mission to make it easy for people to express their personal style. The firm, being a leading international specialty retailer, offers clothing, accessories and personal care products for men, women, children and babies.
Their brands constantly undergo development to better meet customers’ needs — through pioneering and stimulating designs; through well-located and attractive stores; and by conversing with customers in a way that hooks up to how they live, work and play. The company has three brands under their helm, other than the Gap brand that they carry, which are: Banana Republic, Old Navy and Paperlime. The Gap brand offers wardrobe essentials such as T-shirts, hoodies, great-fitting pants and denim and now includes product lines for kids (GapKids), babies (babyGap), pregnant women (GapMaternity) and (body necessities) Gapbody.
The Banana Republic brand is established by the firm as a luxury brand offering high-quality apparel and accessories collections for men and women offering essentials and seasonal collections of accessories, shoes, personal care products and intimate apparel fitting for work and casual occasions. The Old Navy brand offers Gap customers the best value for their money with their collection of apparel and accessories, as well as basics.
Putting forward an Item of the Week (a special item at a special price) every week and coming out with much-talked-about advertising campaigns helps promote the brand that is distinctively Gap. Finally, the Paperlime brand is an online-based shoe shop (www. paperlime. com) offering selections of more than one hundred of the world’s best footwear brands for women, men and kids. Its website also offers fresh tips on the latest footwear trends and styles, as well as exclusive contributions by guest editors such as celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe.