Free Custom «Ann Tyler versus Gap Inc: Banana Republic» Essay Paper

Ann Taylor is rated as the 18^th largest apparel retailer in United States that is involves the sale of women clothing and fashion at its outlets; Ann Taylor and Taylor loft and outlet stores. The products of Ann Taylor are manufactured at approximately 236 sites in the globe though most production is undertaken in Asia. Much of Ann Taylor clothing is manufactured in china than in any other country of the world. The products are then distributed to the various outlets where they are available for sale. In USA, the woman clothing retailer has been able to take large share of the market and it enjoys a reasonable market share. The annual sales of Ann Tylor are approximately 1.2 billion US dollars with a net profit of about 53 million US dollars being generated from its 475 stores worldwide (Roberts &Berg, 2011).

Gap Inc: Banana republic is a USA largest clothing company retailer company that owns Old Navy, Gap kids and Baby gap. Gap Inc rose to the apparel industry leader by the adoption of exclusive selling in own stores as opposed to using of the larger departmental stores like most of its competitors. The company production is undertaken in over 1000 outlets in the world scope which spans from Asia to Latin America through Africa. Gap Inc has thus been able to offer to the various markets its apparel and manufacture them to meet the needs of the various consumers as per their needs and expectations. In USA, Gap Inc has been able to capture a practical market share and it does offer strategic positions of its product. The company has annual sales of about 14 billion US dollars and net profits of about 888 million dollars. Gap Inc operates 3676 stores.

 

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Both of these retailers sell to their customers through various methods. They have adopted the online techniques where only major credit cards are accepted and through brick and motor approaches and locations around their market areas and sites. The adoption of the two selling techniques has enabled the clients to realize convenience and the likely increased sales to the retailers.

The two retailers; Ann Taylor and Gap Inc deal with various cloth lines. They are manufacture and retailers of clothing with much focus on women clothing and apparel (Lipscomb, 2011). They both have various outlets and production centers in the world and both have much production based in Asia. However, the two retailers are different in some way because of diversity in products and the markets they serve. For instance, Gap Inc, own various outlets including Baby gap that sells baby apparel as opposed to Ann Taylor which only sells women clothing in most of its outlets and stores. The locale of both companies is strategic to their targeted markets and consumers. The retailers have chosen positions that are strategic and critical to the quick and practical sale to the products that they do offer to the respective markets. The stores and outlets layout is similar and both prefer express methods and approaches to the outlets layout. Such a layout allows the customers to pick products of choice as they move in various stores and outlets that are run by the retailers. This eases congestion and prefects’ customer service and standards due to the high volumes of expected clients at a go or in one shot. In the outlets managed by both retailers, the shopping experience in not significantly different. The experience is similar and the quality of service to the clients is at par. There is no notable variation in the clients experience after shopping in ether retailer’s stores and outlets. The merchandise that both retailers sell is similar. The kind and quality of clothing is similar based on the fact that these are competitors and they are in the same product line and are fighting for the same income share. What they offer is quite same though they are variations in branding and other factors such as decorations and availability in various colors. On the other hand, their prices may vary significantly based on the brand and the targeted market. A difference of nearly 5-8 dollars exists between the prices as one retailer like Gap Inc might boast of having achieved customer loyalty. Thus their prices vary depending on the clothing, the brand and the location as well as the intended and targeted consumers of the apparel.

According to my evaluation, Gap Inc is the retailer who has the most effective strategy. Gap Inc has been able to rise to the position of being a market leader due to the initial strategy of selling through its outlets as opposed to the adoption by the competitor of selling through the bigger outlets and departments. The justification of Gap Inc has the retailer who is in a better strategy is through the significant annual sales of about 14 billion US dollars and net profits of about 888 million dollars. Such sales have enabled the retailer to offer to the CEO an annual compensation of about 8 million US dollars with an addition to 12 million dollars in stock options. Gap Inc operates 3676 stores which could only be made possible by the strategy adopted. On the other hand, annual sales of Ann Taylor are approximately 1.2 billion US dollars with a net profit of about 53 million US dollars being generated from its 475 stores worldwide whose figures are quite low when compared to its competing retailer. These figures are in line with my conclusion that I have made regarding the market position of the two retailers and the strategy practicality in a large way.