Gap Cancels Its Retail Media Program: Won't Be The Last
It seems like a fun thing to do - let’s launch a retail media program!
Everyone's talking about first-party data. Everyone loves a potential upside of a point or two more net operating margin, what do we have to lose?
Almost everything on the Internet obeys a power law. The winner gets 60%+ of the share, the second player gets less half of that, and the third player can probably eke out a decent business...
Below that? About 3-4 players fighting for the scraps or a niche corner of the market.
It’s true on the ad inventory side, the buyer side, and the brand side of this equation. Brands have to prioritize where to spend their time
Why be on 10 channels if only two are producing results that matter?
Gap started fulfillment services as well last year. The article mentions Gap will prioritize resources towards that. I am not sure this was ever a good idea for Gap to get into their fulfillment.
I'll ask the obvious question:
How about fixing their clothes first?
To bring it back to any business --
Sometimes "first things first" is the best business strategy. I talk to a lot of founders that are trying to do 2 or 3 things at once, and there is a lot of hope. However, there is usually one of these priorities that is so important, if it doesn't work out then the entire business will fail.
It's that important.
Before adding those other priorities, ensure there is no risk of failure in your primary product. Then if your primary product is working well and growing as fast as possible, go and work on your upsells.
For Gap, it's the clothes, stupid. What good is a retail media or fulfillment business tethered to a declining clothing brand?
Not much.
