Categories: Articles

What I Don't Like About The Gap

Just get it right. A couple of weeks ago I read that The Gap had taken their online store offline. I see now that there are some people getting limited access to their new online environment.
Here’s what I don’t like about The Gap (besides the fact that for a few years they turned their khakis into gangsta wear): as I strolled through the mall today (lots of malls on this vacation) I saw a big ad on The Gap store window that read: 4-7-365 – Always Open – www.gap.com.
Why not just hang a little sign off of it that says: “we’re rebuilding our website to make the experience as exciting as this store. Come on in and try on a pair of jeans.”
I think it’s the small stuff – like advertising a site that is offline – that lets people truly feel how disconnected most businesses are with their many different channels.
No, it’s not the biggest deal, but if you don’t like what you saw in the store (or they did not have your size) and then you go online only to find out that there is no online – someone has just created a very negative brand experience… and it’s those types of experiences that are spreading faster than the good ones. It’s also something that’s simple (and costs virtually nothing) to fix.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.