Last week, Gap held its second-quarter earnings call, reporting sales declines and lowering its full-year outlook for the rest of 2023. The company saw in-store sales take a slight tumble, with an even greater decrease in online sales. Gap will most likely attempt some maneuvering ahead of the holiday season to beat the bearish forecast.
CivicScience constantly tracks favorability for hundreds of brands, with the ability to compare consumer sentiment across demographics, and recently published results from our brand ranker product to determine the top and bottom 5 retailers for Gen Z (aged 13-24) and Gen X (aged 45-54) consumers. Gap didn’t fall within either extreme for both age brackets, but it still varies significantly between these key consumer buckets. Gen Z consumers are much likelier to view it favorably (43%) than Gen X adults (25%).
Keeping with the former generation’s fondness for nostalgia, Gap fans are twice as likely as non-fans to say nostalgia influences their purchasing habits ‘a lot’ (18%) and more likely to say it impacts their purchases at least ‘a little’ (75%). Gap has made appeals to ‘80s and ‘90s nostalgia (and thereby its Gen Z customer base) in recent years, and despite recent struggles, it shouldn’t necessarily abandon this tactic.
With sales dips to online and in-store purchases last quarter, Gap will likely continue to nurture its online business, since customers are 10 percentage points more likely than non-customers to do ‘all or almost all’ shopping online. Conversely, Gap customers are 11 percentage points less likely to do the ‘majority’ of their shopping in a store.
Three more insights to know about Gap customers:
- Gap customers are more than twice as likely to go to the movies ‘once a month or more’ as non-customers (19% compared to 9%).
- Nearly 4-in-10 Gap customers have said this year they’re at least ‘somewhat likely’ to switch primary banks within the next three months (and 14% say they’re ‘very likely’).
- This Labor Day weekend, Gap customers are twice as likely as non-fans to travel by car (36% compared to 18%), and they’re overall much more likely to do any kind of traveling.
Curious to know how your business can best pivot to be competitive in the next quarter? Book a meeting today with CivicScience to stay ahead of the latest trends.
