來源：《华尔街日报中文版》2011.05.30
Gap Inc.公司首席执行长格兰•墨菲(Glenn Murphy)还有五个月的时间来阻止Gap品牌多年以来业绩持续下滑的趋势。
十年来，Gap公司一直想扭转颓势，但收效甚微。近几个月来，墨菲已经撤换了Gap品牌全球首席行销长和首席设计师，现在是背水一战，下定决心要在接下来的圣诞旺季让Gap的销售回到正轨。
墨菲在自2007年执掌公司以来接受的首次采访中说，“我的紧迫感比以往要强烈得多。”2011年，公司辞退了首席设计师，并急于在年内看到改变后带来的结果。“Gap品牌太重要了，我们不能眼睁睁地看着销售下滑而不采取对策。”
随着圣诞钟声日益临近，公司的当务之急是解决好一个主要问题：女性衬衫，因为这是多年来推动Gap产品常销不衰的关键驱动因素。
现年49岁的墨菲因改进了Gap公司的运营、提升了利润率而获得好评。Gap公司旗下同时还有Old Navy和Banana Republic这两个品牌。不过，他还没有让Gap在美国近1,000家门店的销售额有所改善。自2004年以来，Gap的年销售额减少了超过16亿美元，降幅达到32%。
2011年5月19日，Gap公布了盈利报告。5月初，公司预计截至4月底的这个季度销售疲软，利润率“大幅”下滑。
Gap在美国零售服装业属于中端品牌，但这部分市场处于青黄不接的状态，多年来遭到消费者的遗弃，因为顾客要么选择便宜的大众货色，要么追求那些心仪的奢侈品牌。Gap北美分部(Gap North America)的规模不断缩小，现在仅占公司总营业额的四分之一。然而，墨菲需要北美分部保持良好的运营状态，才能为其主要的大动作——把Gap推向海外市场——提供支援。
产品生产周期过长就像一片沼泽地，让墨菲感觉举步维艰。作为首席执行长，墨菲长期以来向自己的高管层灌输速度的重要性，致力于减少官僚行为，把成衣更快地推向门店。
2010年，墨菲发现公司在洛杉矶牛仔布实验室设计制造的一款产品先被送往几小时车程外的分销中心，然后又运回洛杉矶的一个试销门店。
墨菲去巡视时对那里的员工说，“你们在开什么玩笑？”他打了几个电话，废除了冗余的运输环节，让设计团队“把衣服生产出来，然后直接运到店里头去。”
虽然强调变革的重要性，但墨菲这几年来一直坚持没换首席设计师派翠克. •罗宾森(Patrick Robinson)，即使各方面的证据都日益表明，罗宾森很难把以往的成功复制到牛仔服装上来——Gap于2009年秋重新推出了牛仔产品。2011年5月，墨菲最终与罗宾森分道扬镳，但Gap门店已经充斥着罗宾森设计的服装，由于成衣较长的生产周期，门店要到年末才有新品上架。Gap被迫要赶在圣诞旺季前替换店内的产品，因为圣诞销售占据全年销售总额的30%。
虽然墨菲坦承Gap的女性服装已经变得“沉闷”，但他不太可能成为帮助Gap走出时尚困境的理想人选。
Gap前任首席执行长米兰德•“米奇”•德雷克斯勒(Millard "Mickey" Drexler)有“商业巨子”(Merchant Prince)之称，是他独到的眼光让Gap成为家喻户晓的品牌。墨菲并没有成衣业的从业经验，他是加拿大人，先在加拿大一家连锁书店任职，后在拥有1,000多家药店的加拿大启康药房公司(Shoppers Drug Mart Corp.)担任负责人，六年后加入Gap公司。
这位Gap现任掌门人不是行业专家，而是一个注重细节的企业运营管理者。墨菲每年要走破15双鞋，每个月都要出差好几次，高速穿梭于各个门店之间。每次墨菲出差，公司管理层都要警告不熟悉情况的新人带好干粮，因为墨菲喜欢边走边吃，而不是去餐厅吃中饭。
十多年来，Gap一直满足于以几个月的生产周期来推出T恤衫和卡其裤产品；而一些所谓的快速时尚品牌只要几个星期就能推出新的时尚服装，价格也要便宜得多。
墨菲致力于降低生产周期，因为生产周期过长会导致产品赶不上时尚潮流，并延长错误产品带来不利影响的时间。他已经将成衣从工厂运往门店的时间缩短了三分之一。公司还建立了一个新产品快速通道，将一些关键产品的生产周期缩短到四个月以下。
这些改进措施正在接受现实的考验。过去几周来，墨菲把大部分时间放在纽约的Gap团队身上，集中精力完善八月份推向门店的各类秋装。此外，圣诞旺季产品头批进入门店的时间是11月初，也成为公司关注的焦点。
墨菲说，并非所有的产品系列都需要大动手脚，比如童装部和婴儿部的销售趋势就很好，Gap Body家居服系列和男士服装也有进步。牛仔服装是Gap的关键产品之一，男女牛仔装的销售也不错。
女士上衣的情况就不是这样了。墨菲坐在三藩市一家大型Gap门店的休息区，抱怨Gap的女士上衣“暗淡无光，尽是些化妆品那样的色泽”，包括Gap高端系列选用的苍桃红色和米色系。虽然这些颜色在时装杂志上看上去挺时髦，但与墨菲强调的Gap品牌“乐观向上”的风格不符，而且也不是很讨人喜欢。
现在，Gap货架上还有一款令人不安的产品：带鸡翼袖的T恤衫，这种袖子让人的手臂根显露无疑，这里可是很多女性都没有自信的部位。
墨菲巡视着成排的T恤衫和Tank背心，说：“这不行，必须得变，现在就得变。”
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Gap CEO Tailors Urgent Revamp
Gap Inc. chief Glenn Murphy has just five months to stop years of bleeding at its namesake brand.
It's a tall order for a brand that has resisted a decade's worth of attempts to turn it around. For Mr. Murphy, having replaced the brand's president and top designer in the last few months, his goal of getting Gap back on track will all come down to a make-or-break holiday season, in the works now.
'I have a much higher sense of urgency,' Mr. Murphy, in his first interview since taking the job in 2007, said of the year it typically takes to see results after ousting a designer. 'This brand is just too damn important to not see that kind of effort being put forward.'
With the Christmas clock ticking, the top priority is fixing a single flaw: women's shirts, a key driver of repeat sales that Gap has fumbled for years.
Mr. Murphy, 49 years old, has won praise for improving operations and profitability at the company, which also operates Old Navy and Banana Republic. But he has yet to improve sales at the Gap brand's roughly 1,000 U.S. stores, which have shed more than $1.6 billion in annual sales since 2004, a 32% drop.
Gap reports earnings Thursday. Earlier this month, it flagged weaker sales and 'significantly' lower merchandise margins for the quarter, which ended in April.
The brand is stuck in American retail's hollowed-out midsection, which consumers have been abandoning for years as they split their dollars between cheap basics and must-have luxury items. In its diminished state, Gap North America accounts for just a quarter of the company's total revenue. Mr. Murphy, however, needs it in good shape to support his main effort, which is expanding Gap overseas.
The turnaround has become a quagmire of sorts for a CEO who has long preached the importance of speed to his executives, pushing to cut bureaucracy and get clothes to stores faster.
Last year, Mr. Murphy found that a product designed and produced at the company's Los Angeles denim lab was being shipped to a distribution center a few hours away before being shipped back to a test store in Los Angeles.
'Are you serious?' Mr. Murphy said during a visit with employees there. A few phone calls later, he had eliminated the excess step. He told the design team to 'make it and walk it over to the store.'
Despite that emphasis, Mr. Murphy stood by the Gap brand's top designer, Patrick Robinson, for several years even as evidence piled up that he was having trouble replicating his success with jeans, which the brand re-launched in fall 2009, in the rest of the line. By the time Mr. Murphy finally let Mr. Robinson go this month, stores were locked into the designer's merchandise through the end of the year because of long apparel lead times. That is forcing Gap to scramble to improve the assortment before the holidays, which account for 30% of its sales.
Mr. Murphy, who readily acknowledges Gap's merchandise for women has become 'dull,' is an unlikely candidate to turn the fashion problems around.
Unlike former CEO Millard 'Mickey' Drexler, the 'Merchant Prince' whose eye for product led Gap to its iconic status, Mr. Murphy had no apparel experience. The Canadian joined Gap after spending six years at the helm of Shoppers Drug Mart Corp., a Canadian chain of more than 1,000 drug stores. Prior to that, he ran a Canadian bookstore chain.
Instead of an industry expert for CEO, Gap got a detail-oriented operator who wears through 15 pairs of shoes a year marching through high-speed store visits several times a month. Executives advise newcomers to pack food for the tours, as Mr. Murphy prefers walking-and-eating to stopping for lunch.
He joined a company that for more than a decade had contented itself with churning out T-shirts and khakis on lead times of several months, while so-called fast-fashion labels knocked off runway styles in weeks, at a fraction of the price.
Mr. Murphy has worked to cut down those long lead times, which he said increased the risk of missing a trend and prolonged the consequences of a merchandising mistake. He has cut the time it takes to get finished product back from factories by a third. The company also set up a new production fast lane, cutting turnaround time to less than four months for some key items.
Those improvements are now being put to the test. Mr. Murphy has spent most of the past few weeks in New York with the Gap team, working to fill holes in the fall assortment set to hit stores in August. The holiday deliveries, the first of which hit stores in early November, are a greater focus.
Not all of the product needs to be overhauled, says Mr. Murphy, citing promising trends in its kids and baby division, as well as improvement at its Gap Body and men's segments. Denim, a key part of Gap's assortment, has also performed well for both men and women.
Women's tops are a different story. Perched in the foyer of a large Gap store in San Francisco, Mr. Murphy complains about the 'dusty, makeup colors,' including pale pinks and beiges, that were selected for Gap's tops. While trending in fashion magazines, they don't fit with what Mr. Murphy calls the 'optimism' of the brand. They aren't always flattering, either.
Another troubling sign on racks now: rows of T-shirts with cap sleeves, a cut that highlights the back of the arm, an area of insecurity for women.
'Not good,' Mr. Murphy said as he surveyed the racks of T-shirts and tanks. 'That's got to change. That's got to change now.'
Elizabeth Holmes
如果還能看見彩虹
4 年前
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