Gap Set For Speedy Offline Expansion With Reliance Retail

On Friday, Reliance Retail opened Gap’s first store in the country in Mumbai’s Infiniti Mall, Malad, marking the latter’s re-entry into the Indian market after it severed ties with erstwhile partner Arvind Ltd in 2020. 

In July last year, Reliance Retail Limited entered a long-term partnership with Gap Inc., to bring the American fashion brand to India. Since then Gap has been made available across 50 shop-in-shops apart from retailing on Reliance Retail’s fashion-focussed e-commerce platform Ajio.

“Reliance Retail now initiates the second phase of the launch with the new Gap store in Infiniti Mall. The expansion of Gap’s India presence will include a series of freestanding store openings across the country in the coming months." the two said in a statement.

A store is set to come up in Guwahati later this month followed by stores in Hyderabad, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata, said a top executive at Reliance Retail Limited.

In all, the retailer will open 50 stores in the next 12 months.

“We believe that there is a huge nascent market for Gap in this country. They’re launching today, I think we will spread it across India over the next one or two years," Akhilesh Prasad, President & CEO, Fashion and Lifestyle, Reliance Retail Limited.

Reliance will open stores in “high double digits" over the next 12 months. “Ultimately the store count will be in three figures over the next two-to-three years," Prasad added.

Through its partnership with Gap, Reliance Retail will bring Gap’s shopping experience to customers across India through a mix of exclusive brand stores, multi-brand store expressions and digital commerce platforms.

“Growing Gap’s brick-and-mortar business through the launch of freestanding stores and multi-brand store expressions enables us to increase accessibility for Indian customers and meet them where they are shopping," said Adrienne Gernand, Managing Director of International, Global Licensing and Wholesale at Gap Inc.

Prasad said consumers in India are looking at adding more branded apparel to their wardrobes. “Each section of our economy is growing. When we were a slightly lower income country the largest market segment, which is true even today, was in the middle-and-economy segment. Today as income levels are rising, there’s a definite need in the mid-premium space where customers are looking for more fashionable clothing and brands. I think we will cater to that," he said.

The retailer’s local partner for the country will tap the top malls as well as high-streets to take Gap’s range of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing pan-India. The brand will grow across cities, focusing more on the top 35 cities in the first few years of expansion.

The re-entry of Gap which first forayed into the Indian market in 2015 is set to raise stakes in India’s casual wear market especially as aspirational consumers switch to branded clothing.

Gap is a lifestyle brand that includes adult apparel and accessories, Gap Teen, Gap Kids, babyGap, Gap Maternity, Gap Body, GapFit, and Gap Home collections. Its parent Gap Inc also operates other brands such as Old Navy, Athleta and Banana Republic.