Gap Inc. isn’t playing around when it comes to its push into beauty and accessories.
The San Francisco-based company said Wednesday Deb Redmond is now general manager of beauty and Michele Parsons will serve as general manager of accessories. John Demsey is taking on the role of executive director of beauty, while Reed Krakoff is now executive director of accessories.
It’s a power packed punch of veteran experience in the two categories as Gap Inc. looks to lay claim to a piece of the $100 billion beauty and personal care market. It comes as its two largest brands in Gap and Old Navy now turn to growth following successful turns in their businesses.
“Building on the renewed strength of our iconic brands, we are setting the stage for Gap Inc. to accelerate the long-term value creation and connect with our customers in meaningful and culturally relevant ways,” Gap Inc. President and CEO Richard Dickson said in Wednesday’s announcement.
Gap Inc.’s strategy isn’t taking a small test dip into the categories as Dickson said the new hires will help the company to “not only expand our product offerings but establish these categories as promising growth engines for our portfolio.”
The Experience
The latest additions bring experienced executives to the table for Gap’s ambitious plans:
• Redmond is a long-time Nordstrom executive serving as senior vice president division merchandise manager for beauty among other roles. She’s credited with growing the prestige beauty segment at Nordstrom’s fast-growing Nordstrom Rack division.
• Parsons most recently served as an advisor to retailers through her own firm, backed by her experiences in various roles at Kate Spade, Coach, J. Crew and Tommy Hilfiger.
• Demsey is the former executive group president of Estée Lauder and led the growth at Tom Ford Beauty and MAC Cosmetics.
• Krakoff is currently creative chair of John Hardy and L Catterton strategic advisor. He is the former creative director at Coach and former chief artistic officer at Tiffany & Co.
The Potential
Gap Inc. said earlier this month it plans a full launch into the beauty category first with Old Navy stores. The division is the company’s largest by revenue and ended the Aug. 2 quarter with sales up 1 percent to $2.2 billion.
A beauty shop-in-shop experience will be launched at 150 Old Navy stores in the fall, with dedicated staff.
Next year, the company will expand the beauty category even further across its portfolio, which also includes Gap, Banana Republic and Athleta.
For Gap Inc., beauty is seen as a fast grower and also hedges against apparel headwinds.
The company said a similar launch strategy will be employed for accessories, where it already sells purses, jewelry and leather goods.
“We already have a nice accessory business,” Dickson told analysts at the Goldman Sachs 32nd Annual Retailing Conference this month. “Nice is nice, but we believe it could be much more important. Our customers want it.”
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