Chapter 14 : Marketing Channels and Retailing

       Banana Republic is one of the several daughter companies owned by Gap, Inc. In a sense, Banana Republic operates as a series of chain stores, in that one Banana Republic store is part of a group of the same stores owned and operated by a single organization (or in this case, a company [Gap, Inc.]) .The company has over 600 stores located internationally with recent franchise agreements in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Due to these franchise agreements outside of the United States and Canada, Banana Republic is also seen as a franchise. 

       If one were to open their own Banana Republic store there would be several rules to follow based on company standards such as continuing with the Banana Republic atmosphere. This basically means décor within a store must be up to Banana Republic’s standards and must follow license/agreement guidelines. There are also specific guidelines as to how to arrange the stores layout. This is based on research conducted by the company which found out the most optimal way to layout the stores in order to entice a customer to purchase their clothing. Banana Republic doesn’t want to be associated with something they don’t stand for or think does not represent their brand well, so that is why these rules are set in place for new store openings.

A Banana Republic storefront, up to the typical Banana Republic layout standards

     Banana Republic is also well known for its high level of service and quality and can therefore charge more compared to a Banana Republic factory outlet.  These factory outlets are an off-price retailer that is owned and operated by a manufacturer and in the case of Banana Republic, their factory outlets sell lower priced clothing and different clothing lines (specific for BR factory outlets) than a regular Banana Republic retailer. According to an associate at Banana Republic, most of their clothes are mainly from Bangladesh and Italy. These clothes and other products are later transported to a warehouse and from there they are dispersed to their final destinations at retail stores worldwide. 

  

       For many years, Banana Republic has been working with intermediaries but lately they have been starting to focus more on non-traditional channels. Banana Republic allows for nonstore retailing with their online website and customer service phone line. This means that the consumer can shop from home instead of visiting an actual store. By using Banana Republic´s new e-tailing, this requires the consumers to have a phone or a computer with access to the internet, which is typical amongst most consumers these days. This new way of selling things has boosted Banana Republic’s yearly income by around 20%. Needless to say, Banana Republic´s leadership teams really know what to focus on.

Banana Republic's website, their e-talining effort

An example of Banana Republic's m-commerce