[an error occurred while processing this directive]
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Same-store sales up a hefty 18% through October
Just five years after launch, Old Navy will account for 35% of Gap's projected overall sales of $11.5 billion in 1999
Opened 135 locations in 1999, bringing the total to more than 500
As president of Gap Inc.'s (GPS) Old Navy chain, JENNY J. MING oversees everything from the retailer's store operations to marketing and advertising. But just a few weeks ago, Ming, 44, was in her real element: bouncing around Old Navy's sample rooms studying items for back-to-school 2000.
Ming's passion for fashion has helped drive breakneck growth at Old Navy, which sells budget-priced jeans, T-shirts, and khaki pants to kids, teens, and young adults. Thanks to big bets on fleece tops and vests, Old Navy is now the biggest contributor to the parent company's overall growth, even as sales declined at the core Gap chain. Not too shabby for a chain that didn't even exist five years ago.
So how does Ming, who emigrated at nine from Macao to San Francisco, figure out which fashions will appeal to the notoriously fickle teen market? Besides picking the brains of her two teenage daughters, she travels frequently to trendsetting cities. A few years ago in London she noticed that kids were starting to wear blue jeans in darker shades. ''So I thought, 'Let's darken our stonewash a little','' she recalls. ''Now, we have a whole section of dark denim.''
One of four managers handpicked by Gap CEO Millard S. (''Mickey'') Drexler to launch Old Navy in 1994, she headed up its merchandising division for four years before being promoted to president in April. Now, Ming, who favors stylish pastel pant suits and basic black herself, is under pressure to keep Old Navy's momentum going. She plans to open 100 locations in 2000 and is looking for new ways to market merchandise. One idea: taking the babies and kids area, and slicing it more finely into four sections for newborns, infants, toddlers, and children. That would allow stores to sharpen their target marketing. ''We're a big business now,'' she says. ''That means we have to be a little more thoughtful and do more planning.''
Ming is tight-lipped about what she's poring over these days in the sample rooms. Sorting through all the trends isn't easy, but leave it to Ming to figure out just which ones will be hits.
Same-store sales up a hefty 18% through October
Copyright 2005, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
