GAp, the US-based clothing, and accessories retailer has made a killing selling face masks during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
A statement issued on Thursday by the company reported quarterly earnings that it brought in $130 million in sales during the period from its face masks.
That includes sales to individuals and in bulk to businesses. The city of New York, the state of California, and Kaiser Permanente are some of its clients, the company said.
During the quarter ended Aug. 1, Gap’s total sales fell about 18% to $3.28 billion from $4 billion a year ago. Its online sales surged 95%. But the online performance was negated down by the slowdown of real-time store sales as they forced to shut for part of the quarter due to the COVID pandemic.
Gap operates six primary divisions: Banana Republic. Old Navy, Intermix, Hill City, and Athleta.
Gap Inc. is the largest specialty retailer in the United States and each of the above brands currently has its own masks available in stores and online, in various patterns. shapes, sizes, and colors.
Its CEO Sonia Syngal said during an earnings conference call that Gap is currently the No. 1 search result on Google fr “face mask style guide.” She said Gap scaling this business is “the ultimate example of how we want to operate as a culture.”
The Covid-19 virus which can be transmitted through respiratory droplets from person to person has now made the face mask a mandatory issue as early on, it was contentious. Initially, the masks were in short supply and retailers such as Anthropologie and Madewell were treading slowly on the opportunity. But since most cities and states have come out with mask mandates, the growth on sales has gathered momentum
Gap shares climbed around 4% in after-hours trading Thursday, as it reported a narrower expected loss and a better than – expected sales for its fiscal second quarter. Its stock has fallen roughly 1% year to date.
The company has marched strength-to-strength on its online platform which has helped Gap add on to 3.5 million new customers, up over 165% from the previous year.
