// Gap like-for-likes up 13% in Q2, but net sales down 18%
// Online sales skyrocketed by 95% but this was not enough to offset the 48% drop in store sales due to lockdown
Gap has posted a surge in like-for-like quarterly sales amid a huge surge in online sales brought on by customers shopping from home during lockdown.
However, overall sales took in the second quarter ending August 1, as the retailer battled the impact of temporary store closures due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Gap said same-store sales rose 13 per cent during the quarter, while overall net sales dropped 18 per cent $3.28 billion (£2.43 billion).
READ MORE: Gap to offer discounts of up to 60% when it reopens
Online sales at Gap skyrocketed by 95 per cent during the quarter but this was not enough to offset the 48 per cent drop in store sales.
Net sales across its fascias were down five per cent at Old Navy, 28 per cent at Gap Global, 52 per cent at Banana Republic, but up six per cent at Athleta.
Gap said people working or studying from home during lockdown have been stocking up on comfortable “stay at home” clothes including fleece and activewear, which boosted demand for the company’s athleisure label Athleta, and to a lesser extent, Old Navy.
“We won in the value space with Old Navy, and we won in the premium space of Athleta,” Gap chief executive Sonia Syngal told analysts, adding that Gap sold about $130 million worth of masks alone.
Around 90 per cent of Gap’s global store estate has exited lockdown and reopened as of August 1.
Gap also still plans to push ahead with closing down more than 225 underperforming Gap and Banana Republic stores globally within the next year or so as a part of its restructuring plan.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
