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Why Gap's Acquisition of Intermix Could Mean Awesome Things for Online Shopping

By Kerry Folan
Image via WWD
Image via WWD

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While Times Square was preparing to drop a ball and Kimye was preparing to drop a bomb on New Year's Eve, Gap Inc. was finalizing the details of their acquisition of specialty retailer Intermix. WWD reports that the deal, which fueled some rumors and speculation last month, closed on December 31 to the tune of $130 million.

The partnership should aid both brands: Intermix can use Gap's massive reach to grow their own retail and e-tail presence, while Gap can benefit from Intermix's expertise in the contemporary luxury market. But most exciting: Gap also intends to help beef up Intermix's web site with some innovative-sounding improvements.

"We have an omnichannel strategy that we're putting in place where we bring the Web and the store experience together," a Gap exec told WWD. "Some of our Web orders are shipped from the stores. Customers can find an item on the Web and search for it in stores around [them] to find where it is available. The natural progression is to buy it online or reserve it in the store, and then go and pick it up."

Now, Gap hasn't exactly provided the most exciting or innovative shopping experience in recent years, but this approach to e-commerce sounds downright revolutionary. Now that e-comm has proved it is a legitimate threat to traditional stores (despite its limitations), the world is waiting for retailers to figure out how to combine what people like about brick-and-mortar shopping with the conveniences of mobile and online shopping. If Gap can make that happen, we predict they'll be making quite a comeback in 2013.
· Gap Inc. Acquires Intermix for $130M [WWD]
· Intermix Hopes To Launch In-House Label With Gap's Help [Racked]
· Fast-Fashion Face off: Here's How Uniqlo Compares to Zara, Gap, and H&M [Racked]

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