Gap In Huge Global E-Commerce Rollout
Written by Evan SchumanAugust 19th, 2010
On paper, global expansion limited to E-Commerce sites should be light-years easier than doing it with overseas brick-and-mortar locations and employees. In reality, not so much. It's certainly easier. But with tariffs, taxes, postal codes and local customs, delivering a seamless and fully integrated experience is next to impossible.
Gap, along with its Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta brands, announced August 12 plans to move from a site supporting one country to one supporting 65 countries by the end of December. The $14 billion chain is tackling the expansion with two parallel efforts: It's going to build its own physical fulfillment centers in both Canada and the U.K., in addition to crafting dedicated customized E-Commerce sites for those two countries; and it's using a vendor to add a small Flash module to replicate local checkout.
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Our Comment SPAM system is getting very aggressive these days and has been blocking legitimate comments. If you post a comment and don't see it appear within 2 hours or so, can you please send a heads-up to customer-service@storefrontbacktalk.com? Ideally, please include the time you posted the comment. That will allow us to try and hunt for it. Thanks! P.S. We're working on fixing the system, but we don't want to lose any valuable comments in the meantime.
I have strong reservations about the 'individual' certification and posting of that information for merchants. Can you imagine the potential employee poaching that might occur? The implications when competitors can look up how many are certified with each of their competitors? 
-Christine
