Gap Inc. sours on Piperlime e-commerce project

At a time when omnichannel retailing is more important than ever for retailers, Gap Inc. is shutting down one of its digital brands.

Gap Inc. said it is dropping its Piperlime channel so the apparel maker and retailer can focus on fixing the problems plaguing the Gap and Banana Republic brands.

Piperlime, which Gap founded in 2006 as a rival to Zappos.com, sold shoes, clothing and accessories via e-commerce and later through a store in New York. But its revenue never topped $100 million, representing less than 1% of Gap Inc.’s total revenue base of over $16 billion.

Gap said it would “focus on its portfolio of five brands: Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Athleta and Intermix, as well as digital and global growth.”Gap has said that it thinks Athleta can emerge as a fourth major brand.

Incoming CEO Art Peck, who has overseen its digital efforts and takes the reins next month, said he is looking to improve business at Gap, where same store sales fell 5% in December and at Banana Republic, where they were flat. The company’s Old Navy brand, and its up-and-coming Athleta, which competes with Lululemon Athleta, have been its prime source of growth.

We plan to keep on pushing new ideas and look forward to seeing how we can apply what we’ve learned to the rest of the company. We are incredibly grateful to our fashion-focused, loyal customers, and proud of our dedicated employees who have been working hard to evolve the brand and test out new ideas,” Peck said. “We plan to keep on pushing new ideas and look forward to seeing how we can apply what we’ve learned to the rest of the company as we continue to bring great products and shopping experiences to our customers.”