Old Navy, new company.
Gap ($GPS) decided to spin (sail?) out its popular Old Navy brand into an independent public company, and investors could have a chance to invest in early 2020 if things go according to plan. Under Silicon Valley veteran Sonia Syngal, and with its alternative data, Old Navy is poised to take on another quarter-century of thrifty fashion dominance. Fortune's Phil Wahba spent time on a deep dive looking at the legacy fashion brand's prospects.
One of the things that should make Old Navy immediately appealing to institutional investors (some of which, have felt burned after recent IPOs disappointed) is the fact that the fashion brand has a coast-to-coast footprint, with plenty of stores in-between. Syngal told Fortune's Wahba that she's aiming to increase revenue, from just under $8 billion to $10 billion, and nearly double footprint, according to Fortune - so this map should get a bit crowded, if she's successful.
Our next chart, above, reflects that Syngal's goal is already in progress - from early 2017 to August 2019, the company grew total store count more than 12%.
Finally - we can track an equivalent measure of foot traffic, the Facebook ($FB) Were Here Count, which gauges how many people are making social posts at a given place. For this metric Old Navy absolutely towers over its other Gap-owned peers (like Banana Republic, and even the flagship brand, itself) - although, its Facebook Talking About Count (not shown) reflects a year-over-year slide.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.