Gap

In a first for fashion retail, the Gap has teamed with streaming music startup Roqbot to let users decide on their smartphones which music plays over store loudspeakers. Visitors to the chain’s Chestnut Street location in San Francisco, which has access to Roqbot’s catalog of 6 million songs, can now use their iPhone or Android handsets to select and choose upcoming tunes.

San Francisco -- The 15 cities with the most shopping activity on Black Friday 2011 were Manhattan, N.Y.; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Brooklyn, N.Y.; San Jose, Calif.; Seattle; Chicago; San Diego; Houston; Atlanta; Dallas; Saint Louis; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; and Minneapolis, according to mint.com, an online personal finance site. The 10 national merchants with the most shopping activity on Black Friday, mint.com reported, were Apple, Best Buy, Nordstrom, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Target, Wal-Mart, Gap, Old Navy and Amazon. After comparing user spend from Black Friday 2011 to last year’s spend, Mint.com found that: Atlanta, New York and Houston

Gap, which opened its flagship store in Hong Kong on Nov. 25, said it intends to increase its store presence in China by five times in the next year. The retailer said it expects to have 45 stores in China by the end of 2012.

The Gap, Inc. announced the launch of its first flagship store in Hong Kong. The store will be Gap's ninth in the Greater China region as the Company continues to expand the international reach of its brands through its franchise, online and Company-operated channels. The new store spans more than 15,000 square feet over four floors on the sought-after Queens Road in Hong Kong’s burgeoning Central District. The store location is housed in a new building with an award winning architectural design. With large floor-to-ceiling windows, white marble and Chinese oak wooden floors, the store creates an inviting and

New York City -- Gap Inc. on Thursday opened its first store in Poland, in Warsaw’s Arkadia mall. Gap and its Polish franchise partner, Ultimate Fashion, are planning to open more stores in Poland in 2012 and expand to other countries in the region.

Gap warned investors to brace themselves for some rough numbers: the company's net income for the third quarter dropped over a third compared to this time last year. Gap CEO Glenn Murphy admits that it's mostly because the company's main retailers — Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic — just haven't been designing very stylish clothes that people want to buy.

Gap has deployed the Google Wallet pay-by-smartphone capability in more than 65 of its California stores, joining leading retailers including Macy's, OfficeMax, Toys"R"Us and American Eagle in using the technology. Gap is promoting usage of the app with a 15 percent discount off customers' entire purchase through February 2012.

Donating unwanted products to organizations that help people in times of need is undoubtedly a win-win for retailers. But as many companies have found, getting the right products to the right people isn’t always easy.

NEW YORK (Trefis) -- The technology world is changing rapidly, and this holds large implications for how business is done in the apparel industry. The popularity of tablet devices and smartphones has catapulted Internet and mobile sales to the top of apparel retailers' strategies. It's become particularly important for the teen apparel sector, which includes Aeropostale(ARO) IHL Group President Greg Buzek says, "A complete transformation of the customer experience will occur at clothing and department stores over the next three years." Below we look at how the apparel sector is getting influenced by technical advancements. See our full analyses

NEW YORK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will be kicking off the official start to the holiday shopping season with special deals starting on Thanksgiving night. It's the latest retailer to woo crowds earlier than last year in a bid to get a jump on the competition. The world's largest retailer said that it will be offering discounts on toys, home accessories and clothing starting at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving. That will be followed by midnight deals on electronics. Starting at 8 a.m. on the day after the holiday, it will expand the specials for the entire family that will