General Manager

Shake-up at Lululemon: Athleta's Maggie Gauger tapped as president. Both activewear brands have been struggling with weak financial performances in recent seasons. October 7, 2026, 5:36pm Lululemon, which has been suffering from revenue declines and shrinking profitability, said Wednesday that Maggie Gauger has been named president and chief product officer. Gauger formerly ran Athleta as its chief executive officer and global brand president. Athleta, a division of Gap Inc., is a direct competitor of Lululemon. Lululemon also disclosed that Joseph Godsey has been appointed chief operating officer. Gauger and Godsey are both taking on newly created roles, effective Oct. 26, the company said. With these changes, Lululemon also said Nikki Neuburger, chief brand and product activation officer, and Ted Dagnese, chief supply chain officer, will leave the company "to pursue other opportunities." Both will depart on Nov. 6 and help with a transition. Just one month ago, Heidi O'Neill stepped in as Lululemon's new chief executive officer. Further management changes are expected with searches underway for a chief brand officer, chief communications officer and chief technology officer. Lululemon's second-quarter sales fell 4 percent to $2.4 billion with a 12 percent comparable sales drop in the Americas and a 3 percent decline internationally. And even with a $134.5 million boost from tariff refunds, profits dropped 11.2 percent to $329.2 million. In 2025, net revenue increased 5 percent to $11.1 billion and income from operations decreased 12 percent to $2.2 billion. "Lululemon is a rare, extraordinary brand, but we have work to do to build a stronger and more competitive company," O'Neill said in a statement Wednesday. "WWD Beauty Inc. is establishing a deeply experienced leadership team that will work in a more coordinated manner, aligned around the strategy and execution that delivers the most impact for its guests, its communities and its business. That starts with putting product, design and innovation at the center of how WWD Beauty Inc. operate, with the focus and accountability to create a stronger pipeline of differentiated product to raise the bar for its guests across every touchpoint, in stores and online. "Developing stronger connections between brand, product and the guest experience will support a unified approach across these core elements of the business," O'Neill added. "This is an important first step in reinvigorating our enduring connection with guests and is designed to establish the foundation for sustainable, long-term growth. As part of this evolution, I want to thank Nikki and Ted for their significant contributions to Lululemon. We are grateful for their leadership and commitment to our people, guests and brand, and wish them every success in their future endeavors." At Athleta, Gauger is being succeeded on an interim basis by Erika Everett, the brand's current chief marketing officer. A spokesperson said in a statement that Everett "will provide interim oversight and support for the Athleta team, reporting to Richard Dickson, president and CEO of Gap Inc." "We have been actively shaping Athleta's next chapter and the changes needed to position the brand for long-term growth," the spokesperson indicated. "This transition enables us to accelerate that work, strengthen our connection with customers and unlock Athleta's full potential." Gauger's departure is a blow to Gap Inc., which for several seasons has been working to turn around Athleta. It reported 2025 sales down 10 percent to $1.2 billion. For the second quarter of this year, the brand saw sales drop 12 percent to $264 million. When the second quarter was reported, Dickson said that Athleta "remains our rebuild brand. The priority is to restore the momentum and restore it into a stronger foundation for long-term growth. Despite the challenging top line, we're actually making some really good progress. We're running leaner inventories and a leaner assortment, which is driving higher productivity in turns. We are doing much less discounting and more regular-price selling, which is also driving a healthier margin. We've got some great customer acceptance on the new product, particularly the Journey Collection, which was a six-piece collection focused on travel and wardrobing. We recently brought in new talent in digital and merchandising." Newsletters

Gap expands AI shopping with Alta Daily and new discovery tools. Beth Duckett | Oct 7, 2026 The retailer is adding conversational product discovery at Old Navy and Banana Republic while bringing Gap merchandise into AI-generated styling on Alta Daily. Gap Inc. is pushing artificial intelligence (AI) deeper into how its shoppers discover and style its products. The retailer on Monday unveiled new natural-language product discovery features for its Old Navy and Banana Republic brands. Separately, Gap said it's launching an online styling experience with Alta Daily. The feature brings Gap's namesake-brand merchandise into AI-generated outfit recommendations on the third-party styling app. The announcements coincide with the retailer's 30th anniversary of launching Gap Online in 1996. The company has been highlighting that milestone during this week's SF Tech Week in San Francisco, framing AI as the next evolution in how customers shop its brands. Gap said it is also exploring emerging agentic commerce, in which AI can take actions on a shopper's behalf. "Thirty years ago, we launched gap.com, revolutionizing the way customers interacted with our brands, and today AI is creating a new opportunity to rethink how people shop for fashion," Gap chief technology officer Sven Gerjets said in a statement. Gap Inc., which owns Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Athleta, ranks No. 20 in the Top 2000 Database. The database tracks North America's largest online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales and more. Gap adds AI styling through Alta Daily. Rather than relying only on search boxes and product grids, Gap said it is experimenting with AI tools that can "increasingly understand intent, context and individual preferences." As part of that push, Gap is bringing its products into Alta Daily, the AI-powered digital closet and personal styling app. Shoppers can incorporate Gap-brand merchandise into personalized outfit recommendations and visualize the looks on their Alta avatars. The experience "brings AI-powered styling and discovery into a more visual and personalized environment," Gap said. To build their virtual wardrobes, Alta users can also digitize clothes they already own. From there, Alta says its app can generate outfits based on factors such as the user's existing closet, personal style, schedule and weather. That approach overlaps with the agentic-commerce model Gap says it has been exploring. Alta founder and CEO Jenny Wang told TechCrunch earlier this year that agentic commerce needs "a data layer that understands the shopper's style preferences." That data can include a shopper's closet, past purchases and avatar, she said. Meanwhile, shoppers can also find Gap Inc. products through Daydream, an AI-powered fashion platform that lets shoppers describe what they want in everyday language. Gap was already directing shoppers to the daydream.ing platform as a product-discovery option during the 2025 holiday season. Old Navy and Banana Republic add AI tools. Gap is also reworking product discovery at Old Navy and Banana Republic around conversational AI. The tools let shoppers describe what they want in natural language and receive product ideas and recommendations. Rather than translating an idea into keywords or filters, Gap said the AI tools are designed "to better understand customer intent and help people move more naturally from an idea to products that fit what they had in mind." Gap did not specify whether they are available through the brands' websites, mobile apps or both. Gap builds out AI strategy. The launches are part of a broader AI strategy Gap has been building across its ecommerce business. In 2024, the retailer established a dedicated Office of AI, focusing on "early use cases, primarily related to employee enablement," Richard Dickson, Gap's president and CEO, said at the time. Since then, the retailer has rolled out AI tools in customer service, personalized recommendations, fulfillment and other areas. Gap is also directing some of its increased capital spending toward that work. During the company's August earnings call, chief financial officer Katrina O'Connell said Gap's capital expenditures will reach $650 million in fiscal 2026, up from $470 million last year. Some of those funds will flow into "the technology work that we're doing around AI to be able to build capability," she said. Agentic commerce is a newer area for the company. In March, Gap became a launch partner for Bold Metrics' Agent Sizing Protocol. By asking shoppers about fit and preferences, the technology helps conversational shopping agents determine the right apparel size. At the same time, Gap announced support for Google's Universal Commerce Protocol. The open standard, co-developed with Shopify, connects merchants with AI-powered shopping and checkout experiences. With the protocol, shoppers will be able to find and purchase Gap products using AI Mode in Google Search and in the Gemini app. Gap was already bringing AI into the customer experience last year. Ahead of the 2025 holiday season, the retailer rolled out personalized recommendations and a digital assistant through the "Chat with Us" feature on its brands' ecommerce sites and mobile apps. Underlying many of those efforts is Gap's partnership with Google Cloud. Launched in 2025, the partnership gives Gap access to Google technologies, including Gemini, Vertex AI and BigQuery. Submit your data and Vertical Web Media, LLC'll see where you fit in its next ranking update. Stay on top of the latest developments in the online retail industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow Vertical Web Media, LLC on LinkedIn, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and YouTube. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content. More on This Industries Brian Warmoth | Mar 24, 2026 Brian Warmoth | Dec 11, 2025 Abbas Haleem | Oct 10, 2025 Beth Duckett | Jun 24, 2026 Mark Brohan | Feb 5, 2026

Retail Daily Minute | Gap rolls out AI Shopping Tools, Walmart brings Drone Delivery to Seattle and Denver & Staples adds More Party City Shops. October 6, 2026 Hello Omni Talk Fans! Today, Omni Talk has one heck of a Spotlight Podcast for you on scaling technology as your organization grows. The podcast features Manhattan's Chief Product Officer Brian Kinsella, and Brian and I took a broad view of the industry as Omni Talk discussed the lessons he has learned from his years of experience watching technology upgrades succeed and fail. You can give it a listen by clicking here or down below. In today's Retail Daily Minute: * Gap Inc. launches AI-powered shopping tools across all four of its brands, 30 years after the Gap brand's first e-commerce website. * Walmart expands its 30-minute Wing drone delivery service to the Seattle and Denver metro areas. * Staples adds roughly 120 more Party City shop-in-shops across 27 states ahead of the holiday season. Plus, a quote from a film in which a staple gun fits squarely into the plotline. Listen now 1. Gap Introduces New AI Shopping Tools Across Its Retail Brands Gap introduces new AI-assisted shopping tools across its brands, including Alta Daily and Daydream for personalized recommendations, while Old Navy and Banana Republic add conversational agents. The initiative aims to simplify product discovery and make digital shopping more intuitive, relevant and useful for customers. (Read More) 2. Walmart Adds 30-Minute Drone Delivery in Two New U.S. Markets Walmart brings Wing-powered drone delivery to Seattle and Denver, offering eligible customers deliveries in as fast as 30 minutes. The rollout extends its ultra-fast delivery network westward, supports plans for more than 270 drone-enabled stores and could make the service available to over 40 million customers nationwide. (Read More) 3. Staples Opens More Party City Shops Ahead of Holiday Shopping Staples adds about 120 new Party City shop-in-shop locations across 27 states ahead of the holiday season. The move builds on more than 700 existing stores, giving shoppers broader access to balloons, party décor and celebration supplies alongside Staples' printing and other in-store services nationwide. (Read More) 4. Kroger Applies AI Tools to Improve E-Commerce Ad Performance Kroger taps AI-powered predictive creative scoring to forecast e-commerce conversions before campaigns launch. A study with Vidmob and MMA Global found the approach predicted conversions with 81% accuracy, while recommended creative changes delivered about four times higher conversion rates and improved ad efficiency. (Read More) 5. Nike Turnaround Stalls as Sales Decline and More Layoffs Loom Nike's turnaround is stretching further as Q1 revenue fell 4% to $11.2 billion and Converse sales dropped 28%. The company's new "Pace" restructuring will consolidate regions, modernize its supply chain and trigger more layoffs, while executives warn significant work remains across China, Jordan, sportswear and growth. (Read More) Upcoming Live LinkedIn Events Making Space - Real Time: Meta Labs @ Best Buy, Lululemon, & Kohl's Babies R Us Shop-in-Shops Building Retail Technology With a Ceiling That Moves With You Producer Ella's Product Pick Of The Week Be careful out there, - Chris and the entire Omni Talk team