Will Digital Polish Click With Consumers?

E-nails, The Gap’s interactive website, is fun to visit and easy to use. Just one catch-net-surfers still have to go to the mail to purchase the polish.

The Gap is competing for your clients’ retailing dollars in a totally new way with digital displays of nail color that can be instantly accessed in the privacy of the shopper’s own home. E-nails, the latest addition to the Gap’s website, www.gap.com, lets consumers test all 11 shades of Gap Colors-no wait, no fumes, no acetone required. How? First, call up E-nail’s virtual hand and select the skin tone closest to your own. Then choose one of the glossy shades and click on a nail. With E-nails, you can paint five nails the same color, or try a different shade on each nail. “Now anyone who visits our website can experience the world’s first virtual manicure,” says Michael McCadden, senior vice president of Gap marketing. Designed to match their current clothing fashions, the polishes are available at Gap stores fro $3.95 a bottle.