Gap finally launched e-commerce sites this week for shoppers in the U.K. and Canada as part of a global strategy to make online shopping available in 65 countries by year's end.

What took Gap so long? Good question, since shoppers expect well known brands to be online. Not having an e-commerce site can make a company seem less advanced, while making online competitors seem more credible. 

Now for the first time customers outside the U.S. can shop online and have items shipped from the Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta e-commerce sites.

To support its dedicated e-commerce sites in Canada and the U.K. Gap has built fulfillment centers to handle online orders and support stores already established in these countries.

It will also offer international shipping from its U.S. e-commerce site. To help make this happen Gap has partnered with FiftyOne, which ships items from its facilities and provides global tracking numbers and estimated delivery times.

While Gap is late to arrive in the U.K., it beats two apparael competitors by a few weeks.  Both H&M and Zara are launching their first e-commerce sites in the U.K in September. Zara's site will launch in early August and H&M's site will launch mid-month.