Gap transforms procurement into a centralized, visible operating model

Recently Tigran Avakian, Head of Procurement at Gap, joined Zip on stage at America’s Procurement Congress (APC) to talk about the organization’s procurement transformation.

The challenge

Gap was transitioning its procurement organization from a reactive sourcing model to a full category management setup, with a major shift across process, policy, people, and technology simultaneously. The organization was moving toward a centralized structure and an eventual “no PO, no pay” policy, but faced significant headwinds along the way.

Procurement had no intake and orchestration infrastructure, leaving it operating as a “black box” with limited business visibility. Data was fragmented with no baseline for measuring ROI. 

Cross-functional SLA alignment across procurement, legal, shared services, business partners, and InfoSec was incomplete. While leadership was aligned on the transformation vision, change management friction was real, particularly at the budget owner and middle management levels where new visibility created pushback.

The solution

Gap selected Zip as the intake and orchestration platform for its end-to-end sourcing function, describing it as the “nerve system” of their future procurement operating model. Rather than layering technology onto an unresolved process, Gap prioritized getting cross-functional alignment and SLA agreement in place first, and then used Zip to make that structure operational.

The transformation was structured in three phases: fixing the fundamentals, building momentum, and raising the bar. Zip was positioned as a critical enabler across all three, helping create an infrastructure across the organization and helping the team measure success and identify potential opportunities for improvement.

The results

Still early in their Zip journey, early stakeholder response has been positive, with senior leadership and cross-functional teams enthusiastic about the visibility and accountability Zip provides. The system is beginning to surface spend and process conversations that have previously been difficult to have.

Gap’s team shares that full ROI measurement is still being defined, and that the team is continuing to explore new opportunities, such as Zip’s AI Agents, but they are excited for the transformation Zip has helped them enable.