GAP brings AI into its owned marketing channels

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TL;DR:

Gap Inc. is using AI with Google Cloud and Zeta to personalise owned marketing across Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta, aiming to turn customer data into faster campaigns, stronger retention and measurable retail growth.

Article:

Gap Inc. is moving artificial intelligence deeper into its owned marketing channels, using Google Cloud, Zeta Global and a transformation partner to build a more connected marketing engine across Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta. The timing matters: retail brands are under pressure to turn customer data into faster, more relevant campaigns without inflating marketing costs.

The AI-led push will start with Gap Inc.’s owned channels, where the retailer wants to improve personalization, customer retention and campaign delivery. Google Cloud will support a unified data foundation combining customer and product intelligence, while Zeta’s Athena layer will help connect data, decisions and execution across marketing workflows.

Damon Berger, senior vice president of marketing shared services at Gap Inc., said the shift is meant to “remove silos, unlock better data, and build a marketing model that learns, adapts and improves with every customer interaction.”

The move comes as Gap Inc. shows signs of a retail turnaround. In Q1 fiscal 2026, net sales rose 1% to $3.5 billion, comparable sales increased 2% for the ninth straight positive quarter, and the Gap brand posted a 10% comparable sales gain. Athleta remained the weak spot, with comparable sales down 11%.

For marketers, the bigger signal is not that Gap is “using AI”, nearly everyone says that now. It is that a major apparel retailer is applying AI to the unglamorous plumbing of marketing: data quality, workflow speed, content production and customer decisioning. If it works, Gap could convert brand heat into more consistent, measurable customer engagement. If it does not, AI becomes another expensive layer on top of old silos.