Gap Opens New Revenue Stream with B2B Face Masks

Gap Inc. has launched a B2B business for reusable face masks.

The apparel brand and retailer has already sold around 10 million non-medical cloth masks to clients that include the City of New York, the State of California and Kaiser Permanente.

In order to quickly make these products available, Gap partnered with Capgemini to create a custom website in less than five weeks to manage the purchase orders and deliver program information to businesses. Capgemini also implemented a roadmap approach for incremental enhancements that includes the ability to build on the existing technology and sell other protective gear as business needs shift.

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Gap also leveraged the Salesforce Commerce Cloud Quick Start for B2B Commerce solution to launch the program.

"Gap Inc. is deploying new technology rapidly to both help the community and open up new revenue streams," said Lidiane Jones, senior VP product, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce. "We're honored to help [Gap] power its efforts to quickly meet customer needs for masks and help communities reopen safely.”  

The masks, which are manufactured in China, are offered in minimum quantities of 100,000 units and in different colors and swatches. Gap is also sourcing the masks and other PPE to the healthcare community, including donating more than 200,000 masks to community organizations.

Gap, like many apparel retailers, was hit hard by COVID-19 when it was forced to temporarily shutter its stores in order to slow the spread of the virus. Its first quarter net sales sunk 43% year over year. 

The company is cutting its capital expenditures by half for the fiscal year, diverting the funds that were once designated for store investments toward technology and supply chain investments.