How Navan drives Primark’s 99% travel adoption

Region

APAC: Asia-Pacific, EMEA: Europe, Middle East, and Africa, NORAM: North America, LATAM: Latin America

Headquarters

Dublin, Ireland

Industry

Retail

Products Used

• Navan Business Travel
• Navan Travel Payments
• Navan Expense

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Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Dublin, Primark has become a household name by bringing “maximum joy at minimum cost.” Today, the fashion retail giant spans 18 countries and employs a workforce of more than 80,000 employees. For Primark, the philosophy of value without compromise isn’t just for customers — it’s the standard for the company’s internal operations. However, as the brand’s global footprint scaled, its existing travel management infrastructure began to hinder rather than help, prompting a search for a partner that could match its dynamic pace.

Before Navan

As Primark’s global growth accelerated, inefficiencies with its legacy travel provider required the travel team to act as manual coordinators rather than strategic leaders.

“As we started to expand more rapidly across the globe, we realised our provider was not fit for purpose,” said Joanne Kedward, head of travel. “We struggled with a laborious, clunky, hand-holding program that didn’t fit who we were as a business.”

The primary hurdle was a lack of visibility; reporting was a slow, manual process that left the team with stale data. “We didn’t have dashboards to self-serve with, and it would take me days to get reports from our provider,” said Joanne. The team sought a platform like Navan — particularly Navan Travel Payments — to gain real-time visibility into every booking and transaction, which would finally simplify reporting and remove the friction from their reconciliation process. Without the ability to see spend as it happened, the department could previously only act reactively, not proactively. “We were administrators, not leaders,” she said.

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When we partnered with Navan, we knew we were gaining a partner that could match our scale and our growth. Navan is not just a travel platform; it’s the intelligent engine that runs our global travel programme.

Nas Megrisi

Travel Manager

Why Navan

Primark sought a partner that put technology and AI at the forefront — one that could match the company’s scale and growth mindset. For Primark’s leadership, the decision was rooted in a commitment to its employees.

“Our travel programme is centered around our duty of care,“ said Joanne. “It’s really important for us that the duty of care we give to our colleagues is equal to how we look at our external customer base. We needed a partner that brought that to the table, alongside cost optimisation and value. In choosing Navan, that’s certainly what we got.”

Nas Megrisi, Travel Manager for Primark, echoes this sentiment: “When we partnered with Navan, we knew we were gaining a partner that could match our scale and our growth. Navan is not just a travel platform; it’s the intelligent engine that runs our global travel programme.” By implementing a tool that mirrors user-friendly consumer apps, Primark empowered employees to seamlessly manage their own travel.

“

The biggest win for my team, and the business, is that Navan gives us a strong foundation to advance our travel programme in ways we couldn’t before.

Nas Megrisi

Travel Manager

Results with Navan

99% Platform Adoption

By listening to the needs of its diverse workforce and providing an intuitive, app-based travel experience, Primark achieved a staggering 99% adoption rate. “Convincing our employees to adopt Navan was simple,” says Nas. “People want a familiar travel experience, and Navan brings that to our business. All we had to do was show the team everything the platform could do.”

The Impact of Seamless Support

The shift to Navan transformed the traveller experience, particularly around support, which has achieved a 96% satisfaction rate. “Seeing a 4.8 out of 5 satisfaction score tells us we made the right decision,” said Nas. “Our employees feel valued because there’s always someone there, whether it’s an intelligent chatbot or a live agent. In global travel, anything can happen at any hour; Navan provides a huge safety net.”

Sustainability and Duty of Care

Navan has transformed Primark’s duty of care commitment from a concept into a data-driven reality, which extends to both the safety of employees and the health of the planet. “The sustainability data within Navan is incredibly rich,” said Joanne. “It helps us understand the environmental cost for Primark colleagues to travel, allowing us to exercise duty of care for both our people and the planet."

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We're living in an age where AI is a powerful enabler for humans, and Navan’s innovative use of the technology has really taken our travel programme into the future.

Joanne Kedward

Head of Travel

Future with Navan

“AI is an important element of our travel ecosystem,” said Nas. “And since Navan has been at the forefront of this technology within the travel space, we’re excited about where this partnership can take us.”

Primark has had such a positive experience with Navan Travel that it’s now moving toward adopting Navan’s comprehensive, end-to-end T&E solution, to gain total visibility into its global programme. This holistic approach will allow the travel and finance teams to capture every aspect of every journey — from long-haul flights to ground transportation — and ensure that no spend goes unseen.

“Launching with Navan has shown us what we can achieve when we bridge the gap between technology and travel,” said Joanne. “With a unified view of our global programme, we now have the visibility, accountability, and responsibility required to manage our operations effectively. At Primark, our values are to be caring, dynamic, and together; Navan allows us to embrace those values every single day."