AB Foods owns Primark and Twinings, among other companies (Jacob King/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Primark will trial click and collect in certain stores, with 2,000 items of children’s clothes and accessories on offer at 25 stores in the northwest of England.
The low-cost high street retailer relaunched its website earlier this year, and it won’t allow shoppers to buy online.
Primark is now trialling the click-and-collect service across 25 stores in the North West of England, starting with the children’s products because of an “unfulfilled demand” and because it thinks this will drive people to its stores.
However, the outlet is not yet ready to reveal which stores will be taking place in the trial.
A spokesperson said they’d give the full list in a couple of months.
Speaking to the BBC, the retail analyst Catherine Shuttleworth described Primark’s move as a “very big deal” adding “Covid showed the risk of having a store-only estate.
“Primark has been looking for the best way to enter the online market, but if you’re late to the party - which it is - you need to do it in the most profitable way possible.”
“Click-and-collect is simpler to build into your existing operation of shops, you don’t need a logistics partner, and returns come straight back into the store.”
The store’s owner Associated British Food said: “Our average-size stores are only able to stock a limited range and for these customers the number of options available to them will broadly double, increasing even more for customers of our small stores.
“This trial will enable us to provide more fashion, licence and lifestyle products to more customers and more often.”
The fashion firm will have 2,000 items of clothing available through click-and-collect, adding that the trial will help those customers who cannot access its bigger stores.
The parent company Associated British Food said that the move builds on recent improvements to its website.
The group also recently revamped its UK site in order to provide more details of in-store ranges, to allow customers to browse full collection, and to check availability before coming into stores.
After the changes, the group said that Primark’s sales increased by 81% in the three months to the end of May, when compared with the same time frame last year. They are 4% higher than the comparable pre-Covid period as shoppers bought new holiday and office clothes.
All Primark stores were open during the period, unlike last year when most were closed until the middle of April due to restrictions.
How does Primark Click and Collect work?
The 25 Primark stores taking part will have dedicated collection areas in each outlet.
Click-and-collect will be free, and Primark will also allow free returns if you take items back to the store.
George Weston, the chief executive of ABF said shoppers would be able to immediately try on items they had ordered online in designated collection areas and pick up additional items from the store if they wished. Click-and-collect, and in-store returns, will be offered free as part of the trial.
What will you be able to order online?
There will be a range of products available to order online through the new scheme, with about 2,000 items online, only 40% of the range, including nursery furniture, clothing multipacks and licensed products, such as Disney T-shirts.
The retailer has said that the range will be “particularly attractive for our customers who do not regularly shop in our larger stores”.
