Primark to showcase 80% of range on new customer-facing website

While the value fashion retailer has remained staunch on its position to not sell items online, the new website will allow customers to see what products are in stock at their local store.

“For those people that follow us, it will be a much more engaging experience,” explained Primark owner ABF’s finance director John Bason.

“You’ll be able to see ‘What does Primark sell?’ and more importantly ‘What does Primark sell in my local store?’

“You’ll be able to browse and look, and it will be a much better vehicle to drive purchase intent and to drive customers to our stores.”

Primark said it expects around 80% of its total range to be visible online in a “massive step up” from what is now seen on its online channels.

It is also working on creating a platform to supercharge its digital marketing capabilities, acquiring new talent and making key hires to drive SEO and data management among other things.

“It’s a big move for Primark because we don’t market to people individually,” Bason said.

“We’ve got a big social media following, but this is what the platform will do. A lot of the expertise is about who will build that for us – the first stage of that will be the website.”

Primark corporate affairs director Alice Macandrew added: “We’re right at the very start of developing the digital platform and developing the digital marketing capability.

“We’ll certainly be more targeted in search, where we’ve not really been playing at the moment, and bringing on people to help with that. A lot of it is about doing simple stuff really well.

“Email marketing could be one way of doing that and certainly linking our digital channel to our website.”