The fashion retailer’s owner has purchased a new warehouse in Sheffield to support the plans
Primark is set to launch home delivery in the UK in a bid to bolster the retailer’s online offering.
The fashion retailer’s owner, Associated British Foods (ABF), which also runs large food, sugar and agriculture operations, did not specify when home delivery would start but said it would come “in the future”.
The business has purchased a highly automated fulfilment facility in Sheffield to support the plans.
Over the years, Primark has grown its “click and collect” offering for people to shop and make purchases online, then collect in stores. However, it has long resisted a move into home delivery, saying it did not make economic sense with its low price points.
In a trading update to investors, ABF said Primark sales are expected to have dipped by 2.6 per cent over the past financial year, which ends on Saturday, when compared like-for-like with the year before. Primark, its only retail brand, generates the highest revenues across the group’s business units.
The decline has been driven by weaker sales in continental Europe, whereas sales in the UK are estimated to have edged up by 0.6 per cent year-on-year.
Primark sales started the summer season strongly but were then impacted by the prolonged hot weather, which delayed the transition to buying autumn clothing ranges, according to the business. Trading has improved in the more recent weeks that temperatures have cooled, it said.
ABF’s chief executive George Weston said: “Our priority focus areas, the UK and womenswear, continued to outperform our other markets and categories.
“Primark has made significant progress in building its digital capabilities and will continue this through both growing click & collect and by offering home delivery in Great Britain in the future.
“There is now an opportunity for incremental and profitable growth through this channel.”
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