Irish Retailer Primark Sets Sail For Boston
By Hannah Ash, contributing writer
Affordable Department Store Chain To Open First North American Store In 2014
Primark, an affordable goods department store chain founded in Ireland in 1969, recently announced it will open its first North American store in Boston, MA this year. Known as Penneys in Ireland, Primark will set up shop in the iconic downtown Boston building that hosted Filene’s until Macy’s closed the flagship store in 2006. Currently, Primark has over 270 stores located in 9 different countries. The retailer’s successful entry into France last year has led to its move into the United States; sales have been strong for the cut-price retailer during the economic downturn. The retailer plans to move beyond the Boston location and open more stores in the northeast by the end of 2015.
Primark’s merchandise is exclusive to the store, keeping prices down: the department store chain does not carry any designer label items. Mike Tesler, partner at Norwell strategy firm Retail Concepts and Bentley University instructor predicts that the retailer’s move into the Boston market will be a success. Tesler sites the choice in location, discount goods, and variety as reasons the retailer will succeed in Boston. Primark CEO George Weston comments, “we think what Primark does, the combination of up-to-date fashion at great prices, will be attractive to American shoppers too.” Group research director for retail consultants Conlumino Maureen Hinton predicted that in the U.S. market the retailer “will do really well in that it is cheaper, and it’s got a definite profile. I am sure that the likes of Forever 21 are quaking in their boots.”
Despite the positive predictions others have shared for the retailer’s journey to the United States, one potential problem area for the retailer is a lack of omni-channel growth. Primark has been notoriously slow to embrace retail technology. Currently, the retailer does not have an online channel after a failed experiment last year. In November 2013, Weston states the retailer would be ‘offline for at least another year’ commenting that “online communication is an area where we have been weak, previously the Primark website has been anachronistic.” U.K.-based retail consultant Graham Soult remarks, “the danger is that by refusing to embrace online now, Primark risks becoming the Morrisons of fashion retail. When the meteoric success of Primark’s high-street operation starts to flag — as surely it must at some point — it may end up having to enter online retail from a position of necessity rather than strength.”