Primark has confirmed plans to roll out home delivery in Britain, marking a significant shift for a retailer that has long resisted online selling even as rivals raced ahead. The company has bought a warehouse in Sheffield to support the shipping operation, though it has not yet said when the service will launch.
Playing Catch-Up
Primark only began selling online in 2022, and even then only through click-and-collect, which still required customers to travel to a store to pick up their orders. Parent company Associated British Foods (ABF) said Primark would keep expanding click-and-collect while working toward full home delivery across Great Britain, framing the move as an opportunity for “profitable growth.”
The timing follows a period of subdued sales, which the company partly attributed to unusually hot weather delaying the start of autumn and winter clothing purchases. ABF said trading picked up as temperatures cooled toward the end of the quarter, and it expects Primark’s UK sales to grow by around 1% in the current quarter. Like-for-like sales — a closely watched retail metric that strips out the effect of store openings and closures — are expected to be roughly flat in the UK but down 3% globally.
Competitive Pressure
Analysts say the decision reflects how much ground Primark has lost to ultra-fast-fashion competitors. Retail analyst Julie Palmer said the company has been playing catch-up for years, and that launching home delivery now is as much a defensive move as a growth strategy. She said the real test will be whether Primark can deliver profitably at the low prices its customers expect, noting that competitors like Shein and Vinted have already reset expectations around convenience — with an efficient returns process likely to be just as important as the delivery itself.
Retail analyst Natalie Berg was similarly blunt, noting that not even the pandemic was enough to push Primark online, and that its reversal now signals how dramatically the retail landscape has shifted. She pointed out that returns tend to cost more for online orders than in-store purchases, since shoppers cannot try items on before buying, adding an extra cost burden Primark will need to absorb.
Dan Coatsworth of AJ Bell noted that increased competition among delivery firms, including InPost and Relay, has made shipping considerably cheaper than in the days when Royal Mail dominated the market — a shift that may make the economics of home delivery more workable than in the past.
Primark has already taken other steps to compete on price, cutting costs on hundreds of clothing items back in July in response to pressure from Shein, Boohoo, and platforms like TikTok Shop and Vinted.
Wider Retail Pressures
The announcement comes as UK retailers more broadly contend with rising labour and energy costs. John Lewis, which also owns Waitrose, reported on Thursday that its half-year losses had widened to £124m, up from £88m the previous year. Chairman Jason Tarry attributed the results to ongoing investment in the business’s transformation, a tougher trading environment, and higher operating costs. Department store sales fell 2% as shoppers pulled back on discretionary spending, while Waitrose sales rose 4% even as profits slipped slightly — a result the company linked to price cuts and the added cost of running stores through the summer’s heatwaves.
ABF is planning to spin off Primark from its food business next year, a move that will make the retailer’s standalone performance, including how well its new delivery push lands, more visible to investors.
