Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
TEXTINATION NEWSLINE 2010-04-13 Clothing-Discounter Primark Already Successful with Two Stores in Germany The Irish-British clothingdiscounter Primark Stores Ltd. (www.primark.co.uk), Dublin-Reading / Berkshire, is sounding the alarm for an attack on the market in the lower price genre and is taking up a position against the two national lowcost suppliers KIK and NKD. Takko, C&A, Adler, H&M and Zara are also up against a new aggressive price vendor who is focussing on trendy clothing. They are selling only store brands at dumping prices under the slogan ”Look Good – Pay Less“. The enterprise was founded in 1969 in Dublin / Ireland by Chairman Arthur Ryan, who is still active. The first store in Great Britain opened in 1973. Until then there were already 18 stores in Ireland present, running under the name of Penneys. On April 15th, 2007 a big Primark store opened in London, Oxford Street with 70,000 sqm, followed by Primark Liverpool on September 12th, 2007. They are selling only store brands at dumping prices under the slogan ”Look Good – Pay Less“. Own stores exist therefore already in Ireland, Great Britain, Spain (first store opened in May 2006 in Plenilunio/Madrid), the Netherlands (first store in Rotterdam in December 2008), Portugal (first store in Lisbon in May 2009) and Belgium (first store established in Liege in December 2009). Their start in Germany was the opening of the first store on May 22nd of last year in the Bre- © Textination GmbH men Mall Waterfront (www.waterfrontbremen.de), the biggest by area at this city. On a selling area of 5,400 sqm women’s-, men’sand kid’s-wear are presented, also home textiles, underwear, accessories and shoes. After the big success in Bremen the second store was opened on 26th of November, 2009, in the NordWestZentrum in Frankfurt/Main (www.nwz-frankfurt.de). The former area of SinnLeffers was taken over. The offered products on a total area of 4,675 sqm are the same as in the center Waterfront. Frankfurt is now 196th Primark-subsidiary in Europe. The two first stores in Germany are seen as test for a further expansion into this country. According to market circles there is a market potential in Germany of up to 100 shops. Stores in shopping streets are favored. The offeror of clothing for fashion-conscious young consumers – comparable to Topshop (www.topshop.com) – at very favorable prices has meanwhile worked its way up to be the second-biggest clothing retailer of Great Britain after Marks & Spencer. On December 3rd, 2009, the number of stores by country showed to be like this: Ireland 38, Spain 14, Great Britain 138, Netherlands and Belgium each 1, Portugal and Germany each two. In the tough competition of prices the discounter focusses on collection production in big numbers. They are saving money in administration and marketing. They place –1– their emphasis on word-of-mouth advertising by satisfied customers. Primark is a subsidiary of the British food group Associated British Foods/ABF (www.abf.co.uk). As an internationally acting enterprise (around 28,000 employees) with a global chain store Primark goes for an ethically organized trade with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)policy. They are working together with around 600 suppliers in more than 16 countries. According to the enterprise they contribute directly to the engagement of more than 700,000 employees in three continents. The company founder Arthur Ryan was honoured on the 4th of March for his contribution to the retail trade with the prestigious ”Retail Week Awards 2010“ in the Londoner Grosvenor House Hotel. Primark was also awarded as the “Retailer of the Year“ and received the Award for the ”Store Design of the Year“ for his shop in Bristol. According to Thorsten Rolfes, corporate communications C&A Mode KG, Düsseldorf, (www.cunda.de), is the textile retail trade in Germany highly competitive. Against this background “we take every competitor very seriously. Be it a competitor who is already established or a new one like Primark“. The statement of the press officer of KiK Textilien und NonFood GmbH (www.kik-textilien.com), Bönen, Aniko Nadine Kalle, to Textination: “Certainly we are watching the activities of the broad competition and therefore also Primark, we © Textination GmbH don`t have them, however, confuse our own strategy. Reason for that are the more than 2,900 KiK-subsidiaries we opened since the founding in 1995 Europe-wide and conduct with our success concept.” Timm Rogler, press officer of NKD Marketing, Bindlach, (www.nkd.com) commented as follows: “We do, of course, know about the two German Primark-subsidiaries. Interesting about them are the product presentation and the store construction. NKD differs clearly in the number of subsidiaries and the choice of location. However, we don’t see Primark as a direct competitor so far.” Summary of a visit at Primark in Frankfurt: Positive elements are the broad aisles in light sales rooms, orderly drapery and markup of the merchandise, explanation of sizes in cm and inches, cleanliness allover – cleaning ladies active all the time; friendly and open, mostly younger sales personnel in astonishing great numbers mixed with older ones in Corporate Fashion, the shelves are freshly filled all the time, big net-shopping bags, and despite the long queues speedy processing at the many cashiers – by calling out numbers, when the cashier is free again. The offered articles are compared to other clothing discounters even more inexpensive, like e.g. highly fashionable High-Heels 9 €, summer shoes 3 €, jewellery 2 to 3 €, dress 7 €, bag 7, cushion 3 €, men’s shirt 5 €, sweater 2 €, „Primark Home“-bedclothes 5parts at 15 €. Critique: no toilets in the whole house, scarcity of mirrors and seats to try on shoes, big –2– lines at the women’s changing room (maybe on purpose from marketing?). Teenies try on the Primark-clothing on the open sales area. Noticeable was the great number of teenagers leaving Primark with fully filled bags. It is even possible “to dispose” those tops at the next fashion trend, since the Primark Credo is: Fashion above all, and reasonably priced. Gert Krockert Translation Dr.H.Arndt © Textination GmbH –3–