PRIMARK

SUBMITTED BY:APOORVA SAXENA

SUMAN NAYAK
NABANEETA DAS

INTRODUCTION
Primark is an Irish clothing retailer, operating in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland
(38 stores branded as Penneys).
Primark first opened in June 1969 in Mary Street (Dublin).

 Primark, source clothes from countries like China, Bangladesh, India and Vietnam
where materials and labor costs are lower.
Primark's success is not simply down to supplying a fashion fix. It thrives because
of its speed at turning out designs inspired by the red carpet.
It takes on average just six weeks for an item to go from concept stage into the
shops.

PRIMARK SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS
Fast fashion retailer offering affordable trendy
apparel and accessories

Good supply chain policy

WEAKNESS
Stores cluttered with lots of displays and racks of clothing.
Daunting for time buyers

Lower price implies lower quality; no sign of exclusivity.

Marketing plan uses extensive use of social media

Lack of e-commerce website.

Offers products that suits lifestyles such as fitness

apparel and homeware

Targets only the younger age group.

Contd
OPPORTUNITIES
Launch e-commerce website
Improve layout of store and in store experience

THREATS
Other brands similar to Primark offer similar low quality,low priced
apparel. E.g.- H&M,Forever 21

Lack of interactive shopping experience

Develop product lines for older markets.
Consumers are slow to accept new entrants in the market.
Use celebrity endorsements to grab North American shoppers
attention.

Challenge to find affordable retail space that complements Primarks

low prices.

CSR POLICIES OF PRIMARK

Primark directly contributes to the employment of more than 700,000 workers across three
continents
Encouraging employees to volunteer in community projects
Sponsoring/supporting charity work
Contributing time/money to improving environmental impact
Primarks Code of Conduct sets out standards for suppliers
Ensures all supplier workers are paid a fair wage and work in good conditions
Primarks programme of activities includes HERproject (Health Enables Returns)
Raising awareness and delivering healthcare education to female workers in supplier
countries

BENEFITS OF CSR
FOR PRIMARK:
Improved motivation
Higher productivity
Improved quality of production
More stable workforce
Lower absenteeism(decreased by 55%)

FOR SOCIETY:
Improve health of women workers
Educate female workforce

"HER PROJECT" IN BANGLADESH

A program supervised by Business for Social Responsibility ( 50 000 women in China,
India, Mexico, Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh,) in cooperation with 20 companies.
The idea:"Women train other women on their health needs, and help support each other in
their learning and understanding".
Why Bangladesh? - 84% of women work in garment manufacturing (2.4 million
employees). Limited education / drop school to support their families / Poor hygiene /
Exposure to infections / Illness.

PRIMARK
CONTROVERSIES

CASE - 1
Primark faced a major blow to its reputation on 24 June, 2008 after being exposed by
BBC for using child labour.
In response to the allegations of use of child labour by its suppliers, it stopped
buying from three factories in southern India for breaking its Code of Conduct.
Afterwards, Primark's marketing strategy mainly focused to promote itself as ethical
organization with a clear and strict code of conduct to which all suppliers must
adhere and which forms part of the terms of their contract.

Contd
The BBCs controversial Primark Panorama expose footage in the show of child
labor in India was later revealed to be fake.

CASE - 2
On 9 January 2009 another investigation by the BBC revealed that Manchester-based garment firm
TNS Knitwear which supplies 20,000 garments to the firm every week. may have breached key
employment and immigration laws.
The workers were allegedly being paid 3 an hour - just over half the minimum wage of 5.73 - for 12hour days, seven days a week.
Employees at both TNS and Fashion Waves were caught on film admitting their illegal status in the UK
Later the supplier was forced by ETI to remove its branding from Primark stores and websites.

CASE - 3
In June 2014 two labels both stitched with SOS messages were separately found in Swansea
purchased garments. Primark argued the supply chain showed these label messages were a hoax.
Also in June 2014, a customer from Ireland found an SOS note wrapped in a prison ID card in
the pocket of trousers purchased from a Primark store several years earlier.
The letter was written in Chinese and alleged that prisoners were forced to work "like oxen"
making fashion clothes for export for 15 hours per day, and the food they were given wouldn't be
fit for dogs or pigs.
A year and a half later an SOS note from an alleged Chinese torture victim was found in socks
purchased from Primark.

Contd
In a statement to the BBC, the clothing retailer said Nine inspections of the supplier have
been carried out by Primark's ethical standards team since 2009. To be clear, no prison or
other forced labour of any kind was found during these inspections.

THANK YOU