Primark is finally moving into online shopping and home delivery. But could making Primark more convenient also change what makes a trip to the store so compelling? Rebecca Harris explores what the shift could mean for shopping behaviour, impulse purchases and the role of the physical store.
Primark is going online and offering home delivery. After years of resistance, the retailer has announced that it plans to introduce it in the UK, building on the success of its click and collect offer. You can click here if you fancy reading more about that!
At face-value, it makes sense. Consumers in 2026 expect convenience. If I know I need some socks, pyjamas or a particular top, why should I have to travel into town to buy them? Every other fashion retailer sells online – especially at the value end of the market.
But I wonder if there’s a risk in making Primark too convenient?
For me, a trip to Primark isn’t normally just a shopping trip. It’s a bit of a day out. My teen daughter will usually request “Can we go to Primark this weekend Mum?” and that will be the main reason that we’ll travel into town. In the days when there were fewer Primark stores around, we’d make a special trip to different town (Coventry), just for the Primark visit. We inevitably spend far longer in Primark than we usually intend. And, crucially, buy far more than we intend. It’s like the B&M Bargains of the fashion world.
That’s part of what makes Primark different. You don’t always go in knowing what you want. You browse. You discover the latest trends, new collections and collabs (most recently, Colleen Rooney!). You split up and find each other again. You make your way through the building and across the different floors. You try stuff on. Your basket overflows. The store is part treasure hunt, part social experience.
Online shopping at Primark would change that behaviour
At home, I’m much more likely to search for what I need, add it to my basket and leave. I’m less likely to encounter the pair of sunglasses, novelty socks or scented candle, that somehow makes its way into the physical basket. And if I can order Primark whenever I like, there’s less reason for us to make a special trip there in the first place.
The research questions Primark should be asking
This is where the interesting research questions start!
Will online shoppers spend less because their shopping becomes more mission-led? Will people visit stores less often? Does home delivery genuinely create incremental sales, or does some of it simply shift existing spend from store to online? And what happens to the shoppers for whom Primark is part of a wider social occasion rather than just somewhere to buy clothes?
There are some obvious metrics to track here: visit frequency, online versus in-store basket size, impulse purchasing and total customer spend across channels. But I’d also want to understand the softer stuff: what role does Primark currently play in a day out, what do people value about browsing the store, and which parts of that experience simply don’t translate to a screen?
My concern is Primark going online with home delivery subtly changes the way people think about them.
None of this means home delivery is the wrong decision. It removes a very obvious source of friction, opens Primark up to people who can’t easily get to a store, and there will undoubtedly be occasions when I’ll use it too. But it highlights an interesting challenge for any brand built around a physical experience – convenience can make you easier to buy from while simultaneously making you less of a destination. This is the reverse challenge that many competitors face (they often start out online and then move into physical retail).
Over the years, we’ve seen many iconic British retailers with an established store estate successfully launch online. NEXT is probably the biggest success story. It began as a physical fashion retailer in 1982, launched its Directory in 1988 and online shopping in 1999. Ecommerce became a huge additional source of revenue for the business. In its latest results, UK online accounts for 46% of full-price sales, versus 32% from UK stores, and both channels are still growing. The lesson is that online can dramatically increase reach and spend – but NEXT was never quite the same kind of “day out” as Primark.
A new era for Primark
For Primark, will fewer reasons to visit a store change what people buy, how much they buy – and ultimately what Primark means to them? I think it will, and I for one, will personally miss the chance to have a day out my teen daughter. I’ll be watching closely how this new era for Primark plays out – both commercially and from a brand perspective.
Primark’s move into online shopping isn’t simply a question of whether people will buy clothes from their sofa. The bigger question is whether convenience changes why people visit, what they buy when they’re there, how much they spend and what Primark means to them.
If you’re trying to understand how changes to your customer journey, channels or retail experience might change behaviour, we’d love to help. At Mustard, we use customer research to understand not just what people do, but why they do it.