Primark issues huge online shopping update – and customers will be delighted

PRIMARK has shared a big update on the future of its click and collect service.

The retailer has confirmed that the service will now be rolled out to all stores in England, Scotland and Wales following a successful trial.

The service will start rolling out to other stores later this year on April 23.

Primark expects the service to be live at all 184 stores in England and Scotland by the end of 2025.

The retailer will also expand the type of products offered through the service to include men’s, home and lifestyle items.

The service already offers womenswear, kids’ clothing and accessories.

Primark last expanded its click and collect service to include thousands of womenswear items from September 2023.

The retailer first launched its click and collect trial across 25 stores in the north of England and Wales in November 2022.

It was then extended to 57 stores overall in April 2023.

Customers who use click and collect are able to pick up their orders from a dedicated desk in any participating store.

Up until September, shoppers could only pick up kids’ and nursery products through click and collect.

But the retailer recently expanded its click and collect service to include thousands of womenswear.

Shoppers can still pay for any other items they have picked up in-store at this desk.

There’s no fee to use the click and collect service but customers need to spend a minimum of £10 on their orders.

However, while the boss of ABF has raved about the success of the click and collect trial, he previously dashed hopes of another service.

In November 2023, George Weston told The Sun: “We will never do home delivery, and never do it on the full range.”

It comes as Primark’s owner has seen its half-year earnings soar by more than a third as it opened new stores and raised prices.

Associated British Foods, which also owns household brands spanning from British Sugar to Blue Dragon and Dorset Cereals, revealed its pre-tax profit jumped by 37% to £881million in the six months to March, compared with the same period last year.

Group revenues ticked up 5% at constant currency to £9.7billion, driven by demand across its retail and food businesses.

Sales at Primark were lifted by higher prices rather than the volume of sales, meaning people paid more money for fewer items.

AB Foods’ chief executive George Weston said it is a “very strong set of financial results” as the group benefits from the “restoration of some normality in our markets and in our supply chains”.

The retailer has 400 stores globally and nearly 184 in the UK.

Primark has recently introduced self-service checkouts in some stores to help reduce queuing times.

They were first rolled out at sites in Sheffield, Northampton, West Bromwich and Kingston as part of a trial in autumn 2022.

The move was in a bid to reduce huge queuing times which are all too familiar to Primark shoppers.

The chain has been introducing the self-scan tills to further shops over time.