No, Primark will no longer waltz labels. Despite inflation which increases its manufacturing costs, forcing it to increase its prices this fall, the Irish clothing brand promises that there will be no increase in 2023, assures Christine Loizy, general manager. from Primark in France. Above all, this mastodon, whose jeans sold at 14 euros attract crowds, will accelerate its expansion all over the world.
A few weeks after having published a turnover of 8.8 billion euros for its 2021-2022 financial year, ending in September – down 10% compared to 2019, at constant scope -, and an operating profitability below 10%, the brand unveils a new ambition: to operate 530 stores at the end of 2026, i.e. 122 more than at the end of September. Across the Channel, it will devote 160 million euros to its expansion over the next two years. In the United States, its goal is to reach 60 stores in 2026, against a dozen currently.
Unlike Germany, a market where the brand is in the red, France also remains on its roadmap. “As well as Spain and Italy”, explains Ms. Loizy, without specifying the development potential that its parent company, the conglomerate AB Foods with 19 billion euros in turnover, could assign to it in France. Friday, December 9, the chain with 20 stores in France must precisely launch, in the shopping center L’Atoll, near Angers, a salvo of openings.
Litigation
“This will be the first of a long series of inaugurations”, emphasizes Ms. Loizy. By the end of 2023, seven stores will open in Brest, Saint-Etienne, Mulhouse, Rouen, Nantes and Grenoble, twice as many as in 2021. In addition, Primark will double its surface area in the shopping center Lyon-Part Dieu, to reach 10,000 m². In total, the brand should allocate 100 million euros to the creation of these 29,000 m² in France in 2023. It operates more than 100,000 m2 today.
Primark’s plethora of offerings for men, women and children and for home décor requires at least 4,000m², the size of a supermarket. This place ” is not easy to find, explains Ms. Loizy. In fact, each project requires two years of study and work. Many are the subject of litigation, like that of the Grand’Place center, located near Grenoble. Paris also gives the brand a hard time, although it is present in Madrid, London and Berlin. Failing to find a suitable location, nearly ten years after opening its first tricolor store, it does not operate any in the capital.
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