...heard of Associated British Foods, but nearly everyone has heard of Primark. The fast-growing discount fashion chain is owned by ABF, and after taking the UK by storm has its sights set on the rest of Europe. Primark – described by City analysts as ABF's "jewel in the crown" – has gone from strength to strength in the face of the decline of high street stalwarts and could be worth £19 billion, says investment bank UBS. How did the 'cheap and cheerful' retailer make it thus far from its humble Irish origins? When Primark opened at the Marble Arch end of London's Oxford Street in 2007, thousands of people queued outside the store and as soon as the doors opened there was a stampede and staff were injured. The retailer took no chances at the opening of a second 'posh Primark' shop at the other end of Oxford Street in 2012 – bosses cleverly decided to open an hour earlier than advertised to avoid a repeat of the near riot. They also tried to move the brand more upmarket – the four-storey flagship store has exposed brick walls and giant LED screens; 111 cash tills and 92 fitting rooms. The 268-store chain is taking its winning formula to continental Europe. It launched in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Austria and the Netherlands in recent years and is now busy trying to sell its cut-price T-shirts and skinny jeans to the fashion-conscious French, after opening in Marseille in December. Origins Primark started out as Penneys in Ireland (where it still trades under that...
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...As you can see this image totally explains the tragedy that occurred. After this happened the company was faced with a terrible reputation as people were able to see the working environment for workers outside of the EU was totally unsafe. The community was shattered after this event as 581 people had been killed so many families were left devastated. It would also mean many families would suffer as their income would become instantly scarce and more importantly this event would mean that so many children would become orphans. The media’s reaction blew up and this was scattered all around the globe damaging Primark’s valuable reputation by the minute. Eventually after some persuasion by petitions and government demands the company said they would compensate. ‘‘ The British retailer has agreed to pay $9m to the 581 workers, or their families, from New Wave Bottoms, Primark's supplier, which was based on the second floor of the building in Dhaka. A further $1m will go into a communal compensation pot to be shared among all the 3,600 workers who suffered when the eighth-floor Rana Plaza complex collapsed in April last year’’. This shows that company demonstrated that they took some social responsibility for the community that got terribly damaged, it also showed that the company wanted to improve their community and try and amend for what happened for the families. The company has also compensated by offering the community health care schemes that would include volunteers donating...
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...Penney’s/Primark "The mission of the Primark management and staff has been to supply quality clothing at prices perceived to offer real value." http://wiki.answers.com “Fair is important to us, a fair deal for all” “Primark is a subsidiary company within Associated British Foods (ABF), and as part of the ABF family we share its core values: taking care of our people, being good neighbours, and fostering ethical business relationships. http://www.primark.co.uk Penney’s, trading under the name Primark, is a retail-clothing store. The Company is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods (ABF) and controlled by the Weston Family, through Wittington Investments. Primark’s founder Arthur Ryan was born in Dublin and later immigrated to London beginning his career as a tie buyer and later a fashion wholesaler for Carr & McDonald. From there he returned to Ireland to work for Dunnes Stores and in the late 60’s Garfield Weston hired Arthur Ryan to open a discount clothing chain, with a start-up fund of £50,000. In 1969, the first Penney’s opened its doors on Mary’s street in Dublin. In 1970, four more stores were added in the Dublin area, one of the larger stores in Cork followed by 12 more by the end of the year including Northern Ireland. By 1973, the total in Ireland was 18. Due to this success, he began trading in Britain. In order to avoid confusion with an already existing store JC Penny’s he rebranded the stores to Primark. Within the next ten years, Primark had 44 stores...
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...Primark Primark is a retailer which specialise in selling clothing for women, men and children. The sort of products that they sell is accessories, footwear, lingerie, formal, casual wear and many other clothing products. As well as selling clothing products, Primark have recently sold many other products like cosmetics, home items and luggage. Primark are well known for selling cheap and affordable clothes. As well as selling them at a low price, Primark sell a wide range of clothes for all ages and all sizes. The first Primark store to open was on Mary Street, in Dublin however it was known as Penny’s. Then in 1973, there were approximately 18 stores in Ireland and they decided to trade in Great Britain, and since then they have been gradually expanding and growing and have opened stores worldwide. They currently have 189 stores, 38 of these stores are located in Ireland, 136 in the UK, 12 in Spain, 1 in the Netherlands, Germany and lastly in Portugal. Primark have two head offices, one is located in the UK and one is located in Ireland: Primark sell their own branded products as well as other brands like Atmosphere, Active, Opia and many other brands. Primark are a very popular business with many stores located all over the UK, and most of these stores can be found on the high street. They are currently employing 27,500 people. At Primark they do not advertise, apart from their website but they attract their customers by selling such a wide range of products at such...
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...Primark: An Overview Primark Stores Limited is an Irish clothing retailer. Its stores are located in various regions like United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. Within this area of responsibility, Primark stores outnumbered other clothing retailer business, with one hundred sixty one stores overall distributed in three major regions: one hundred twenty-five in the United Kingdom, thirty-four in Ireland and eight in Spain. The company positions itself as marketing fashionable at cutthroat prices. The original clothing store was established by Arthur Ryan and his collaborator Micaela Mitchell in Dublin Ireland in 1969. After various success in clothing business, great profits and gross income led them to open stores in local and regional areas. It acquired various premises in different business centres within its local and regional areas which eventually generate more profits and income. Primark is known for selling clothes at the budget end of the market. Its success is based on sourcing supply, making clothes with simple designs and fabrics and targets young, fashion-conscious individuals ages 35 below, offering them simple yet high quality clothes and apparels. Hence, these successes brought significant changes on Primark’s retail business. The relevance of global trends and consumers’ demands on lifestyle made Primark Store Limited reinvent its business scheme and management structure. Primark’s management and business...
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...The latest results from Marks & Spencer and Primark paint a very different picture of the high street. While M&S’s like-for-like sales of general merchandise, which is primarily clothing, have fallen 1.5pc over the last six months, Primark has reported a 5pc increase in like-for-like sales and a 22pc uptick in total sales. Marc Bolland, the chief executive of M&S, says the 129-year-old retailer’s clothing business is on a “journey” after the leadership team and style was revamped. “The most important [factor] is to choose the right direction,” he said on Tuesday. The new-look M&S womenswear collection has won strong reviews from the fashion press. It shows the company has listened to criticism from customers by stepping up the quality and introducing sleeves to dresses, which was a particular sore point. Mr Bolland said there has been a “gradual improvement” in the performance of M&S’s clothing business. The company “sold through” 80pc of the clothing advertised in its high-profile 'Leading Ladies’ campaign within six weeks. However, if M&S is to put its clothing arm on a permanently firmer footing, it could still learn lessons from the extraordinary success of its upstart rival Primark. The discount retailer Primark only arrived in the UK in 1973, 89 years after M&S, but if present trends continue then it will have as many clothing customers as M&S within two years. The first lesson from Primark is that price really matters. This sounds obvious, but...
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...Resubmission – M1 Another issue with Primark was regarding child labour; Primark had been using child labour in Bangladesh and India. Primark clothes were being made in India and Bangladesh by factories using child labour. Hundreds of people had been protesting outside Primark’s Oxford Street store in London to claim that Primark has been using Child Labour. Primark sacked three of its clothing suppliers in India after being told that the programme has evidence of its suppliers subcontracted the work to the factories using child labour. George Weston who is a chief executive of Associated British Foods and which owns Primark said the company's Indian contractors were guilty of ‘wholesale deception’. According to my research children as young as 11 were working in a squalid conditions, sewing tiny beads and sequins onto cheap T-shirts and also Primark’ s fashion sweatshops pay them just 60p a day which is lower than a minimum wage. Primark was alerted to the use of child labour in southern India by a BBC Panorama investigation. A spokesman from Primark said that ‘Primark is an ethical organisation and take its responsibilities seriously’. So at this point, I would say that it can be improved if the British government introduce regulation to prevent using child labour. Primark is working overtime to gain back its reputation and try to avoid any illegal labour practices and poor working conditions in its supply chain. Another issue was that one of Primark’s UK suppliers was found...
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