Primark-TranThiThanhTruc-DigitalMarketing

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Primark Digital Marketing Strategy

for High-street Fashion

TRAN, TRUC – M2184031

PRIMARK – Digital Marketing Strategy for High-street Fashion

Tran Thi Thanh Truc – M2184031

Digital Marketing – BIN3001-N-BJ1-2012 1

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 2

2. Internal Analysis..................................................................................................................... 3

Primark Business Structure ................................................................................................... 3

5 S’s Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 3

Competitor Analysis ............................................................................................................... 5

Critical Success Factors ..................................................................................................... 5

Market Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 7

PEST Analysis .................................................................................................................... 7

Customer Profile ................................................................................................................. 8

External opportunities and Threats ...................................................................................... 10

3. Key issues to be addressed ................................................................................................ 11

4. Digital Marketing Strategy for High-street Fashion ............................................................. 12

Marketing objectives ............................................................................................................ 12

Strategic direction................................................................................................................. 13

Decision 1 – Market and Product Development Strategies ............................................. 14

Decision 2 – Online Communication Mix and Budget ...................................................... 15

Resources and Budget......................................................................................................... 16

Control .................................................................................................................................. 16

Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 17

Appendix 1 ................................................................................................................................. 19

Appendix 2 ................................................................................................................................. 20

Appendix 3 ................................................................................................................................. 21

Appendix 4 ................................................................................................................................. 22



1. Introduction

Sales of online clothing and footwear are rising rapidly recent years. However, the

barriers of online shopping are not such a small number. In order to catch more

customers and put people off making actual purchasing is a crucial objective of every

fashion brand. (Mintel Oxygen, 2011) Besides that, the way using internet marketing

and social media to bring the best benefits is, nowadays, becoming massive and

difficult to control ever. While many retailers and clothing chains are developing the

online platform and one shopping, Primark seems not to do the same but at the

moment; Primark is still a big brand with huge number of profits and achievements.

Without online shopping, Primark sometimes performs passively in the market with

updating the trends. In that report, I am going to analysis the company and business

structure as well as the current platform to determine the key issues that Primark is

facing right now. After that, the next part is developed by gathering information,

applying suitable theories and combining the internet marketing with the offline sales

to help Primark attract more customers.

The Digital marketing theories are mainly used throughout the report, which includes

two large parts: Primark Company analysis and Digital Marketing Strategy for High-

street fashion with a detailed 18 months plan for the development the brand by

applying the internet marketing.




2. Internal Analysis

Primark Business Structure

Primark is a low priced fashion retailer which has 242 stores in the UK and other

countries in Europe named as Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and

Portugal. With the huge number of sales, £2,096 million (2012), Primark has been

one of the great successful retailers in Europe over the last decade. The sales keep

increasing over 10% though the poor economics condition (BBC, 2013).

In 1969, Penneys was first founded in Mary Street, Dublin. The first Primark store in

the UK was opened in 1973. The most important reason helps Primark to maintain

the market is quick reaction with the fashion trends, especially high street fashion.

Primark is positioning itself as a young fashion, the scale age is large (from 16 to

45+) and low prices. (Primark, 2013)

The Primark management is always concerned when the transition form is still kept

inside the business structure. Many experts believe believes that Primark is not

going online because of the weird management in Primark. However, it cannot be

denied that Primark is strong and healthy in the massive market at the moment. The

manager wants to earn more profits before going online. In fact, according to

Clothing Retailing UK report on Mintel (2012), Primark worries of going online

because online shopping will be difficult given its low price proposition, which can

affect the garments. Until today, no online is one of huge disadvantages for Primark.

5 S’s Analysis

To examine Primark current webpage to see how they apply e-marketing into the

business, I am going to use 5 S’s method. According to Smith and Chaffey (2008), 5

S’s is suggested as it presents a comprehensive range of objectives. Since then the

marketers can choose to use one or all to drive the e-marketing. Look the table 1.1

to know what Primark has put on the webpage to reach the customers.



Selected Organisation Primark

5S’s Framework Research Findings

Save

Customers can visit the page to know where is the closest

store to shop and how can get the gift card which are the

best way for Primark to save the costs and serve more.

Speak

“About us” tag shows the company history, suppliers, press

and CSR clearly so the customers can understand about

the brand and products.

“Recruitment” tag is put on the page that helps people can

corporate with the company and find chances to work for

them.

Serve

“Ethical Trading” is one of important parts on the platform

and Primark focuses on ethical issues to add values into

their products.

“Gift Card” part is also helping Primark to serve more

people, not only the buyer, but also the user and potential

consumers.

Sell

Primark grows sales thanks to cheap prices and they put

attractive products with amazing price on the front of

webpage to catch the attentions. However, Primark has not

offered online shopping yet.

“Gift Card” is a good way to promote the sales and get

people buys Primark more and more.




Sizzle

Ethical trading is the most significant element that Primark

wants to build at the moment. Facebook page is linked on

the page as well and good introduction for the whole

products are a structured looking for customers

Table 1.1: Primark 5 S’s Analysis

The Primark platform is structured building but still there is not attractive and well

developed. One of the problems is online shopping and products reviews not

included on the webpage. It may affect the customer’s awareness and interesting on

the brand. The Sell and Speak have to get more efforts to improve to get customers

visit the webpage more before going to purchase outside. For example, Social media

is necessary for Primark to get closer with customers and putting more pictures

about products will be considered.

Competitor Analysis

Critical Success Factors

It is used the McDonald SWOT analysis to examine the competitors against Primark

in the high-street fashion market in the UK. Five critical success factors are showed

on the table 1.2 and the percentages accordingly.

In the Clothing Retailing UK summary in 2012, when asking the satisfaction levels

with factors impacting on fashion purchasing, there are many concerns towards the

products and service more than brands. Most of customers are satisfied with

products quality (88%), value for money (86%), styles of products (81%), way

products are displayed (79%) and brand available (65%). Besides that, customers

also care of ease of browsing before purchasing which holds 86%. The customer

services are offered included the online visiting webpage and feedbacks after sales.



1 Competitive Price 30%

2 Shop Location and Display 10%

3 Brand Awareness 25%

4 Customer Services 15%

5 Latest Fashion 20%

Total 100%

Table 1.2: Critical Success Factors and Weighting

In order to analysis the competitors of Primark, four other high street fashion brands

have be collected such as Zara, Top-Shop, H&M and Mango. See the table 1.3,

which shows the critical success factors with the counting and comparison between

Primark and four other competitors.

Primark Zara Top-Shop H&M Mango

1 30 x 8 = 240 30 x 6 = 180 30 x 7 = 210 30 x 7 = 210 30 x 6 = 180

2 10 x 6 = 60 10 x 8 = 80 10 x 6 = 60 10 x 6 = 60 10 x 7 = 70

3 25 x 5 = 125 25 x 8 = 200 25 x 6 = 150 25 x 7 = 175 25 x 8 = 200

4 15 x 5 = 75 15 x 9 = 135 15 x 7 = 105 15 x 8 = 120 15 x 9 = 135

5 20 x 8 = 160 20 x 9 = 180 20 x 6 = 120 20 x 7 = 140 20 x 6 = 120

Total 660 775 645 705 705

Table 1.3: Critical Success Factors Counting

Primark offers cheap priced products and updates the latest fast in the high street

fashion in order to make a routine on people purchase much every time coming to

the shop. Those two main reasons bring the best benefits for Primark in the UK

market. Moreover, shop located and designed is also considered in Primark when

people can find huge Primark shop in big cities and every centre. The sizes of




Primark store are large and provide huge amount of clothes and trends. However,

Primark does not have online shopping or catchy webpage to serve customers

before coming to shop in store so it is limited the purchasing. The cheap prices are

affected obviously to the brand awareness and higher segmentation.

Market Analysis

PEST Analysis

PEST analysis is a method examined to evaluate a company/organization’s long-

term mission and vision. PEST analysis consists of Political-legal, Economic, Socio-

cultural and Technological factors, which affect the company/organization externally.

(Business Dictionary, 2013)

Political-legal factor shows the ability or adaption of the company to follow the

governmental legislations as well as the flexibility to make business structure

compatible with the regulations. In fact, Primark’s policies are confronted and

ensured which the government abides. The trade inside EU is concerned, which

means the UK can trade with other EU countries without any restrictions. Moreover,

those recent years, the company’s eco-footprint issues are mentioned much in EU

and the UK to encourage more green business running. Primark has tried to

corporate and signed the contracts with supplier included the ethical issues.

(SCRIBD, 2013)

Economy at the moment is worse than ever so every business has tried to maintain

a particular number of market shares. In that way, Primark is recognised as one of

strong business, which is contributing a huge number of GDP thanks to the large

amount of products sold every year. Primark has earned the successes based on the

cheap prices and strong competitive prices with other brand e.g. Top Shop, Zara,

New Look, etc. Therefore, although the economy is going down, Primark still makes

the profits.

Socio-cultural factor is strongly supported to the Primark retailing and becoming a



crucial to find out the trends. Primark offers the clothing for both men and women

with the estimated rate (59% for women and 41% for men) according to Mintel

Oxygen (2012), which helps Primark to expand the market share and create more

chances for shopping. However, the green products and ethical issues are at the

moment getting huge concerns from customers after Primark related to hiring

children for making clothes in Pakistan. Customers are not satisfied with the

Primark’s product quality but they accept the prices and sizes (Mintel Oxygen, 2012).

According to an article in BBC (2010), Primark also got cause on the padded bikinis

for girls, which was not compatible for too young customers. Primark had made the

withdrawal all the padded bikinis and sent apologies to both parents and children.

Technological factor holds the tactics in the retailing industry nowadays. More and

more companies apply the online shopping and it has given a large number of

profits. According to Retail Economics (2012), “Nearly 28 million UK adults used the

Internet to purchase goods and services between October and December 2011

(excluding Christmas sale shopping), the equivalent of 55% of the adult population.”

However, Primark thought online shopping could make the company lose money and

would not make profits in first few years. (Guardian, 2013) Primark’s website is not

very attractive as well. With those existing problems show un-developed

technologies inner the Primark webpage cannot create the awareness in brand

towards customers.

In conclusion, Primark gets not only the forwards steps but also disadvantages in

running retailing business in the UK and other markets. To attract more customers

and improve the quality of services, Primark needs to provide more opportunities on

shopping and take care of the time cycle of products as well as the material of

clothing ethically.

Customer Profile

In the summary in Clothing Retailing UK, October 2012 of Mintel Oxygen, the

customer profile comparison between brands show the detailed different

segmentation and targeted groups from each brand selling in the UK market.




Primark is one of those brands and working quite active in each state of

segmentation.

Gender

Primark offers equal chances to shop in stores between men and women. Look the

figure 1a.

Figure 1a: Primark Gender of Customer profile (Source: Mintel Oxygen, 2012)

Age

In the table 1.4, the main targeted groups of Primark are at age 16-34 owned 51% so

it is a young segmentation. Therefore, we can know that Primark is more focusing on

teenagers and working people who buy more clothes every month and belong to

middle-class in the market.

16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

Primark 29% 22% 19% 16% 8% 6%

Average 19% 19% 19% 17% 13% 12%

Table 1.4: Customer age (Source: Mintel Oxygen, 2012)

Region

49%51%

Primark Gender Cusomer Profile

Men Women



Primark puts stores mainly in South East/East Anglia with 21%. The inner and

Greater London, and East and West Midlands are the next ones with 15%. Those

areas are crowded, urban living and moreover, shopping malls are around.

State of Finances

The table shows that Primark is under the average when it is just 20% for the richer

segmentation. The main target is middle-class and tight pocket people. It is a true

status at the moment shows how Primark makes money in a difficult economic these

recent years.

Healthy OK Tight Struggling/In Trouble

Primark 20% 45% 26% 9%

Average 24% 43% 24% 9%

Table 1.5: State of finance of Primark customer (Source: Mintel Oxygen, 2012)

External opportunities and Threats

In fact, Primark is still outstanding in the fashion market with a huge number of net

profits from sales. In future, Primark plans to open more stores and move online in

the massive market. (The Independent, 2009)

There are several opportunities for Primark to move on and maintain the market

share as such:

Open more stores inner the UK and Europe

Research Asian markets as Primark is cooperating with Pakistan or other

Asian countries for supplying products

Online shopping and e-commercial to interact and communicate with more

customers

Become a giant brand in high street fashion, not only about cheap prices but

also the qualities and services

However, though Primark brings a lot of chances for people to shop around and buy

acceptable clothes with soft prices, Primark still cannot build a long term




relationships with customers about the brand. There are many scandals and

problems recent affected badly to the brand and caused confusion of making

products in Primark. Therefore, Primark faces with huge threats as well if the

company still repeats the mistakes. One of the significant issues is green business

and labour standard. Primark can get a serious trouble if more and more customers

do not believe in the products and the way they are made of. People can do any

campaign to anti brand and Primark’s sales will be down obviously. Moreover,

Primark will compete with others new brand outside the market. They may be cheap

and freelance so it is hard for Primark to analysis and control. The copycat products

and better services can turn Primark down if the company is not trying to improve the

webpage performances, launch more campaign and promotions as well as

determine clearly the cost of labours and products.

3. Key issues to be addressed

From the brief about Primark company and business running, there are several

things have been found out:

Primark platform: the main webpage of Primark is limited at the moment. It

needs to be improved or rebuilt totally to catch more potential customers as

well as serve existing consumer and partners.

Lacking of speaking/interacting with customers performs clearly throughout

social media is not used based on webpage, absence of twitter or YouTube in

order to communicate outside the stores.

No online shopping until now becomes one of the most significant points in

Primark chain. Their sales keep rising rapidly despite of lacking of serving

online.

Ethical issues and material concerned are observed from customers and

other organisations.



4. Digital Marketing Strategy for High-street Fashion

McDonald (2003) defines marketing planning simply as: “the planned application of

marketing resources to achieve marketing objectives… Marketing planning is simply

a logical sequence and a series of activities leading to the setting of marketing

objects and the formulation of plans for achieving them.”

In the marketing plan, the SOSTAC framework is used to set up the goals, ways

approach and control the plan. SOSTAC is a framework applied to digital Internet

marketing strategy development, which stands for Situation analysis, Objectives,

Strategy, Tactics, Actions and Control. (Chaffey and Smith, 2008)

In the previous part, the situation analysis is made by 5 S’s analysis, McDonald

SWOT analysis, and market analysis. Next five steps will be showed obviously below

and a timeline for 18 months plan at the end.

Marketing objectives

According to Chaffey D. (2009, pp. 17-18), the types of goals in internet marketing

based on 5 S’s should use to evaluate the platform of one organisation/company.

They show how the e-marketing helps the company achieve particular benefits when

applying correctly:

Sell – Grow sales by direct online sales and sales from offline channels

influenced online

Serve – Add value throughout giving extra benefits online or product

development by feedback

Speak – Get closer to customers by web interaction such as forums, surveys

Save – Save costs achieved through online email communications, sales and

services transaction to reduce staff, print and postage costs

Sizzle – Extent the brand online

Basing on theories about 5 S’s, there are main marketing objectives will be focused

on the Digital Marketing Strategy for Primark:

1. Increase 10% offline sales influenced by online platform and 20% in total

within 12 months after launching the Online shopping officially on platform




2. Increase the 50% customer databases by getting people apply for newsletter

and open Primark card by 12 months after launching the final version of

platform

3. Survey 1000 customers online each three months after 6-month-using new

platform

4. Increase customer interaction via Forum throughout the plan, after launching

the official new platform

5. Improve customer service by providing a response to an inquiry within 2

hours, 24 hours, 7 days

6. Conversion objective, increase percentage of online service equities fulfilled

online by “web self-serve” maximum after launching the Online shopping

7. Create official Twitter page, update social webpages every day

8. Get more recommendations from customers in Forum, Facebook and Twitter

Those critical tasks are SMART, which means specific, measurable, actionable,

relevant and time-related to access the suitability of objectives and drive the full

range of business process. (Chaffey D, 2009, p. 228) Most of the objectives are

hopefully done within 12 months when the whole project time can is around one and

a half year. The most important is time scale and controlling the objectives to

achieve the best results at the end.

Strategic direction

To achieve those strategic objectives, there will be two decisions chosen to

implement:

Decision 1: Market and Product development strategies based on Ansoff matrix

Decision 2: Online communications mix and budget based one the customer lifecycle

of customer relationship management

(Chaffey D, 2009, p 234)



Decision 1 – Market and Product Development Strategies

1. Market Penetration strategies: the Internet marketing is used to sell more

existing products in existing markets. There are three main ways will be

influenced:

- Market share growth: means achievement the objectives, increase the

offline sales throughout the new platform and online shopping and 20% in

total sales increasing

- Customer loyalty improvement: can be made by offering Primark card,

keep updating the customer information and send email and newsletter

frequently

- Customer value improvement: means saving the cost to serve by

launching online shopping and increasing the usage or quantity of

browsing on new platform

2. Market Development strategies: the online channels are used to expand the

sales in new markets with new targeting. It means after launching the online

shopping, there will be new target customers for Primark, they are busy

people who cannot go to store and just can buy online with the limited amount

of money. The Forum, social webpages and 24/7 services can give the best

values for new markets.

3. Product Development strategies: by the updating of platform, more and

more companies know about the Primark existing products and the retailing

chains. The B2B selling can be made in near future. New methods of payment

when shopping online and convenience of connecting with Primark are huge

benefits. The larger networks are, the more opportunities Primark can get.

4. Diversification strategies: new products developed in new markets needs to

concern on this strategy. After the stability of online shopping and customer

services caring, the expanding to new markets can face high-risk for Primark.

However, with the supporting of social webpages and online platform, Primark

can reduce the cost related and unrelated into business.




(Chaffey D, 2009, pp. 235-236)

Decision 2 – Online Communication Mix and Budget

The core issues focused on this strategy are based on performance drivers, which

included “the costs for acquisition and retention, conversion rates of visitors to buyer

to repeat buyers, together with churn rates.” (Chaffey D, 2009, p 256)

New Official Webpage Released

The current platform will be placed by a new one with more pictures, new payment

methods and linked with social media. The front page needs to rebuild totally to

attract the customer’s attention and increasing the user experiences (UX). Look at

the Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 to view the new front and shopping site.

E-mail and Newsletter

The cost of acquisition of customers will be decreased by send email and newsletter.

The content of email/newsletter is developed to focus on person and make

customers feel important. In very beginning time, the advertising on email or

newsletter will not be attached because it can annoy customers. However, the

advertising can consider applying later when the online shopping gets stronger

(Marketing Insights, 2003)

Social Media

Facebook and Twitter is main focusing on the social media. According to Social

Media and Networking UK on Mintel Oxygen, 2012, about 97% of social network

users having accessed to Facebook in the past three months. At that time, the

number of Twitter users is 46%. Most of visited social media websites, which include

videos, own 71%, therefore, YouTube is also considered to invest and develop.



Resources and Budget

Most of the project is failed because of two reasons. One is over of time and the

second factor is over of budget. The timeline and budget needs to be prepared and

planed carefully. The IT staffs and officers are skilled and trained before coming to

the project and the contracts are binding during one and a half year. The salaries are

based on the average salary in the UK, which can find the scale on Pay Scale

website. In the retail industry, the salaries are smaller than others and inner London

is more expensive than outside capital city. (Monster, 2013)

Find the Appendix 3 to see the resource usage and costs during the project.

Control

Controlling is crucial for the process to be completed on time. On the project,

Primark need to have an IT manager who spends his experiences and specialisation

on watching and evaluating the main platform and social webpages. Secondly, the

manager of logistics and delivery is necessary as well to check the product before

coming to customers and ensure the quality/colour/quantity is compatible. The next

kind of controlling is consulting. Primark needs consultants to comment and put the

recommendation or main topics into the webpage. Finally, the general manager is

also important on controlling the whole working areas.

Look the Appendix 4 to view the Gantt chart. The project lasts in 18 months and can

start in the middle of this year or any year in future. The reason to choose middles of

year is because after six months working, the new platform and online shopping can

get stronger and more stable. The greatest shopping time is at Christmas and New

Year, by that time, the system can be fixed and familiar to use. The return cycle can

be shorter. The managers get time to understand about the system, the customers

and the trends.




Bibliography

BBC, 2010. Padded Bikinis For Girls Withdraw. [Online] Available at

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8619329.stm> [Accessed 25 April 2013]

BBC, 2013. Primark Sales Jump By A Quarter. [Online] Available at

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21055646> [Accessed 26 April 2013]

Business Dictionary, 2013.PEST Analysis. [Online] Available at:

<http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/PEST-analysis.html> [Accessed 20

April 2013]

Chaffey, D., Ellis-Chadwick, F., Mayer, R. and Johnston, K., 2009. Internet

Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practise. Harlow: Pearson Education

Limited

Chaffey, D. and Smith, P.R., 2008. E-marketing Excellence: Planning and Optimizing

Your Digital Marketing. 3rd ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann

Guardian, 2013. Primark Expected To Report 23% Rise In Half-year Sales. [Online]

Available at: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/feb/25/primark-expect-23-

rise-sales> [Accessed 26 April 2013]

McDonald, M., 2003. Marketing Plan: How To Prepare Them, How To Use Them .

5th ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann

Mintel Oxygen. (2012). Clothing Retailing UK. London: Mintel Group

Mintel Oxygen. (2011). Fashion Online UK. London: Mintel Group

Mintel Oxygen. (2012). Social Media and Networking UK. London: Mintel Group

Marketing Insights, 2003. E-marketing Strategy. [Online] Available at:

<http://www.marketing-insights.co.uk/wnim0402.htm> [Accessed 30 April 2013]

Monster, 2013. UK Average Salary Graphs. [Online] Available at: <http://career-

advice.monster.co.uk/salary-benefits/pay-salary-advice/uk-average-salary-

graphs/article.aspx> [Accessed 1 May 2013]



Primark Webpage, 2013. Primark History. [Online] Available at:

<http://www.primark.co.uk/about_us/company_history> [Accessed 20 April 2013]

Retail Economics, 2012. Online Retailing 2012. [Online] Available at:

<http://www.retaileconomics.co.uk/online-retailing-2012/> [Accessed 30 April 2013]

SCIRIDB, 2013. Primark PEST Analysis. [Online] Available at

<http://www.scribd.com/doc/49698058/PEST-2-primark> [Accessed 20 April 2013]

The Independent, 2009. Primark Plans Expansion With More Store And First Move

Online. [Online] Available at:

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more-stores-and-first-move-online-1814214.html> [Accessed 1 May 2013]




Appendix 1

Front Site



Appendix 2

Body Site




Appendix 3

Resource Usage




Appendix 4

Gantt chart and Critical tasks

Primark-TranThiThanhTruc-DigitalMarketing

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