It's everyone's fashionable guilty pleasure: a high-street value store, known and loved for its fashion-forward designs at bargain prices.
And now, analysts are hailing Primark as a 'retailing powerhouse' that's perfected the art of mixing low prices with high fashion.
The high street giant has considerably upped its fashion game in recent years, with stronger, on-trend ranges that have made it a clear winner in the 'hauling' trend, which sees customers sharing pictures and videos of their shopping sprees at value retailers, analysts Conlumino said.
Conlumino senior consultant Anusha Couttigane said changes in the way Primark responds to fashion have been critical to its success in recent years, making shopping there 'no longer something to be whispered about'.
Improved perceptions of its quality and fashionability had helped it to break through fashion snobbery.
Stephen Springham, senior retail analyst at Planet Retail, said Primark succeeds by being 'not just cheap but also by being very fashionable'.
He said: 'The fact that the product may lack durability is neither here nor there - its shoppers are after something fast and disposable.
'It’s all about volume, volume and volume and there’s little place for e-commerce in this model. But it means that the stores must be compelling, which Primark stores are, and have rapid stock-turn, which Primark does.
'The Primark model doesn’t necessarily need e-commerce - it relies on stores having mass destination appeal and shoppers not knowing what they are going to buy before they go in.
'But they will never, ever leave empty-handed. And they will be back again very soon to do the same again. Customers enjoying shopping, retail as a leisure pursuit - old guard, but highly effective nonetheless.
Ms Couttigane said Primark’s figures were 'remarkable' and more in line with the growth of much smaller, less developed enterprises.
