Finance director of Primark’s parent company ABF John Bason has said the experience of bricks-and-mortar stores should “not be underestimated” as consumers continue to flock back to the high street.

Bason said the store experience is one of the “key elements” of Primark, which reported a 19% increase in sales to £4.3bn, credited to “very good footfall and margin better than expected”.

He told Retail Week: “We have invested in these great-looking stores, whereas coming out of Covid other retailers may have invested elsewhere.

“Stores are fun places to be and I think they should not be underestimated. People love visiting Primark and I think our store experience makes us stand out.”

As part of the company’s investment into bigger and better stores, Primark has also expanded its click-and-collect trial, which was first launched last November across 25 stores in the North West of England.

The retailer announced that 32 stores in and around London would be added to the trial.

Bason said: “In terms of the size of the stores and customer base, what’s better than the London area?

“We are looking at fleshing out the stores now for click and collect, so I suspect it’ll be ready by the middle of summer, maybe July.”

There’s no indication as of yet if click and collect is here to stay, but Bason said it will keep a focus on investing in its store estate across the UK, Europe and US as sales and footfall continue to climb.

He said: “In the few weeks leading up to Christmas, we actually had two record sales weeks for Primark.

“As we’ve come into the new year, we had very strong sales of summer beachwear, and things like health and beauty have also done incredibly well.

“There are a string of high-performing categories and we have seen early signs that spring has been doing well.”

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