Dive Brief:
- Irish fast-fashion retailer Primark is counting on user-generated content and a social media presence on Instagram to introduce itself to consumers.
- Primark opened large flagship stores in Boston and in King of Prussia, Pa., this fall, but doesn’t have an e-commerce site.
- The company has 2.5 million followers on Instagram and about $8 million in annual sales, according to its parent company, Associated British Foods.
Dive Insight:
A value-priced Irish fashion retailer is driving traffic to stores with an aggressive social strategy—and not much else. By encouraging shoppers to snap pics of themselves wearing its clothes and upload them to its website and Instagram page, Primark has outsourced its catalog promotion and seen sales and engagement grow.
The chain encourages customers to submit photos by offering in-store Wi-Fi, charging stations and fitting rooms big enough for friends to share. Users hashtag their posts #Primania and include the store and model's location; if the photos get votes—or “Primarks”—from fellow shoppers, the authors earn store credit.
Primark’s landing page emphasizes Primania pictorial content, while a #Primania search on Instagram yields more than 13,000 images and 2.5 million followers. An annual report from parent company Associated British Foods calls social media an “effective way of broadcasting the excitement of the Primark brand far and wide” and an enticement to visit physical stores.
The brand has added 1 million square feet of brick-and-mortar space this year, including its first two flagship stores in the United States. And while it doesn’t sell any of its wares online, the social strategy seems to be working—the chain’s sales were up 8% year-over-year to reach $8 million.
