Primark is key store for fashion spending post-lockdown - report

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 1, 2021

A new report has shown that Primark is likely to have been one of the UK ‘reopening winners’, along with Ikea and various sports shops. It also shows that shoppers in Portsmouth have been spending the most now that non-essential stores have opened their doors again and that charity shops are in demand country-wide.

New data from UK-based card payment provider Dojo showed that searches for UK stores ahead of the reopening in April placed Ikea in top spot with a 984% search increase compared to February around the question “When does Ikea open?”

This was followed by Primark with an 854% rise, then Matalan up 826% and Clarks, which rose 614%. Also seeing plenty of searches were Sports Direct (+397%), Homesense (+308%), JD Sports (+280%), The Body Shop (+266%), Waterstones (+242%), and TK Maxx (+209%).

Dojo said Primark will have been a key focus for many shoppers given that it doesn’t have a webstore, while Matalan will also have benefited from the fact that it sells school supplies, homewares and many household items, as well as fashion. And Clarks is likely to have been in demand due to kids returning to schools and parents wanting to wait until stores were open to find the best-fitting shoes. Sports stores could also have felt the positive impact of schools reopening, but will also have been aided by the reopening of gyms.

Meanwhile, as mentioned, the company also looked at the amounts that have been spent by consumers. Based on data between April 12 and April 29, it said Portsmouth was in top spot with a spend of almost £132 per person. This was followed by Coventry on just over £116, Stockport and West London on just over £106, Guildford on almost £94 and Slough and Manchester on almost £92. Meanwhile shoppers in Derby spent just under £86, in Southwest London they spent just over £84 and in Blackburn they spent almost £81.

And prior to reopening there was also a large spike in searches for charity shops with the question "when do charity shops open?" up 469%. But that was in second place to queries about when nail salons reopen with a 474% increase. Meanwhile questions about hairdressers reopening rose 357%, while beauty salons were up 107%.