Budget high-street store Primark has finally introduced online services to their stores with a new click-and-collect function.

The services will allow customers to shop online for their products and collect in-store ahead of the busy Christmas period. 

Primark's chief executive Paul Merchant stated the move online to be a "milestone for us and a really important moment".

Merchant added - "We're massive fans of bricks and mortar. We believe in stores and we believe in the High Street. We think click-and-collect is the right proposition".

We speaking on the launching of the option in the lead-up to Christmas, the chief executive said - "We feel excited about Christmas. I think we're really well set. Our stores are feeling busy.

"It's the first time for three years that customers have been able to come into the store, mask free, restriction free and really enjoy the experience of being in a Primark store."

The click-and-collect option is set to trial in 25 stores across north-west England, restricted to children's products only for now. 

Primark is one of the final high-street stores to introduce online services. 

This follows as the store lost £1bn during the pandemic due to a lack of online shopping options. 

Primark has also stated they would be "freezing" prices for their products despite the cost of living crisis. 

Retail analyst Catherine Shuttleworth, CEO and founder of Savvy Marketing, has said Primark is simply "bowing to the inevitable".

She says - "they've had massive highly successful physical store growth, not just in the UK and Ireland, but also across the world. However, that dependency on a store-only format has its limitations as Primark found out to their cost in the retail lockdowns during the pandemic"

Ms Shuttleworth concluded - "online is a huge commercial undertaking and the logistics for a business with the size and scale of Primark are enormous. Click-and-collect is the most sensible way to run this operation, not least because it allows returns to be placed back into the store stock to help keep costs down,".