The general manager of Primark for Spain and Portugal, Carlos Inácio, is from Lisbon, studied marketing and advertising and knows the competition well, since he began his professional career at Inditex and went through H&M until he became director of the first Primark store in Portugal in 2009.
This Thursday, June 22, the first Primark store in Lanzarote opens, located in the Open Mall of Arrecife, it has 3,100 square meters, has led to the creation of 106 new jobs and offers garments with the latest fashion trends for all ages, in addition to accessories and products for the home.
On the occasion of the opening, Inácio has spoken with Ekonomus about his business model, his environmental commitments and the conditions of his workers.
"Spain is the second largest market for Primark"
- In France there are half as many Primark stores as in Spain and in Italy there are a third, do Spaniards have fewer complexes about buying cheap fashion than French or Italians?
I don't think so, Spain is a much more mature country within the group, we opened our first store in 2006. It was the first country outside of Ireland and the United Kingdom, we already have 58 stores in Spain, we are further ahead. We will make an investment of 100 million euros for the next two years with 8 openings and store renovations. Spain is the second largest market in the group.
"At Primark you move to the next salary group in 18 months, with other agreements it's 3 years"
- How well do you earn at Primark?
For some years now we have had our own agreement, which was always above the sector. The new Spanish labor law forced us to adjust the agreement and reference it to the existing sector agreement, so we raised salaries, but we were always above the sector. A Primark worker starts earning 15,753.91 euros of base salary per year (group 0). We have two groups in the store, group 0 and group 1, who earn 18,187.45 euros of base salary per year.
- Isn't it paid more in Zara or H&M?
No, Zara and H&M work with provincial agreements, so depending on the province they are in, they earn more or less. In Lanzarote our workers will earn more than in Zara and H&M because our agreement is better than the provincial one. We have much better working conditions, not only salary, but also to move up, at Primark you move to the next salary group in 18 months, with other agreements it's 3 years.
- Primark wants to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by 2030, isn't that a bit short compared to the 55% proposed by the European Union and the 68% by the United Kingdom for the same date, and by the fact that Zara has committed to having zero impact by 2040?
We launched the environmental program in 2019 and it consists of three main areas: extending the useful life of clothing; improving people's lives; and protecting life and the planet. In this last area is our commitment to reduce the carbon footprint by 50% by 2030.
We believe that it is a realistic goal, it can be more, of course, but for it to be higher it does not only depend on us, it depends on our suppliers with whom we have a joint work of training and educating on environmental issues, we do not have our own factories. I think that setting goals that are too high, and then not meeting them, makes the picture worse.
- Could they match Zara's commitment to zero emissions by 2040?
I can't answer that question because I don't know if Zara can reach that goal by 2040, if I answer you I would be saying that Zara can achieve it, I don't know. I think it is very difficult to reach that goal and it depends on the entire chain.
"We have more than 130 people doing more than 3,000 audits a year in our suppliers' factories"
- In which countries are Primark's main suppliers located?
The first is Bangladesh, the second is China and the third is India. We were the first to announce where we have our factories, it's all on our website, the countries, the locations, we have nothing to hide.
- Were these measures taken as a result of the collapse of the Rana Plaza textile factory in Bangladesh in 2013 where more than 1,300 people died and where there was a Primark supplier factory?
These measures were taken after that catastrophic disaster, we assumed our responsibility, we helped the families, we have made an investment of 14 million dollars and we were the first to arrive and put the aid into operation.
From that situation, obviously, we all became aware that we had to do things. Today we have more than 130 people doing more than 3,000 audits a year, which are not announced, in our suppliers' factories. Our code of conduct is based on the principles of the International Labor Organization.
"50% of our products are already made of sustainable or recycled material"
- Primark has committed to ending single-use plastics by 2027, but Spain has transposed the European Directive to ban them this year, doesn't that affect them?
I don't think we are talking about the same thing, for us single-use plastics is everything that can be connected with the garment itself or with the packaging of the garment, which we have replaced with cardboard in many cases.
The sustainability rules are not yet clear, 50% of our products are already made of sustainable or recycled material. We have a sustainable cotton program that is the largest in the sector with more than 20% of our cotton garments with which we have trained more than 270,000 farmers.
We have already launched several circular collections designed to be recyclable or reusable and we are working to increase the durability of the products.
- What is a clothing company doing within a huge British food group like Associated British Food with dozens of food brands that invoices close to 20 billion euros a year?
The story begins in 1969, our founder Arthur Ryan has an idea, he wants to launch a fashion retail company, and he gets in touch with the Western family who are the owners of ABF and from there the brand was created with the first store in Dublin.
"In the Lanzarote store there could be a space for llaollao in the future"
- And is it the company that gives the group the most money?
Yes, and we hope it stays that way. (Laughter). Well, during covid not, but the good thing about being in a fairly diverse group is that the other part is retail food and there was a huge demand for that, so we compensated.
- And have you never considered selling products from the rest of the group in Primark?
Yes, we just talked about that for the future, but right now we are very focused on fashion, sustainable products and all the commitments we have made.
- In some Primark stores, there are areas, known as corners, that offer other types of services such as beauty, will there be one in Lanzarote?
In Spain we have partnered with llaollao, the ice cream company and we already have them in four of our stores. We have a store with a beauty salon and another with a cafeteria. In the Lanzarote store there could be a space for llaollao in the future.
