How have Primark benefited from long-term changes in consumer trends?

Primark Stores is a departmental clothing retailer, owned by Associated British Foods. The first Primark store opened in Dublin in 1969 and in the UK in 1973. It now has almost 300 stores, mainly in the UK and Ireland, though it is successfully expanding into other countries including Spain and Germany. Primark has emerged as one of the UK’s most successful high-street chains. Now the country’s second largest clothing retailer, after Marks and Spencer, it is the single largest value retailer.
All of the company’s merchandise is made specifically for Primark under a variety of own brand names. Its main competitors in the value retail sector are TK Maxx, Arcadia Group and supermarkets such as ASDA and Tesco. Primark’s strategy is to provide quick turnaround of trends, offering consumers fast fashion, which sells at the budget end of the market. The company’s success is based on sourcing supply cheaply, making clothes with simple designs and fabrics, and buying stock in huge bulk and varieties, all far more efficiently than its competitors. It maintains very low operating costs.