Research flags Primark as one of the least visible major retailers when shoppers use AI to find where to buy
Primark has announced plans to launch a home delivery service in Britain, backed by a £90 million automated fulfilment site in Sheffield. But research from Marketing Signals suggests it's stepping into online retail from a weak starting position when it comes to AI driven shopping searches.
Marketing Signals analysed 59 UK fashion and apparel retailers across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Gemini citations, scoring each one relative to its UK traffic so audience size couldn't skew the results. Primark's findings as follows:
It ranks 50th out of 59 retailers, with an AI visibility score of just 3.39 out of 100, despite 6.65 million monthly UK website visits.
That puts Primark in the bottom 20 of the index, alongside other high street names such as Next (#59, 1.6) and M&S (#54, 5.0), retailers with some of the largest audiences in the study but among the lowest AI visibility scores.
By contrast, Harrods topped the index (36.3), and Whistles came second (24.8) on just 217,000 monthly visits, showing that AI tools reward brands that are written about and cited online, not the ones with the biggest footfall or web traffic.
Gareth Hoyle, Managing Director and Founder at Marketing Signals, comments: "Primark's £90 million investment in a new fulfilment site shows it's serious about online growth, but the infrastructure is only one part of the picture. Shoppers increasingly start their search with ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews rather than typing into Google directly, and our data shows Primark barely feature in those answers.”
“That matters because AI tools don't reward the retailers with the biggest stores or the highest website traffic. They reward the ones that get written about and cited across the web. Primark is in good company here; most of the UK's biggest high street names score just as poorly, but if this delivery investment is going to pay off, building that editorial presence needs to happen alongside the logistics, not once the service is already live."
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
AI will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.
The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Check out our 2025 winners here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
