Experts estimate that as many as 80,000 American retail stores will close over the next five years as companies like Forever 21, JCPenney, and Neiman Marcus struggle to stay afloat. That’s not the case for the British retailer Primark, however, which has 18 locations in the U.S. with plans for a lot more to come. This video looks at how the company became a multibillion dollar brand in Europe by sticking to brick-and-mortar stores stocked with high quality items at low prices. 

Questions:

1. Why does Primark only sell items at its brick-and-mortar locations? What do you think are the benefits and drawbacks of the company’s avoidance of e-commerce?
2. What difficulties did Primark encounter when it initially expanded to the U.S.? How did it overcome these obstacles?