Fashion retailer Primark is modernising its IT infrastructure by moving its data centres to the cloud to support its ambitious expansion plans.
The fast fashion firm, which currently operates 430 stores across 18 countries, aims to open more than 100 stores by 2026.
With this rapid growth, the retailer wants to reduce its physical data centre footprint while improving its infrastructure to remain agile in a competitive market, according to Stephen Byrne, head of global infrastructure at Primark.
In partnership with IT infrastructure company Broadcom and cloud computing virtualisation firm VMware, Primark implemented VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) to migrate four data centres into two and set up a third one using Azure VMware Solution.
According to the retailer, this cloud-first strategy allows for seamless movement of critical applications between private and public cloud environments, improving operational efficiency and scalability.
Infrastructure to meet business needs
As part of the transition, Primark partnered with IT consultancy Triangle Technology Services, which helped design and implement the infrastructure.
Byrne adds that this migration to the cloud was part of a broader effort to create a more agile IT system that could scale to meet Primark’s growth.
“Primark’s business moves fast, and we needed an IT infrastructure that matched that speed. Our partnership with Triangle and VMware gives us the flexibility to adapt quickly and scale as needed,” he added.
According to Byrne the move to the cloud has already delivered measurable improvements: Primark has seen a 5% increase in its retail store footprint, adding 22 stores in 2024 alone.
The company also claims to have achieved a 100% improvement in stability and performance during peak trading periods, with zero store outages compared to previous incidents.
“We’ve had zero outages in the last six months, and our stability has drastically improved since we modernised our data centres,” Cian O’Leary, data centre operations lead at Primark, added.
Agility and scalability for future growth
The transition to cloud infrastructure is also enabling Primark to scale more effectively as its store network grows.
Virtual machines (VMs) are now rapidly added in response to usage demands, with over 50 VMs already in the Azure VMware Solution environment.
By using VMware Cloud Foundation, Primark can now manage workloads across its private and public cloud environments with improved automation and capacity reporting. This ability to scale quickly is crucial as the retailer continues its aggressive expansion.
Byrne said: “The business can’t grow without this infrastructure. We’re now able to support rapid expansion and adapt seamlessly to business needs.”
