Ex-Primark employee reveals store secrets including what’s going on sale after Christmas

A former Primark employee has revealed top secrets that every Primark shopper needs to know.

Georgia Ponton the twenty-year-old ex-employee has dished all the dirt for the most successful Primark shopping trip ever, from how and where to find popular sized clothing that looks out of stock to how to find out what will be on sale after Christmas.

Georgia worked at Primark during the weekends after college back in July 2017. 

One of her tips includes one we have all done before. If you have to come back later, Georgia says to hide your stash.

Like us customers, Georgia says the staff do it too! But here’s the catch, many people fail to come back for the product. So, she says if you’re after a popular item and can’t find your size, look elsewhere around the store where people may have hidden them.

She recommends the corners of the shop, lower racks and to definitely have a look in the nightwear section.

“All the popular stuff goes very quickly,” she said. “The most popular sizes, which are 8, 10 and 12 will go and once they’re gone, they’re gone.

“But sometimes people are undecided about a piece of clothing and will hide it in case they want to come back and get it.

“They almost always forget about it but sometimes if you check right at the back of the rails that are still quite full, some people hide stuff there.

“And in corners of the store. Since a lot of people glance over areas that are in front of them, the corners of the store are sometimes the most forgotten about.

“There was one particular corner in the pyjama section, on the lowest rack, where people would hide stuff.

“When I used to work and I saw something I want to buy on my break, I would put it in that corner too and come and collect it when I was on my break.

“Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure my managers knew I did that.

“It was so hard to not spend all your money in there since we worked around the clothes all the time and saw the items as they first hit the shelves.”

And to find out what’s going in the sale, Georgia says to simply ask the staff! 

She said: “Since staff have to be prepared for the upcoming sales, like Boxing Day or New Year’s Day, they might be given a piece of paper with all the things in their department that are going on sale.

“If you like something but think that it could be going out of season or there aren’t many left, ask a supervisor or manager.

“If it’s going on sale soon, and they should be able to tell you, then you can decide whether to buy it then or come back.”

Georgia also warns people to stop trying to cheat the system adding sale stickers onto items to try and get a discount. She explains that ‘if you come to the till with a piece of clothing and it has one of the red reduced-price stickers on the label but it scans as full price on the till then it’s full price’.

If you’ve ever found a random item you really like but it’s been misplaced so you’ve only got the one, Georgia says to check the sort code. Each department has a different code. 

For instance, women’s department number is eight so all women’s clothes start with 08. Then women’s bras, pyjamas and underwear have 04. Men’s clothes will begin with 06.

She adds: “For reference, 01: Accessories, 02: Hosiery (socks), 04: Lingerie and Loungewear, 06: Menswear, 07: Footwear, 08: Womenswear, 11: Homeware and 16: Men’s Accessories.”

Georgia said that despite experiences with unhappy customers – she adds not to shout at the people at the till, it’s not their fault they just scan items – she loved working at Primark.

She said: “I loved working at Primark. My first job as a waitress was awful and put me off working in food forever. When I heard a Primark was opening up at the new shopping complex, I jumped at the chance.”

Happy shopping!