Primark to take on the web with deal to sell its budget fashion on Asos Chain says deal is a 'very limited trial' to give 'insight into online trading' Collection of 20 womenswear products went on sale on website yesterday But the company has ruled out launching its own retail site Budget retailer Primark has tied a deal with online fashion merchant Asos to sell clothes over the internet for the first time. The British chain, known for its cut-price clothing, has said the deal is a 'very limited trial' to give the company an 'insight into online retailing'. A collection of 20 womenswear products went on sale on the Asos website yesterday ranging from a £6 Airtex T-shirt to a £22 studded parka. Primark has signed a deal with online fashion merchant to sell clothes over the internet for the first time Primark said the trial with Asos would give it 'some insight into online retailing' A Primark spokesman said: 'Primark is undertaking a very limited trial of online sales with ASOS. This trial relates to a small number of fashion items and will give the company some insight into online retailing. The move comes after George Weston, chief executive of Associated British Foods, Primary's parent company, ruled out the store launching its own online retail operation, The Guardian has reported. He said the company would rather customers 'keep toodling down to Oxford Street' than buy goods online. Tarlok Teji, a retail analyst at Manchester Business School, said it made sense for Primark to tie up with Asos for its first foray into online retailing. The details of the deal are unclear but I expect it will increase throughput for Asos and give Primark customers a "digital shopping channel." We should expect both parties to do well from this venture. Tarlok Teji, a retail analyst at Manchester Business School, said it made sense for Primark to tie up with Asos for its first venture into online retailing Primark has bucked the retail gloom thanks to its focus on low prices at a time when many retailers find the going tough as consumers fret over job security and a squeeze on incomes. The chain has 257 stores across eight countries including Britain, Ireland and Spain. In April it revealed a sales bom of 24 per cent for the first half of the financial year. The surge in recent business was in sharp contrast to a poor clothing performance at retail giant Marks & Spencer, where cold weather and weak consumer spending hit general merchandise sales early this year. Earlier this year, budget clothing chain Primark said it would pay compensation to the families of the workers who were killed or injured in a factory in Bangladesh. The company occupied a floor of the Rana Plaza in Savar, near Dhaka, which collapsed, killing more than 1,200 workers. Around 3,000 workers - mainly young women who made cheap clothes for the likes of Primark - had gone to work in the eight-storey building one Wednesday morning in April, despite huge cracks appearing in the walls the day before. Last month the company was among a number of retailers that signed a one-of-a-kind pact to improve safety at Bangladesh factories. The agreement requires that the companies conduct independent safety inspections, make their reports on factory conditions public and cover the costs for needed repairs. It also calls for them to pay up to $500,000 annually toward the effort, to stop doing business with any factory that refuses to make safety upgrades and to allow workers and their unions to have a voice in factory safety.