About Primark:
Primark is an international clothing retailer employing more than 80,000 colleagues across 16 countries in Europe and the US. Founded in Ireland in 1969 under the Penneys brand, Primark aims to provide affordable choices for everyone, from great quality everyday essentials to stand-out style across women’s, men’s and kids’, as well as beauty, homeware and accessories. With a focus on creating great retail experiences in-store, Primark continues to expand across new and existing markets with the aim of reaching 530 stores by the end of 2026, including the upcoming new market of Hungary. However, rapid expansion into new markets also brought increased complexity in managing customs processes. This is where MIC comes in!
The Project:
The current collaboration between Primark and MIC focused on migrating the existing customs declaration system AGS in the Netherlands to the new system DMS (Douane Aangifte Management System) 4.0.
The switch to DMS 4.0 brings Primark considerable advantages in customs processing, as it not only brings significant cost and time savings, but also brings the Dutch customs regulations, which comply with the Union Customs Code (UCC), up to date.
This transition represents a significant step forward for companies based in the Netherlands. DMS not only promises to align the Dutch customs system with the broader EU, but also offers a range of advantages aimed at simplifying and optimizing customs declarations.
These advantages include:
- Faster feedback: DMS allows traders to receive real-time insights into the customs process, with immediate checks that can confirm whether all necessary information is included. This facilitates process monitoring and the provision of faster, more accurate information.
- Reduced error potential: The system automatically detects errors in a declaration and only proceeds once faulty fields have been corrected. This minimizes the risk of delays due to incorrectly submitted details.
- More information: With a customs declaration, traders now must fill in additional fields, including commodity codes, values, country of origin, and the number of items per container. This requires more details from shippers but also offers more insight into imports.
- Improved resilience: The older AGS solution was vulnerable to failures and disruptions. DMS promises to be a more robust system, being a single-application system without external connections that all shippers use. This should reduce the risk of downtime.
This more professional approach to customs processing is further supported by using comprehensive customs management software. Tools like MIC-CUST's Global Trade Management software seamlessly integrate with electronic self-filing solutions worldwide, providing a unified, user-friendly dashboard. This enables comprehensive insight into the entire customs declaration process, including new systems like DMS.
If you want to learn more about DMS and how you can benefit from it, click HERE.