Well known Spanish fashion clothing and accessories retailer, Zara, is closing most of its stores across the globe to focus on online sales.
Zara is one of the largest international fashion companies which started off as a small store in Spain. It has stores in 96 countries and is the flagship brand of the Inditex Group, one the world’s largest distribution groups.
The retailer’s parent company, Inditex, announced its plans to shut down between 1 000 and 1 200 stores over the next two years, and focus on online sales.
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“Over the next few years, Inditex will be very active in developing its unique, fully integrated store and online model. Total annual capital expenditure during the period 2020-2022 will be around €900 million. The plan includes digital investments of c. €1 billion over the three years.
Three key strategic areas: digitalisation, integration between stores and online, and sustainability. Stores will play a stronger role in the development of online sales due to their digitalisation and capacity to reach customers from the best locations worldwide.
It is for this reason that we must focus on those high-quality stores that are best able to deliver on these long-term strategic goals. The strong growth of online supports our global strategy from 2010. Online sales are expected to reach more than 25% of total sales by 2022,” the company said in their statement.
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It is not yet known exactly which Zara locations will be affected, but the closings will be “stores at the end of their useful life” and “whole sales can be covered in nearby stores and online.”
