More than ten years of success. And the end of this love story between the empire of Amancio Ortega and its digital expansion has yet to be written. In view of the results, the online future of the group seems promisingrevolutionary for consumer purchasing habits and essential for the company’s business.
The textile giant arrived late to Internet sales but with a firm step, without great boasts or a single mistake, convinced of its from the first moment, in perfect harmony with its offline experience. It’s been a little over a decade and has managed to integrate the online channel in the main markets of the group. Slowly but surely.
The beginnings of the history of Inditex in eCommerce
2007
Inditex debuts in electronic commerce with , one of the youngest chains, specialized in textiles, home and decoration. She was the forerunner. It launched its online sales platform in 13 European markets and for three years it served as a test for all subsequent openings planned by the company. Currently, Zara Home is the group’s fifth brand with the best sales and has just opened its own eCommerce in South Korea, with which it is already present in 37 online markets.
2010
Zara debut. 35 years have passed since the opening of the first physical store in A Coruña and The largest chain of the Inditex group by turnover begins to sell online In September. At the end of the year, it operates online in 16 European markets.
2011
Pablo Isla assumes the presidency of the Inditex group after six years as CEO. , , , and are incorporated into the online channel in different European markets, which means that all the company’s brands, except , were already selling online. The commitment to electronic commerce is definitive. From this moment on, the international expansion of its eCommerce platforms will be progressive and will advance at the same rate as the commercial area increases, with new establishments in markets classics and emerging. Zara starts selling online in the United States and Japan.
China, an appetizing and strategic market for Inditex online
2012
Inditex continues with its plans for growth in the digital environment and once again focuses on a nascent market, a retail giant with more than 1,300 million inhabitants and more than 200 million online shoppers.
On September 5, 2012 starts operating in China, the country of records in online billinga market that will not stop growing in number of clients, operations and platforms.
This is a strategic decision of the Inditex group that seeks strengthen its presence in the Asian market and expand its business in China, where it will close the year with 450 physical stores in addition to the newly launched eCommerce, which makes it the second market with the most points of sale behind Spain.
But not everything focused on China: that year Zara Home and Massimo Dutti presented their online platforms in the United States. Y Oysho becomes the company’s first chain to reach an agreement with the British ASOSone of the largest European Internet distributors, to sell part of its collection online at .
2013
The flagship of the Inditex group continues unstoppable: it does not stop growing or adding new online markets. In February, Zara opens its online store in Canada (like Massimo Dutti and Zara Home) a country in which the Galician company has been selling since 1999. In October, Zara launches its own eCommerce in Russia with the objective of . With the Russian, Zara already has 25 online stores.
2014
to open a new sales channel and strengthen its presence in China. In October, Zara opens its own store on the platform the largest eCommerce in the Asian giant with more than 400 million buyers, 50,000 stores and millions of products from more than 70,000 different brands.
As had already happened in ASOS with the entry of Oysho and Pull & Bear, Inditex begins to sell its fashion items in third-party stores to boost sales over the Internetin this case, in the marketplace of , where Bershka and Pull & Bear made way for the main fashion chain of the Inditex group in 2013.
China, the country with the highest online billing figure on the entire planet, remains a strategic market for the Arteixo company.
Also, Inditex strengthens its presence in Mexico and South Koreawith the opening of Zara’s electronic platform in the Asian country and Zara, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho and Zara Home in Mexico.
Between Asia, Europe… and Amancio Ortega at the top of the Forbes list thanks to Inditex online sales
2015
The success in sales pushes the different brands of the Inditex group to continue with their plans for international expansion and eCommerce growth. The Galician company integrates in its e-commerce map. Add three new places in a space as valuable as Asia, in total, 30 digital markets.
And although the fashion giant is reluctant to share the figures of its online business, it is the results derived from its eCommerce that boost Amancio Ortega to the highest in the ranking of billionaires. On October 23 of this year, the founder and main shareholder of Inditex spent three hours the richest man in the world according to Forbes magazine, with a personal wealth of more than 78,000 million euros.
In Europe alone, 5% of the company’s global turnover comes from online sales. Abroad, the commitment to eCommerce continues. Oysho, Massimo Dutti and start their particular third phase of expansion in China by combining its online stores with physical stores and sales through Tmall. Inditex closes the year with the opening in Australia and Japan of the Zara Home eCommerce.
2016
Add and continue. The Inditex group opens physical stores for the first time in five new markets and begins to operate over the Internet in another eight. In spring, the online conquest of all the countries of the European Union culminates. In practice, all the fashion chains of the Galician company have their own eCommerce in the 28 states and Turkey.
Inditex reaches 40 online markets around the world, offering its customers through the web the same products that they can find in its physical stores, at the same price and with the same supply replenishment system that they handle in commercial establishments .
The group’s online strategy works. Every year it launches new eCommerce, sober and adapted to each country it bets on, taking care of every last detail and imitating the offline shopping experience in a functional environment accredited by consolidated brands. It is the triumph of omnichannelthe sum of synergies, the ionline/offline integration at the service of customers, a model that allows them to view the collections online, buy over the Internet, and pick up or return the garments at any physical store.
Integration, value services and new horizons in a new stage in the history of Inditex online
2017
Electronic commerce becomes “strategic axis” of the company, according to Pablo Isla, and the Galician giant’s commitment to eCommerce rises as it gains importance within the group.
Following the example of amazon Y The English Courtwill close the year with services Same Day Delivery (same day delivery) in six cities: , London, Paris, Istanbul, Taipei and Shanghai; Y Next Day Delivery (next day delivery) in many other countries: Spain, United Kingdom, China and South Korea; capitals and strategic markets by turnover, eCommerce penetration or number of stores.
Furthermore, the group Inditex has 16 logistics platforms around the world dedicated exclusively to supporting its online activity and projects new warehouses to supply the demand for orders through the Internet.
The global expansion of the integrated model of physical stores and online sales advances. Markets in which it already has a physical presence begin to operate online. India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam launch zara.com; Bershka opens in the United States, Japan and South Korea, a country in which Oysho also starts sales through its own web space.
And one more example of the value of omnichannel and comprehensive management of the business model: Zara opens in A Coruña a fully automated online store order collection system. A pilot test that avoids the customer going through the checkout, with the capacity to manage 700 packages at a time and an optical QR code reader for instant collection of an order within 30 days.
2018
Goodbye to the mystery. The Inditex group finally reveals how much it sells at the click of a button. “It was the right time, since online is an element that contributes significantly to the growth of the company” Pablo Isla has recognized.
In 2017, 9% more than the previous year. The online sales grew by 41% arriving at 10% of the total. But there are more figures that explain the growth of Inditex’s eCommerce during the past year: 2,418 million visits to the group’s web pages with peaks of up to 249,000 orders in one hour.
2018 brought good results for the Galician fashion company, with the opening of Zara online in Australia and New Zealandto reinforce the chain’s online distribution and with new digital moves that prioritize its integration strategy together with the omnichannel shopping experience.
On its online channel during 2018, Inditex sales increased by 27% with respect to the , with which he achieved a online turnover of 3,200 million euroswhich although it is a less substantial growth than the one it has presented during the last 5 years, it still shows the great potential of this fashion eCommerce giant.
Of course, adding online and offline sales, Inditex sales increased by only 3% with which it managed to generate 26,145 million euros, while in markets with online sales, eCommerce already accounts for 14%and visits to their websites reached 2.947 million.
During 2018 the group added six cities for same-day delivery service: New York, Mexico City, Warsaw, Sydney, Moscow and Toronto, while overnight deliveries made it to Canada and Australia.
2019
“We want to make our fashion product available to all customers anywhere in the world, even in those markets where there is no physical store. All Inditex brands will be available for purchase through the internet worldwide in 2020»
With these words, Paul Island, Chairman of Inditex, announced one of the most ambitious proposals for eCommerce worldwide: breaking down the barriers of international logistics and deliver your online orders anywhere on the planet.
In any case, this was the only challenge raised by the company. Inditex’s plans go through integrate the stocks of physical stores with online stores, so that any online order can be supplied from the company’s physical distribution points, thanks to control systems…
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