Zara aims to go global with e-commerce by 2020

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"We want to make our fashion collections available to all our customers, wherever they are in the world, even in those markets which do not currently have our bricks-and-mortar stores,” said Inditex chairman and CEO Pablo Isla, who addressed journalists during the reopening of the global Zara flagship store in Milan.

Isla also highlighted that all of the Group's brands will adopt the integrated stock management system by 2020 in all the countries in which there is a physical store presence. This system makes it possible to fulfil online customer orders with store inventory. To date, integrated stock management is in place in Zara stores in 25 markets, including Spain, France, Italy, China, the US, the UK and Mexico. Inditex currently has stores in 96 markets, including South Africa, and operates online in 49 markets.

This advanced platform is possible thanks to radio frequency identification technology (RFID) which is already fully deployed at Zara and Uterqüe globally. The technology is currently being rolled out across the rest of the brands globally for completion across the whole group by 2020.

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Framed by its environmental commitments, by 2020 Inditex is also aiming to have all of its stores around the world operating under its eco-efficiency plan, which delivers energy and water savings of 20% and up to 50% compared with conventional stores, respectively. This plan has already been implemented in 80% of Inditex's stores, including 100% of its stores in China, and is on schedule for full deployment by 2020.