Inditex to launch Zara online store to coincide with A/W

23 Mar '10

4 min read

The Inditex Group's net sales rose by 7% in its 2009 fiscal year (1 February 2009 to 31 January 2010) from a year earlier, to 11,084 million euros. In local currencies, net sales rose 9% from 2008. The Group maintained its like-for-like sales in FY2009, demonstrating the flexibility of its business model.

Net income amounted to 1,314 million euros, vs. 1,253 million euros a year earlier, an increase of 5%.

Expansion
Inditex in 2009 registered 343 net openings, bringing the Group's retail network to 4,607 stores in 74 countries as of 31 January 2010.

In keeping with the company's strategy, 98% of new stores were in international markets. Inditex opened stores in 46 countries in 2009, expanding its retail footprint across all geographic regions, particularly Europe and Asia.

The Group increased its retail network in all of Europe's major markets, with noteworthy growth in countries such as Russia (37 new stores) and Poland (34). In Asia, Inditex continued its strategic push into the region's top three markets, which posted significant growth, with 41 new stores in China, 12 in South Korea and 10 in Japan.

Syria in 2009 became the latest new market to land on the Inditex global store map, with openings by Zara, Pull and Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Stradivarius.

Highlights among store openings in 2009 were a Zara store in Tokyo's Shibuya neighbourhood, which brought the number of Zara stores in Japan to 50; a flagship Zara on Chicago's Michigan Avenue —within the Magnificent Mile— and a Zara store on Beijing's Wangfujing Street, one of the most famous shopping streets in all of Mainland China.

Other flagship stores launched in 2009 include a Pull and Bear on London's Oxford Street; a Bershka on Saint Petersburg's Nevsky Prospekt; Stradivarius' store No. 500 in Athens'Kolonaki shopping area; and the first Massimo Dutti establishment in Beijing, in the Solana shopping district.

Worthy of particular note is a new Zara and Zara Home store in Barcelona's Portal de l'Angel, the first in Europe to obtain LEED environmental certification, which puts the Group at the cutting edge of the progress of research into eco–efficient store environments as part of its Environmental Strategic Plan. The result of this project is a store that consumes 30% less energy, saves 50% more water and emits 150 tonnes less CO2 per year than a conventional location.

Sales by geographic area
Sales outside of Spain in 2009 accounted for 68% of total sales, compared with 66% in 2008. Europe accounted for the largest share of sales with 46%.A highlight was the significant increase in sales in Asia, which in 2009 accounted for 12.2% of total sales vs. 10.5% a year earlier.

Workforce
At the end of the 2009 fiscal year, the Group's workforce totalled 92,301 individuals, compared with 89,112 employees a year earlier. In the area of Human Resources, 2009 marked a significant development with the signing of an agreement between Inditex and the Global Union

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