Zara launches online stores
Zara yesterday launched its first online stores. The clothes chain will sell garments at identical prices to stores, charging £3.95 for home delivery. Ordered items can be picked up free of charge at shops. The label’s owner Inditex, the world’s biggest clothing retailer by sales, has launched Zara online in Britain, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Germany. The retailer, who also owns Massimo Dutti Bershka, has plans to go online in America, Japan and South Korea next year. Despite a deep global recession, online retail sales have boomed, particulary among young consumers. Online retail sales are projected to grow in Western Europe to £93bn in 2014 from £68bn in 2009, according to consultants Forrester. Zara chief executive Pablo Isla said: “Internet and the world of social networking are indispensable tools and extraordinary channels for communication, and fit perfectly with our group’s philosophy.”