Zara opened its 19th store in Australia on Thursday at Westfield Kotara in Newcastle. It is the first store in the country to be designed around the retailer’s new global concept.
Encompassing nearly 2500sqm and featuring Zara’s Woman, Basic, TRF, Kids and Man collections, the new store is based off four principles: beauty, clarity, functionality and sustainability.
The walls and ceiling are white to create the illusion of space and freedom and allow the fashion to stand out, inviting customers to “experience the product as never before”, according to the retailer’s statement.
The retailer said the the customer is at the centre of its business model. Zara is known for having its store staff feed back information to its team of over 700 product designers in Spain to to develop products that meet customers’ needs.
New items are delivered to stores and online across the world twice per week, and Zara said it plays close attention to the design of its stores, store windows and shop interiors, locating them in top locations on the busiest high streets.
New maternity range, global online site
In September, Zara owner Inditex Group posted a 3 per cent year-on-year increase in net sales in the first half of 2018 to €12 billion ($18.9 billion). Like-for-like sales grew 4 per cent and were positive across all geographies, the retail giant said.
EBITDA increased 2 per cent from the previous corresponding period to €2.3 billion ($3.6 billion).
Zara recently launched its first collection of maternity clothes in global markets, including Australia, according to media reports, and it is gearing up to expand its e-commerce reach.
On Wednesday, the fashion brand announced that it had launched zara.com/ww, meaning ‘worldwide’. The global online platform brings Zara items to customers in a total of 202 markets, most of the new ones being located in Africa, including Angola, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Ghana.
The online store also makes it’s debut in numerous parts of the Caribbean and Indonesia. Orders will be fulfilled from Spain and received within three to seven days, depending on the destination, according to the company’s statement.
The new global online store is available in English and French and comes with dedicated customer service in English and, in French-speaking markets, also in French. Zara currently has stores in 96 markets with an online presence in 49 of those markets. Zara launched a dedicated online site in Australia earlier this year.
