Keeping e-commerce,Zara physical store closure plan fully opened

By Zhong Mengxia

On January 8th， Inditex Group， the parent company of fast fashion brand Zara， planned to close all its stores includes Bershka， Pull&Bear and Stradivirus in China at the end of January， leaving only Tmall online stores and other e-commerce channels.

The news makes people sigh. In October 2020， Inditex opened its characteristic Zara store in Wangfujing， one of the most important shopping streets in Beijing， capital of China. This ZARAs largest physical store in Asia covers 4 floors and an area of over 3，500 square meters.

The closing plan is not only implemented in China. Inditex Group said that the COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on its business， resulting in a sharp drop in its sales. According to its financial report in the first half of 2020， Inditexs net loss in the first half of the year reached 195 million euros （about 1.5 billion yuan）. As of October 2020， Inditex had 7，197 stores in major shopping districts around the world， and planned to permanently close 1，000-1，200 stores， accounting for 13-16 percent of its total global stores.

In fact， the news that Inditex Group chose to close its store is common. The pandemic has really changed peoples consumption habits， and the depression in different industries is one of the main reasons that lead to the low consumption vitality. It is reported that by the end of January 2020， Bershka， Pull&Bear and Stradivarius had 62 stores in China， 65 stores in China and 35 stores in China respectively， but now there are only about 30 stores total left in China. Bershkas staff said that they did receive the notice of closing the store from the headquarters： the stores in Beijing and Shenyang would be closed at the end of January， and the stores in Shanghai will be closed at the latest in mid-April； Pull & Bear service staff said that the brands offline stores are in "adjusting"， but it is not clear about the store closing plan； while Stradivarius has already withdrawn from some regional markets.

It is worth noting that the closure of offline stores has not stopped Inditex Group from pursuing the interests of the Chinese market. According to its public relations department， all brands under Inditex will continue to expand the scope of online sales platforms and increase the layout of online markets， while the e-commerce business welcomed by young audiences will be valued further， such as social platforms WeChat applets. In addition， Inditex also announced that it would open an online live broadcast room of 64，000 square meters at its headquarters by the end of 2020.