Inditex slows down expansion in China

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Aug 26, 2015

The group has started to slow down its expansion in China after reaching 500 stores in the area, said the Spanish newspaper El Economista this Wednesday.

But despite the Chinese economic slowdown, its market still seems to be attractive to Inditex. Amancio Ortega´s company, which is already present in 60 Chinese cities including Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong, plans to focus now on opening further flagship stores and redesign existing outlets.

Inditex’s expansion in China lead to the opening of more than 110 store over the last three years, although the first quarter of 2015 saw only eight new store openings, as opposed to 2014’s 44 new selling points.

In 2014 the Spanish conglomerate also started to sell its fashion labels to Chinese consumers through TMall.com, the online business-to-consumer platform that belongs to the influential Alibaba Group.

Inditex, which handles Zara, Stradivarius, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho and Zara Home, reported a net profit of 2,5 billion euros in the first quarter of 2015, and an 8% increase in sales.

The company opened more than 300 new stores in 54 countries in the past year and created over 8 thousand new jobs around the world.