#Zara owner to close up to 1,200 fashion stores worldwide after facing first loss

Zara owner Inditex will close up to 1,200 smaller stores by 2021 and will instead focus on its bigger stores and online sales.

The announcement came after the Spanish multinational clothing company – which also owns other fashion brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear and Bershka – booked its first loss after the coronavirus crisis forced it to suspend operations at most of its shops.
Inditex booked a net loss of €409 million (US$465 million) in the February to April first quarter, after sales tumbled to €3.3 billion from €5.9 billion in the same period a year earlier.
The company’s quarterly loss included a €308 million provision to close up to 1,200 smaller stores in 2020 and 2021.
Inditex said the focus on bigger stores would expand shop floor space by about 2.5 per cent a year in 2020 to 2022.
The company also unveiled a €2.7 billion plan to upgrade technology at stores and to drive its online sales so that they made up a quarter of sales by 2022, compared to 14 per cent now.