Inditex nine month sales up 10 percent, net profit rises 6 percent

The Inditex Group’s net sales rose by 10 percent in the first nine months of fiscal 2017 – from 1 February to 31 October –, on top of the 11 percent growth recorded in the same period of 2016, to 17.96 billion euros (21 billion dollars). Net profit for the period was 2.3 billion euros (2.7 billion dollars), with year-on-year growth of 6 percent. The company added that online and offline store sales increased by 13 percent in local currency terms between November 1 and December 11, 2017.

In the current reporting period, the group continued to expand its integrated online-offline sales platform and its sales floor area increased across all geographies. During the first nine months, Inditex opened 212 stores in 52 markets, increasing its global footprint to 94 markets, with the inauguration of a 4,000 square metre flagship Zara store, as well as Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Zara Home and Oysho stores, in Minsk (Belarus) last August. Inditex opened 74 stores in Europe, 48 in the Americas and 90 in Asia and the rest of the world, with all of the group’s retail formats adding to their store counts.

Inditex continues online and brick-and-mortar expansion

As for the online platform, Inditex’s reach currently extends to 45 markets after the inauguration of Zara’s online operations in India in October. During the 9M17, Zara also launched online sales in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

During the period, Zara expanded its store presence worldwide, including the 6,000 sq. mtr. establishment at Castellana 79 in Madrid (Spain); Zara’s first street store in Bombay, which occupies 4,800 sq. mtrs. in the Ismail Building; the new 2,200 sq. mtr. Zara Cloud Nine store in Shanghai, China; and a 4,500 sq.mtr. space in Hanoi, Vietnam. Additionally, Zara also opened new stores in in the US, in California, New Jersey, Michigan and, most recently in Florida. In Canada, Zara recently opened stores in Toronto, Calgary and Halifax. Finally, Zara opened numerous high-profile stores in the Chinese cities of Harbin, Shenzen, Hangzhou, Chongquing, Yiwu and Shanghai.

Bershka, meanwhile, reopened its flagship store in the Tokyo’s Shibuya district on 15 September apart from opening stores in Bielefeld (Germany), Harbin (China), Bogota (Colombia) and the Mall of Egypt in Cairo (Egypt), a shopping centre in which Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius and Zara Home also recently opened new stores. Bershka also increased its online reach, launching its e-commerce platform in South Korea, Japan and the US. The US launch was accompanied by a pop-up store in the heart of New York’s SoHo district which is going to remain open until the end of December, showing the brand’s autumn-winter collections.

Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear and Stradivarius opened their first stores in Vietnam, in Ho-Chi Minh City, while Zara Home inaugurated its maiden stores in Armenia and the Czech Republic, a market in which Oysho, also extended its footprint to Honduras during the quarter. During the period, Massimo Dutti opened stores in Baku (Azerbaijan); Hangzhou (China); Goyang (South Korea); Cracow and Wroclaw in Poland; and in the Torre Manacar shopping centre in Mexico D.F. Pull&Bear, opened major stores in Moscow (Russia); Graz (Austria); the Loom shopping centre in Bielefeld (Germany); the Yiwu City Life Square shopping centre in Yiwu (China); Bogota (Colombia), Puebla (Mexico); Yogyakarta (Indonesia); Ra’anana (Israel); Lule (Portugal); Kiev (Ukraine); and two new stores in Istanbul and another in Bursa (Turkey).

Stradivarius opened stores in Poland - specifically in the Arkady Wroclawskie shopping centre in Wroclaw -, Motril (Spain), Palermo (Italy), Tangier (Morocco), Beirut (Lebanon), Puerto Vallarta (Mexico), Serris and Villeneuve la Garenne (France), the Binjiang Paradise Walk shopping centre in Hangzhou (China) and in the Hilltown shopping centre in Istanbul (Turkey).

Uterqüe continued to expand and renew its store network during the quarter, opening major stores in Moscow (Russia), Wroclaw (Poland) and Riad (Saudi Arabia). Uterqüe also entered new markets this year, including Romania for the first time.

Picture:Facebook/Bershka