Inditex Group deepens its digital transformation strategy

September 16, 2020 | By RetailME Bureau

Zara’s automated collection unit

Spanish Inditex Group deepens its digital transformation strategy to offer an integrated shopping experience to consumers. Throughout the first half of 2020, particularly during the second quarter, Inditex Group deepened its digital transformation strategy with the store and online platform integration, initiated in 2012. The Group’s digital transformation strategy is expected to drive online sales to more than 25% of the total by 2022, compared with 14% in 2019.

Overall, Inditex Group is “pleased” with online sales growth, averaging 74% year-on-year during the first half of 2020. One million orders received in a day for the first time during the second quarter, according to a company statement, owing to the strengthening of integrated shopping experience and online sales capacity. Over the first seven months (February to August) Inditex’s brands received close to three billion online visits and their social networks reached a record of 190 million followers.

As Inditex Group deepens its digital transformation strategy, executive chairman, Pablo Isla, said, “The recovery and strong performance are due to the hard work, engagement and creativity of everyone in Inditex. I am particularly pleased with our online sales growth, which demonstrates the critical importance of our strategy to integrate stores and online. This is a cornerstone of our unique business model with three key pillars of flexibility, digital integration and sustainability. Day by day this combination is proving its solidness.”

Also read: Inditex offers glimpses of its omnichannel future

Through its ongoing implementation of the latest technology tailored for the integrated store model enabled Inditex Group to activate a ‘Store Mode’ project encompassing 25 Zara stores across Spain. The ‘Store Mode’ is a new feature, which allows customers to access the store of their choice from the palm of their hands. It has three main features, including Click & Go, Click & Find and Click & Try.

With Click & Go, customers can activate this function from the Zara app to navigate through the store of their choice. At that point they can look at the collections available for purchase in that store, purchase a specific item online and, if they wish, collect it in-store within just 30 minutes, the time needed for the staff to prepare the order to Zara’s quality standards.

The Click & Find feature is facilitated by the RFID system in place in all stores, which underpins the integrated stock management system (SINT). RFID and SINT allow the fulfilment of online orders from the stores, providing customers with an enhanced service while keeping all stock available to purchase at all times, regardless of where it is physically located, be it on the sales floor, in the store stockrooms or in one of the online stockrooms. Once inside the stores, customers can use the Zara app from their handsets to pinpoint the garments of their choice using a store layout map.

Along with Click & Try, the ‘Store Mode’ function has other features that represent a further evolution of the integrated shopping experience. Shoppers can book a fitting room from the app, avoiding having to wait and improving the overall experience. The app, also compatible with mobile payments, offers the choice of an e-ticket, eradicating paper receipts while storing purchase records and the corresponding e-tickets on the app.

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