Zara Owner to Invest $3 Billion to Expand Amid Covid-19 Crisis
- Inditex plans to add 150 stores a year, boost e-commerce
- Retailer reports first loss since going public 2 decades ago
Coronavirus lockdowns have forced giants such as Primark, H&M, and Zara-owner Inditex to shut down thousands of shops and cancel orders worth millions of dollars.
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Inditex SA plans to invest 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion) to boost e-commerce operations of chains like Zara and Bershka and expand store space to gain an edge on rivals as the pandemic snarls the clothing-retail industry.
The Spanish retailer aims to get more than a quarter of its sales from the web by 2022 after online growth helped mitigate a 44% drop in first-quarter sales. Inditex delayed a special bonus dividend after reporting its first quarterly loss since it went public two decades ago.