“Even in those markets which do not currently have our bricks-and-mortar stores,” Isla added.

Other than Zara, the world’s largest clothing retailer also sells the brands Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho and Uterque across its network of almost 7,500 physical shops. It also operates online in 49 markets.

In FY2017, Inditex’s online sales saw a 41-per cent increase to reach 10 per cent of group net sales, although it fell short compared to rival Swedish retailer H&M’s which made close to 12 per cent on online sales.

Isla said all of the Group’s brands will also be adopting the integrated stock management system by 2020 in all the countries in which there is a physical store presence.

He said the system would make it possible to fulfil online customer orders with store inventory. To date, integrated stock management is in place in Zara stores in 25 markets including Spain, France, Italy, China, the US, the UK and Mexico. Inditex currently has stores in 96 markets. The technology will be completely adopted across the whole group by 2020.

Inside Retail Asia