Zara goes ahead with retail reinvention and reopens online-offline hybrid in Stratford
Inditex’s main fashion chain has opened once again its flagship store in London, where it has added an online-dedicated area and two automated pick-up stations for online orders.
Zara gives another twist to retail. Inditex’s main fashion chain has reopened its flagship store in the London’s Stratford district. The new shop is the first to have an online-dedicated area and technology to transform the consumer in-store experience.
One of the store features are two automated pick-up stations for online deliveries, identic ones to those that Zara already introduced in one of its points of sale in A Coruña (Spain). The Stratford-based stations can handle up to 2,400 orders simultaneously. Online orders are available in store on the same day if they are made before 2 pm or next day for purchases made after that time.
The store staff will also be equipped with tablets to advice customers’ purchases and can process payments through these devices. Clients can also pay using their smartphones and the Zara app or the company's InWallet application. Besides, the retail chain is also introducing a quick check-out area thanks to a system that identifies garments and streamlines the process.
Zara opened a pop up online-only store in London while the Stratford flagship was remodelled
Inditex believes that the 4,500-square-meters shop is an “important milestone” for its online and offline integration strategy. “We are in a unique position, as we enjoy a global sales platform that fully integrates brick and online”, said Inditex’s chairman and CEO Pablo Isla.
“In recent years, we’ve invested in the most advanced technology and in the optimization of our stores with this aim,” said the executive. “Our business model combines the physical and digital store in an integral way, and we’re ready for the opportunities that this approach offers to our current and potential customers,” he stressed.
The enlargement and refurbishment works in the Stratford store started last January and it was replaced since then temporarily by a digital-first pop up store that the group opened with Zara, dedicated only to the purchase and picking of online orders.
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