Zara Malta not affected by Inditex shutdown of 1,000 stores

Zara Malta is not expected to be hit negatively by an announcement from parent company Inditex, that it will be closing 1,000 out of 1,200 stores over the next two years of the popular fashion brand. 

PG Group CEO Charles Borg, which owns the Zara franchise in Malta as well as the supermarket group that includes Pama, told MaltaToday that Inditex’s strategy was to close down smaller stores, primarily in cities which had multiple locations.  

“This is a strategy that the company has been implementing for some time – shifting towards online shopping. The company plans to double down on e-commerce by investing €1 billion into its only platform over the next three years,” Borg said. 

In 2017 the PG group began carrying out a €4.2 million expansion on their Sliema outlet, making it the largest Zara department store in Europe at a floorspace of 4,400sq.m. 

Between 2014 and 2016, the franchise operations generated a total €34 million in sales. 

On Wednesday, Inditex announced it would be closing between 1,000 to 1,200 stores over the next two years. The Spanish fast-fashion giant said it expected online sales to account for a quarter of its business by 2022. 

Inditex also said it would be spending $1.7 billion on upgrading its stores to become more integrated with its online platform by deploying advanced technology solutions. 

Inditex, which has nearly 7,500 stores across the world, has expanded at a rapid rate over the past decade and a half opening stores in 96 different countries.