Zara to kick-off online operation in India from next week

Widely popular Spanish fashion brand Zara to begin its online operation from next week (October 4). The company’s website and mobile app will sell the entire range of products that it currently offers in its stores in India and at the same prices.

"Customers in India will be able to choose between picking up their orders at the store of their choice and at-home delivery," a company spokesperson said to PTI. To mark its online entry, Zara will also start 'sale' on its offerings.

As the company enters the e-commerce space, it comes with full preparation and doesn’t seem to be lagging behind when it comes to delivering the products at buyers’ doorstep.

According to the company, it will deliver products between 2 and 4 working days in cities like Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. The deliveries will be made between 5 and 8 working days in the rest of the country.

Besides, it doesn’t want to fiddle with unit-economics. Its delivery is chargeable, at Rs 290, till the purchase of Rs 4,000.

For all these operations, Zara is working with a warehouse located in Haryana, close to New Delhi, and is employing 50 people.

The entry of Zara in the online space can be seen in terms of the growth of the Indian online fashion market, which is expected to reach $12-14 million.

Flipkart’s Jabong and Myntra are the two dedicated players in the online fashion space, besides Flipkart, Amazon, Koovs, StalkBuyLove and may other online fashion stores.

E-commerce eyes fashion

During the Big Billion Days sale, Flipkart also targeted the fashion space. Before the launch of the sale season, it was expecting to see a 17-times jump in business in the fashion segment on the opening day of the sale.

Besides intensifying its promotional activity, Flipkart had planned to reach out to female customers during the Big Billion Days sale.

In order to get more women buyers, Flipkart had signed on the brand categories of fashion, home and books, where women mostly tend to do the transaction in comparison to men.