The strategy of store acquisitions Inditex, accelerated over the past year and involves a reduction in its physical network of between 1,000 and 1,200 points of sale, affecting nearly all of its major markets. To varying degrees, but of the 20 countries where it has a greater physical presence, the number of stores increased by only two at the end of 2020 compared to the previous one.
Saudi Arabia and Romania They were the two rare avis. The Saudi country is gaining weight in the group, becoming the 10th largest market. There, it has 186 stores, after adding five new stores last year, the country with the highest growth.
For example, that’s 77 more than 10 years ago, a period when it grew consecutively to 183 at the end of 2017. Then it declined by one unit each over the next two years, only to grow back to 186 in 2020, the highest level. There are 47 of that amount Zara, 32 for Bershka, 19 for Pull & Bear and 18 for Oysho, including in the last store that opened in Dammam last year. There Inditex has the local group Alhokair as a franchisee.
The other case was Romania, where the Inditex network got three stores to bring the total to 139, a new record. There, growth has been constant over the past 10 years, except in 2014, when the number of branches from the previous year remained stable.
During that time, Inditex has nearly tripled its presence on Romanian soil, making this market the twelfth largest in terms of number of stores. In 2020, it caught up with Japan, where the balance was 12 net closings. There, Inditex is pursuing a strategy similar to the one it has pursued in China in recent months, by closing stores of its younger retail chains, such as Stradivarius or Pull & Bear, to offer them online only.
Outside of Saudi Arabia and Romania, three other countries have not undergone any changes in their physical network of stores: the US, where Inditex has 99; Israel, with 79, and Ukraine, with 72.
Already on the side of the closures, China was the one who took the palm. That closing of all Bershka, Pull & Bear, and Stradivarius stores that began in January brought net closings to a total of 221, to 388. So much so that it has not been surpassed only by Russia, something that has already reached the closure has happened. . from the third quarter, but also by Mexico, which was downgraded to fourth position. Something that seemed unthinkable not so long ago. Just three years ago, Inditex reached the peak of 659 stores in that market, in which it has experienced tremendous growth since 2010.
Stores including China and Spain accounted for 41% of the total in that year.
After 10 years, that share is now 26.3%. In the domestic market, the number of net closings last year was 169, which equates to 1,411 stores, the lowest level since 2004.
Although the balance between openings and closings was negative, and for the first time the evolution of the commercial area, Inditex continued to open stores in cities such as Paris, Moscow, Mexico City, Amsterdam, and also in Spanish, such as a new Uterqüe in Malaga and the expanded and renovated Zara on Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona.