The world leader in textiles, the Spanish group Inditex, owner of Zara, announced on Saturday “temporarily suspending its activity in the 502 stores” it has in Russia, as well as online shopping pages, due to the invasion of Ukraine.
“Given the current circumstances, Inditex cannot guarantee the continuity of operations and commercial conditions in the Russian Federation”, a country that represents about 8.5% of its turnover, the group explained in a statement.
Of the 502 Inditex stores in the Russian Federation, there are 86 of the Zara brand, Inditex explained in its note.
“Inditex’s priority continues to be its staff, more than 9,000 people, for whom [el grupo] will develop a special support plan from now on,” the statement added.
The Inditex group (acronym for Textile Design Industry) is the largest low-price fashion consortium in the world, side by side with the Swedish H&M.
The Inditex name groups together eight brands: Zara (which accounts for 70% of sales), Zara Home, Bershka, Oysho, Stradivarius, Pull&Bear, Massimo Duti and Uterqüe. Some were created by the group’s founder, the Spaniard Amancio Ortega, and others are acquisitions in recent years.
After the coronavirus crisis, Inditex accelerated its reorganization process, based on closing small stores and relying on the huge stores it has in the most prestigious shopping districts of big cities. By mid-2021, it had 6,500 stores on five continents.
Before the pandemic (which caused a temporary drop in revenue), its turnover in 2019 was 28 billion euros (30 billion dollars), with a profit of 3,600 (almost 4 billion dollars). .
