Spanish retail giant Inditex unveiled a new, futuristic Zara flagship in Paris on April, 21, 2023. At 2,700 sq. mts., Zara’s new flagship store at 74 avenue des Champs-Elysées is minimalist and elegant. The store is an eclectic blend of technology and customer service.
The new flagship has been designed by Zara’s inhouse architecture team under the leadership of Inditex non-executive chair Marta Ortega Perez, who took over Zara last year. The store – spread over a single floor – has been described by company representatives as its “most innovative store in France”.
The store has a dedicated section for lingerie, shoes and accessories, a first at Zara.
Blending Online & Offline
The Champs-Elysées store has seamlessly integrated inventive technology with its physical offerings, with QR codes for customers to locate different store sections, 40 fitting rooms with a swipe screen service for ascertaining the number of items customers take inside the changing rooms and 25 stylish second-generation automatic checkouts apart from 10 traditional checkouts. The self-service checkouts have moving touch screens that automatically adjust to a customer’s height.
The store app, as with all Zara stores, features a ‘Store Mode’, a tool that enables customers to reserve fitting rooms and products, check their location and availability, and purchase and pick up an item within an hour.
Aside from this, the flagship sports an LED feature wall that uses generative, moving art displays as guests wait in line for check-out, as well as hologram mannequins wearing latest styles.
The Human Touch: Customer Service
Despite the technology integration, Zara, as per reports, has stressed on the fact that the human touch will always be important for them. Self service-aided by latest retail technology aside, there will be enough store representatives to help shoppers should they require the assistance.
There are also designated desks for online order pick ups as well as returns.
Prime Location
Interestingly, the store is but a few 100 meters away from Zara’s existing store in the area but the company is of the belief that there is enough foot traffic in the area to support both stores.
For Inditex, France is a primary revenue-generating market, behind only Spain and USA. The company has 269 physical stores for all its brands in France, including 111 Zara stores alone.
In the last fiscal year, the Inditex group set sales records with a 17.5% increase to €32.569 billion, and recorded a 7% growth in net profit to €4.130 billion. Meanwhile, Zara led the way in terms of revenue with €23.761 billion in sales.
