Growth gets thinner for Zara as competition grows in size
Inditex, the owner of fashion brand Zara, saw its slowest ever sales growth in India, excluding the pandemic year, in FY24 as the world's largest fashion group faced rising competition from global rivals in the clothing market that is increasingly getting cluttered.
Inditex Trent, its joint venture with Tata that runs 23 of Zara stores in India, saw revenue rise 8% to Rs 2,775 crore last fiscal, significantly down from 40% growth a year ago, according to Trent's annual report. Net profit was down too at Rs 244 crore, an 8% drop.
Zara has been a runaway success since its arrival in the country more than a decade ago but after initially doubling sales every two years, the brand's rate of expansion had come down in the past few years. «The market is very competitive, and the challenges are real. Nevertheless, the opportunity pool and the size of the market means that there is space for multiple successful players. Trent remains well placed to navigate this next phase of growth by leveraging our platform and growth engines,» P Venkatesalu, chief executive officer at Trent, said in the report.
Trent that runs Westside has shifted focus on its lower priced fast fashion brand Zudio, which opened about four new stores every week on average last fiscal to take the total store count at 545 doors. Trent also has a separate association with the Inditex group to operate Massimo Dutti stores in India. The entity saw revenues rise 14% to ?102 crore.
Experts said consumer demand has been affected in the past couple of years
