Zara launches direct e-sales to Kenyans

A Zara shop in Johannesburg: The firm is expanding its offering. AFP PHOTO | NMG 

By ANNIE NJANJA

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Summary

• Zara unveiled the online platform on Thursday last week, a day before the online sales went live in Kenya and 105 other countries.
• Shoppers in 202 markets will now have direct access to Zara's global collection.

Spanish clothing retailer Zara has launched direct online sales to Kenyan consumers with an eye on the emerging middle class.

Zara unveiled the online platform on Thursday last week, a day before the online sales went live in Kenya and 105 other countries.

Shoppers in 202 markets will now have direct access to Zara's global collection.

The new sales model allows customers to shop directly, pay and have the items shipped to their destinations in three to seven days, depending on the locations, without the help of an agent.

Items bought on the online platform are paid for using methods such as PayPal.

“Against this backdrop, online sales will be expanded to new markets over the coming months, including those in which Zara already has stores, where it will develop local online sales platforms,” said the firm in a statement.

“This new global online store, which Zara will leverage to bring its fashions to as many people as possible in the world, is available in English and French and comes with dedicated customer service in English and, in French-speaking markets, also in French,” the firm said.

Zara’s mother company Inditex’s chairman and chief executive officer Pablo Isla announced that the company’s other brands will also be available in the online stores by 2020. “All of Inditex's brands will be available online anywhere in the world by 2020,” said Isla in September.

Inditex other clothing, accessories and home textiles brands include Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and Uterque.

The firm is eyeing to expand its business further by launching their product offering in new markets over the coming months.

The firm also unveiled the online stores in Angola, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Ghana.

It is estimated that by 2020 Africa’s spending power will be Sh140 trillion ($1.4 trillion) up from Sh86 billion ($860 million) in 2008.

Global players are now turning to emerging markets such as Africa for growth, attracted by rising disposable household incomes, fast economic growth and a young population, according a study by McKinsey & Co.