Burst! Zara's Oysho may pull out of China

On October 20, Oysho, which belongs to the same Inditex group as the well-known fast fashion brand Zara, suddenly announced that it would close its flagship store on Tmall, the only online store in China, causing widespread concern.



The notice shows that due to the company's business adjustment, Oysho Tmall official flagship store will cease operations from November 17, 2024. In accordance with applicable laws and regulations, the Company will delete or anonymize the personal information provided by customers, and the transaction records of customers will be retained in accordance with the requirements of laws and regulations.



Oysho said that if customers have any after-sales questions, they can call the company's Tmall customer service hotline before November 24, 2024, to contact customer service staff.



"China is a strategic market for Inditex and we will continue to offer stylish products and experiences to Chinese consumers through Oysho offline stores and other brands of the group, including Zara, Massimo Dutti and Zara Home," Inditex's China PR department said.



While Inditex Group said it will continue to offer products and experiences through offline stores, the contraction of Oysho's offline channel is still very obvious. The brand's stores in LIVAT Mall in Beijing were closed two months ago, leaving only Blue Harbor and Hesheng Hui stores in Beijing.



It is reported that Tmall is the only online channel operated by Oysho, and the existing fans are as high as 3.77 million. The closure of the Oysho Tmall flagship store also means that after the withdrawal of Bershka, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius and Uterque, Inditex Group has adjusted the development of its brands in the Chinese market again.



Founded in 2001, Oysho was initially positioned as an underwear brand, but then gradually joined the sports and leisure categories, covering the product line to the big sports wind, and even introduced shoes, bags, rackets, hiking poles and so on. The price of the product starts from tens of yuan, and the most expensive can reach thousands of yuan.



In 2011, Oysho officially entered the Chinese mainland market, the first store was located in Guangzhou Grandview Square, with an area of 172 square meters, and the number of stores peaked in 2018. Compared with the financial report, it was found that in the period of 1-9 months this year, the number of Oysho stores in the mainland market was closed from 25 to only 4, with an average of two stores closed every month.



In the Inditex Group's fiscal year 2023, Oysho sales increased by 10% to 744 million euros, accounting for about 2% of the group's overall sales.



According to Inditex Group's latest semi-annual results for the fiscal year 2024, from February 1, 2024 to July 31, 2024, Inditex Group sales increased by 7.2% to 18.1 billion euros, gross profit increased by 7.5% to 10.5 billion euros, and gross profit margin reached 58.3%. In the first half of 2024, the Inditex Group continued to expand its global sales platform, opening new stores in 34 markets. At the end of the first half of the fiscal year, the Inditex Group operated 5,667 stores.