Zara to start ship-from-store service to speed up delivery times

Several recent studies have pointed out the importance of speed in online retailing. Online fashion shops that constantly add new items to their catalogue and guarantee a fast delivery tend to sell more than those which are perceived as more stylish by consumers, but fail to convey the same sense of speed. With new products dropping every week, Zara’s e-commerce is among the fastest in the market. But the fast fashion giant wants to speed things up even more. According to the American newspaper Wall Street Journal, the brand is soon to roll out a new system to ship online orders directly from stores. The move marks Zara’s aim to compete with e-tailers such as Amazon, Asos and Zalando, which are known for their fast delivery times.

Sometimes, a given product is out of stock online, but available in a store. With Zara’s new system, it will be possible for online shoppers to have their desired items shipped to them directly from a nearby store. In addition to accelerating the delivery of packages, this change will help Zara to manage its inventory more effectively.

According to Wall Street Journal, the new system will be launched by the end of the year and is set to involve 2,000 Zara stores around the world. FashionUnited has contacted Inditex for comment, but no reply was received until the publication of this article.