INDITEX & TATA TRENT

Zara - History
A Spanish brand of clothing

founded by the visionary Amancio Ortega Gaona and Rosalia Mera in Artexio, Galicia. Founded in the year 1975. One of the major selling fashion retailer INDITEX Amancio Ortega is the founder of Inditex, which was established in 1963. Inditex owns 8 brands namely ZARA, Pull &Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, ZARA Home and last but not the least Uterque.

 The journey of ZARA began in 1975. Within a span of a decade ZARA's approach to fashion became very

popular and its magic began to spread to other major cities of Spain. In 1985, Inditex took hold of group of businesses in which ZARA was also included. The vertical integration system, ZARA's philosophy, which helped it to maintain its fast fashion among the masses was started around 1986-1987. In 1988, ZARA decided that it would spread its magic of fast fashion around the world and it started a store in December 1988 in Oporto, Portugal. ZARA opened its stores in India in 2010. It also started online stores in 16 European countries in 2010.In 2011 its online retail spread to united states and Japan. From 1975 to 2012, Zara has grown from 1 store in Spain to more than 1540 stores in 73 countries. this shows it acceptability by masses.

Tata Trent
Trent is the retail arm of the Tata group that owns and

manages a number of retail chains in India. Established in 1998,when Tata sold of their 50% stake in the cosmetic products company Lakm to HLL for Rs 200 Crore, and created Trent from the money it made through the sale. Trent runs lifestyle chain Westside, one of Indias largest and fastest growing chain of lifestyle retail stores, Star Bazaar, a hypermarket chain, Landmark, a books and music chain, and Fashion Yatra, a complete family fashion store. Trent has its headquarters in Mumbai, India. The company has a turnover of Rs. 357.6 crores (FY 20052006) and currently operates more than 60 stores in the major metros and mini metros of India.

Trent and Inditex to bring Zara stores into India

Trent, the retail arm of the Tata Group, today

announced a joint venture with Inditex Group to develop and promote Zara stores in India. Inditex would hold 51 per cent while Trent would hold a 49 per cent stake in the joint venture company. The partnership plans to open its first stores starting in 2010 in New Delhi, Mumbai and other major cities of India.

 During a signing ceremony at Inditex headquarters in

Arteixo, Spain, Noel N Tata, managing director of Trent, said: We are very excited about our proposed joint venture with Inditex. We see great opportunities for Zara in a country which is becoming increasingly fashion conscious. Zara has proven itself capable of quickly adapting to changing consumer tastes across geographies. Zara will satisfy the discerning Indian consumers demand for the latest fashion trends very well. Commenting on the JV tie-up, Inditexs first deputy chairman and chief executive Pablo Isla emphasised the excellent opportunity the Indian market poses for Zaras retail business: We view our entry into the Indian market to be of significant strategic importance. We are extremely delighted to be associating with Trent from the Tata Group, one of Indias largest and most respected business houses. Our retail offering has been very well received by shoppers in Asian markets, and we have rapidly expanded there. And now India will be one of our top priorities in the region.

Finance
The world's most popular 'fast fashion' brand, Zara's Indian

unit Inditex Trent - a joint venture between the brand's owner Inditex with Tata Group's retail arm Trent - has made profits in two out of the three years!
In the first half of 2012, Inditex clocked revenues of $9.3 billion (

49,000 crore).
The Indian unit made profits of 38.3 crore and 22.5 crore in the

previous two financial years, documents filed with the registrar of companies show.
Jaspal Singh Sabharwal, a partner with Everstone Capital, a private

equity fund with investments in retail chains, said Zara in India churns out more than 10,000 designs in a season and that helps it stay relevant to customers.
Moreover, customers visit Zara stores - there are nine of them -

some 14 times on average in a year, resulting in 85% of merchandise being sold at full price compared with the industry average of 60%.

FUTURE PLANS
Zara, the fashion concept owned by Inditex Group, plans to

expand its retail footprint in India by opening its outlet in Jaipur and Chennai soon. The leading fashion retailer recently forayed into Punjab with the launch of its first store at Elante, the largest mall in Chandigarh taking the total count to ten stores across India. The store encompassing more than 22,594 sq ft spread over two floors in which the Women, Men and Kids collections are displayed to customers looking for trendy and fashionable products. Currently, the company has ten Zara stores in India located in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Pune and now Chandigarh.

RECENT NEWS
Massimo Dutti, an upscale fashion

brand of the same parent as Zara, has initiated a second attempt to enter India a year after the Foreign Investment Promotion Board shot down its first proposal. Spain's Inditex Group, one of the world's largest fashion retailers, last month filed a revised application with a proposal to invest 1.5 million (about Rs 10 crore) over two years to open five Massimo Dutti stores in the country through a 51:49 joint venture with the Tata Group.

 Early last year, Massimo Dutti had applied for a 51:49 joint venture with the Tata Group through Zara Holdings BV, the flagship unit of Inditex Group. FIPB rejected the proposal without citing any reason, but government officials said the proposal did not meet India's single brand retailing investment norm that mandated its original owner bring in a brand. Officials said Inditex should have filed the application directly and not through its unit Zara. The latest pitch for the bridge to luxury brand is through Inditex and its India joint venture partner Trent Ltd, the retailing arm of Tata Group.