Inditex opens a branch in Iraq for the first time.
With the opening, which is scheduled to take place in 2025, the parent company of brands such as Bershka, Pull & Bear and Zara will be represented in a total of 215 countries, said CEO óscar García Maceiras on Tuesday as part of the presentation of the company’s annual results for the completed financial year 2024.
The market closure takes place with all important fashion chains of the company, the first branches of which are opened in Iraq in the IRAQ Mall. This new shopping center with an area of around 550,000 square meters is to be fully opened in Baghdad, the capital of the country, in the Al-Dora district on the south bank of the Tigris at the end of 2025. With over a hundred restaurants, 350 shops, supermarkets, apartments and even a luxury hotel, it should position itself as the largest shopping and leisure center in the entire region.
“We are very excited,” emphasized Maceiras on the occasion of Inditex’s upcoming market entry in Iraq. With the gradual opening of the most important chains in the group, Iraq becomes the 215th market for the Spanish fashion group and the 98th market with inpatient retail. Due to this double presence, both online and offline, the company would like to offer its new customers the same omnichannel shopping experience in Iraq, which has already made its customers in the 97 markets with inpatient and digital shops.
First Bershka branches in Sweden and Denmark as well as Oysho branches in the Netherlands and Germany for 2025
As mentioned at the beginning, the first inditex branches in Iraq are opened as part of the sustainable growth strategy and the optimization of sales channels, both online and offline. In 2024 the company opened 257 new branches in 47 markets and renovated 254 branches, including 121 extensions. At the same time, 386 branches were closed, which led to a net loss of 129 branches. From 5,692 branches at the end of the 2023 financial year, the number fell to 5,563 branches at the end of the 2024 financial year, including 4,429 own branches and 1,134 franchise branches. However, this decline in the inpatient sales area meant no loss to the sales area, which, on the contrary, rose by 2 percent of 4.55 million square meters in 2023 to 4.65 million square meters in 2024.
Among the initiatives to optimize and expand inpatient trade in the 2024 financial year, inditex management emphasized the opening of the group’s first branches in Uzbekistan. This new market, the 97th market exclusively for inpatient trade and the 214th market for online and offline trading, was opened up in 2024 with the opening of the first inpatient branches and the start of the respective online shops of the chains Zara, Zara Home, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius and Oysho. These openings in the 2024 financial year form the basis for the strategy that Inditex is now pursuing in Iraq in 2025.
In addition to the market entry in Iraq, the company plans to expand further expansion and growth strategies in the 2025 financial year in order to exploit the full growth potential of the group and its various brands. Bershka will open his first branch in Sweden. At the same time, Bershka, together with Massimo Dutti, is also expanding to Denmark. Stradivarius opens its first branches in Austria, and Oysho is expanding to the Netherlands and Germany. In the USA, where Inditex at the end of 2024 with 99 branches the same number as at the end of 2023 (a Zara branch was closed and a new Massimo Dutti branch opened in Miami), the company is planning eight opening and renovation projects for 2025. It was not specified how many of them are new openings. This number is part of the 30 projects (openings, moves and extensions) that the company announced in March 2023 for the United States.