REVENUE STRATEGY - INDITEX

1. Inditex SA, Europe's largest clothing retailer, expanded its Zara, Berksha and Massimo Dutti chains in Spain, France and China. It has more than tripled in size in six years to 3,200 stores, surpassing Gap Inc. and Hennes & Mauritz AB, and is opening at least one store each day. It is targeting 4,000 outlets by 2009.
2. It has spent about 4 billion euros over six years, and expects to add as many as 520 shops in the year to January.
3. It aims to boost sales at stores open a year or more by 4 percent to 5 percent over the medium term.
4. It can get new garments from the design board to store shelves within two weeks because it buys about half its apparel in Spain or nearby countries such as Morocco.
5. Its store managers use handheld computers to select the garments they want from collections, and cash registers relay information on sales to Inditex's headquarters.
6. It orders 50 percent to 60 percent of the apparel in each new collection before the clothes go on sale, compared with 80 percent to 100 percent for competitors, giving it more flexibility if consumers' tastes change.

Reputation can convert store additions into profitable revenue additions

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