Zara Opens Flagship Store in China’s Nanjing with Cafe and Content Creation Studio 

People walk outside a newly opened Zara flagship store in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China March 20, 2025. (Reuters)
People walk outside a newly opened Zara flagship store in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China March 20, 2025. (Reuters)
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Zara Opens Flagship Store in China’s Nanjing with Cafe and Content Creation Studio 

People walk outside a newly opened Zara flagship store in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China March 20, 2025. (Reuters)
People walk outside a newly opened Zara flagship store in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China March 20, 2025. (Reuters)

Inditex-owned fast-fashion retailer Zara opened what it dubbed a new-style Asia flagship store in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing on Friday as part of its global push to cut underperforming shops and double down on larger retail formats.

The Spanish company has put in place more digital integration and spaces designed to encourage shoppers to spend more time in-store, with the new features to be trialed in China before it decides whether to expand them to other markets.

The need to revitalize Zara's retail network has been particularly apparent in China. Multinational brands targeting the country's middle-class consumers have been squeezed by a broader spending slowdown as well as increased competition from local brands with nimble domestic supply chains and strong digital presences.

At 2,500 sq m (26,909 sq ft) spanning two floors, the Zara store in Nanjing's central business district of Xinjiekou includes a salon for private shopping experiences, complete with a lounge area and personal change rooms.

It also has a "fit check" studio with multiple cameras and lighting settings where customers can shoot their own video content and download it directly to their phones. Both are available to book via popular social messaging app WeChat.

The downstairs area also features the first Zacaffe coffee shop concept outside of Spain.

It is not the first time Zara has experimented with new concepts in China before exporting them to other markets. Its popular series of livestreamed shopping shows on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, last year led the brand to experiment with similar livestreams in Europe and the US.

Inditex has been shrinking its store footprint globally over the past few years, seeking to optimize its selling space by focusing on flagship outlets in prime locations and ramping up online sales.

As recently as 2019 Inditex had 570 stores in China, its biggest physical footprint after Spain. That number had fallen to 132 as of January 31 this year.



Estee Lauder Sees Bigger Sales Fall in 2025 on US Slowdown, Sputtering China Recovery

An Estee Lauder cosmetics counter is seen in Los Angeles, California, US, August 19, 2019. (Reuters)
An Estee Lauder cosmetics counter is seen in Los Angeles, California, US, August 19, 2019. (Reuters)
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Estee Lauder Sees Bigger Sales Fall in 2025 on US Slowdown, Sputtering China Recovery

An Estee Lauder cosmetics counter is seen in Los Angeles, California, US, August 19, 2019. (Reuters)
An Estee Lauder cosmetics counter is seen in Los Angeles, California, US, August 19, 2019. (Reuters)

Cosmetics giant Estee Lauder forecast a bigger-than-expected drop in fiscal 2025 sales on Thursday, signaling a slowdown in demand for beauty products in the American market and a longer road to recovery in the key China region.

Estee has been struggling to revive sales at airports and tourist hubs in China and other major Asian markets as consumer sentiment in the region remains weak due to high unemployment rates. Asia-Pacific, which includes China, contributed 31.3% of the company's total sales in fiscal 2024.

Its sales have also been soft in the US, with the company now facing challenges from President Donald Trump's chaotic implementation of tariffs.

Estee had pulled its annual forecast in October, citing an uncertain recovery in China, before Stephane de La Faverie took over as CEO.

His turnaround plans for the company include speeding up of new launches and bringing in new luxury price tiers. But that might face a roadblock from growing economic uncertainties due to the trade war.

Organic net sales in the Americas fell 5% on retail softness and decline in consumer confidence and sentiment.

"From a regional perspective, the Americas had the largest miss and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) was only slightly softer ... Outperformance on margins show the progress of EL's PRGP (profit recovery plan) and restructuring activities," RBC Capital Markets analyst Nik Modi said in a note.

European peer L'Oreal has also flagged weakness in the US, while it continues to see strong demand for its creams and perfume in Europe.

Estee expects fiscal 2025 net sales to be down 8% to 9%, compared with analysts' estimate of a 7.07% fall, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company forecasts annual adjusted per-share profit to be between $1.30 and $1.55, with midpoint above the estimate of $1.40, as it starts to benefit from its restructuring plan, including job cuts.

Shares of the MAC lipstick maker were down nearly 1%.

Estee aims to return to sales growth in fiscal 2026, its CEO said, adding that this depends on the resolution of the recently enacted tariffs to mitigate potential negative impacts.

The US has imposed 145% tariffs on China, while Beijing put a 125% levy on American imports into the country.

To navigate the tariff situation, Estee expects to reduce imports into China from the US to 10% from 25%.

Estee said about a quarter of products imported into EMEA are sourced from the US, but it is working to change to regionalized and third-party manufacturing networks.