Zara’s Store Mode, the ultimate omnichannel experience

As a Spanish woman I have grown, not only religiously purchasing and wearing INDITEX clothes, but also evaluating, studying, and even idolizing Amancio Ortega’s company phenomenon. While there are several brands under the INDITEX umbrella, only one of them can be truly responsible for inspiring and becoming fast fashion’s flagship. Yes, I’m talking about Zara.

While my consumer patterns have pivoted lately in terms of quantity and quality, I can’t help but stay loyal to Zara due to its smart and on-point value proposition. I value companies that not only listen to their customers but take action to improve their products and services. And few take this art to such an extreme as Zara. So, I will leave ethical debates aside today, and focus on what I believe is the key to Zara’s strategy success nowadays: its app.

I want to think that I’m quite selective with my apps. In reality, I just have a camera roll packed with identical pictures that I don’t want to clean, which leaves me with very little space left. Therefore, the apps I do have on my phone better be worth the space they take.

When I first installed the Zara app, I wasn't betting it to last more than the week I needed it to scroll through its stock during sale season. Now I can proudly say it’s been with me for more than 3 years. What has captivated me from the beginning is its innovative combination of masterful stock management and digital tools to empower consumers in both physical and digital journeys. The app offers a real-time 360º view of its inventory, both online and in-store. This brings down all walls that used to separate online and offline, resulting in a seamless omnichannel experience.

Back in the day, this didn’t seem very relevant, but after a global pandemic, and with an introverted and socially anxious GenZ on the way, this app has saved the fast-fashion company millions. In fact, the company doubled down on this success by launching in Spain their Store Mode trial back in 2020. What started as a contact-free contingency plan post-pandemic has become the empowering tool that savvy, fast-fashion consumers have been waiting for.

So, what makes this app so amazing? Here is a little sneak-peak to its most attractive features:

• Scanning Items: The fact that you can, as easily as taking a selfy, scan any item’s code in-store to check size and color availability in the store, online, or within your area, has changed my shopping game forever. No more waiting eternally until a store assistant is free to ask for a size, just to listen “we only have what’s outside, honey”. This goes beyond the typical retailer e-commerce app, to deliver a completely personalized experience to any customer, whenever and wherever they may be.
• Click & Go: If you don’t feel like going to your nearest Zara, you can switch to Store Mode to only see that store’s real-time stock, which you can purchase and collect within 30 minutes through a QR code.
• Click & Find: If you are still unsure about the item, you can also get an in-store guide to exactly where the item is located. No more fretting to explain to a very busy store assistant the shade of cream of the dress you saw your favorite influencer wearing yesterday.
• Click & Try: When I saw this option I thought it was too good to be true. Only if you are a regular during sales season you’ll understand. Spoiler alert, it was. The level of organization and coordination required so that consumers can book their own fitting room to skip the queue— having worked at Zara myself — it just didn’t seem possible with the current digitalization of the stores. The result was clear, packed fitting rooms, and customers claiming to have booked one through the app having to wait in line as the rest of us mortals.
• Digital Receipts: Finally, I always welcome any and every effort that a company makes towards improving their — our — practices. With all this digitalization, it only seems right that Zara adds an option to have all your receipts stored digitally in-app, speeding checkout lines and reducing paper use.

Overall, it is only natural that the company has decided to globalize this success, implementing the concept in the UK and Japan, and expecting to launch it in the rest of Europe and the US by the end of 2021.