SSI expands e-commerce business

MANILA, Philippines — The SSI Group has expanded its e-commerce business in the Philippines.

Zara, the global fashion brand which SSI brought to Manila, launched yesterday its own online store in the country.

The online store will offer collections across its different markets or for men, women and children.

With the launch of its own e-commerce store, Zara’s presence in the Philippines now covers brick and mortar branches and the online sphere.

Customers have an option to have their orders delivered at home or at accessible drop points across the Philippines, and through in-store pick up.

Deliveries and returns to stores and drop points are free. The online store will also enable customers to check the availability of items at any of the Zara stores in Philippines, as well as see recommended products.

With its integrated model of stores and online, customers can choose between picking up their orders at any of the nine Zara stores in the country or at accessible drop points across the Philippines, or home delivery.

Customers may have the option to pick-up their items in the different Zara stores.

Deliveries will be made within one to seven working days and five to seven days in other locations.

Customers can return purchased items free of charge at stores or from home collection within a 30-day period.

For easier customer access and wider reach, Zara’s online store is designed to operate on any mobile device, using any browser and by means of its app, available in both iOS and Android versions.

In the Philippines, Zara is exclusively distributed by International Specialty Concepts Inc., a member of the SSI Group.

At present, it has branches in Ayala Center Cebu, Glorietta 3, Greenbelt 5, Mega Fashion Hall, One Bonifacio High Street, Power Plant Mall, Shangri-la Mall, SM Mall of Asia and Trinoma.

Zara’s expansion into online retail is a response to the growing needs of companies to achieve technology-enabled transformation.

At the recent Decoded Philippines, a summit for over 100 C-level executives from top domestic and multinational companies at Shangri-La at the Fort last month, global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. said the companies must now address and highlight digitization, advanced technologies and tech-enabled disruption in business transformations.

Currently, only one in 12 companies truly succeed at transformation, McKinsey said.