Zara is opening its first ever store in the world dedicated to click-and-collect orders at Westfield Stratford City in east London.
Primarily designed for the ordering and collecting of online orders, the 2150 sq ft shop is slated to open today.
It will act as a pop-up that will open until May while Zara’s flagship in the shopping centre is renovated and expanded.
The store will offer a selection of women’s and men’s clothing for online purchase directly in-store, along with the rest of the brand’s fashion ranges.
Store staff will also be equipped with mobile devices to assist customers, who can either receive orders on the same day if placed before 2pm, or the next day if placed in the afternoon.
The fashion giant is also implementing a product recommendation system in-store that is based on information screens embedded into mirrors.
This means that once customers scan an item using radio frequency identification technology, the system can bring up – in the right size – multiple choices for coordinating and combining the item the customer is trying on with other garments and accessories.
Work is also slated to begin on expanding and refurbishing the existing Zara flagship store in Westfield Stratford, which will be extended to 48,000sq ft and will feature a new store concept.
It will be the first Zara store in the world to offer four sections: women’s, men’s, kids’ and click-and-collect.
With two storeys, it will not have windows on the ground floor, but the glass on the top floor will have sensors projecting images from current ranges as shoppers approach it.
The new store will also feature an automated online order collection point serviced by a small warehouse – which is manned by a robot that has the capacity to handle 2400 packages simultaneously – which will enable shoppers to pick up purchases made on online whenever it suits them.
The chairman and chief executive of Zara’s parent company, Inditex, Pablo Isla said the two stores “marked another milestone” in Zara’s strategy of integrating stores with the online world.