Do you know who Amancio Ortega is? You don't. Well, you should. According to Forbes, he is the world's third richest person. He's worth the small matter of some 75 billion US dollars. And how has he come by this vast fortune? Shops, that's how. Do you know, for example, Zara? Ah yes, you do. That's one of Amancio's chains. Just one that makes up the Inditex empire.
Amancio is therefore a sort of European Bill Gates, who has a few bob more than Amancio - 89.1 billion. When you have that amount stashed beneath the bed, you can afford to be generous. Which Bill is. So is Amancio. Via his foundation, he's handed over five million euros to the Balearic public health system to assist with funding for cancer treatment and research.
Such a gesture, you might think, would receive unanimous support. But if you think this, you haven't taken Podemos into account. Alberto Jarabo didn't say that he was against the donation, but he did describe it as "alms" from a millionaire, that it was of "dubious origin" and that it was linked to cases of "labour exploitation and unfair competition". It is necessary, Alberto suggested to the rest of parliament, to question where these funds come from.
Francina accused Alberto of "demagoguery", which is a fairly standard riposte to almost anything that Alberto comes out with. Everyone else thought he was a bit of a twerp.
Meanwhile, over at the Council of Mallorca, Podemos were in the process of re-enacting the banishments of Xe-Lo and Montse that they had successfully achieved in parliament. Lucas Gálvez is another Podemos sort that no one would otherwise ever have heard of, rather like Montse for instance, were it not for them falling foul of the Podemos apparatus. Actually, it seems that few in Podemos have heard of him either. Or set eyes on him at least.
Iván Sevillano, yet another obscure name from the Podemos ranks, is the party's deputy spokesperson at the Council. He maintains that Lucas has committed some form of fraud against the citizens by not giving up his seat in the Council. This is because Lucas, who apparently has some 25 party disciplinary sanctions hanging over him, has seemingly not been turning up to meetings.
By way of punishment, they stopped paying all his salary and ultimately left him living off his allowances alone. Lucas has been scandalised. They say he's not going to meetings, but what's he supposed to do when he's left with only some 900 euros a months for which he is meant to work eight hours a day and travel back and forth from Felanitx. Well, as far as the travel is concerned, he might like to ask Balti (who also lives in Felanitx) if he can have a lift. There must be room in the parliament president's Kangoo, and the Council is hardly that far from the parliament building.
More to the point, though, is the fact, so Lucas claims, that he was the one who drafted the so-called Manifesto of Sineu. This was the sort of revolutionary movement against Alberto, whose leadership was openly being criticised. Iván says it's got nothing to do with the manifesto. It's all to do with a "lack of involvement" by Lucas over the two years since he was elected.
Showing posts with label Zara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zara. Show all posts
Monday, June 12, 2017
Friday, January 27, 2012
Are You Being Served? Spanish retailing
Ten years ago I splashed out 1500 euros on a decent digital camera. Having parted with the cash, the camera soon developed a fault. It turned out to have been just one of those things. The replacement was perfectly ok and served me for several years until it was stolen.
There had been no difficulty in obtaining the replacement from the retailer. I explained that there was a fault. There were no questions, there was no examination of the camera, and no quibbling whatsoever. The sales assistant got a new boxed-up camera and handed it over.
The point of this story is that the camera was bought at and then replaced by the main El Corte Inglés department store in Palma. El Corte Inglés doesn't do cheap. But what it does do is quality and service.
Gripes about service in Mallorca are legitimate, but there are many examples which disprove a widely-held belief that service is universally lousy. El Corte Inglés is one, and it is an example from a sector - retail - that is often damned for its unreliable opening hours and apparent lack of interest in the customer.
A while ago I mentioned the fact that it was hard to think of really world-class Spanish businesses. A correspondent referred to a handful which had escaped my attention, one being the Zara fashion store chain. Being strictly accurate, Zara is just a brand; it is one part of a suite of stores that comprise a company called Inditex. And Inditex has something in common with El Corte Inglés; they both feature in the list of the world's top 50 retailers.
The consultants at Deloitte are a busy bunch. They churn out surveys left, right and centre. Coming hard on the heels of one of Spanish travel agents, Deloitte has issued, in collaboration with Stores media, its 2012 "Global Powers of Retailing" survey.
This ranks, in order of sales, the leading 250 retailers across the globe. Dominating the top 30 are US companies - Wal-Mart is way out on its own at number one, but the UK's Tesco is number three in the world - but just under these real powerhouse companies comes a trio of Spanish retailers. El Corte Inglés is at 47, Inditex is at 49, but beating them both, and therefore Spain's leading retailer, is Mercadona, which is ranked at 42. There is only one other Spanish company in the 250, and that is Eroski (98).
It's when the list is broken down according to style of store that Spanish performance becomes more significant. Mercadona can't really compete with fast-moving consumer goods giants like Wal-Mart and Tesco, but El Corte Inglés is the world's fifth largest diversified retailer (beating Marks and Spencer into sixth place) and Inditex is the fifth largest fashion goods retailer.
The growth of Inditex has been impressive, despite economic conditions. It hasn't relied on acquisition but on expansion into new geographic markets. So well has it been doing that it is likely to overtake two well-known US companies, Kohl's and J.C.Penney, and is not so far behind Macy's, the world's number one fashion retailer.
Zara and Inditex's growth is in keeping with the fact that the most profitable of the retail sectors is fashion, but Inditex's success could also be a cause of competition. The Chinese, now developing quality brands but at lower prices, have been moving in, the likes of Mulaya seeking to take on Zara. But as with El Corte Inglés, a reputation for quality is likely to maintain Zara's strong position. However, where Inditex can expand into foreign markets, so can others.
Of UK (Irish) stores that many an expat has expressed a desire to have in Mallorca, Argos and Primark are names that regularly crop up. Argos would find it difficult, and the fact that at number four in the world's list of so-called hardlines and leisure goods retailers is Amazon.com partly explains why it would. Primark would be a different matter. It has already been successful in moving into mainland Spain and as it is also in Gran Canaria, then why not Mallorca? And it's not just the expats who would be thankful for a Primark. There is a Facebook page called "Queremos un Primark en Palma!" ("queremos" being we want) that has over 4,000 likes.
Analysts have identified over 140 cities in 12 countries that could be ripe for a Primark store. If there were more in Spain, and at least one in Mallorca, then Inditex may just have to watch out.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
There had been no difficulty in obtaining the replacement from the retailer. I explained that there was a fault. There were no questions, there was no examination of the camera, and no quibbling whatsoever. The sales assistant got a new boxed-up camera and handed it over.
The point of this story is that the camera was bought at and then replaced by the main El Corte Inglés department store in Palma. El Corte Inglés doesn't do cheap. But what it does do is quality and service.
Gripes about service in Mallorca are legitimate, but there are many examples which disprove a widely-held belief that service is universally lousy. El Corte Inglés is one, and it is an example from a sector - retail - that is often damned for its unreliable opening hours and apparent lack of interest in the customer.
A while ago I mentioned the fact that it was hard to think of really world-class Spanish businesses. A correspondent referred to a handful which had escaped my attention, one being the Zara fashion store chain. Being strictly accurate, Zara is just a brand; it is one part of a suite of stores that comprise a company called Inditex. And Inditex has something in common with El Corte Inglés; they both feature in the list of the world's top 50 retailers.
The consultants at Deloitte are a busy bunch. They churn out surveys left, right and centre. Coming hard on the heels of one of Spanish travel agents, Deloitte has issued, in collaboration with Stores media, its 2012 "Global Powers of Retailing" survey.
This ranks, in order of sales, the leading 250 retailers across the globe. Dominating the top 30 are US companies - Wal-Mart is way out on its own at number one, but the UK's Tesco is number three in the world - but just under these real powerhouse companies comes a trio of Spanish retailers. El Corte Inglés is at 47, Inditex is at 49, but beating them both, and therefore Spain's leading retailer, is Mercadona, which is ranked at 42. There is only one other Spanish company in the 250, and that is Eroski (98).
It's when the list is broken down according to style of store that Spanish performance becomes more significant. Mercadona can't really compete with fast-moving consumer goods giants like Wal-Mart and Tesco, but El Corte Inglés is the world's fifth largest diversified retailer (beating Marks and Spencer into sixth place) and Inditex is the fifth largest fashion goods retailer.
The growth of Inditex has been impressive, despite economic conditions. It hasn't relied on acquisition but on expansion into new geographic markets. So well has it been doing that it is likely to overtake two well-known US companies, Kohl's and J.C.Penney, and is not so far behind Macy's, the world's number one fashion retailer.
Zara and Inditex's growth is in keeping with the fact that the most profitable of the retail sectors is fashion, but Inditex's success could also be a cause of competition. The Chinese, now developing quality brands but at lower prices, have been moving in, the likes of Mulaya seeking to take on Zara. But as with El Corte Inglés, a reputation for quality is likely to maintain Zara's strong position. However, where Inditex can expand into foreign markets, so can others.
Of UK (Irish) stores that many an expat has expressed a desire to have in Mallorca, Argos and Primark are names that regularly crop up. Argos would find it difficult, and the fact that at number four in the world's list of so-called hardlines and leisure goods retailers is Amazon.com partly explains why it would. Primark would be a different matter. It has already been successful in moving into mainland Spain and as it is also in Gran Canaria, then why not Mallorca? And it's not just the expats who would be thankful for a Primark. There is a Facebook page called "Queremos un Primark en Palma!" ("queremos" being we want) that has over 4,000 likes.
Analysts have identified over 140 cities in 12 countries that could be ripe for a Primark store. If there were more in Spain, and at least one in Mallorca, then Inditex may just have to watch out.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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