Zara-owner Inditex saw overall sales decline by 28 per cent to €20.4 billion last year, despite online sales surging by 77 per cent to €6.6 billion.

In its end of year statement, the company said it had reached a net profit of €1.1 billion.

It said that its digital transformation strategy, first initiated in 2012, alongside investments made to integrate the online and store platforms over a nine-year period, enabled it to “continue its business throughout the pandemic” by leveraging a single, digitally integrated stockroom.

The fashion retailer’s full deployment of a radio frequency identification (RFID) system enabled it to quickly rollout the integrated stock management system, which is available in 5,777 stores across 89 markets.

The company said it was this system that meant it was able to fulfil 46 million online orders worth €1.2 billion from its stores.

But the company’s online growth did not offset the impact of international store closures prompted by the pandemic.

Inditex has invested more than €11 billion in technological integration, digitalisation, transformation and store adaptation since 2012, which it said supported the strong online sales growth last year.

The company expects to spend a further €2.7 billion across 2021 and 2022.

During 2020, the company also launched its online sales platform across 25 new markets.

According to the group, total online visits increased by 50 per cent in 2020 to 5.3 billion.

“Inditex has emerged stronger after such a challenging year thanks to the amazing commitment displayed by everyone here at the company,” said Inditex executive chairman, Pablo Isla.

Isla emphasised the relevance of the company’s digital transformation strategy.

“Inditex as a company is stronger today than it was two years ago, with a unique business model and a global, flexible, digitally integrated and sustainable sales platform, which places us in an excellent position for the future,” he said.

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