Zara parent plans to join Tmall

Inditex (ITX:BME), the parent of fast fashion brands including Zara, plans to launch a presence on Chinese online marketplace Tmall, Reuters reported, citing a Wednesday statement by the Spanish firm. Tmall, which offers virtual store fronts to merchants who set their own prices and handle their own logistics for nearly everything but payments, is run by China’s e-commerce behemoth Alibaba. Inditex, the world’s largest fashion retailer, wants to strengthen its position in a country that is already its second biggest by store numbers behind Spain. The company said it would launch Zara on Tmall for its autumn-winter 2014 collection.