In the textbook "International Retailing" by Brenda Sternquist, the business focus on the Zara company, shows the overview of the company from the beginning when the brand was born in Spain. The study describes the company's international expansion, business systems, manufacturing and distribution in US markets. Zara is part of a parent company called Inditex Group, centralized in Spain. Zara initially started as a lingerie company and quickly expanded into three fashion sectors as a fashion brand for women, men and children. Zara takes pride in its private label, which keeps the brand image high and keeps advertising costs low, which also increases the company's profit margin. They also depend on rapid product rotation to keep their stores efficient and upscale. Zara's delivery time, a total of three weeks, keeps customers motivated to shop their stores often to purchase the trendiest and newest clothes. They have a limited number of new items on their shelves and sell out within two days, which creates exclusivity for customers and low amounts of markdowns or discounts on their items. Zara maintains a centralized distribution system and produces approximately 10,000 items per year. Zara's international expansion began in 1988 when it first opened a store in Portugal and adopted a strategy of expanding one store per country each year. During the expansion, Zara focused on opening flagship stores in major cities before expanding into nearby, smaller cities. All Zara stores in Spain are wholly owned stores, but the company has also incorporated joint ventures and franchising in specific countries such as Russia and China as part of its expansion to enter markets. Currently, Zara is present in 60 countries with... half of the paper... in Romania in the coming weeks, as well as in South Korea and Mexico in the autumn or winter of 2014." (Evigo). The first stores Zara's online stores were launched in 2010 and the company doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon. With a slow increase in net sales in 2013, the focus will mainly be on opening new stores. image continued in Zara stores in all major cities around the world. The Inditex website news article states: "All new openings and renovations have implemented Inditex's eco-efficient standards, which now cover more than 2,200 stores. of the Group worldwide". (Inditex). The Zara brand is incorporating a more economically favorable shopping environment and promotes environmentally friendly campaigns to promote sustainability from its stores to its industrial and logistics facilities through entire supply chain.