Data from online marketing research firm SEMrush shows how the March launch of fashion giant Zara's new online store in Australia has shaken the local retail market.

Research shows ad spend went through the roof once local retailers recognised the threat from the arrival of Zara online in Australia.

The digital marketing data provider analysed the web traffic for fashion websites visited frequently by Australians and identified a list of eight of Zara's top competitors, including both local and international brands; The Iconic, David Jones, Asos, Cotton On, Surfstitch, Pretty Little Thing, Showpo, and Missguided.

Organic search traffic to Zara.com from Australia increased by 50% from January to March. However, it was the paid search that was the biggest driver of traffic to Zara's new Australian online store, which saw an increase from January to March of an incredible 18,900%.

SEMrush head of Global Marketing, Olga Andrienko, says with Zara being present and having an aggressive marketing strategy, change is seen across the whole market.

“Zara's top competitors have all dramatically increased their advertising budgets. Local retailers are now trying to neutralise the effect of Zara's launch here,” Andrienko adds.

Although it was declared that Zara was planning to open an online store in Australia, the timing was not announced until early March for a mid-month launch.

In an effort to reduce the impact of the international brand's entry into the online market, some but not all reacted to the competitive intelligence about Zara by increasing their digital marketing spend on search. SEMrush also identified that local fashion retailer, David Lawrence lost about ten percent of its usual traffic within the same period from January to March. SEMrush uses over 30 tools to report online marketing data, including website traffic, digital trends and search volumes.

The firm collects search data for 140 countries and provides SEO, PPC and content marketing solutions for in-house marketing teams and agencies.