Fashion and Zara
MGT200 INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT, D. Ong-de Jesus
CASE 1: ZARA INTERNATIONAL: Fashion at the Speed of Light
At the announcement of her engagement to Spain's Crown Prince Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano wore a chic white pant suit. Within a few weeks, hundreds of European women sported the same look. Welcome to a fashion, a trend that sees clothing retailers frequently purchasing small quantities of merchandise to stay on top of emerging trends. In this world of "hot today, gauche tomorrow," no company does fast fashion better than Zara international. Shoppers in over 70 countries are fans of Zara’s knack for bringing the latest styles from sketchbook to clothing rack at lightning speed and reasonable prices.
not replenished. Instead they are replaced with new designs to create scarcity value-shoppers cannot be sure that designs in store one day will be available the next. Store managers track sales data with handheld computers. They can reorder hot items in less than an hour. This lets Zara know what’s selling and what’s not; when look doesn’t pan out, designers promptly put together new products. According to Dilip Patel, U.K. commercial director for lnditex, new arrivals are rushed to store sales floors still on the black plastic hangers used in shipping. Shoppers who are in the know recognize these designs as the newest of the new; soon after, any items left over are rotated to Zara's standard wood hangers. Inside and out, Zara's stores are specially dressed to strengthen the brand. lnditex considers this to be of the greatest importance because that is where shoppers ultimately decide which fashions make the cut. In a faux shopping street in the basement of the company's headquarters, stylists craft and photograph eye-catching layouts that are e-mailed every two weeks to store managers for replication. Zara stores sit on some of the world's glitziest shopping streets—including New York's Fifth Avenue, near the flagship stores of leading international fashion
CASE 1: ZARA INTERNATIONAL: Fashion at the Speed of Light
At the announcement of her engagement to Spain's Crown Prince Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano wore a chic white pant suit. Within a few weeks, hundreds of European women sported the same look. Welcome to a fashion, a trend that sees clothing retailers frequently purchasing small quantities of merchandise to stay on top of emerging trends. In this world of "hot today, gauche tomorrow," no company does fast fashion better than Zara international. Shoppers in over 70 countries are fans of Zara’s knack for bringing the latest styles from sketchbook to clothing rack at lightning speed and reasonable prices.
not replenished. Instead they are replaced with new designs to create scarcity value-shoppers cannot be sure that designs in store one day will be available the next. Store managers track sales data with handheld computers. They can reorder hot items in less than an hour. This lets Zara know what’s selling and what’s not; when look doesn’t pan out, designers promptly put together new products. According to Dilip Patel, U.K. commercial director for lnditex, new arrivals are rushed to store sales floors still on the black plastic hangers used in shipping. Shoppers who are in the know recognize these designs as the newest of the new; soon after, any items left over are rotated to Zara's standard wood hangers. Inside and out, Zara's stores are specially dressed to strengthen the brand. lnditex considers this to be of the greatest importance because that is where shoppers ultimately decide which fashions make the cut. In a faux shopping street in the basement of the company's headquarters, stylists craft and photograph eye-catching layouts that are e-mailed every two weeks to store managers for replication. Zara stores sit on some of the world's glitziest shopping streets—including New York's Fifth Avenue, near the flagship stores of leading international fashion