Zara the Sucess Story
ZARA
· Three key success factors – short lead time, more style and low supply of any particular style.
· Zara – the flagship brand of Spain based Inditex group, founded by Amancio Ortega Gaona and opened its first store in 1975.
· 1058 stores located in 69 countries as of March ‘08
· Able to conceptualize the garment, develop, and deliver it to the stores within 2-3 weeks weres the industry average is six months.
· Key to success – integration of design, production, distribution, and retailing
· The model allowed Zara to respond quickly to shifts in consumer tastes and to newly emerging trends.
· The company 's instant fashion model, which completely rotated its retail stock every two weeks, also encouraged customers to return often to its stores, with delivery day becoming known as "Z-day" in some markets. The knowledge that clothing items would not be available for very long also encouraged shoppers to make their purchases more quickly.
· In 1988, the company opened its first foreign store in Oporto, Portugal.
· If a design doesn 't sell well within a week, it is withdrawn from shops, further orders are cancelled and a new design is pursued. No design stays on the shop floor for more than four weeks, which encourages Zara fans to make repeat visits. An average high-street store in Spain expects customers to visit three times a year. That goes up to 17 times for Zara.
· While most retailers try to forecast the fashion trend and produce accordingly, Zara moves with the customer requirements and does not have to depend on forecast.
Design
· The design centre was located in Spain as well and was divided into three segments for Men, Women and Child wear.
· Team consisted of more than 200 designers who can churn out 60 styles each.
· The store managers and sales staff updated the head office every day about the moving stock and provided inputs regarding the new lines, colors, styles and fabrics that customers are demanding.
· The store specialists
· Three key success factors – short lead time, more style and low supply of any particular style.
· Zara – the flagship brand of Spain based Inditex group, founded by Amancio Ortega Gaona and opened its first store in 1975.
· 1058 stores located in 69 countries as of March ‘08
· Able to conceptualize the garment, develop, and deliver it to the stores within 2-3 weeks weres the industry average is six months.
· Key to success – integration of design, production, distribution, and retailing
· The model allowed Zara to respond quickly to shifts in consumer tastes and to newly emerging trends.
· The company 's instant fashion model, which completely rotated its retail stock every two weeks, also encouraged customers to return often to its stores, with delivery day becoming known as "Z-day" in some markets. The knowledge that clothing items would not be available for very long also encouraged shoppers to make their purchases more quickly.
· In 1988, the company opened its first foreign store in Oporto, Portugal.
· If a design doesn 't sell well within a week, it is withdrawn from shops, further orders are cancelled and a new design is pursued. No design stays on the shop floor for more than four weeks, which encourages Zara fans to make repeat visits. An average high-street store in Spain expects customers to visit three times a year. That goes up to 17 times for Zara.
· While most retailers try to forecast the fashion trend and produce accordingly, Zara moves with the customer requirements and does not have to depend on forecast.
Design
· The design centre was located in Spain as well and was divided into three segments for Men, Women and Child wear.
· Team consisted of more than 200 designers who can churn out 60 styles each.
· The store managers and sales staff updated the head office every day about the moving stock and provided inputs regarding the new lines, colors, styles and fabrics that customers are demanding.
· The store specialists