Zara Study Case
CASE STUDY
Zara
The case describes how Zara, operating out of the Galician port of La Coruña in north-west Spain has managed to become a benchmark for speed and flexibility in the garment industry. The case offers an illustration of a fast-response global supply, production and retail network. In 2003 Zara was the only retailer that could deliver garments to its stores worldwide (507 in 33 countries) in just fifteen days after they were designed. It could do that because of its unique systems for product design, order administration, production, distribution and retailing. The unconventional approach that Zara often deploys in these areas provides interesting opportunities for discussion and learning.
Kasra Ferdows,
Georgetown University, USA ferdowsk@georgetown.edu
Michael Lewis,
University of Warwick, UK michael.lewis@warwick.ac.uk
Jose A.D. Machuca,
University of Sevilla, Spain. jmachuca@cica.es
The unabridged Zara case was the winner of the 2003 Indiana University Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER)-sponsored Production and Operations Management Society(POMS) International Case Competition.
Isabelle Borges, one of the product market specialists in the women’s wear department at the Zara headquarters, sensed that they were on to something. The new khaki skirt had sold out in the La Coruña store after only a few hours on the shelves and the store manager had just told her that she could have easily sold more. A small batch of 2800 skirts, just enough to “test the waters,” had been sent out the previous night to a selection of Zara’s worldwide network of stores. Ms. Borges called around a few of the Seville stores and discovered that sales there were also very brisk. If these market signals were not enough, she had also spotted a colleague wearing the skirt. “That’s always a good sign. Employees here are tough critics,” she said. As more and more reports came in from other stores, echoing the same positive
Zara
The case describes how Zara, operating out of the Galician port of La Coruña in north-west Spain has managed to become a benchmark for speed and flexibility in the garment industry. The case offers an illustration of a fast-response global supply, production and retail network. In 2003 Zara was the only retailer that could deliver garments to its stores worldwide (507 in 33 countries) in just fifteen days after they were designed. It could do that because of its unique systems for product design, order administration, production, distribution and retailing. The unconventional approach that Zara often deploys in these areas provides interesting opportunities for discussion and learning.
Kasra Ferdows,
Georgetown University, USA ferdowsk@georgetown.edu
Michael Lewis,
University of Warwick, UK michael.lewis@warwick.ac.uk
Jose A.D. Machuca,
University of Sevilla, Spain. jmachuca@cica.es
The unabridged Zara case was the winner of the 2003 Indiana University Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER)-sponsored Production and Operations Management Society(POMS) International Case Competition.
Isabelle Borges, one of the product market specialists in the women’s wear department at the Zara headquarters, sensed that they were on to something. The new khaki skirt had sold out in the La Coruña store after only a few hours on the shelves and the store manager had just told her that she could have easily sold more. A small batch of 2800 skirts, just enough to “test the waters,” had been sent out the previous night to a selection of Zara’s worldwide network of stores. Ms. Borges called around a few of the Seville stores and discovered that sales there were also very brisk. If these market signals were not enough, she had also spotted a colleague wearing the skirt. “That’s always a good sign. Employees here are tough critics,” she said. As more and more reports came in from other stores, echoing the same positive