MGMT 6620: Operations & SCM HBS Case Study Zara: IT for Fast Fashion 4/9/2013 1. What is the Zara “business model”? What weaknesses‚ if any‚ do you seen in this business model? The value propositions offered by Zara to its main customers who are young‚ fashion conscious city-dwellers is offering new styles within the time-frame of several weeks as well as providing assortment of choices for customers and the uniqueness of clothing styles fitting individual customer needs. To achieve
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Europe‚ Zara enjoyed an impressive compound annual growth of 26% from 1995 to 2000. Zara was an exceptional in the downturn market and created a standard for apparel industry. Zara’s target customers were fashion- oriented young and middle age women and men‚ who came from middle to upper classes and had a rapidly changing style. To meet the needs and wants of this customer segment‚ Zara built its strengths to enhance its core competitive advantages: Strengths and Weaknesses of Zara‚ and the
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Technology (IT) play in enabling Zara’s counter-intuitive strategy quite opposite to this conventional wisdom? Could the firm have executed its strategy without the help of IT? Why or why not? Answer: IT plays an important role in the success of Zara. It is crucial in the processes of: "DATA GATHERING"‚ "DESIGN" AND "MANUFACTURING AND LOGISTICS" Zara’s store managers lead the intelligence-gathering effort that ultimately determines what ends up on each store’s racks. Armed WITH PERSONAL DIGITAL
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ZARA: IT For Fast Fashion 1. Is Zara’s business model scalable ? No‚ Zara’s business model is not scalable Reasons: • • • • Though Zara is able to do well in a dynamic market‚ most of the sales of Zara come from Spain (46%) and from women’s segment (73.3%). Hence it becomes very difficult for Zara to scale it up to other countries and other segments. Zara follows decentralized model where store managers have lot a of power – It is very difficult to find such efficient people once we they scale
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orry‚ Zara. Gap’s Got Game. by Liz Gunnison Aug 12 2008 The Spanish company eclipses Gap as the world’s biggest specialty retailer‚ but on closer inspection... A Zara store in China. The chain’s owner‚ Inditex‚ surpassed Gap Inc. as the world’s biggest specialty retailer in the second quarter. But the lead may already have vanished. Image: epa/Corbis Based on first-quarter results‚ Zara International of Spain has closed the gap on Gap Inc.‚ becoming the world’s largest fashion retailer by
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customer preferences that can shift literally overnight‚ product lifecycles measured in weeks‚ and the value of your product plummeting if you miss the latest trend. Welcome to the world of fast fashion. Donald Sull and Stefano Turconi examine how Zara‚ a leader in the industry‚ has pioneered an approach to navigate the volatility of fast fashion‚ offering lessons for any company facing rapidly changing markets. Ffaassthion lessons Haute couture has always been a fairly staid affair. Big-name
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Company Overview Zara is one of the largest and the most internationalized retailers that Inditex Group owns. Inditex Group is based in Spain‚ which is a global specialty retailer that designs‚ manufactures‚ and sells apparel‚ footwear‚ and accessories for women‚ men and children around the world. Zara’s history The founder of Zara‚ Amancio Ortega‚ opened the first Zara store in 1975 in a central street in La Caruña‚ Spain. It was first featured as low-priced look-alike products of popular‚ higher-end
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Zara Case Write-Up Zara was founded in 1963‚ by Amancio Ortega Goana. He started the company because he wanted to improve the manufacturing and retail aspects of fashion and to reduce the cost of the apparel chain. He opened the first stores in Spain‚ and slowly over the decades started to expand to different countries. Zara headquarters is in Arteixo‚ Spain‚ with their distribution center close by. Inditex‚ the holding company that owns Zara‚ has a business model‚ which states‚ “Global specialty
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ZARA Income Statement Period Ending: 2012 31/12 2011 31/12 2010 31/12 2009 31/12 Total Revenue 82.98 78.19 89.69 76.7 Revenue 82.98 78.19 89.69 76.7 Other Revenue‚ Total - - - - Cost of Revenue‚ Total 60.29 56.72 59.02 52 Gross Profit 22.69 21.47 30.67 24.7 Total Operating Expenses 77.61 73.35 74.12 63.51 Selling/General/Admin. Expenses‚ Total 3.69 3.24 3.96 3.56 Research & Development - - - - Depreciation / Amortization 13.63 13.38 11.14 7
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ZARA IT for Fast Fashion ( Case Analysis) 1) Please describe three most important competitive advantages of ZARA (Inditex) over its main competitor. How sustainable is this advantage? 2) Assume that ZARA is considering to enter the US market. Please recommend actions for ZARA. Please make clear assumptions when necessary. After reading and analyzing the Zara case we came several conclusions when it comes to Zara’s competitive advantage over its competitors. We understood that Zara is using
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