Spanish retailer‚ Zara‚ has crafted a sweet success story riding on its image as a low-cost‚ high fashion store. Nirmalya Kumar and Sophie Linguri take to the High Street to look at Zara’s route from rags to riches. I n 1975‚ the first Zara store was opened in La Coruña‚ in Northwest Spain. By 2005‚ Zara’s 723 stores had a selling area of 811‚100 square metres in 56 countries. With sales of e3.8 billion in the financial year 2004‚ Zara had become Spain’s best-known fashion brand and the flagship
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1. With which of the international competitors listed in the case is it most interesting to compare Inditex’s financial results? Why? What do comparisons indicate about Inditex’s relative operating economics? Its relative capital efficiency? We think H&M’s financial results are the most interesting one to compare with Inditex’s. H&M is the most important and largest competitor of Inditex and due to their similar background‚ both being large international European apparel brands and offers fashionable
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Design As the flagship brand of Inditex‚ Zara possesses a large amount of capital for investment in product design. Moreover‚ the young but capable designers in Zara have the sensitivity to capture the newest trendy style. They are the typical air traveler busy shuttle back and forth all kinds of fashion shows and trade fairs in Paris‚ New York‚ London‚ and Milan‚ from which they can get inspiration and recognize the fashion trend accurately. Therefore‚ Zara could rapidly design and release fashion-sensitive
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products are shipped twice a week allowing constant changes in style selection. Customers enjoy coming to Zara because each time they shop‚ they find new clothes‚ shoes and accessories. This intrigues them and‚ as a result‚ prompts them to visit Zara’s stores more often than its competitors’. By constantly introducing new‚ low-price items‚ Zara entices new and existing clients to return to Zara regardless of sales. Such a business model increases customer satisfaction as well as company profits
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Product classification of Zara • Most clothing are classified as an “durable good” as they are used up slowly‚ • Clothing doesn’t need to be disposed of after being worn once‚ but rather could be cleaned and reword until a tear within the seams or a stain kills it‚ or ultimately it goes out of style [pic] Product Lifecycle • Due to the clothing industry is mainly backed behind by what is “cool” or “hip” to date‚ clothing often needs to refresh its look in order to attract customers to purchase
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can’t be afraid to take advantage of change”. - Eric Schmidt This case principally discusses concerning Zara‚ the major procession of provisions of Inditex and the predicament its Information Technology (IT) section is sensing on improving its Point-of-Sale (POS) workstations. In 1975‚ Zara was originated by Amancio Ortega. During 1985‚ Inditex was shaped as an investment business atop Zara‚ erstwhile retail trading handcuffs and a system of on the inside possessed traders. Castellano who served
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T.K.Maxx and Zara are very different retailers in the fashion industry. Whilst one offers low cost designer labels the other retails quality own-brand labelled clothes at a reasonable price. Zara sets itself apart from the giant market place by celebrating its motive to offer exactly what the customer wants‚ going to detective levels to make sure they understand their audience’s wishes. T.K.Maxx on the other-hand distinguishes itself by reducing prices of designer labels by up to 60%‚ and these are
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Brief Summary of Zara 2 How would you advise Salgado to proceed on the issue of upgrading Zara’s POS systems? 3 - Should the company upgrade the POS terminals to modern operating system? 3 - Should the company build in-store networks? 4 - Should the company give employees the ability to look up inventory balances for items in their own stores? 4 - Should the company give employees the ability to look up inventory balances for items in their other stores? 4 What is the Zara “business model”
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TYPICAL PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE • Sales decreases as the product moves over the timeline ZARA PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE • High fashion industry with latest designs and trends 5-6 weeks life cycle • The life cycle curves is shown as the graph above ZARA’S KEY FACTORS SHORT LEAD TIME LOWER QUANTITIES MORE STYLES • Keep up with the newest fashion trends more fashionable clothes • Zara only needs about 30 days to identify new trend and have the product available in stores
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CURRENT SITUATION Goal: ZARA’S goal is to respond quickly and accurately to shifting costumer demands. In order to do this ZARA establish 3 processes. 1. Ordering: Every store places an order twice a week to La Coruña. The order includes replenishment of existing items and initial request for newly items. • The store manager determines the replenishment items‚ walking around the store and counting the garments and talking with sales people. THEY CAN NOT LOOK UP THE INVENTORY BALANCE
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