Zara, mode rapide

Résumé du document

"When Spain's Crown Prince Felipe and Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano announced their engagement in 2003, the bride-to-be wore a stylish white trouser-suit which raised some eyebrows among those concerned with royal protocol. But within a few weeks, hundreds of European women were wearing something similar. Welcome to the world of instant fashion, in which a Spanish company is defying conventional wisdom and building a global brand: Zara. "Today, in Europe, only a few people ignore the brand name "Zara"?. This retail brand has seen phenomenal success over the past few years and is now part of the leaders in the textile apparel industry. This document will address the following questions about the brand: how does it succeed in this traditional industry where competition is tough? What is different about Zara compared to all these other famous clothes brands? How they are able to offer fashion products responding to the current customers so quickly, and are able to keep up with demand all over the year?

Extraits

[...] The consumers are the one who pull the production, and therefore, their needs and desires have to be well and rapidly identified. Zara has successfully integrated these requirements in its model. Instead of trying to create demand for new trends in the beginning of new seasons by investing a lot in advertising, Zara analyses the current customers' demand in their stores. Once they know what consumers want, it is easier to design and produce appropriate models. And thanks to its good logistic and distribution process, the collections can be accessible in the shops in only few days. [...]

[...] Besides that, there are also a number of support activities which contribute to the added value of a company. These activities refer to: infrastructure, human resource management, technology development and procurement. Zara's particular business model: Zara is vertically integrated which means that they have a control of the whole value chain which helps to manage costs and to react rapidly. Moreover, its management is mainly centralised in Spain in La Coruña. Figure Zara's business model: Elements of Zara's value chain: a. [...]

[...] The apparel industry is also characterized by the big importance of human workforce, usually low qualified, but it tends to a more capitalist industry. Innovation is becoming a key factor (regarding communication and IT for example) for success in this business, as well as costs” competitive advantages like image, positioning, reactivity, logistics, etc Sector analysis (Porter) Zara, or more generally Inditex, competes on the textile apparel industry and more precisely, within the big international apparel retail chains (oriented toward fashion). [...]

[...] They can thus adapt their production very quickly in case of changes in customers' demand. Thanks to these concepts, while it can take up to nine months in the fashion industry to get a collection in the shops, Zara can manage it in two to three weeks. This implies lower (or even none) stocks and less errors in judging the trends since production is not seasonal but more constant. This helps a lot in reducing unsold products and implies thus higher profits. c. Marketing/Communication Zara does almost no advertising to the public. [...]

[...] Therefore, will Zara's model continue to be successful on the long-term? Will its growth be faced to certain limits? No exact answer can be formulated; however, some issues can be raised. Will the company be able to continue its development without advertising in a world where consumers tend to be more and more influenced by this type of communication? Will the brand not be faced to cannibalism if they continue their expansion in Europe by opening new stores in secondary towns? [...]