Today we're gonna talk about one of my favorite brands.ZARA.
Actually,I'm in love with the world's largest apparel retailer INDITEX, the flagship chain store of which ZARA is. The fashion group also owns brands such as Massimo Dutti,Pull and Bear, Stradivarius,Bershka etc..
Zara is a Spanish clothing and accessories retailer based in Arteixo,Galicia, and founded in 1975 by Amancio Ortega and Rosalia Mera.
It is claimed that Zara needs just two weeks to develop a new product and get it to stores, compared to the six-month industry average, and launches around 10,000 new designs each year. Zara has resisted the industry-wide trend towards transferring fast fashion production to low-cost countries. Perhaps its most unusual strategy was its policy of zero advertising; the company preferred to invest a percentage of revenues in opening new stores instead. This has increased the idea of Zara as a "fashion imitator" company and low cost products. Lack of advertisement is also in contrast to direct competitors such as Uniqlo and United Colors of Benetton.
Zara was described by Louis Vuitton Fashion Director Daniel Piette as "possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world." Zara has also been described as a "Spanish success story" by CNN.
Amancio Ortega opened the first Zara store in 1975 in a central street in downtown La Coruña, Galicia, Spain. Ortega named his store Zorba after watching the classic film Zorba the Greek, but apparently there was a bar that was called the same, Zorba, two blocks away, and the owner of the bar came and said, "this is going to confuse things to have two Zorbas." They had already made the molds for the letters in the sign, so they just rearranged them to see what they could find, and they found Zara. The first store featured low-priced lookalike products of popular, higher-end clothing fashions. The store proved to be a success, and Ortega began opening more Zara stores throughout Spain. During the 1980s, Ortega started changing the design, manufacturing, and distribution process to reduce lead times and react to new trends in a quicker way, in what he called "instant fashions". The company based its improvements in the use of information technologies and using groups of designers instead of individuals.
Amancio Ortega opened the first Zara store in 1975 in a central street in downtown La Coruña, Galicia, Spain. Ortega named his store Zorba after watching the classic film Zorba the Greek, but apparently there was a bar that was called the same, Zorba, two blocks away, and the owner of the bar came and said, "this is going to confuse things to have two Zorbas." They had already made the molds for the letters in the sign, so they just rearranged them to see what they could find, and they found Zara. The first store featured low-priced lookalike products of popular, higher-end clothing fashions. The store proved to be a success, and Ortega began opening more Zara stores throughout Spain. During the 1980s, Ortega started changing the design, manufacturing, and distribution process to reduce lead times and react to new trends in a quicker way, in what he called "instant fashions". The company based its improvements in the use of information technologies and using groups of designers instead of individuals.
In 1980, the company started its international expansion through Porto, Portugal. In 1989 it entered the United States and in 1990 France.
This international expansion was increased in the 1990s, with Mexico (1992), Greece (1994), Belgium and Sweden (1994), etc. until reaching its current presence in over 73 countries.
Zara stores are company-owned, except where local legislation forbids foreigner-owned businesses; In those cases, Zara franchises the stores.
As of 2007, Zara stores have men's clothing and women's clothing, each of these subdivided in Lower Garment, Upper Garment, Shoes, Cosmetics and Complements, as well as children's clothing (Zara Kids).
Regarding the design strategy, an article in Businessworld magazine describes it as follows: "Zara was a fashion imitator. It focused its attention on understanding the fashion items that its customers wanted and then delivering them, rather than on promoting predicted season's trends via fashion shows and similar channels of influence, which the fashion industry traditionally used.
50% of the products Zara sells are manufactured in Spain, 26% in the rest of Europe, and 24% in Asian and African countries and the rest of the world. So while some competitors outsource all production to Asia, Zara makes its most fashionable items—half of all its merchandise—at a dozen company-owned factories in Spain and Portugal, particularly in Galicia and northern Portugal where labor is somewhat cheaper than in most of Western Europe. Clothes with a longer shelf life, such as basic T-shirts, are outsourced to low-cost suppliers, mainly in Asia and Turkey.
Zara can offer considerably more products than similar companies. It produces about 11,000 distinct items annually compared with 2,000 to 4,000 items for its key competitors. The company can design a new product and have finished goods in its stores in four to five weeks; it can modify existing items in as little as two weeks. Shortening the product life cycle means greater success in meeting consumer preferences. If a design doesn't sell well within a week, it is withdrawn from shops, further orders are canceled and a new design is pursued. Zara relies on sophisticated information technology, such as PDAs with wireless transmission capabilities, in the hands of store managers, to monitor customers' fickle fashion changes.Zara has a range of basic designs that are carried over from year to year, but some fashion forward designs can stay on the shelves less 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.
On September 6, 2010, Financial Times reported that Inditex launched the first online boutique for its best-selling brand Zara. The website will begin in Spain, the UK, Portugal, Italy, Germany and France—six countries that are among the most important of the company's 76 markets. When asked about the company's late arrival to internet retailing, Pablo Isla, chief executive, said they have been waiting for online demand to build before launching into cyberspace. All items on sale at its Zara outlets would be available online and at the same prices. Customers can choose from the usual range of paying methods and opt either for a free store pick-up or paid-for postal delivery. The online return and exchange policy is identical to the store system, with shoppers given 30 days to change their minds. Queries will be handled by customer service operators or via e-mail or chat messaging. Inditex said that iPhone and iPad applications that allowed purchasing would soon be available.
A catching thing about Zara is, that push manufacturers fail to recognize the salient difference between their own model and that of ZARA's..After all, ZARA doesn't pre-sell their styles according to market scheldules - I'll simply state for now that ZARA's model is really very unique and particular.
Actually as I walk into ZARA, I find lots of items that are really similar to the high end brands. That's of course confusing,and brings the thought whether ZARA designs or trends? Anyway, having ZARA copying what has been created by the high end fashion designers doesn't keep me and millions away from purchasing.
I really enjoy beautiful and high quality clothes on me..Hope you do so..
p.s. Another very exciting thing about ZARA is that they have that cut-price affordable fragrances that actually are not that bad.They are a real find if a designer perfume is out of your price range.Though,what I personally never save on are GOOD perfumes.Anyway,I think these fragrances are brilliant and I continuously repurchase them when they run out.Zara Black,Oriental & Chocolate are the ones worth to go back for...
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