Bpr and Zara

Zara is a high-end street store offering the latest tastes in fashion for women, men, and children alike. Amancio Ortego, Zara’s founder, has made the store grow with rapid success in both its home country, Spain, and internationally. One of the distinct reasons why Zara is such a unique company compared to its competitors is its foundation of the quick response system. Today, Zara’s cycle time is six weeks, in which it responds to its customers’ demand very quickly, unlike most stores that take half a year. Overall, Zara is distinct from most apparel stores in its ability to travel globally and from its international strategy.

Second, in fulfillment, we can also see speed in responding to demand. For example, the replenishment, as well as production will be optimized according to supply and demand as quickly as possible. Besides, the fulfillment will commonly completed in one or two days, clothes flowed quickly, and without stopping, from factories to DCs to stores, where they were immediately put on the sales floor. Third, in design and manufacturing, we can find how Zara respond quickly to demand. Zara brought out new items continuously throughout the year, including both changes to existing garments and entirely new creations. The network of production had made design from conception through production and into the DC in as little as three weeks. Besides, Zara did not have to predict what would be selling six months, or even one month, in the future; it could continuously sense what customers wanted to buy and respond “on the fly.” All these operations reflect the speed-chasing and target-oriented nature of Zara business.

There vertical integration allows small batches of produce to be distributed and tested out allow them to save more money and cut inventory backlogs. Zara maintains a low cost by avoiding outsourcing (where possible) and producing all its merchandise and produce in home soil in Spain. Also Zara own many fabric dying, cutting and processing equipment that provided Zara added control and flexibility to adopt new trends on demand. Effectively Zara is able to design and manufacture products as well as deliver them in less than two weeks in contrast to competitors such as Benetton and H&M which require at least between five weeks and 4 months lead time to fill orders from its retail operations. One major unique characteristic was that Zara own its in house production which gives Zara the flexibility of quantity, variety, and the frequency of the designs they produce.

Zara’s mission was always to provide the consumer the ability to purchase high quality clothing and footer with the latest trends with same look as the high fashion luxury brands at an affordable price for the everyday man or woman which has led to their steady rise and leading to customers being loyal and sticking with brand for a long period of time.

Zara’s strategy is to offer cutting edge fashion at affordable prices by following fashion and identifying which styles are “hot”, and quickly getting the latest styles into stores. They can move from identifying a trend to having clothes ready for sale within 30 days (whereas most retailers take 4-12 months). This is made possible by controlling almost the whole garment supply chain from design to retail.

Zara is a Spanish clothing and accessory retail company founded in 1975 by Amancio Ortega and Rosalía Mera. It is the main brand of the Inditex group, the world's largest apparel retailer. Zara also owns brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, and Uterqüe. Zara’s strategy is to offer cutting edge fashion at affordable prices by following fashion and identifying which styles are “hot”, and quickly getting the latest styles into stores. They can move from identifying a trend to having clothes ready for sale within 30 days (whereas most retailers take 4–12 months). This is made possible by controlling almost the whole garment supply chain from design to retail. Zara, as of 2017, manages up to 20 clothing collections a year.

Let us first consider Zara 's main competitive advantage before analyzing how current and potential future strategies will affect this competitive advantage. Zara currently employs a "design-on-demand" retail model allowing the company to bring the latest fashion trends from

The basic strategy for fighting competition is to attract buyers at lower prices, more unique designs, high-quality design, efficient customer service and solid image brand. Thus bargaining power of buyer for apparel industry is high as the products falls under the basic needs in human lives. There is no much difference in terms of products offered by the apparel company, so if buyer is unhappy with the product or service they can easily switch to another brand. Thus, Zara are trying to strengthen its position in the market by using their unique strategy by giving priority to buyer to meet their special needs.

Zara’s product differentiation strategy is based on high quality and low prices. The company wants to be fashionable and desire for everyone. This is the reason of their strategy (low price and high quality).

In comparison to competitors, Zara’s business strategy, in regards to strategic partnerships and cost of production, provide for a strategic competitive advantage. Zara, unlike its competitors such as Gap, Benetton, and H&M, does not use Asian outsourcing. Eighty percent of Zara’s materials are manufactured in Europe, with 50% made in Zara controlled facilities in the Galicia region of Spain near headquarters. Most of Zara’s competitors have 100% outsourcing to cheap Asian countries. Though the cost of production in Spain is 17-20% more expensive than Asia, Zara does have a competitive advantage over its competitors in regards to operations. The local strategic partnerships that Zara maintains with manufacturers in Europe allow for a product throughput time of 3-4 weeks from conception to distribution. To make this happen, the company designs and cuts its fabric in-house and it acquires fabrics in only four colours to keep costs low. The proximity of these suppliers gives Zara great flexibility in adapting their product lines based on up to date market trends and consumer behaviour. It also decreases costs of holding inventory. Zara’s competitors, through outsourcing to Asian countries such as China, sacrifice the benefits of proximity for low labour and production costs.

Zara is a clothing company that was founded in 1975 and came from Spain. Its under Inditex group which owns other brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Oysho, Uterques and many more companies. Zara grew very fast and currently in 2012 has 1,617 stores worldwide. With a large name in the fashion industry, besides that, Zara faces tough competition internationally including H&M, Benetton, and GAP. In order to keep up with the speed chic, Zara need to keep up also with the information system to run their business.

An interesting fact is their supply chain for the majority of their product is located close to their distribution centers. Their distribution centers are located in Spain and the designer ware is produced in Morocco, Portugal, and Turkey (“Case 3-4. Continued Growth for Zara and Inditex,” 2013). This ensures that new designs are produced and shipped quickly to their stores. This plan is reasonably different from their competition.

In the book Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, Michael Hammer and James Champy discuss a concept that he originated known as “reengineering”. The process of reengineering involves coming up with new ideas, specifically processes, which are technologically advanced and extremely effective in completing corporate work. Companies must think ahead so that they will not only succeed today, but also set the rules for future business. A critical part of reengineering involves ignoring the current procedures and structures that have been set by a company and replacing them with more efficient processes. In creating these new processes, companies must focus on the needs and wants of consumers. This will ensure customer satisfaction, which is a key part of maintaining a competitive advantage in today’s world.

Zara has greater visibility into the supply chain which makes it responsive to the current market. This allows Zara to sense and respond quickly to capitalize on new opportunities.

Zara employs one of the greatest and most successful operations strategy in the retail industry is the strategy employed by Zara. Zara being the flagship brand of a Spanish fashion retail giant, Inditex, (Industrias de Deseno Texti S.A.), was founded in 1975 and is engaged in designing textiles, manufacturing and distribution (Dutta. D, 2002). Zara started as a single shop in La Coruna but rapidly expanded to 68 countries. The company primarily operates in the Europe zone, where about 80% of its sales are made with LaCoruna, which is still home of its central offices. Its stores are opened each day and known as one of the fastest growing fashion retailers in Europe. Zara’s entire business operations, designing, sourcing, manufacturing, distribution process and retailing, it gained a couple of successful factors that include: a