Case Study : The Marketing Strategy

The aim of this case study is to analyze how ZARA has achieved its success through various business strategies. In particular, we will focus on supply chain management the relation between suppliers and retailers which helped to increase the efficiency of the company and also made customers satisfy. In particular, we will analyze various analytical tools and techniques implemented by ZARA to achieve success. And

Zappos has a very special relationship with all of its suppliers. Through every interaction they work to WOW them by not only being great business partners but Zappos shares all of their inventory information with them. They developed an Extranet which allows venders to see on hand inventory, sales and pricing and margins. This insight provides Zappos with a clear competitive advantage when it comes to managing their inventory. Instead of only having internal buyers worry about when and what to purchase the venders themselves can make recommendations. If a supplier sees that one item is selling really well they can

Amazon.com is beginning to aggregate other e-commerce that are linked via strategic placement and investments. The vision is to make it so customers don’t have to go elsewhere to shop very often especially online (Scally, 2000). The reputation it has is so strong that any association with Amazon.com helps create an impression of validity and success for anyone that chooses to partner with them. Amazon has one of the most-sophisticated supply-chain systems in the world, and it was all built from scratch. Homemade applications handle nearly every aspect of its supply chain: warehouse management, transportation management, inbound and outbound shipping, demand forecasts, inventory planning, and more. In the last four years, Amazon has worked to minimize the need for human intervention in its supply-chain processes, such as manually inputting sales forecasts into an inventory-management system (Bacheldor, 2004). Today, Amazon 's supply-chain apps communicate in real time, a rarity when most companies have to integrate

This case study analysis is based on the 2009 case study from Stanford Graduate School of Business titled Zappos.com: Developing a supply chain to deliver WOW! It begins with the general overview of the background, philosophies and current problems faced by Zappos. This is followed by a hierarchal ranking of the four major presenting problems for the company, which are: maintaining the “wow” image without overspending, inventory management/distribution problems, transportation efficiency problems and customer behavior problems.

Altius was losing market share due to several reasons a few of which have been mentioned below:

Airbnb is a two-sided peer-to-peer rental and accommodation online platform that integrates individuals that are interested in renting their real estate properties to those people who are attracted to short-term lodging. Airbnb was founded back in 2008 in San Francisco by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk. The co-founders of Airbnb came up with this idea after lacking enough money to pay their rent. As a result, they ended up renting part of their loft to strangers to assist subsidize their rent problems. Later, they saw it as a business opportunity and developed a website that would be used as a platform for their

Zappos is an online retail company founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn. Initially, the firm used the domain name shoesite.com to sell its products. However, this was seen as a limiting factor because it would be confined to selling shoes using this domain name. This resulted in the change of name to Zappos. This name is a variation of zapatos, the Spanish name meaning shoes. In its second year of operation, the organization made $1.6 million in sales. The management had two objectives. The first was to ensure the company grossed over $1 billion by 2010. The second was to appear on fortune’s list of best companies to work in the same time. Employees achieved these objectives before the set timeline. Sales target were achieved in

Zara’s vertically integrated supply chain management has had a great advantage on this retailer’s sales. The risk that other retailers take with trying to predict fashion trends a year in advance is eliminated for Zara. Due to the store’s rapid restocks of new designs every two weeks, customers are introduced to the latest fashion trends. This is a trait that puts Zara above its competitors such as H&M and Gap. Zara possesses a very wide-ranging merchandise assortment sold in stores but produce a low quantity of garments so if an item does not sell as well as they had hoped, they wont lose as much revenue as there is not as much stock to be discounted. This also allows Zara to react quickly and analyze a fast response should the market change rapidly.

Students will work in small groups within their seminar and make a number of presentations on their chosen organisation. Further information on the seminar activities is detailed separately.

The retail giant Zara have proven that utilizing all resources and different management techniques branded the store as a fashion empire. However, Zara has been named one of the most profitable retailers in the world. Zara has expanded and is operating stores all over the world which makes the retailer global. The philosophy behind the retail giant is immersing new fashion fast. Furthermore, Zara focus is producing high-end quality clothes through creativity. The retail giant uses a rapid response system to trending clothes which increase Zara profits and market demands. The retailer implemented several business models to reflect the current state of the business. For example, capabilities, utilize short lead times, reduce inventory risk, decrease quantities that are produced and increase choices and styles, value drivers and concept. Following this business model allowed Zara to be branded as supplying the consumer with what they want and fast. Nevertheless, the retailer offers moderate pricing, customer loyalty, and a turnaround time of the latest trends of 24 to 48 hours. These goals formulated the fundamental concept of monitoring production, maintaining designs and tracking the distribution processes. The entire process has enabled Zara to exploit and execute all competitors. Also, the strategy behind Zara planning is maintaining total control over production and keeping manufacturing and all designing in-house. Within this case study, five question will be answered

The generic strategy framework (porter 1984) comprises two alternatives each with two alternative scopes. These are Differentiation and low-cost leadership each with a dimension of Focus-broad or narrow. ** Product differentiation ** Cost leadership ** Market segmentation * Innovation strategies — This deals with the firm 's rate of the new product development and business model innovation. It asks whether the company is on the cutting edge of technology and business innovation. There are three types: ** Pioneers ** Close followers ** Late followers * Growth strategies — In this scheme we ask the question, “How should the firm grow?”. There are a number of different ways of answering that question, but the most common gives four answers:

“The primary purpose of a marketing strategy is to effectively allocate and coordinate marketing resources and activities to accomplish the firm’s objectives within a specific product market.

“Generation Y or the Millennials” refer to those born between 1977 and 1997. Now into their twenties and early thirties, they are a rising, significant group of workers and consumers at the same time (making up some 40% of the total population for most economies). With a better monthly income from their better skilled and higher qualification (than the “baby boomers”) and taking to the internet and the latest technologies “like ducks to water”, their likes, wants and needs hence dictate what is produced, how it is produced, for whom it is produced and how it is marketed to them! For a more detailed listing of their other characteristic

It was only when companies like Zappos which positioned itself to be customer friendly, by creating a tagline "Powered by Service," came into limelight that clients got a flavor of how they have a huge role to play in purchases. Zappos as on online company, did not start with brick-and-mortar stores, so instead of adapting to new technology, they were embraced by it.

Zara’s successful fast - fashion business model also refers to its push-pull strategy in which the customer plays an active role. Zara’s design and production activity begins with customer demand in retail stores. The trend information and feedback are sent back continuously to the headquarter where designers create new designs based on the real-time data. This strategy enables Zara to get access to real demand and leverage the responsiveness to customers. A very fast and highly responsive supply chain is needed to make certain that deliveries are sufficiently frequent (Ferdows et al., 2004).