Zara Information System

Hence, technology is bettering reliability and speed with which information is divulged (Porter, 1980). Hand-held computers or PDA’s are utilized by Zara to collect information on consumer needs between retail stores and the factory in La Coruna. This along with regular telephone conversations between store managers and marketing specialists are one of the reasons that Zara’s information network is so effective. The utilization of PDA’s can be done by any company; it is Zara’s determination not to allow important information to fall by the wayside that assists with its success. PDAs are connected to the store 's point-of-sale (POS) system, enabling managers to see how garments rank by sales. In as little as an hour, managers can send information that combine the hard data captured at the POS intermixed with acumen on what customers would like to see. All of this data allows Zara to design and produce styles and orders based on feedback rather than guesswork. Hence, Zara avoids costly overproduction and the consequent sales and mark-downs that are so widespread in the fast fashion industry (Rohwedder and Johnson, 2008).

Zara is a Spanish clothing and accessories retailer based in Arteixo, Galicia, and founded in 1975 by Amancio Orteg. It is the flagship chain store of the Inditex group, the world's largest apparel retailer. Zara describes its business as “The fast fashion” model which abandoned the traditional model of seasonal lines using instead adapting the creative ideas to customer demand on a going basis. Fashion clothes are like food, it turns bad quick. Zara’s business is about reducing response time. Zara needs about two week to develop a new product and gets it to stores. The company launches around 12,000 new designs each year. Zara’s success offers us some instructive lessons in how to create and sustain a break through strategy.

Zara has been expanding into new territories since its initial expansion into Portugal in the 1989. Throughout its international development, Zara has kept its central distribution center in Arteixo, Spain, where the satellite distribution centers are sourced from the centralized center in Spain. All of Zara’s products go through this distribution center, and this strategy has its costs and benefits. The distribution center in Arteixo allows Zara to manage its inventory all in one place, and “the warehouse [is] a place to move merchandise rather than to store it”. This allows Zara to be efficient and respond quickly to customer demands, given that “none [of the merchandise] ever stayed at the distribution center more than three days”. Through this warehouse, Zara has ease of access of providing for Spain and its neighboring countries; however, when

The Spanish retail chain Zara has unique supply chain management practices that enable it to gain a competitive advantage over other fashion retailers in the industry. Zara’s rapid response time enables the firm to quickly respond to changing fashions while deliberately under producing products. This strategy, which is supported by competencies in logistic management, design and information systems, allows the company to maintain less inventory and higher profit margins and is a key factor to Zara’s success. The firm should continue to add value by seeking new opportunities to expand in the retail market and maintain their sustainable growth.

These points of interest lead ZARA to be the business sector pioneer in dress industry. ZARA can cut its expense and time or having cost and time control as it doesn’t outsource its distribution, this additionally permits them to stay away from the contentions that for the most part emerges on account of receiving diverse appropriation channels. Vertical integration is likewise serving as a state of separation in the middle of ZARA and its rivals, as a rule retailing stores outsource its distribution and that can be the reason of deferred distribution. (Bootwala,

Zara is established in 1975, as the flagship brand of Inditex group, which founded by Amancio Ortega. In a short period, Inditex group has become one of the world’s top fashion retailers with more than 4000 stores across 82 countries around the world and more than 50% is accounted as Zara’s. Another Inditex brands which operate worldwide are Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Stradivarius, Zara Home, Pull and Bear, and Uterque. By seeing the Inditex’s brands list, it can be concluded that Inditex almost covers all aspect in fashion industry (Zara 2008).

Zara is an apparel company and the leader brand of the Spanish retail mogul, Inditex. zara was established in 1975 in Spain by Amancio Ortega who is currently the 3rd richest man in the world, the first store was opened as an outlet but by 1979 the establishment already had six stores at different locations in Spain and by 1985 the company branched out to Portugal new york city and Paris. Today Zara has over 1900 stores worldwide which are located in 22 different countries; these stores render employment to over 125,000 employees. Zara depends on information they gather from customer and organizational feedback from all their stores on a daily basis this information is then forwarded to the supply chain, which works in synergy with the stores to keep the level of storage in stores down to a minimum. Zara owns the production, supply chain and in-house production, which lead to greater speed in output (M.A.Cano)

Zara is a brand widely known across the globe for its unique fashionable cloths .It is a part of inditex which is known as one of the world’s largest distribution group in the world and the owner of the company is Spanish businessman named Amancio Ortega .This company was formed in 1963 as a fashion retailer for women clothes but the company became a success after the addition of a new brand named Zara in 1975 .Today Zara is amongst one of the largest international company producing the fashionable clothes. After the success of the inditex as a successful brand (ZARA) maker, inditex was able to expanded itself with more successful brands across the world in different countries at the end of the 1980.from 1976 to 1983 Zara turned out to be a successful retailing brand and introduced itself with nine new outlets to the biggest cities of the Spain with its first headquarter in Goa. Year 1984 turned out to be the witnesses of first logistics headquarter of Zara covering a large area of 10,000 square metres. New York

As technology developed to be ubiquitous, the expectations of customers have grown correspondingly. Companies are now able to become global and complex easier than ever. Competition for consumer’s demands is growing on every front, forcing businesses to modify or create new business processes in a much faster timeframe than ever before. While ZARA originated in Spain, the company has stores in 86 different countries around the world.

The creation of these two distributions centers it will be a test for Zara, it will be like a duplication of its business model and also a big signal of alarm towards the competitors but it also be a failure if it isn't well managed. I would like also to consolidate the transnational strategy by adding two more elements: a management team that will be in charge with the coordination of all activities regarding the development of the two distributions centers and a council will be added also in order to supervise and improve the communication between the product divisions and the distributions centers (Exhibit 1). The information from the local centers will be sent to the Spain headquarters, in this way; the "design-on-demand" model will be more adapted to the various country specificities. An optimal solution can be the combination between cost leadership and local responsiveness. 6. Conclusion Zara is one of the biggest retailers in the fashion industry. Its business model is unique: Zara gathers the information from the customers and then respond in a fast manner to their demands. As long as Zara is keeping its philosophy and make some modifications regarding its strategy in order to face the futures challenges it will be impossible to assist to the disappearance of this retailer in the near

An example of successful operations strategy in the retail industry is the strategy employed by Zara which is discussed in this critique. Zara started as a single shop in La Coruna and then rapidly spread its wings to 68 countries; opening a store each day - one of the fastest global expansions the world has ever seen. Throughout the entire system of Zara’s business; designing, sourcing, manufacturing, distribution process and retailing come out a number of success factors: short cycle time, small batches per product, extensive variety of product every season and heavy investment in information and technology. This elements feature in every aspect of the business.

Zara brand products are part of the Inditex Group which was founded by Amancio Ortega. Zara brand products currently compete in what is called the fast fashion industry. Fast fashion is a trend in the fashion industry where companies produce and sell new clothing trends within the market as quickly and cheaply as possible (Fernando, 2015). This is made possible by new innovations within the supply chain management of these companies. Innovations are precisely the way Zara has become one of the top fast fashion businesses in the industry. By utilizing their core competencies along with efficiently managing their supply chain, Zara has developed a way to give customers what they want faster than anyone else (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2017, p. 100). Zara has done an excellent job at defining its business strategy and utilizing their core competencies to create value for their customers which is why they keep coming back. This also brings in new customers to purchase from Zara. The purpose of this paper is to examine Zara and various aspects of their business.

Zara and Benetton’s supply chain both share some common components within their supply chain models, but a few distinguishing factors make them their own. All supply chain models must include planning, designing, maintenance and control of all materials and information in order to efficiently satisfy its customers’ needs and wants (Schroder, 2000). Zara being known for their ‘fast fashion’ is claimed to take only two weeks to develop a new product and have shipped to stores, and ready for shelves. Zara is a vertically integrated retailed, meaning that their supply chain is owned by their company and usually each member of the supply chain produces a different product or service. Unlike other apparel retailers, Zara controls most of the steps included in their supply-chain, including designing, manufacturing and distribution of the products. Zara uses a just-in-time (JIT) system, with this model it allows the company to have self-containment throughout the stages of materials, manufacturing, product completion and distribution.

The essay is based on a case study which is related to the study of Zara. Within this essay it evaluates the production and logistics techniques utilised by Zara. The essay outlines the quick response (QR) and how it impacts the inventory levels and customer service. Hence the essay outlines systems used and how these help to utilise the competitive advantage within the clothing market.

Inditex itself is a huge fashion retailer company which owns 8 brands namely Zara, Pull &Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and last but not the least Uterque. Amancio Ortega is the founder of Inditex, which was established in 1963. Amancio Ortega adapted unique business model, which were innovative and flexible. This made Inditex one of the biggest retailers in the world. In 1975 Inditex established Zara’s first store in downtown A Coruna, Spain. Zara offers fashionable designs for men, women, and kids. They also sell accessories to complete their product lines.