Zara Retail Chain

Summarise the benefits of Zara's vertically integrated supply chain explaining how it
supports the "fast fashion" model.

Zara, Spanish clothing with retail chain throughout the world is probably the world's
fastest growing retailer with almost a thousand stores. Zara has it own unique business
model that enabled Zara to be compete with its competitors, and it's driven by Zara's "fast
fashion" with its vertically integrated supply chain. Vertically integrated supply chain
allowed Zara to successfully build up a strong retail chain combine with the forces of fast
fashion. Vertically integrated supply chain enabled company's domination of a market by
controlling all steps in the production process, from the extraction of raw materials
through the manufacture and sale of the final product. (Martin, 1988) While fast fashion
is all about the quick respond to clothing trend. Objective of assignment is to summarise
the benefits of Zara's vertically integrated supply chain explaining how it supports the
"fast fashion" model.
Efficient supply chain could lead to a dynamic performance for a company, in order to
compete with competitors in terms of fast fashion; Zara itself applied vertically integrated
supply chain which allows Zara to come out with innovative design then speed up
productivity, allocation of sources, and thus distribution of stocks. By owning an in-
house production, Zara enabled itself to be flexible in the multiplicity, quantity, and
frequency of the new styles they produce. In this case, the latest fashion could be
delivering to Zara's customer in short time period. According Rachel Tiplady, Zara can
take a design from drawing board to store shelf in just two weeks time. That let Zara
introduce new items every two weeks, which keeps customers going back to Zara to
check out updated stocks. It clearly stated that Zara perform a successful fast fashion with
it unique supply chain which is integrated supply chain, and this supply chain not just
benefit...

Zara - Unique Business Model

Q 1.: What is unique about Zara's business model?

Zara has proved to be a maverick of its time – it came at a time that the apparel industry
was fragmented there was no integration, the costs incurred were enormous it was highly
labor-intensive leading to outsourcing to save on costs and the business model prevalent
was not proving to be highly successful as compared to the models of other industries. In
came Zara and showed that strategic imperatives depended on how a retailer sought to
create and sustain competitive advantage through its cross border activities and seamless
operations, the power of integration and the importance of sticking to your positioning
without adding too many frills. Zara's factories were heavily automated, specialized by
garment type and focused on the capital-intensive parts of the production process.
Zara's fantastically integrated supply chain has enabled them to deliver on their
positioning and promise to offer affordable, trendy
clothes to its fashion conscious target market in quick time. With Zara you don't have to
be a millionaire to look like a million dollars.
Zara's global strategy is to offer cutting edge fashion at affordable prices by identifying
which styles are "hot" at fashion shows and moving simulations into production even
before the original designer can. This is made possible by exerting a strong influence
over almost the entire garment supply chain from design to retail. Product differentiation,
variation in styles and speed to market has been the main sources of competitive
advantage for Zara.
Segment
Zara offers clothes, footwear and accessories to women (60%) and men (25%), as well as
clothing and accessories for children (15%). People at Zara do not define their target by
segmenting ages and lifestyles as traditional retailers do. Zara's global target market is a
young, educated one that likes fashion and is sensitive to fashion, but is price-conscious.
Target
Zara's target market is based on women...

Zara

Q 1. What are the unique features of Zara's business model ?

Zara is one of the six retailing chains owned by Inditex (Industria de Diseilo Textil) of
Spain who designs, manufactures, and sells apparel, footwear, and accessories for
women, men, and children through Zara and five other chains around the world.

The traditional global apparel chain had been characterized as a prototypical example of a
buyer-driven global chain, in which profits derived from "unique combinations of high-
value research, design, sales, marketing, and financial services that allow retailers,
branded marketers, and branded manufacturers to act as strategic brokers in linking
overseas factories"' with markets. Apparel production is generally fragmented with
individual apparel manufacturing firms employing only a few dozen people on average,
although internationally traded production, in particular, can feature tiered production
chains comprising as many as hundreds of firms spread across dozens of countries. About
30% of world production of apparel was exported, with developing countries generating
an unusually large share, about one-half, of all exports. Trading companies had
traditionally played the primary role in orchestrating the physical flows of apparel from
factories in exporting countries to retailers in importing countries. Irrespective of whether
they internalized most cross-border functions, retailers played a dominant role in shaping
imports into developed countries: thus, direct imports by them accounted for half of all
apparel imports into West Europe. Retailing activities themselves remained quite local:
the top 10 retailers worldwide operated in an average of 10 countries in 2000. Against
this baseline, apparel retailing was relatively globalized, particularly the fashion segment.
Apparel retailing chains from Europe had been the most successful at cross-border
expansion, although the U.S. market remained a major challenge.
Zara

Introduction
ZARA is the flagship chain store for the Spanish Inditex Group owned by Amancio
Ortega, who also brands such as Massimo Dutti and Bershka. It was first open in 1975 in
La Coruna, Galicia, Spain. Originally a lingerie store, then the product range expanded to
incorporate women’s fashion, menswear and children’s clothes.
The international adventure began in 1988, opened its first foreign store in Oporto,
Portugal. The market growth remained mysterious and it kept growing the stores in
different countries and its cities. Started from the United States (1989), Paris (1990),
Mexico, Belgium and Sweden (1994), Malta (1995) and Cyprus (1996). The stores
remained company owned, however, it started to make another expansion through
franchise when they enter the Asia such as Japan (1997). By the year of 2004, Zara has
1058 stores located in 68 countries around the world, and the 792 international stores
generated 54 percent of group sales. Today, Inditex is the
world’s fastest growing retailer and Zara is described as the most innovative and
devastating retailer in the world, by LVMH fashion director Daniel Piette.
Zara is a high-fashion concept offering apparel, footwear and accessories for women,
men and children. By focusing on shorter response times, the company ensures that its
stores are able to carry clothes that the consumers want at that time. Zara offers its
customers a unique mix of affordability, exclusivity and differentiation, as well as
creating a unique shopping experience.
Zara has the potential for sustainable growth due to its competitive advantage and its
ability to face the challenges of the apparel industry. The company keeps its operating
income elevated, has a strong and unique business model, and has various opportunities
for expansion in the retail industry (Craig et al, 2004).
To many Europeans, Zara is a familiar face with consistently trendy, well-priced new
apparel every week. Market segments within the fashion retail context...

Q.1.How does ZARA manages more styles?

Ans: -
Zara's success from the perspective of time-based competition. While most of people
attribute Zara's time-based success to its extremely short lead time and regard Zara as a
benchmark for speed

Managing more styles is possible for Zara mainly because of the shorter lead time (2-4
weeks) compared to industry average lead time of 4-12 months.

The reduction in lead time is associated with all activities involved in total process of
getting final product from the state of initial idea generation.

We can distribute the Zara operations in following categories:

1. Idea Generation
 2. Product design & approval
3. Sample or prototype Production
4. Approval of Sample
5. Manufacturing
a. Cuttingb. Stitching
6. Distribution

Now we will see how Zara managed to achieve the shorter lead time. On the basis of
above areas
1. Idea generation :
For Zara the strategy was not to create the fresh design it is all about following the trend
in fashion faster i.e. Follow early. This it self reduce the time required for idea
generation. Collecting the information on consumer needs, trends information flows daily
and it is fed into database at head office designers check the database for these dispatches
and sales number to get idea about the trends.
Information technology helps this phase so that all data available at single source.

2. Product design

After the idea generation the product design is created in coherence with commercial
manager and designer. The finalization of design is done by considering both functional
department that is commercial dept and designer.

As most of the managers are located at Spain it is for them to come together for meeting
and work in team. This not only helps to better product design...

Zara Business Model

The Zara Business Model

Design

Purchase Raw Material

Preproduction

Manufacture

Distribute
Design

Purchase Raw Material

Preproduction

Manufacture

Distribute

• Agree design parameters from historical data and team input „Commerciales‟ act as
internal champions for retail stores
Interpretate before the season: Fabric fairs, Trade fairs, Catwalk shows, Trend forecasters

Decide direction, colours, fabric, type of capacity required

Design

Purchase Raw Material

Preproduction

Manufacture

Distribute

• And during the season from multiple sources Consumers

Designers

Modify dynamically – What the consumer wants, not what fashion dictates.
Proximity – supply chain
Proximity for speed of decisions

A small prototype shop

Sample machinist to hand

Design

Purchase Raw Material

Preproduction

Manufacture

Distribute

• Capacity 200 designers Technology

Zara Fashion

ZARA Fashion
1) With which of the international competitors listed in the case is it most interesting to
compare Inditex’s financial results? Why? What do comparisons indicate about Inditex’s
relative operating economics? Its relative capital efficiency? Note that while the
electronic version of Exhibit 6 automates some of the comparisons, you will probably
want to dig further into them?

The four companies shown above have very different business models. Inditex owned
much of the production and most of its stores. Inditex is thus a vertically integrated
company. This made Inditex gain a competitive advantage, which is quick response to the
market requirements. On the other hand, The Gap and H&M have a different business
model. They owned most of the stores, but outsourced all the production. Benetton had a
third business model. It invested heavily in the production, but licensees ran its stores.

The most interesting company to compare Inditex is The Gap.

Although The Gap has much higher revenues than Inditex (almost five times Inditex), it
incurred a net loss, as opposed to Inditex, which achieved a 23%, return in investment.
This is due to the extremely high costs of good sold for The Gap. This could be caused
-at least partially- by the complete outsourcing of the production. They do not have
enough control over the production costs. Although The Gap has larger market share than
Inditex and has equity almost double that of Inditex, Inditex is much more profitable.
2)

2) How specifically do the distinctive features of Zara’s business model affect its
operating economics? Specifically, compare Zara with an average retailer with similar
posted prices. In convenient to assume that on average, retail selling prices are about
twice as high as manufacturers’ selling prices.

Zara sources fabric, other inputs, and finished products from external suppliers. It has
purchasing offices in Barcelona and Hong Kong. This gives Zara a competitive
advantage...
Innovation Management - Zara

Zara: A Spanish clothing chain's recipe of centralisation and integration

Key points:
„X Zara is the world's fastest-growing retailer
„X At the heart of the company's success is a vertically integrated business model that
spans design, just-in-time production, marketing and sales, giving it more flexibility than
its rivals to respond to changeable fashion trends
„X Unlike other international clothing chains, Zara makes more than half of its clothes
in-house, rather than relying on a network of slow-moving and disparate suppliers
„X Zara can make a new line from start to finish in three weeks, against an industry
average of nine months
A mixture of vertical integration and street smarts has transformed a small Spanish
clothing chain into a global success, reports The Economist
Most fashion retailers discreetly tuck their price tags inside their garments. Not Zara. Its
sales tickets are big and colourful, emblazoned with the flags of a dozen countries, each
accompanied by a local-currency price that is the same for that item around the world,
from Madrid to Riyadh to Tokyo.
In an industry traditionally geared to local tastes, this United Nations approach
exemplifies the centralisation and integration that have turned Zara into the world's
fastest-growing retailer. Over the past five years, the number of its stores has risen from
180, mainly in Spain, to 450 in 30 countries. Revenues have grown by an average of 27%
a year since 1998.
Founded in 1963 as a maker of ladies' lingerie in the Galician town of La Coruna, Zara
today is the centrepiece of Inditex, a holding company for five fashion chains that is
planning an initial public offering on the Madrid bourse on May 23rd. The flotation is
expected to value Inditex at as much as euro9.3bn ($8.2bn) and cement the standing of its
reclusive 65-year-old chairman and majority shareholder, Amancio Ortega Gaona, as
Spain's richest man. Mr Ortega started the business with just Pta5,000 ($83).
At the heart...

Merchandising: Zara & Hmv

Merchandising Report
Merchandising centres on the buying and selling of goods within a market place and a
good merchandising system is essential to the success of any retail business. I intend to
focus this merchandising report on Zara, a ladies fashion retailer and HMV, an
entertainment megastore. These two companies have specific buying and merchandising
strategies, which are tailored to the needs of their products. This report will explore the
similarities and differences within each company's strategies, and identify factors that
determine them.
Range Selection and Planning
When selecting merchandise it needs to be suited to the needs of the customer. This
relates to a number of criteria consisting of price, quality and individual tastes. The
buyers will need to select goods that have the most potential for resale and generate a
high level of profit. Therefore, the purchases need to be planned carefully. The planning
process centres on "determining the appropriate time for the merchandise to be available
to customers, what will be bought, quantities and selecting resources".

HMV divides up their core stock under an assortment of headings: music albums, music
singles, classical, video, DVD, games and books. It is important for the buyers at HMV to
obtain a wide variety of the latest products to cater for different tastes. HMV will under
take extensive negotiations in the buying process once they have sourced the appropriate
products. In addition to their core stock, HMV will offer impulse goods, for example,
blank videos, to add to promotional techniques. In the music industries early days,
retailers mostly purchased products directly from the few record manufacturers. As
retail volume grew in the 1940's, manufacturers began to serve retailers through regional
distributors. The distributors will need to tailor their distribution strategies to reach the
appropriate type of retail distribution outlet. HMV is a mass merchant. This means
HMV stocks a...

Zara Retail Chain

Summarise the benefits of Zara's vertically integrated supply chain explaining how it
supports the "fast fashion" model.

Zara, Spanish clothing with retail chain throughout the world is probably the world's
fastest growing retailer with almost a thousand stores. Zara has it own unique business
model that enabled Zara to be compete with its competitors, and it's driven by Zara's "fast
fashion" with its vertically integrated supply chain. Vertically integrated supply chain
allowed Zara to successfully build up a strong retail chain combine with the forces of fast
fashion. Vertically integrated supply chain enabled company's domination of a market by
controlling all steps in the production process, from the extraction of raw materials
through the manufacture and sale of the final product. (Martin, 1988) While fast fashion
is all about the quick respond to clothing trend. Objective of assignment is to summarise
the benefits of Zara's vertically integrated supply chain explaining how it supports the
"fast fashion" model.
Efficient supply chain could lead to a dynamic performance for a company, in order to
compete with competitors in terms of fast fashion; Zara itself applied vertically integrated
supply chain which allows Zara to come out with innovative design then speed up
productivity, allocation of sources, and thus distribution of stocks. By owning an in-
house production, Zara enabled itself to be flexible in the multiplicity, quantity, and
frequency of the new styles they produce. In this case, the latest fashion could be
delivering to Zara's customer in short time period. According Rachel Tiplady, Zara can
take a design from drawing board to store shelf in just two weeks time. That let Zara
introduce new items every two weeks, which keeps customers going back to Zara to
check out updated stocks. It clearly stated that Zara perform a successful fast fashion with
it unique supply chain which is integrated supply chain, and this supply chain not just
benefit...
Zara Fashion Industry

INTRODUCTION
Zara's success comes from its ability to effectively capture and process current data,
transforming it into information regarding up-to-date customer demand. Zara's IT
systems are the foundation of a streamlined production cycle that allows the company to
swiftly meet ever-changing customer demand. The linkages throughout its value chain
produce product differentiation that gives Zara a competitive advantage over its
competitors.
DATA, INFORMATION, & STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS
Zara utilizes IT to capture data and create information from the start of its value chain.
Retail workers email and phone the head office daily, transmitting up-to-the-minute
demand data describing customer comments, sales, or even unique customer styles. The
data flows into a database located at the head office. The computer program processes the
data and turns it into information that is analyzed by HQ managers. The result is current
information regarding consumer demand and evolving fashion trends. Zara uses the real-
time information to start the production cycle on clothes that are interpretations of current
fashion trends.
Managers also use the retail information to process re-orders of existing clothing lines.
Retail workers use hand-held computers to place orders with headquarters based on daily
sales. Zara increases the speed of reorders and new fashion production by marking its
inventoried fabrics with clear instructions and definitional codes. This important IT
inventory system transmits information to workers about the inventory and further
increases the speed and responsiveness of Zara's production cycle.
Unlike its competitors, Zara maintains a highly vertical production chain. Although the
company buys fabrics from suppliers, it produces a high percentage of its clothes in
company-owned factories in Europe utilizing state-of-the-art automated equipment for
fabric dying, cutting, and finishing. These machines process data regarding fabric and
produce finished...

Zara Districution Channel

5. Purchasing over the Internet is becoming increasingly common. How do you think
Zara should adjust its distribution system to deal with this growing phenomenon?

An important factor in the Zara brand success story is consistency in who's running the
show. Approximately 92 percent of all six-hundred-fifty-something locations are owned
entirely by Zara, allowing for greater control over the brand's execution strategy. Also,
the ability to produce over half of its own product enables Zara to churn out new clothing
lines every few weeks, keeping prices low and product in step with the most current
trends. We visited Zara.com to see if the web space evoked the same glam environment
and up-to-the-minute sense of fashion as the stores.

Built around a sophisticated sense of site structure, Zara.com is in keeping with the
brand's goal to drive traffic to retail locations. Visually, the site achieves a feel as stylish
and modern as the brand's product in look and functionality. Users are able to download
Flash and view the site in English or in Spanish, the brand's home language. A festive
splash page features a colorfully illustrated, almost psychedelic background with a
requisite model posed in front. The site loads quickly and plays a sultry mix of drum and
bass music (with the ability to choose from three selections and an "off" button—a plus),
similar to what's playing in Zara's retail locations, adding a consistent soundtrack to the
brand experience.
The home page, branded with the season's message, "Get into the flow…get cool," is
dedicated to promoting Zara's latest line of clothing and features snippets of information
about store openings. One big glitch on this page is that it isn't fully visible on all
browsers. Embedded links under the section titles would also help improve traffic flow to
each featured area.
The clothing arena is where Zara.com most needs to shine—and does. The Showroom
area is a great example of superior clothing retail branding and...

Zara: Vertical Retailer

According to Inditex, the Group's business model is characterized by a highly integrated

vertical structure. In contrast to the model that has been adopted by competing
international corporations, the Group handles all the processes required in the apparel
industry—design, production, logistics, distribution to retail outlets—on its own. This
model is based on a desire for structural flexibility and a belief that the customer should
come first in every aspect of the company's operations.
The main elements of this vertical structure can be seen in the retail outlets. The stores
are designed with an eye for detail, providing a comfortable venue for the customer to
encounter fashion. At the same time, it serves as a site for acquiring the information
needed to adjust supplies in response to demand.

The key to this business model is fulfilling the customers' wishes as soon as possible. For
Inditex, time is the most important element, the element that they
consider ahead of costs. Their vertically integrated structure not only makes it possible to
shorten the response time but also allows flexibility and keeps the size of inventories to a
minimum, thus controlling the significant source of risk in the fashion industry as much
as possible.

What makes the collections a success is that Inditex creates opportunities for many
people to review the collections, continually incorporates changes in fashion, and offers
new designs that respond to customers' wishes. Making use of the flexibility of its
business model, Inditex tries to deliver new products to its stores in as short a time as
possible, responding to changes that occur throughout the season.
The models for each season (more than 30,000 of them last year alone) are developed
together by the creative departments of the various brands. The sources of inspiration for
the 300 designers (of whom 200 work just for Zara) include not just the trends that
control the market but the wishes of customers, based on...
Zara (clothing)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Zara

Type Public
Industry Fashion
Founded A Coruña, Spain (1975)
Founder(s) Amancio Ortega
Headquarters A Coruña, Spain
Area served Worldwide
Products Clothing
Revenue €7.071 billion (2009)
Parent Inditex
Website www.zara.com

Zara is the flagship chain store of Inditex Group owned by Spanish company tycoon
Amancio Ortega, who also owns brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Oysho,
Uterqüe, Stradivarius and Bershka. The group is headquartered in A Coruña, Galicia,
Spain, where the first Zara store opened in 1975. It is claimed that Zara needs just two
weeks[1] to develop a new product and get it to stores, compared with a 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.

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.[2]
Contents
[hide]

• 1 Company history
• 2 Zara's products
• 3 Manufacturing and distribution
• 4 Stores
• 5 Gallery
• 6 Environment Policy
• 7 External links

• 8 References

[edit] Company history

In Salamanca, Spain the Convento de San Antonio el Real became a Zara store

The founder of Zara, Amancio Ortega, opened the first Zara store in 1977 in a central
street in A Coruña, Spain.[3]

Its first store featured low-priced lookalike products of popular, higher-end clothing
fashions. The store proved to be a success, and Ortega started opening more Zara stores
in 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.[4]

In 1980, the company started its international expansion through Porto, Portugal. In 1989
they entered the United States and in 1990 France.

This international expansion was increased in the 1990s, with Mexico (1992), Greece
(1993), Belgium and Sweden (1994), etc. until the 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.
[edit] Zara's products

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). Currently their sizing on women's clothing goes
to a US size 12 or a UK size 14 or extra large.[5]

[edit] Manufacturing and distribution

The men's department of a typical Zara store. Almere, The Netherlands.

Zara is a vertically integrated retailer. Unlike similar apparel retailers, Zara controls most
of the steps on the supply-chain: It designs, produces, and distributes itself[6].

Regarding the design strategy, an article in Businessworld magazine[7] 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."

Zara on Briggate in Leeds, England.

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.[8] 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 labour 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.[9]

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.[10] 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 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.[11]

On Sept 6 2010 Financial Times reported that Inditex has launched the first online
boutique for its best-selling brand Zara. The long-awaited 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.[12]

Zara Online will extend the service to Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and
Luxembourg in the second half. Online stores will begin operating in the US, South
Korea, and Canada next year (2011).[13]

[edit] Stores
• Spain: • Swede • Egypt: • Puerto Rico: 1
329 stores n: 10 3 stores store
(164 with stores • Norwa • Syria: 1 store
Zara Kids) • Switzer y: 3 stores • Algeria: 1 store
• France: land: 10 • Bahrai
114 stores stores n: 2 stores • Australia: 2 stores
(4 with Zara • Irelan • Bulgari (Bourke Street,
Kids) d: 9 stores a: 2 stores Melbourne opening
• Italy: 79 • United • Costa early 2011, Westfield
stores (12 Arab Rica: 2 Sydney opening
with Zara Emirates: stores April/May 2011)
 Kids) 9 stores • El
• Portugal • Argen Salvador: 2
: 61 stores tina: 8 stores
(23 with stores • Estonia
Zara Kids) • Colom : 2 stores
• United bia: 8 • Guate
Kingdom: stores mala: 2
65 stores • Indon stores
• German esia: 8 • Hondu
y: 64 stores stores ras: 2
• Japan: • Chile: stores
53 stores 7 stores • India:
• Mexico: • Hong 3 stores
48 stores Kong: 7 • Iceland
• United stores : 2 stores
States: 48 • Singa • Iran: 1
stores pore: 7 store
• China: stores • Jordan:
45 stores • Ukrai 2 stores
• Greece: ne: 7 • Luxem
44 stores (6 stores bourg: 2
with Zara • Czech stores
Kids) Republic: • Panam
• Russia: 6 stores a: 2 stores
37 stores • Hunga • Qatar:
• Poland: ry: 6 2 stores
30 stores stores • Slovak
• Belgiu • Philip ia: 2 stores
m: 27 stores pines: 6 • Tunisia
• Brazil: stores : 2 stores
27 stores • Kuwai • Urugua
• Turkey: t: 5 stores y: 2 stores
26 stores • Leban • Andorr
• Saudi on: 5 a: 1 store
Arabia: 22 stores • Domin
stores • Malay ican
• South sia: 5 Republic: 2
Korea: 20 stores stores
stores • Slove • Kazak
• Canada: nia: 5 hstan: 1
19 stores stores store
• Netherl • Thaila • Malta:
ands: 18 nd: 5 1 store
stores stores • Monac
• Austria: • Cypru o: 1 store
11 stores s: 4 stores • Monte
 • Finlan
d: 4 stores
• Latvia
: 4 stores
• Lithua
• Venezu nia: 4
ela: 11 stores
negro: 1
stores • Moroc
store
• Israel: co: 4
10 stores stores
• Oman:
• Serbia
1 store
• Romani : 4 stores
a: 10 stores • Croati
a: 3 stores

• Denm
ark: 3
stores

[edit] Gallery

A Zara store in New Interior of a typical

Town Plaza, Shatin, Zara store. Almere, the A Zara store at Liat Zara at Rue Neuve,
Netherlands. Towers, Singapore. Brussels.
Hong Kong.

http://www.snc-construct.ro/29102007262.jpg

[edit] Environment Policy

Zara is committed to protecting the environment through its corporate responsibility

policy. Zara pursues initiatives at store and product manufacturing level, and in customer
services.

• Store level initiative include eco-efficient stores, energy saving and waste
management.
• Product Manufacturing includes ecological fabrics and organic cotton.
• Customer services include biodegradable plastic and PEFC-certified paper bags.

[edit]
INDIA: First Zara store opening slated for 2010

By: just-style.com | 17 June 2008

Retail clothing chain Zara could open its first store in India within two
years, a spokesperson for parent company Inditex has confirmed to
just-style.

The Spanish retail chain has more than 1,400 stores in 70 countries, with the company's
international growth currently offsetting the economic downturn in the domestic Spanish
market.

Analysts believe there are opportunities for Western fashion retailers in India, thanks to
the lack of branded clothing outlets on the sub-continent, fuelling speculation that Zara
could soon enter the market.

"The company of course is interested in India, but not in the short term," the Inditex
spokesperson told just-style. "We are not thinking of opening a store this year, but maybe
in two years it could be interesting."

She added that it was too early to discuss exact plans, but it was likely that the company
would expand its retail presence once one store was established.

"The moment we decide to open one store, we will try to open more," the spokesperson
said.

However, she said it was too soon to discuss the names of possible partners for the
venture.

Reports in India have quoted a list of candidates, including "a global Indian business
family", Pantaloon Retail, DLF and Reliance Brands. Last week,

Inditex announced that first quarter profits had risen 10% to EUR219m (US$339m), with
sales up 12% to EUR2.218bn.

Analysts suggested that sales had fallen below the company's target levels, but Inditex
maintained its full-year guidance of 4% growth in like-for-like sales.

Zara news and facts history

Zara is a Spanish chain store of Inditex Group. Amancio Ortega founded Zara in 1975. Ortega
started manufacturing in 1963 and opened his first store in La Coruña by the name Zara in 1975.
Inditex owns several brands like Zara, Zara Home, Kiddy's Class, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti,
Bershka, Stradivarius, Often and Oysho.
Click here to see the list of related news items, published by FashionUnited in the fashion
news archive.

Zara profit from oversea sales

Overseas sales and cost controls have helped Zara owner Inditex to report market-beating
profits for the February-to-April quarter.The Spanish conglomerated reported a rise in net
income of more than a third to 200m euros. One of Europe's fastest-growing fashion
retailers, Inditex said it also gained from the weak US dollar in which it buys most of its
raw materials.

It opened 114 stores worldwide in the quarter and now has 3,245 outlets. It also
announced plans for further expansion, aiming to open between 440 and 520 new stores
worldwide across its eight brands - which also include Pull and Bear, and Bershka -
during the 2007 financial year.

www.inditex.com
14 June 2007

Inditex wins retailaward

Inditex was awarded the Retailer of the Year award during the World Retail Congres,
which was held by the first time in Barcelona. The event, organized by European media
group Emap, was attended by 1,000 leading retail industry executives. Over 100
speakers, including such retail luminaries as Tony DeNunzio of Maxeda and Sir Terry
Leay of Tesco, took part in the congres.

Spanish retail group Inditex – owner of successful fashion chains such as Zara, Berschka
and Massimo Dutti – was honoured for its achievements thus far and also for the results it
posted for the full year 2006, with which it overtook H&M to become Europe's leading
fashion retailer. The jury consisted of ten leading retail executives, including Paul
Charron, chairman of the board of Liz Claiborne, and Sir Geoff Mulcahy, chairman of the
British Retail Consortium. Other companies to be recognized at the event included Marks
and Spencer as Responsible Retailer of the Year and Sainsbury's for Marketing
Campaign of the Year.

www.worldretailawards.com
www.inditex.com
24 April 2007
World Retail Awards recognizes Zara and Kate Moss

Zara owner Inditex, the Spanish retailer, and Kate Moss last week were crowned as
Retailer of the Year and Icon of the Year at the inaugural World Retail Awards in
Barcelona. The successful high street company "had a stunning year and continued to
build on its reputation to deliver fast fashion" said judges. Inditex won over Neiman
Marcus, Target, Best Buy, Tesco and Whole Food Markets.

WGSN subscribers voted for their Consumer Icon of the Year - recognising the celebrity
who the global retail and fashion industry believes to have the greatest influence on style,
trends and consumer demand. Kate Moss won the award and sent a video link thanking
WGSN's readers for their votes. Moss also mentioned how much she has enjoyed
working with UK retailer Topshop on her new range.

The World Retail Awards, which are being held alongside the World Retail Congress,
recognised excellence in six categories and fashion retailers put in a strong performance
across the board. Marks & Spencer won the Responsible Retailer of the Year award for
what judges called its "clear commitment to making a difference".

www.wgsn.com
2 April 2007

Inditex reaps profit after expansion

Zara's owner Inditex on

Thursday posted a 25%
jump in profits after a year
of intensive global expansion. The Spanish company banked full year net profits of €1bn
after it opened 439 stores in the year to January 31. The company said it invested a total
of €1.03bn on its growth programme as it moved to raise its international presence. The
expansion took the total number of group stores to 3,131, while the group's entry into
Serbia, Tunisia and China last year means that it now operates in 64 countries worldwide.

Looking ahead, Inditex said it would continue to build on its European and Asia-Pacific
presence, with between 440 and 520 stores planned for 2007. It said capital expenditure
would be between €850m and €950m. The group, which also owns the Massimo Dutti
and Bershka chains, said that sales rose by 22% to €8.2bn, with sales in Europe
overtaking Spanish sales for the first time. International sales accounted for 60% of total
group sales.

The company also managed to maintain its gross margin – a measure of profitability – at
56.2% during the period. The firm does not provide any further breakdown of its results.
Last year, Inditex overtook Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) as
Europe's largest clothing retailer. It works on a “fast fashion” ethos, where designs are
swiftly replicated from the catwalks and brought to stores at affordable prices.

Clothes are produced in a limited number and new ranges introduced frequently to ensure
shoppers do not get bored with what is on offer. Inditex – which stands for Industria de
Diseno Textil – also announced that it will present its Environmental Strategic Plan to
foster its energy saving policy for the use of renewable energies and emissions reductions
in July.

www.inditex.com
www.zara.com
22 March 2007

Inditex opens 3,000 th store

Spanish retailer Inditex opens its 3,000 th

store today. It achieves the milestone with
a Zara Home format store in downtown
Valencia . The group, which counts Zara,
Berschka, Pull and Bear and Massimo
Dutti among its stable of eight brands, has
grown explosively in recent years. It has
opened 1,000 stores since the launch of its
2,000 th store in Hong Kong in May 2004.
In 2005, net sales reached €6.741 billion,
with a market capitalization exceeding €23
billion.

Inditex focuses on opening its stores in prime locations in major cities and pays as much
attention to the architecture as the fashion assortment. Prime examples are its stores in the
Marmorhaus lounge in Berlin , the Haas Haus in Vienna and on the rue de Rennes in
Paris . With the group's stores acting as an “image tool” for the company, window
displays play a major role. “Each format changes the windows of all its stores every
fortnight during the season, with two additional window displays during the summer and
winter sales periods,” the group said.

Inditex now has stores in more than 400 cities in 64 countries. “If we were to join the
3,000 Inditex stores, they would take up the two pavements of Broadway, throughout its
25 kms from top to end in Manhattan ,” boasted the company.

The group plans to continue expanding mainly in Europe – which accounts for 80 percent
of total turnover - while introducing its other formats where its top-performer Zara is
already present, including Norway and Serbia , Italy and Greece and Poland and
Lithuania . It expects growth of its younger formats to be “significant”. Asia-Pacific is
the group's second most important market. Last week the company announced its
expansion progress in the Far East . Massimo Dutti just opened its first store in
Indonesia , while Pull and Bear just opened its first two stores in Singapore . Zara and
Massimo Dutti already have stores in the city state. The group now counts more than fifty
stores in the region, having launched twenty outlets in six Asian countries in 2006. Zara
has opened more than 90 new stores worldwide in the current fiscal year, Berschka
launched more than 40, Oysho with more than 30 and Kiddy's Class, Pull and Bear,
Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius and Zara Home with more than 20 stores each.

www.inditex.com
17 October 2006

Zara continues to drive Inditex profit

Spanish fashion group Inditex has reported a rise in second half profits of 14.6 percent,
thanks to “outstanding” sales at its Zara chain. Sales for the three months ended 31 July
rose 19.7 percent to €1.76 billion, with net income at €144.7 million, up from €123.6
million last year. Meanwhile, sales for the first half surged 23 percent to €3.47 billion,
while net income rose 19 percent to €296 million.

“Zara showed outstanding growth,” said deputy chairman and chief executive Pablo Isla.
“The quarter was quite strong.” He also said that sales had been solid in August and early
September and revealed that the company would continue to expand aggressively. Major
areas for growth opportunity for Zara, which accounts for 66 percent of total group sales,
include Asia , Russia and Italy . Isla said the chain would have 40 outlets in Italy before
the end of the year. Zara opened its first store there in 2002. Meanwhile, Asia is a market
rich with opportunities for Inditex. The company wants to open stores there twice as fast
as in the rest of the world, said Isla. Zara opened its first stores in Shanghai earlier this
year and according to Isla, sales there have exceeded expectations. “Sales to white collar
locals and overseas transplants have been above our initial expectations,” he said, adding
that Zara's first Beijing store would open before the end of the fiscal year. The company
plans to expand its total retail space this year by 15 to 20 percent and will invest as much
as €950 million in new store openings. Zara is expected to open approximately 150 stores
this year, having opened 129 stores last year. During the first half, the group's eight store
formats – Zara, Berschka, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, Kiddy's Class,
Oysho and Zara Home – together opened 208 stores. Berschka will open up to 75 new
stores, while Massimo Dutti will open 40 more stores. Although growth was seen in most
markets, Isla said Germany was still a challenge for the group. A spokesman declined to
comment on why this might be, stating that the group does not comment on individual
markets.

www.inditex.com
21 September 2006
Zara increases brand value

Spanish fashion brand Zara is among the top brands in terms of value worldwide. This
year, it gained 14 percent in brand value to $4,235 million (£2,233 million), according to
brand consultant Interbrand. Last year, the chain joined the ranking for the first time,
coming in at number 77. This year’s increase is the highest ever achieved by a fashion
retailer on the top 100 list, placing in at number 73.

Interbrand is a leading brand consultancy and its ‘Best Global Brands’ ranking is one of
the world’s most important monitors of brand value and influence. The US-based
company teams up each year with BusinessWeek to publish the list, which is now in its
sixth year. “In the majority of cases, those who made the ranking are proactively
managing their businesses through a brand lens,” Interbrand chief executive Jez
Frampton said in a statement. The company calculates brand value as the net present
value of the earnings the brand is expected to generate and secure in the coming year.

www.inditex.com
www.interbrand.com
11 August 2006

Inditex to buy Omnium stores

Spanish fashion group Inditex has announced it has reached a preliminary agreement to
take over 15 retail outlets from the French Omnium Group. Inditex will incorporate 10
Bouchara outlets and five Eurodif stores, located in 14 high street locations, into its own
network of stores in France. If all goes according to plan, the transfer will take place at
the end of 2006 and the first half of 2007. These locations will then house various Inditex
retail formats. The 250-strong Omnium staff currently employed at these locations would
join the Inditex staff in France.
This transaction is part of Inditex’s retail expansion plan in France. The group currently
operates 127 stores in that country. Its first entry into the French market was with a Zara
store opening in Paris in 1990. Since then, the group has opened 92 Zara stores in
France. The first French Massimo Dutti store was opened in 2002, while Berschka
opened there in 2003. Dutti now has 11 points of sale and Berschka 21 points of sale in
the French market. The first Pull and Bear store made its French entrance in 2005. This
year the group opened the first Zara Home store there. Meanwhile, Stradivarius only has
one store in France, which opened in 1999.

www.inditex.com
14 July 2006
Asia drives Inditex profits

Spanish fashion retailer Inditex has reported a rise in first quarter

profits of 20 percent, driven by strong sales in Asia and Spain. Net
income in the three months ended 30 April rose to €150 million,
while gross margin soared 22 percent to 55.7 percent. The results
were in line with most analysts’ expectations.

Sales gained 20 percent to €1.72 billion, thanks to the 114 new

stores the company opened in the quarter, including the first Zara
store in China. Deputy chairman and chief executive Pablo Isla
said the Shanghai store had performed beyond expectation.
“Ninety percent of shoppers are Chinese, not foreigners living in
Shanghai,” Isla told WWD. “That is significant, and representative
of the market’s potential.”

Inditex plans to open a second store in Shangahi later this year, as

well as one in Beijing, demonstrating its commitment to expansion
in Asia. Contrary to its major competitor, the Swedish chain Hennes & Mauritz, who
concentrates on the European and American markets. There are also plans for stores in
Japan and Zara is to open its first store in Seoul by the end of the year.
Sales in the US, where the retailer operates 19 Zara stores, were “quite good”, according
to Isla. He predicted continued strong sales in that market, where Zara plans to open more
stores in Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco by the end of the year.
Sales in Spain had been strong and “showed no signs of deceleration”. However, sales in
Germany, which Isla said is Inditex’s “most difficult market in Europe”, were poor and
showed “no signs of improvement”.

Revealing that the first six weeks of the second quarter were in line with expectations,
Isla said the company would spend €850 million to €950 million on the opening of 410 to
490 stores this year.
Zara is Inditex’s cash cow, generating about 65 percent of group sales. Among others, the
company also operates the Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear and Stradivarius
chains.

www.inditex.com
15 June 2006

Inditex records sales growth

Spanish fashion group Inditex has recorded a net sales gain of 21 percent to €6.741
million in 2005. The company, which owns popular brands like Zara and Berschka, said
net income rose 26 percent to €803 million.
The company claimed the rise in sales is due to both new available selling space, with
448 openings last year, and a 5 percent rise in like-for-like sales. Gross margins improved
80 basis points to 56.2 percent, with operational gains rising 21 percent.

Thanks to international growth, store sales outside Spain represent 57 percent of total
revenues. Excluding Spain, the European market represented 38.8 percent of revenues.
The group also entered five new markets last year: Monaco, Costa Rica, Indonesia, the
Philippines and Thailand. This year it also opened stores in Tunisia, Mainland China and
Serbia. Thanks to the expansion activities, the group now employs a work force of
58,190.

The group said the expansion will continue to focus on Europe this year, with the Asia-
Pacific region also being developed. By the end of this year, Inditex plans to open its first
Korean store through a joint-venture with retail group Lotte. Inditex will have an 80
percent stake in the newly formed company. The group expects to open between 410 and
490 stores this year.

www.inditex.com
29 March 2006

Inditex appoints new CFO

Spanish fashion group Inditex has appointed Antonio Rubio Merino as its new CFO.
Merino was previously director of Administration of the group. Before joining Inditex in
2003, Merino was director of Consolidation and Audit at Grupo Abengoa.

The group also announced the appointment of Abel Lopez as new Director of Export and
Transport. He will be responsible for coordinating the distribution from the Logistics
Centres to the final delivery at the store as well as managing the relevant transport fleets.

www.inditex.com
7 March 2006

Inditex in Japanese expansion

Spanish fashion group Inditex plans to open a series of small-to-medium sized Zara
stores in Japan as a result of the acquisition of former Japanese partner, apparel producer
Bigi, reports just-style. Inditex has been active in Japan since 1998 and the acquisition of
Bigi reaffirms its commitment to Asia. Six Zara store openings are planned annually over
the next three to five years. Inditex said that it will next target shopping malls in the
suburbs of smaller Japanese cities.
According to just-style, Japanese retail specialist publication Consuming Japan writes
that Zara is expected to announce that the next brand to be launched into the Japanese
market is Massimo Dutti. Inditex plans to expand throughout Japan over the next few
years and says it will increase its presence in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia
and the Philippines. This year, it also expects to enter new markets like China, Thailand
or South Korea.

www.inditex.com
27 February 2006

More Zara stores open in Moscow

Inditex, the Spanish owner of fashion stores Zara and Berschka, is set to open two new
Zara stores in Moscow this year. The stores will open in the city's central GUM shopping
centre and in the Lomonosov University. Zara opened its first store in Moscow in the
Mega South shopping centre in March 2003.

“In view of the difficult and very particular property market conditions in Moscow, we
convinced Inditex that the quickest way to enter Russia would be through the Mega South
commercial complex,” said Inditex's Finnish and Russian franchise partner, Stockmann.
Upon opening, the Zara store experienced the best-ever sales growth generated by a Zara
store located in a shopping centre. Since the opening of the first store, six more Zara
stores have opened. Inditex has also opened Stradivarius and Pull & Bear stores in
Russia.

www.inditex.com
3 January 2006

Profits rise for Zara

Spanish retail group Inditex, who own high street Zara

fashion chain, said on Tuesday that net profits in the
first nine months of the year had risen 28 per cent
compared to last year and that trading in the fourth
quarter was in accordance with expectations.

The group, which pioneered the innovative "fast

fashion" business model integrating design,
manufacturing and distribution in a single company
and enabling stores to react to customer demand
within weeks rather than months, said that net profits
reached €520.5m or 83.8 cents per share, on sales that rose 20 per cent to €4.65bn. Gross
margins also rose slightly to 57 per cent on sales.

By the end of November, Inditex said it had a total of 2,643 stores in 60 countries and
that it intends to have opened between 400 and 450 new stores by the end of the fiscal
year. By the end of October, the group had already opened 323 new outlets.

While other fashion groups rely on factories in China, Inditex manufactures its clothes in
Spain or countries nearby. As a result, its designers are able to copy ideas from high
fashion and change stock quickly to react to popular trends or the weather.
However, as other groups imitate Inditex's business model and shorten supply chains,
analysts have suggested that the group may be losing some of its competitive advantage.

14 December 2005

Vice Chairman Inditex resigns

The vice chairman of Spanish retailer Inditex, Jose Maria Castellano, has resigned his
post. In a statement made on Friday, Inditex thanked him for his “brilliant contribution”
and long service. The company said Castellano left for “personal reasons”. Castellano is
credited with the success of Zara, a daughter-company of Inditex.

In February, Castellano was named vice chairman, having been CEO until that point. In
June, Pablo Isla was named CEO of Inditex. The management reshuffle was said to have
been in “preparation for expansion plans” as Inditex looked to double its size over the
next five years.

Last week Inditex reported a 40 percent rise in second-quarter profits. Net income for the
quarter climbed to €121 million (£82.2 million), while sales rose 21 percent to €1.41
billion. Zara represented 66 percent of the group's sales in the first six months of the year.
Sales at the chain increased by 15 percent in the first half to €1.85 billion. As of 31 July
there were 762 Zara stores, up from 653 last year. Inditex said that it was on track to open
125 to 135 Zara stores by the end of the year.

www.inditex.com
26 September 2005

Inditex performance steady

Spanish retail chain operator Inditex has said that same-store sales for the second quarter
ending 31 July are "going well", according to AFX News. The company, which owns
brands including Zara, Pull & Bear, Berschka and Massimo Dutti, said during a
presentation that it expects between 335 and 395 new stores to open this year, compared
to earlier estimates of between 300 and 350.

www.inditex.com
19 July 2005

Zara Home opens in Milan

The Inditex- owned Zara Home has opened a store in Milan. The new store is situated at
the Assago shopping centre, where a number of the Group's other concepts are also
housed. Zara Home is the fifth concept to have been introduced to Italy by the Inditex
Group. It was preceded by Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Oysho. The Group operates
over 40 shops in Italy.Zara Home expects to open further stores in Italy this year. It has
also opened its first store in Cyprus this year and is now present in eight international
markets. Zara Home has over 75 stores and has already opened 13 new stores since the
beginning of this year.

Zara has built up a presence in 55 countries, with a network of 757 stores in prominent
locations in major cities. Inditex is a major fashion manufacturer and distributor, with
eight sales concepts - Zara, Pull and Bear, Massimo Dutti, Berschka, Stradivarius, Oysho,
Zara Home y Kiddy's Class. The Group operates 2.381 stores in 57 countries.

www.inditex.com
20 June

Zara And Inditex Post Profits

Spanish clothing group Inditex, operator of chains including Zara, has shown that its fast
fashion approach can weather the current downturn in clothing sales across much of
Europe. The retailer has reported a 21 per cent increase in first quarter net profit to
€124.8m in the three months to April 30.

Total sales rose 19 per cent to €1.41bn, with profits coming in ahead of market forecasts
thanks to improved margins. Gross margin increased by 23 per cent to 55.7 per cent.
Inditex, which operates more than 2,300 stores in over 50 countries, opened 90 new
stores across the quarter. The group will invest up to €800m in further expansion this
year, planning to open up to 395 new stores worldwide.

The quarter saw the announcement of the first Inditex stores in Indonesia, as well as a
deal to acquire a majority stake in the Zara franchisee in Poland, described as market with
"significant growth potential for Zara".

The Inditex board has approved the appointment of Pablo Isla as the company's new chief
executive. Isla was previously co-chairman of tobacco group Altadis. Inditex said it is
revamping its managment structure "to strengthen and adjust the management structure of
the group with a new generation of managers which will face up to the future growth
plans".

www.inditex.com
14 June 2005

Zara Plans For Expansion

Spanish fashion group Inditex has announced plans for an expansion drive that will see it
grow to 4,000 stores worldwide by the end of 2009. Inditex will continue to roll out its
flagship brand Zara, but also has high hopes for its other chains. Teenage brand Bershka,
which opened its first UK store at the Metro Centre, Newcastle, last year, will throw
down the gauntlet to Top Shop with a flagship store on Oxford Street and further London
stores this year.

Overall, Inditex plans to grow from its current total of around 2,250 stores to more than
4,000 stores by the end of 2009. That would increase its estate by 75 per cent and would
see it overtake US fashion giant Gap, which is taking a more cautious approach to
expansion in the face of flagging international sales.

Contracts have been signed for two-thirds of the 360 new stores it hopes to open this
year. A major new Zara store has just opened at Lakeside, Essex. Inditex plans more than
100 new Zara stores in Europe, focusing on France, Italy, Germany and the UK.

Inditex chains Massimo Dutti, which sells officewear, and Pull and Bear, which sells
basic lines, are earmarked for wider expansion across Europe alongside Zara and
Bershka. Others, including lingerie chain Oysho, childrenswear brand Kiddy's Class,
girlswear chain Stradivarius, and Zara Home, will restrict expansion closer to home in
Spain and Portugal for the time being.

Confirmation of the expansion plans came as Inditex reported a 41 per cent increase in
profit to €628m during 2004. Net sales were up 23 per cent to €5,670m with like-for-like
sales growth of 9 per cent. Across the year, sales in younger brands grew slightly as a
proportion of total sales, up to 32.6 per cent from 30 per cent in 2003. International sales
represented 54.5 pe cent of total sales, up from 53.9 per cent, with 82.8 per cent of the
total sales generated in Europe. At Zara, international sales represented 65.8 per cent of
total sales, up 2.3 per cent.

5 April 2005

Zara targets Asia

Indetex, the Spanish fashion retailer who own Zara stated last week it has reached an
agreement with Indonesian retailer PT Mitra Adiperkasa to open the first Zara clothing
stores in Indonesia, starting with the opening of two outlets in the capital Jakarta later this
year.

Inditex said in a press release it also plans to open eight new stores in Japan, two new
outlets in Hong Kong and the fourth Zara store in Singapore, increasing its number of
boutiques in the region to 30 by the end of the year. The company is aiming to double in
size over the next five years through an ambitious strategy of new store openings. Inditex
runs more than 2,000 clothing stores in 50 countries.

20 March 2005

Inditex Set For Expansion

Zara owner Indetex, is expected to announce a board restructure this month to improve
control of the fashion retailer's ambitious expansion plans. The news emerged as Inditex
opened a flagship store for Bershka, its teen-fashion chain, in Central London. It is the
sixth Inditex outlet to open in the UK and Ireland in a week, highlighting the rapid
expansion of the Spanish group.

Analysts are concerned that Inditex's top-light structure has failed to place sufficient
controls on its growth strategy, which has seen the group open more than 200 stores a
year from Mexico to Japan during the past four years.

Inditex has been working with McKinsey & Co on a five- year strategy. The management
consultancy is thought to be advising on a new board structure after the resignation of
Juan Carlos Rodríguez Cebrián, managing director, last month. His departure followed
news that José María Castellano, who has been chief executive of the Spanish group
since 1997, would step down to become deputy chairman.

A spokesman for the company said that Inditex had good control over its store-opening
programme at the country level, but added: "This is about having the right corporate
governance and the development of the business going forward. We have got to have the
infrastructure in place if we are going to double the size of the business."

Analysts expect an announcement on the new structure to be made when the Madrid-
listed retailer reveals its annual results on March 31. Bershka, which has 305 stores
worldwide, is currently the fastest-growing part of the Inditex group apart from the core
Zara chain. Zara, which competes with the likes of New Look, H&M and Top Shop, has
four stores in Ireland and two in England. Up to three more Bershka stores are expected
to open this year in the London area. Inditex is also seeking up to three more sites for
Massimo Dutti, its more mature, up-market, label and ten more for Zara this year.

www.rinascente.it
17 March 2005

Inditex blows off La Rinascente

Spanish fashion retailer, Inditex SA, has said that it has no plans to acquire Italian
clothing chain La Rinascente. A spokesperson for Inditex, known for its Zara brand, said:
"We are not interested in the operation." Retailers Inditex, Benetton and Hennes &
Mauritz were reputed to be interested in purchasing Gruppo Rinascente's La Rinascente
and Upim stores. Inditex is always looking for new opportunities to help expand its
business.

Rinascente and Upim have been for sale since last Friday when Ifil, the Turin-based
investment company owned by the Agnelli family, decided to sell its 50% stake in
Eurofind, the company that owns 99% of the Rinascente share capital. Rinascente owns
eight of the 18 stores in Italy and generates annual sales of EUR250 million (GBP180
million). Upim has 147 stores and sales of EUR470 million (GBP338 million).

www.rinascente.it
17 November 2004

Zara Bans Fur

Spanish fashion chain Inditex has banned fur from all

but a handful of its 2,064 stores, three days ahead of
concerted worldwide protests. The firm, home to
brands such as Zara and Massimo Dutti, wrote an open
letter to customers explaining its decision. Its use of
rabbit fur on its clothes had attracted the ire of
campaigners. Of the 54 nations in which it operates, 48 will take fur off the shelves
immediately and the rest will stop by 1 January after existing stock is sold.

"The measure is one step further in our commitment to respect the animals and
environment surrounding us," chief executive Jose Maria Castellano Rios wrote.
Campaigners noted that Inditex had ditched fur in the UK before. It had initially got rid
of rabbit fur in October 2003 following an earlier campaign but had reintroduced it in
early 2004. Demonstrations will still take place in as many as 40 countries, they said, but
would no longer target Inditex outlets.

News of Inditex's decision came as the company announced solid results for the six
months to 31 July. Its net profit rose 29 per cent from the same period a year earlier to
188m euros, in line with analysts' forecasts, on sales of 2.4bn euros.

Like-for-like sales - which are adjusted to remove the effect of new store openings - were
up 8 per cent. The figures marked a return to form after a less impressive 2003, and
pushed its shares in Madrid up 2 per cent. The firm said it was on course for a 23-25 per
cent rise in sales for the full year, with as many as 365 new stores being opened. But staff
and rental costs also accelerated, up 26 per cent on the previous year.

Zara launched in India

Last updated : May 29, 2010 15:39 IST

Zara has launched its stores at Select Citywalk and DLF Promenade mall, in New Delhi
and in the new extension of the Palladium commercial centre in Mumbai.

Lara Duta, launched the Zara apparel brand at Select Citywalk. It is the first store of the
company in India. It has more than 1,500 square meters in one floor where the brand
show its women’s, men’s and children’s collection. The store sits in a privileged location
in the shopping centre, and its L-shaped façade enhances its visibility from all areas of
the mall. Floor-to-ceiling display windows make for an extremely striking façade. The
Zara has two entrances to ensure that customers enjoy easy access to its collections.
Numerous fitting rooms: 11 in the Women’s department, four in the Men’s department
and one in Kids, guarantee a positive shopping experience.
“The entry in the Indian market has a significant strategic importance for Inditex. India is
one of our top priorities in the Asia region when our retail offering has been very well
received,” says Jesús Echevarría Hernández, Chief Communication Officer at Inditex
Group.

He informs Franchise India Media that Zara regards its stores as one of the relevant
factors in its business model. The shop is regarded as the interface between the customer
and the engine of the entire business -- fashion design, manufacturing and logistics, and,
ultimately, retail.

Inditex (The company behind Zara) has entered India through a joint venture with Trent
Limited, a Tata Group company. Inditex controls 51 per cent of the joint venture, while
Trent Limited owns 49 per cent.

Zara
Zesty
by Vivian Manning-Schaffel
August 23, 2004

Trendy clothing brand Zara is

known around the world for
dressing men, women and children
in a sexy retail environment that
feels a lot more expensive and
exclusive than it is. Truly a global
brand, Zara has hundreds of retail
locations everywhere from Abu
Dhabi to Uruguay and is the largest
division of Inditex, one of the
largest fashion retail groups
worldwide.

The clothing brand has spread its high-fashion/low-cost brand message far and wide by
establishing some unique, yet effective practices. Shunning expensive glossy ad campaigns
and celebrity endorsements in favor of location, location, location, Zara strategically opens
stores in heavily trafficked, high-end retail areas where a taste for trends are whet and wallets
are wide open.
 Another important factor in the Zara brand success story is
consistency in who’s running the show. Approximately 92 percent
of all six-hundred-fifty-something locations are owned entirely by
Zara, allowing for greater control over the brand’s execution
strategy. Also, the ability to produce over half of its own product
enables Zara to churn out new clothing lines every few weeks,
keeping prices low and product in step with the most current trends.
We visited Zara.com to see if the web space evoked the same glam
environment and up-to-the-minute sense of fashion as the stores.

Built around a sophisticated sense of site structure, Zara.com is in keeping with the brand’s
goal to drive traffic to retail locations. Visually, the site achieves a feel as stylish and modern
as the brand’s product in look and functionality. Users are able to download Flash and view
the site in English or in Spanish, the brand’s home language. A festive splash page features a
colorfully illustrated, almost psychedelic background with a requisite model posed in front.
The site loads quickly and plays a sultry mix of drum and bass music (with the ability to
choose from three selections and an “off” button—a plus), similar to what’s playing in Zara’s
retail locations, adding a consistent soundtrack to the brand experience.

The home page, branded with the season’s message, “Get into the flow…get cool,” is
dedicated to promoting Zara’s latest line of clothing and features snippets of information
about store openings. One big glitch on this page is that it isn’t fully visible on all browsers.
Embedded links under the section titles would also help improve traffic flow to each featured
area.

The clothing arena is where Zara.com most needs to shine—and does. The Showroom area is
a great example of superior clothing retail branding and execution online. Clickable symbols
representing each product line direct users to preferred location. Crisp photos allow
consumers to truly get a good look at the products. A click on each thumbnail shows a larger
product shot and provides detailed product information—right down to suggested retail price.
Visitors are unable to purchase Zara clothing or products online but this is in line with the
brand’s strategy, which encourages users to make the pilgrimage to the store for a live
experience. In addition, Zara’s seasonal catalog is viewable online in its entirety and can be
easily downloaded.

The Customer Service area is free of frills but successfully augments the live retail
experience. In keeping with the goal of providing users with a taste of the retail experience,
the site features photographs of many Zara storefronts as well as a virtual visit function,
giving users a glimpse into the store. Garment care information is provided—an important
detail most retail clothing sites overlook. The Stores area also works well, which is key to a
brand with so many locations. Pull-down menus power the store locator function, offering
visitors easy access to the details they seek, further encouraging store visits.

All in all, the site provides a strong representation of the brand. Like its stores, Zara.com has
a great look, strong on design and ultimately functional without skimping on quality. Other
than working out the major browser kink, the site succeeds in its goal to provide users with a
 complete simulation of the brand experience. As Zara has successfully proven in business,
providing visitors with a sophisticated atmosphere allows the product to ultimately sell itself.

Marketing mix

Zara is a popular Spanish clothing store that uses a very unique marketing strategy.
Because they do not outsource their manufacturing, the company is able to more quickly
respond to fluctuating customer demands in fashion trends. Zara's Unique Selling
Proposition (USP) is to create or imitate the latest trends within a short two-week period;
the new styles are available on sales floors for no longer than 4 weeks. In the case that a
product does not sell, its inventory is immediately pulled from the floors and
discontinued after one week.
Zara is said to have the "most unusual strategy...its policy of zero advertising; the
company preferred to invest a percentage of revenues in opening new stores instead."

Zara's marketing strategy is very effective because of its 1) affordable prices and 2)
unique response to market demands. Because items move so quickly through Zara stores,
customers feel the pressure to buy an item for fear that it may not longer be there next
time.

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October 15, 2009

How ZARA can succeed in India as an emerging market?

Introduction

The new trends of the fashion age have already been abundant in all

aspects of businesses. It is being assumed that there has been a huge amount of

data regarding fashion and clothing in the last 30 years than in the past

generations. This is caused by the dynamism in the fashion industry but most of

the credit has to be given to the modernization in fashion and clothing over

recent years.

The use of market entry strategies has many benefits for an organization.

Market entry strategy is the concept that includes most types of strategies used

to establish, communicate and utilize marketing in its various structures. Since

clothing and fashion has been included in the itinerary of every individual’s

working place, Zara clothing lines have been selected to enter into international

markets. The primary goal of this essay is to establish a marketing entry strategy

for the Zara clothing line. The report will include the analysis of the environmental

factors that may affect the product entry. Herein, the chosen countries are India,

Russia and Mexico. These countries have been chosen because it is believed

that the three countries are open in adopting creative fashion and clothing trends.

The discussion will also include the assessment of the marketing mix strategy.
Further, the environment will also be analyzed using PEST Analysis, which

stands for political or legal, economical, socio-cultural and technological aspects.

Executive Summary

The main goal of this report is to analyze the environment where the Zara

clothing line will be marketed. The product is chosen to be marketed in three

countries (India, Russia and Mexico). Analysis shows that the main problem of

the product is to in terms of making the target market know the existence of the

product in the country and the competition of the current clothing lines available

in the market.

In order to solve such complexities, the solution is to implement strategic

marketing approach in terms of advertisement and promotion to make the target

market become aware of the existence of the product in the marketplace. In

addition, strategic market planning can also be attributed as a better solution to

ensure that the product will be introduced effectively. The only problem that is

unsolved is to find a company that will commit to the distribution of the product.

With this, it is suggested that the organization must be able to use a more
effective market planning and strategy which will enhance the market value of the

product.

Screen 1: Political and Legal Factors

First and foremost the political situation gives emphasis to the role of the

government and its impacts in a company or firm. It also involves the extent to

which the government participates in the political situation (2000). The political

condition in India, Russia and Mexico can be considered as an open market. In

this manner, the governments of these three international markets are willing to

accept new investors or company that will operate within their region. In addition,

the government of India, Russia and Mexico also provides their own version of

corporate policies which should be followed by different organization. In this

manner, the pressure is on the Zara product in terms of ensuring that they

always have legal actions in their business operations.

Screen 2: Technological and Economic Factors

The Indian, Russian and Mexican markets are the targets of Zara

Company. In this manner, it is essential that the economy of these countries

must be analyzed. Russia has the reputation to have one of the most stable

economies among these three countries. In 2005, it has been established that

Russia also had the 4th largest when talking about exchange rates. In recent

years, Russia has been able to recover from crisis because of the growing
internal consumer demand. Hence, the country has been noted to be the 9th

largest economy throughout the world. On the other hand, India has been ranked

as the 12th in the world in terms of GDP and has the fourth per capita income in

Asia ( 1981). Hence it can be said that there is a bigger opportunity for Zara

company to become successful in operating in India. The continuously growing

market economy of the country has been a good indicator that Zara company will

be known in the marketplace.

When speaking of technological issues, the three countries have been

able to utilize advanced technology. This includes their acceptance of information

technology especially for business operations and or organizational needs. This

aspect will give Zara clothing lines an opportunity to grow in the market and

make use of state of the art technological facilities to enhance the quality of the

service given by both public and private corporations.

Screen 3: Societal and Cultural Factors

Social and cultural aspects are also essential and have to be given

tremendous consideration when one wishes to participate into a foreign market.

Also, culture is considered an integral aspect in the analysis of an industry,

because for any company or firm to function efficiently it must for some extent

possess an acceptable set of perspectives and beliefs on the role of culture in

giving influence to the progress or downfall of any organization. Culture

environment is one of the critical perspectives that greatly affect the company.

(2004) states that there exists four aspects that separate cultures at a national
level (power distance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity,

uncertainty avoidance), which encourage the analysis that individuals enter into

companies with their own national culture.

It can be said that when talking about social context India is able to give

more priority to social security. In addition, India is also in the process of thinking

about participating in trades and agreements to various companies which can

possibly give them high quality products or services. Like India, Russia has also

a strong culture and society. Russians’ social context is considered to be

impulsive when it comes to consuming products or services. In addition, the

society is open to investors who will provide technologically advances products

and services. In Mexico, it can be noted that the social and cultural condition are

diverse. This can be a big factor for the Zara clothing lines to become marketable

in the country.

OVERVIEW OF ZARA COMPANY

Zara is one of Spain's primary fashion and clothing line companies

with regards to profit and sales volume. The company has also one of the

most extensive presences among all international fashion and clothing

companies. This is done through the use of a marketing strategy of global

networking of distributors.

Zara Company utilizes the prestigious name of both the company and its

excellent clothing labels, and this strategy has enabled the company to fulfill an
integrated marketing approach which gives emphasis to the company name.

There are also a wide range of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)

strategies available that Zara Company could utilize of in order to manage their

promotional endeavors. These strategies involve a variety of advertising,

branding and personal selling strategies. When utilized appropriately, these IMC

strategies can help Zara Company to disseminate in an efficient manner the

critical information that they want to tell to their esteemed customers.

However, several issues have to be understood and evaluated by

Zara Company about IMC tools. Since their income is slightly bigger than

most of their competitors, the duration for implementation of their selected

IMC tools would take a much longer time than expected, aside from being

costly. But since the objective of Zara Company is towards obtaining a

long-term market leadership and stability in the fashion industry, then the

pursuit of these promotional strategies will be crucial for the company in

the future.

Background of India

In India, it can be mentioned that the nation has a stable political situation.

Also, the economic status of the nation can also be classified as stable since it

enables foreign investments to participate in the market. India is known to

possess one of the most stable economic situations in their region. In 2005, it

has earned the distinction as the 4th largest when talking about exchange rates in

Asia. In this case, Zara Company’s entry to India is feasible and that with the use
of proper market entry strategies the company may guarantee growth and

prosperity in this country. When talking about technological aspects, India has

shown its capability to accept modern technologies to guarantee growth and

progress within its territories.

Demographic

When speaking about demography, India contains a population of almost

more than 100 million people. This implies that India will have tremendous

opportunities to maintain multiple target markets that will maintain its products. It

is said that the dies of majority of Indians, excluding bigger cities, mostly

depends on what is manufactured in that particular region. With regards to food

expenditures, spending is not distributed fairly over the entire population. Like for

example, over 50% of the food supply is being utilized by 30% of Indians who

reside in the urban areas. The target market for urban consumers spends at

least twice as much food products as compared to those residing in the rural

areas.

As the incomes become larger in India, the consumers gain the power to

demand for more quality and fashionable clothing. Therefore, it can be concluded

that with the quality and fashionable clothing lines offered by Zara Company,

there is a guarantee that it will be loved by the Indian consumers.

Cultural Concerns
 Social and cultural aspects are also essential and have to be given

tremendous consideration when one wishes to participate into a foreign market.

Also, culture is considered an integral aspect in the analysis of an industry,

because for any company or firm to function efficiently it must for some extent

possess an acceptable set of perspectives and beliefs on the role of culture in

giving influence to the progress or downfall of any organization. Culture

environment is one of the critical perspectives that greatly affect the company.

(2004) states that there exists four aspects that separate cultures at a national

level (power distance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity,

uncertainty avoidance), which encourage the analysis that individuals enter into

companies with their own national culture.

It can be concluded that with regards to social context India will be able to

give more special attention to social security. Aside from this, India is also

planning to participate in new trades and partnerships to various companies

which can offer them better quality products or services.

Launching Zara Clothing in India

A. Market Entry Plan

In order to participate in the Indian market, Zara Company must be able

to select the type of market entry to be utilized. In this scenario, one of the

strategies that Zara Company will use is by pursuing a joint venture with highly
recognized clothing line distributors in India. It can be mentioned that the joint

venture option occur by pursuing a venture with other larger and competitive

organizations. An international joint venture is a solitary enterprise or multi-

organizational agreement, established as an alliance between two or more

primary entities functioning over various nation territories in planning and

managing the venture.

B. Marketing Strategy

In order to successfully attain these goals, Zara Company needs to

pursue a strategy of selling a variety of its local clothing lines and

international clothing lines, but maintaining Zara as the primary brand in

India. Zara Company must also target larger positions including either the

first or second positions in the Indian market of clothing lines. Any of

these positions would be sufficient enough for Zara Company to establish

an excellent level with regards to manufacturing, marketing and

distribution. Aside from this, these positions can establish a platform from

which Zara Company can sell their clothing lines and other special fashion

products. Zara Company's branches in the Europe are excellent examples

of huge market leadership positions. And with a concerted effort on the

structures of the costs, the above mentioned goals should be attained

without a doubt.
C. Promotion / Communication

To promote the organization and its clothing lines, Zara Company will

utilize video advertisements, print ads and the idea of e-marketing. These

promotion and marketing strategies will be able to fulfill the varying needs of

consumers from India and beyond; especially those priority Indian markets or the

consumers in the urban India areas. For this promotion campaign, the perfect

information that Zara Company may utilize will be “Providing quality and

fashionable clothing lines that fulfills your needs’.

Zara Company has been able to establish its reputation as one of

Spain's primary clothing line companies for several years now. It is able to

rise up to the challenges in most of its markets directly(1999). This is

made possible through the efficient promotional and positional strategies

established in order to maintain not only large profits, but also on

establishing the foundations of Zara Company’s clothes and fashion trends.

The promotional campaigns and strategies of Zara Company in India

must prioritize the significant growth of its clothing lines and improving the

company’s financial situation. These strategies will also be able to help

Zara Company maintain critical mergers and partnerships among

companies. And more importantly, these campaigns can lead to the

eventual unleashing of the potentials of the company’s workforce, thereby

establishing a quality performance- based culture.

 The promotional strategies of Zara Company in India can be easily

implemented by the local employees themselves. This strategy will

definitely enable the organization to vastly improve without the burden of

implementing costly technologies. These initiatives can also lead in

improved financial profit for the organization and will enable the

foundation of distribution networks for Zara clothing lines in India.

D. Target Market

Zara Company has maintained a reputation for targeting the teenagers,

those in their twenties and even the individuals considered young at heart. This is

a customer sector that other clothing companies have previously ignored in place

of the adult consumers. Zara Company also has the unique strategy of portraying

the generations in their campaigns. These campaigns in India will tell that Zara

Company is not a mere simple clothing line for the next generation; its users are

also a generation ahead of their competitors. Zara Company can establish an

image for itself in India as the clothing line for the present generation. It has

discovered that the purchasing power of the youth and the marketing power of

celebrities were similar (1998). They have garnered significant profit gains out of

this strategy, and there is no reason why this won’t also work in India.

E. Pricing Strategy

Zara Company must use as a foundation of its pricing strategies various

critical trends that constantly dominate the global marketplace of clothing lines in
India. One unique trend is called “premium-tization”. This trend triggers the

polarization of various markets. This circumstance would then force the

consumers to demand and pay much larger prices for perceived quality.

However, putting significant deductions in prices is also simultaneously

happening, therefore putting pressure to the middle range. More often than not,

supermarkets enter the process of internationalization which leads to a tighter

squeeze for shelf space (1994). This will eventually leave Zara Company as a

winner. It is for this reason why Zara Company must prioritize the Indian “premise

sector” so much because this would enable their consumers to try their clothing

lines at lower risk and costs.

With regards to market segments, premium and specialty clothing lines of

Zara Company have an unequal share of volume growth at an evaluated 4-5%

annually, as against the 2-3% entire growth rate. These rates are a result of both

the emergence of GDP values among recently established markets and

consumer demands for greater value propositions, which is undoubtedly headed

by international clothing lines. Therefore, Zara Company has to elevate its

portfolio and function in India to outperform the home market. Zara Company

practically functions on a slightly fragmented market, with the top four clothing

companies accounting for 22% of global volume five years ago and only about

28% today.

RECOMMENDATIONS
 There is obviously an immediate priority to merge both the inside-out and

outside-in capabilities of Zara Company. While Zara Company’s market entry

strategy in India includes prioritizing on its major potentials with market position

in consideration of the resource base, the company will be put into a losing

position should it choose not to pay attention to both the macro as well as the

Indian clothing market environment. Therefore, Zara Company has to be

knowledgeable of the current management changes, as well as changes in

political, economic, legal and even demographic situations in order to enhance

the outside-in capabilities, such as market evaluation, customer linking, channel

bonding and technology monitoring.

The advantages enjoyed by Zara Company may come in the form of

increased profit gains. Having an idea on what the Indian market wants and the

latest fashion trends could help Zara Company fully utilize its research and

development potentials to release clothing lines which are not only cost-effective

but also high in quality. The strategic option can even be utilized as a marketing

strategy where the goal is on staying close to the company’s customers and

acting on their feedbacks. On the other side of the page, there will be great

utilization of resources that has to be expected, and the associated risks involved

with Zara Company.

The Speeding Bullet:

Zara’s Apparel Supply Chain

By Kim Anderson, Ph.D., writer [TC]² and

Jim Lovejoy, Director of Industry Programs, [TC]²
March 2007

Today’s consumer is more finicky than ever. They can now pick and choose from a wide
array of inexpensive products. To compound the problem, consumers today are spending
less on apparel—choosing to spend their disposable income on healthcare, electronics,
education, and travel and leisure. To capture today’s elusive consumer, it is more
important than ever to get the right product to the market in breakneck pace. The Zara
business model, a successful paradigm studied by industry professionals, who are now
sharing some enlightening conclusions that might help with this daunting task.

Zara is the most profitable arm of the retail conglomerate, Inditex. Amancio Ortea Gaona,
the company’s founder, began trading garments in 1963. By 2005 Inditex emerged as one
of the world’s fastest growing makers of affordable fashion clothing. Now with over
2000 stores and promising to double that number by 2011, Inditex is one of the biggest
business success stories in Spanish history.

No doubt, Zara has a very successful business model, but ironically, nothing is
revolutionary. Through a clear focus and vision they have streamlined the cumbersome
old supply chain response from 20-30 weeks down to 8-10 weeks and their customers are
eagerly awaiting next week’s—take note, not next season’s new fashion.

Zara has tapped into the power of fashion. Small and frequent shipments keep product
inventories fresh and scarce—compelling customers to frequent the store in search of
what’s new and to buy now…because it will be gone tomorrow.

Under the Zara model, the retail store is the eyes and ears of the company. Instead of
relying solely on electronically collected data, Zara utilizes word-of-mouth information
to understand more about their customers. Empowered store managers report to
headquarters what real customers are saying. Products that are not selling well are
quickly pulled and hot items quickly replenished. Their quick turn around on
merchandise helps generate cash which eliminates the need for significant debt.

Zara doesn’t invest in traditional advertising. Prime locations in regal buildings are
chosen for splendid visibility. The store’s ambience is consistent and appealing from the
interior design, artwork, window displays, lighting and music.

Controlling notorious trouble spots along the supply chain is key to speed. Potential
bottlenecks can be thwarted because Zara is a vertically integrated structure. Dyeing and
fit are critical processes within the supply chain. Zara is a large investor in a dye and
finishing plant, allowing them to oversee the dyeing process—a notorious bottleneck.
Although Zara uses sub-contractors for sewing, they do the vast majority of cutting
themselves—a crucial process that determines fit.
For quick turn around, 60% of the manufacturing processes are outsourced in countries
close to the Zara headquarters in Spain. Zara maintains a strong relationship with their
contractors and suppliers—viewing them as part of the company.

To successfully react to consumers demands, design decisions are delayed as long as

possible. Typically, Zara commits to 50%-60% of their production in advance of the
season, whereas other apparel retailers commit to 80%-90%. Zara practices
precommitment, meaning they reserve mill capacities to ensure production facilities are
available when needed.

Design collections are not developed by small elite groups of designers but by creative
teams. Teams consist of designers, sourcing specialists and product development
personnel. The teams work simultaneously on different products, expanding on styles that
were previously successful. Designers are trained to limit the number of reviews and
changes, speeding up the development process and minimizing the number of samples to
be made.

Traditionally, design and development precedes fabric procurement. Zara has turned this
practice up side down—Zara is fabric driven. Designs are developed with available
fabrics and trims. This eliminates waiting for the long and laborious process of fabric
formation.

Poor communication is often the culprit of bottlenecks. Zara invested in information

technology (IT) early on. Their in-house IT is simple and effective. Vendors and
suppliers report that people are accessible and answers can be obtained quickly. Internal
communication is maximized by housing on one floor, the designers, pattern makers and
merchandisers, as well as everyone else involved in getting the product completed.

Zara hires young designers and trains them to make quick decisions. Decision-making is
encouraged and bad decisions are not severely punished. Designers are trained to limit
the number of reviews and changes, speeding up the development process and
minimizing the number of samples made.

Some say Zara’s real strength is its well developed culture, and that isn’t something that
can be easily knocked off.

Not everyone can be a Zara, nor does everyone want to be. But in today’s competitive
environment, fine tuning the supply chain is no longer a strategic tool, but a necessity.
The stages of the supply chain will not change, but to obtain quicker speeds the sequence
and focus has to.

The information on Zara was collected from the Fast Fashion workshops conducted by
Ken Watson, Director of the London-based Industry Forum and produced by the Industry
Forum and [TC]².
Combining Art With Science, Zara Competes With ‘Fast Fashion’

Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies | February 07, 2008

The Spanish retailer turns to academia for help in developing a model that can make sense of the
problem of replenishing more than 1,000 stores.

The world of fashion is more art than science. Designers and retailers rely largely on
intuition to predict which styles will sell. But when it comes to allocating product across
a network of stores, there’s something to be said for cold, hard numbers.

The Spanish distributor and retailer Zara specializes in inexpensive fashions for women
and men between the ages of 16 and 35. In keeping with the spirit of that demographic,
Zara moves quickly. Like many apparel retailers, it has two seasons—fall/winter and
spring/summer—but selections change frequently within those periods. Items spend no
more than two weeks on the shelf before making way for new merchandise, and stores
are replenished twice a week.

With annual growth of around 20 percent in both sales and number of stores, Zara was
finding that strategy increasingly difficult to execute. Part of the Inditex group of fashion
distributors, it currently has more than 1,100 stores in 68 countries. With so much volume
flowing through the supply chain, the company could no longer rely on guesswork by
store managers as to how much product it needed to replenish at each location.

Previously, managers from around the world would submit weekly requests for additional
product to Zara’s three central warehouses in Spain, says chief financial officer Miguel
Diaz. The orders would reflect each individual’s decidedly unscientific view of what
would sell in the store. Moreover, there was no limit on quantities. Aggregate orders
might easily exceed the available supply of a given item, leaving warehouse managers
with the task of allocating limited product. The system was both labor intensive and
imprecise.

In the summer of 2005, Zara heard about research being done on mathematical models
for retailing, by professors Jeremie Gallien of the MIT Sloan School of Management and
Felipe Caro of the UCLA Anderson School of Management. They were invited to Zara’s
headquarters in La Coruna, Spain. The visit marked the beginning of “an active
collaboration” between Zara and the researchers, Diaz says.

The focus was on making better stock-allocation decisions for Zara’s growing network of
stores. A prototype of the resulting model was implemented between March and July of
the following year, as part of a six-month internship at Zara by MIT graduate student
Juan Correa. Between August and December, researchers ran a live pilot involving
distribution of a dozen products to Zara’s stores worldwide. An identical selection of
products was dispatched to stores under the old process, for purposes of comparison.

The mathematical model drew on historical sales data plus available stock in the
warehouses to come up with a final number for each store. Gallien says the task was
exceedingly complex. Each store carries several thousand items in up to eight sizes, with
exact quantities to be determined for twice-weekly shipments. Through use of the model,
computers could take over the basic number-crunching, with humans left to make
adjustments based on exceptions such as bad weather or unexpected disruptions in the
sales channel.

What makes the model unique, says Gallien, is that it was developed to address the world
of “fast fashion.” Zara makes it a point to respond quickly to consumer taste. Suppliers
are given about two weeks to move from design to production of a new item. “As a
result,” says Diaz, “the reaction to any specific trend can reach our stores only three
weeks after it has been identified.”

Now You See It...

The emphasis on fast turnaround motivates consumers to purchase items on the spot.
Unlike in many clothing stores, where seasonal lines remain on the shelves for weeks or
months, a particular style in a Zara store can disappear within a week.

Nothing is more frustrating to a shopper than finding the right style in the wrong size. So
the MIT model is careful to dictate the right selection of sizes for a given store. When a
store is out of certain popular sizes, the entire supply of that item is removed to the back
room.

“Many models replenish each size independently,” says Gallien. “If you’re missing a
small, it sends you two more units of small. But rather than look at a small size in
isolation, [the MIT model] looks at the whole range.” It only triggers a replenishment if
the shipment will result in an item making it back to the sales floor. Meanwhile,
incomplete inventory is shifted between stores to create a full set of sizes at the locations
where it is most likely to sell. Or it can be returned to the warehouse for discounting at
the end of the selling season.

“The model captures store execution policies as well as the behavioral perception of
customers when they are confronted by stockouts,” says Gallien. By insisting on having
the right sizes for a particular store, Zara makes best use of its available inventory while
improving the customer’s shopping experience.

“The idea is to substitute a vision that can capture the impact on an entire network,”
Gallien says.

Zara speeds up its supply chain by strategically selecting and locating suppliers. A
“proximity model” judges not only their geographic placement, but their ability to
respond quickly to production orders, Diaz says. About half of the retailer’s production
meets the proximity threshold, mostly coming from suppliers in Spain, Portugal and
Morocco. From a geographic standpoint, nearly 65 percent of production is sourced in
Europe. Zara also buys from suppliers in Asia, but because of the need for speed, their
number is “considerably less” than the industry’s average, says Diaz.

The process begins with a demand forecast, which is carried out just once for the entire
lifecycle of a given product, at the time of the production order. For replenishment
purposes, demand is forecasted on a daily basis.

It’s on the replenishment side that the MIT model comes into play. The model looks at
inventory in the warehouse, what’s remaining in all sizes at all stores, and the recent
history of sales data. Diaz says the initial conclusions seemed intuitively right to the
humans who had previously made those decisions. What was different was the model’s
ability to process a massive amount of relevant data in a matter of seconds. By contrast,
“the previous method was limited ... by the cognitive limitations of human decision-
makers, who could each only examine a small fraction of the relevant data at a time, and
had to do so under intense time pressure.”

With several million individual shipments to calculate each week, “differences by only a
few units here and there quickly added up,” Diaz says.

Gallien says MIT and Zara didn’t fully appreciate the system’s impact on sales,
especially its ability to shift items between stores, until the pilot was in effect. When the
results of that model were compared with the old way of replenishing stores, Zara had
achieved an increase in sales of 3 to 4 percent.

In fact, the retailer last September beat analyst forecasts with an overall 7-percent
increase in same-store sales for the first half of 2007. Other factors in Zara’s success
included the favorable impact of currency-exchange rates.

Out of the Back Room

The model has yielded additional benefits. Product now spends more time on the sales
floor, and less in a back room or warehouse. With a reduction in misallocated inventory,
there are fewer returns to the warehouse and transfers between stores. And, as Zara’s
distribution network continues to grow, the retailer won’t need to expand its warehouse
team as fast as the old process required.
Results seen first in the pilot remained steady when the model was rolled out to all items
and stores, in a combined effort by Zara’s Logistics Group and IT department. The task
was completed by June 2007, Gallien says.

At some point in the future, he says, Zara wants to expand its use of the model to help
determine the initial allocation of product to the stores. The only catch is that the
company won’t have historical demand data on which to rely, for product hitting the sales
floor for the first time. However, Zara could obtain some information by testing new
products in a handful of stores that are representative of larger sales patterns. In the
process, says Gallien, it could “generate some knowledge about how the item is going to
sell, then leverage that information when doing the massive initial shipment.”

The right sampling of stores can afford a bigger picture of demand. “You don’t need to
observe data in all of the stores to get a good sense of what the [total] sales are going to
be,” says Gallien. “You can quantify how representative a given store is, vis-a-vis other
stores.”

Such intelligence can at least put a retailer on the right track, at which point it can follow
up with a rapid replenishment model such as the one developed for Zara by MIT and
UCLA. “The question is never whether the forecast is right or wrong,” Gallien says. “The
only good question about forecasts is how wrong they are. It’s important that the model
generates information that makes sense, that doesn’t conflict with human instinct.”

Zara is continuing to collaborate with Gallien and Caro in the area of clearance-sale
pricing optimization, Diaz says. At the same time, the original model will likely be
expanded to other units of the Inditex group, whose other brands include Massimo Dutti,
Bershka, Stradivarius and the casual youth line Pull and Bear.

Gallien believes that Zara’s “fast-fashion” strategies offer big opportunities for North
American retailers, especially if they are willing to source product closer to the
consumer, in countries such as Mexico. “I’d be very surprised if strategic planners and
other leaders of major U.S. retail companies were not very closely scrutinizing that
company’s success,” he says.

Zara Fast Forward Workshop

Kristin Thoney-Barletta, College of Textiles

Lisa Hartman, ITT Graduate Student

The Zara Fast Fashion Workshop was held on October 21st, 2005, at the Fashion Institute of Technology in
New York City. The workshop was sponsored by TC2, Industry Forum, the Garment Industry
Development Corporation, and Kurt Salmon Associates (KSA). Jim Lovejoy of TC2 was the initial
speaker. He explained the ingredients necessary to achieve fast fashion, including design and development
technology. Ken Watson of Industry Forum then spoke specifically about Zara. A video entitled “The Zara
Process”, which was produced by the Harvard Business School, was shown. David Busuk of KSA
explained his views as a consultant on fast fashion. Laura Rowen of Brooks Brothers spoke about how
Brooks Brothers had implemented some of Zara’s ideas into their business. The workshop concluded with a
panel discussion of New York based entrepreneurs/designers who spoke about their business and the
challenges they faced.

From the discussions, it was evident that the fast fashion approach taken by Zara is quite different than the
approach taken by many U.S. apparel retailers. According to Jose Castellano, CEO of Zara, a key objective
of the company is “to get the shortest time to market”. Zara chooses manufacturers than can provide speed
over cost and is very customer focused. They monitor what is being sold and seek customer input. They try
to capture lost sales and potential opportunities. Zara has very limited sales and no clearance racks. They
try to create a sense of scarcity in the products they offer. The assortment changes 70-90% each month in
Zara’s retail stores. They use no advertising and prefer to pick “great” locations for their stores.

Zara has a lead time of 4-5 weeks for new garments and 2 weeks to restock. They have twice weekly
shipments of small batches to their 531 stores, and they have made substantial financial investments in
information technology and logistics. Fifty Percent of the items Zara sells are manufactured in Spain, 28%
in the rest of Europe, and 24% in Asia and the rest of the world. Most of their stores are in Europe. Zara
owns 40% of their production facilities, and they have a very close relationship with their other
manufacturers. Zara’s relationship with their manufacturers, proximity to market, and logistics skills,
combined with their concurrent product development process, help them achieve short lead times. Because
of their short lead times and small batches, they can correct most problems resulting from forecasting errors
before they have a large impact. Another advantage of having short lead times is that their working capital
requirements are reduced.

Although Zara has been very successful in Europe, they have not done quite as well in the U.S. More
markdowns occur in the U.S. than in Europe. They are expanding in Europe but do not have plans for any
additional stores in the U.S. It is unclear whether the fact that Zara has not done as well in the U.S. is a
result of different behavior of U.S. and European consumers, that Zara’s supply chain is set up primarily in
Europe, or if there are other reasons. Despite the problems Zara has faced in the U.S. market, elements of
their business model have been successfully adopted by such companies as Brooks Brothers and Dell.
Clearly fast fashion and its underlying principles can be successful in certain markets under certain
conditions. But the specific circumstances under which they can best succeed need to be more clearly
defined before there will be more widespread adoption by apparel retailers in the U.S.

Threats to Zara

1. What are the threats to Zara's success?

Following are the threats to Zara's success:

1. Zara's Vertically integrated model is a threat to Zara's success in long run. The model
will not work once Zara scales its operation. Currently, Zara's desiging, production,
distribution and retails stores are tightly coupled together and operate very closely.
Expanding operations in different regions (America, Asia, Europe etc.), requires
addressing different fashion trends at a time. Also, given different sizes/ trends in
different regions, it would not be easy to pull a new fashion cloth or apperal from one
region and put it in other region.
2. Also, scaling its operation may require joint-ventures and acquiring some smaller
chains also. In a 50:50 joint venture, it is very difficult for Zara to impose its business
model to the other partner. In this case, we have already seen Zara's joint ventures
dissolving on a couple of occasions.
3. While zara may find it difficult to manage the vertically integrated model for its large
scales of operation, local retailers may follow Zara's formula to success and can emerge
as big threat to its success.
4. It is not easy to beat the local retailers in their home market. For example, the Local
appreal market in Italy is still owned 61% by the independent stores, 45% in Spain (Note
that this is Zara's local market too) and 15-30% in other three major European markets.
Specially, in a country with very cheap labour (mostly in Asia), it will be very difficult
for Zara to keep up its production in Spain.
5. Zara's business model is based on ever changing fashion. For countries like US, where
people are less fashion forward, it may be a challenge for Zara to sustain its presence.
6. With changing time, Advertisement is becoming an important part of the business and
it reflects directly to the sales. Zara's in-store advertisement model may not work going
forward.

2. Which of these threats are most serious?

1. Most serious threat to Zara is to sustain its success.

2. Another most serious threat to Zara is its growth. The company could not aquire large
market shares in the domestic market. Even in Europe, the company does not has a
reasonable presence. American and Asian markets have different types of challenges, that
zara may be facing in future. American market is less fashion forward, which questions
zara's basic business model itself. Asia, on the other hand, is known for its cheap labour.
Competing with these challenges at a time in different markets, while keeping its
vertically integrated business model intact is the most serious challenge for Zara.

3. What should Zara do to address these threats?

Zara cannot address different requirements and challenges working from its home
location only. It can have multiple vertically integrated production for each region. For
Asia, having cheap labour will definately add a lot to the operating cost (For example,
refer to Exhibit-2 where value added per dollar for Indian labour is 5, where that for
Spanish labour is 1.6). While its engineering team can continue giving fast reponse to
new designs.

4. How should Zara go about its internationalisation in future?

1. See if setting up a production unit makes sense with respect to the operating expenses.
2. Zara can use Frachises for high risk and conservative countries.
3. Aquiring small chains may not be a good idea for Zara given its business model.
4. Spend more on Information Technology to remain in close touch with store and
customers.
5. May need to spend more on advertisement.

Zara Campaign
January 12, 2010 @ Carmen → 10 Comments
Imagine this: you are a 20-something fashion addict studying marketing & being told the
following:

“For your final project, you need to pick a well-known brand you like and design a
marketing campaign targeting a different market segment than its current one”.. what is
your natural choice? After a brief brainstorming session with my team (Andreea Dicu &
Raquel Gonzales Martin) discussing cosmetics for men, Red Bull for kids (evil, I know),
and green fast food, we came up with the perfect idea: what if we designed a new Zara
clothing line for curvy women?

And perfect it was. Zara stands for fashionable clothes, trendy colors, and feminine cuts,
promising to deliver fashion for a moderate price, adapting runway trends for the streets,
while maintaining a customer-focused business. We started by looking at the current Zara
values, at everything that makes it unique: their customer philosophy, design and
production approach, the logistics that drive Zara, its store design and employee values.
With a total brand value of $8,609 M, 1,530 stores in 2008, it is one of the strongest retail
brands out there.
The truth is that the fashion industry is changing, with luxury becoming more accessible
to us commoners (think of McQueen and PUMA, Stella and Adidas, or the countless
H&M designer collaborations). Street trends are starting to dictate the fashion out there,
with the Sartorialist, lookbook.nu, or Stil in Berlin influencing the runways. Plus size
models are becoming more accepted in the world of fashion, especially after America’s
Next Top Model (+size) edition, Mark Fast’s SS 10 show or V-magazine’s current
‘SIZE’ issue. Like always, if you want to stay hip and fresh in this industry, you need to
recognize current trends and adapt them to your own style as soon as possible. Zara is
usually great at this, but it seems to lag behind in embracing fuller body shapes. After all,
UK studies proved that 1 in 3 women are unhappy with the way clothes fit them, and size
14 women were shown to be a lot more confident than any size 6 woman.

The psychology of the fashion consumer is rather basic: in order to influence a

consumer’s behavior, you first need to generate interest in the product, by giving the
consumer pleasure and enjoyment; fashion becomes a means of self-expression, saying
more about you than you think. Your next step is to get the consumer involved by
allowing them to attach meaning to clothes, by expressing and communicating the value
of the fashion statement. Before influencing a consumer’s behavior, you need to appeal to
his emotions: positive emotions towards a brand lead to shorter decision times, increased
impulse shopping and even a desire to reward oneself, which can be easily achieved by
simply using the stores to your advantage: comfortable colors, friendly personnel,
uplifting music or anything else you can think of. Last but not least, in the retail world,
you want consumers to shop a lot, and usually to shop for things they do not really need. I
mean, an extra purse is good and all, but there is no real NEED for it, and the purchase of
that bag is usually impulsive.

As we were researching what the plus size fashion consumer would like to see in a
clothing line for them, we realized that they will probably just want the same as everyone
else: clothes that fit them and emphasize their best features. So, normally, the clothes
would need a cut fitting the curvier body shape, which in turn would make the women
wearing them feel more attractive and thus increase their self-esteem.

Although it all sounded good in theory, we also wanted to have some rough data to
support the belief that there is a need for such a line in the market, so we looked at some
statistics and discovered that the plus size market is expected to grow to $100 M in the
US alone by 2012, and Zara, although new in this segment, would probably enjoy success
due to its high brand awareness, and customer loyalty. So, we set out to develop a
consumer focused product line and marketing strategy.

When defining our strategic marketing objectives we decided we would not want to
change much about Zara’s strategy, but simply focus more on the plus size consumer and
increase their satisfaction with the brand, which in turn would lead to more frequent
purchases, and thus more revenues for the brand.

We named the new line “Zara for every woman” and started segmenting our consumer
group: our main segment would of course be the plus size, full shape woman, probably
aged between 18 and 24, working in large cities around the world or pursuing a higher
education. She would have a mid-range income and would be very interested in the latest
fashion trends. She is conscious about her look, enjoys shopping and socializing but has a
hectic, busy lifestyle. What is she looking for? Clothes that fit her body shape and makes
her feel more beautiful in her own skin. For such a woman, Zara would no longer stand
just for “high fashion at affordable prices”, but it would become “the only true fashion
brand that thinks about her body shape, respects it and designs especially for it”.

Our product strategy revolved around 4 basic principles:

1. going back to the drawing board in order to be able to better design for a full body
shape and to incorporate consumer feedback into the cuts
2. focus on product symbolism: Zara should make the consumer believe that it knows the
consumer’s bodyshape and designs clothes that make her feel beautiful.
3. in terms of colors and materials, we all know that these contribute a lot to the
perceived quality of the products, so we wanted to maintain the same high quality
approach
4. moreover, the Zara label would by itself be a source of customer equity.

The most fun to design part was of course the promotion campaign. The goal was to
inform consumers about the new line, to create positive emotions in connection to it and
of course, to generate consumer interest and purchase intentions of the new products.

Although not a popular Zara practice, we decided to incorporate print advertising in our
above-the-line campaign, while our below-the-line strategy would focus on brand
communication, public relations, an elaborate Internet campaign, local events and media
cooperations.

We then tried to incorporate the entire concept into a nice ad, which you can see in the
attached presentation. I will not ruin it for you by revealing it too early.

Our ad message?

“Curvy is the new black.”

A bit cheesy, but hopefully effective.

For brand communication, we wanted to start with a corporate social responsibility

initiative, inviting fashion students from Central Saint Martin to participate in a
competition aimed at designing for the curvy body shape. The winner (decided via an
Internet poll) would then get the chance to design part of the new line in collaboration
with Zara designers. We also considered a possible media cooperations with Project
Runway in order to get our message to a more general audience with the goal of
promoting inclusiveness and individualism.
In terms of public relations, we wanted to start with product placement and designing a
nice lookbook that would make its way to the tables of every fashion editor out there. We
wanted to focus on PR in order to be able to make a sincere proposition to the real
women out there, by using fashion editors as expert sources, which in turn would help us
build brand trust.

And because the Internet is taking a life of its own, we wanted to use Zara’s website as
the main communication channel; the website would also feature the CSR innitiative, as
well as viral videos of the campaign and tips on “how to dress for your body shape”. Last
but not least, we wanted to build an online community of hip, young, tech savvy women
that would exchange fashion advice and act as a source of feedback for the new line,
helping us improve our offering in the future.

For the main launch, we wanted to organize 3 events in main stores in Europe: Madrid,
Milan & London, all renowned for their fashion attitudes. The event theme would be
celebrating diverse body shapes, and we would like to get our invitees the chance to
experience the brand and what it stands for. We would also offer the media pre-launch
access to the collection, so that they can get a direct feel of the new line.

You can see our presentation on slideshare.net. We really had fun working on this
marketing strategy and hopefully, Zara will at some point in the near future develop such
a line. Let us know if you like it or if you would do anything different.

Zara
Zesty
by Vivian Manning-Schaffel
August 23, 2004

Trendy clothing brand Zara is

known around the world for
dressing men, women and children
in a sexy retail environment that
feels a lot more expensive and
exclusive than it is. Truly a global
brand, Zara has hundreds of retail
locations everywhere from Abu
Dhabi to Uruguay and is the largest
division of Inditex, one of the
largest fashion retail groups
worldwide.

The clothing brand has spread its high-fashion/low-cost brand message far and wide by
establishing some unique, yet effective practices. Shunning expensive glossy ad campaigns
and celebrity endorsements in favor of location, location, location, Zara strategically opens
stores in heavily trafficked, high-end retail areas where a taste for trends are whet and wallets
are wide open.

Another important factor in the Zara brand success story is

consistency in who’s running the show. Approximately 92 percent
of all six-hundred-fifty-something locations are owned entirely by
Zara, allowing for greater control over the brand’s execution
strategy. Also, the ability to produce over half of its own product
enables Zara to churn out new clothing lines every few weeks,
keeping prices low and product in step with the most current trends.
We visited Zara.com to see if the web space evoked the same glam
environment and up-to-the-minute sense of fashion as the stores.

Built around a sophisticated sense of site structure, Zara.com is in keeping with the brand’s
goal to drive traffic to retail locations. Visually, the site achieves a feel as stylish and modern
as the brand’s product in look and functionality. Users are able to download Flash and view
the site in English or in Spanish, the brand’s home language. A festive splash page features a
colorfully illustrated, almost psychedelic background with a requisite model posed in front.
The site loads quickly and plays a sultry mix of drum and bass music (with the ability to
choose from three selections and an “off” button—a plus), similar to what’s playing in Zara’s
retail locations, adding a consistent soundtrack to the brand experience.

The home page, branded with the season’s message, “Get into the flow…get cool,” is
dedicated to promoting Zara’s latest line of clothing and features snippets of information
about store openings. One big glitch on this page is that it isn’t fully visible on all browsers.
Embedded links under the section titles would also help improve traffic flow to each featured
area.

The clothing arena is where Zara.com most needs to shine—and does. The Showroom area is
a great example of superior clothing retail branding and execution online. Clickable symbols
representing each product line direct users to preferred location. Crisp photos allow
consumers to truly get a good look at the products. A click on each thumbnail shows a larger
product shot and provides detailed product information—right down to suggested retail price.
Visitors are unable to purchase Zara clothing or products online but this is in line with the
brand’s strategy, which encourages users to make the pilgrimage to the store for a live
experience. In addition, Zara’s seasonal catalog is viewable online in its entirety and can be
easily downloaded.

The Customer Service area is free of frills but successfully augments the live retail
experience. In keeping with the goal of providing users with a taste of the retail experience,
the site features photographs of many Zara storefronts as well as a virtual visit function,
giving users a glimpse into the store. Garment care information is provided—an important
detail most retail clothing sites overlook. The Stores area also works well, which is key to a
brand with so many locations. Pull-down menus power the store locator function, offering
visitors easy access to the details they seek, further encouraging store visits.

All in all, the site provides a strong representation of the brand. Like its stores, Zara.com has
a great look, strong on design and ultimately functional without skimping on quality. Other
 than working out the major browser kink, the site succeeds in its goal to provide users with a
complete simulation of the brand experience. As Zara has successfully proven in business,
providing visitors with a sophisticated atmosphere allows the product to ultimately sell itself.

Brand Press Release: Introducing New Product Line into the Market

A clothing chain launches a new line of products as part of its retail brand, expanding its
reach into fragrances.

Zara presents its perfume and cosmetics range

The perfume and cosmetics range will be on sale exclusively in Zara stores from 1st
December.

The fashion chain Zara, part of the Inditex Group, has today launched its perfume and
cosmetics range. This new Zara launch is made up of Zara Fragrances, a line of
fragrances for Zara Man and another for Zara woman, with its body and bath
complementary range. It has also launched its bath collection Zara Textures, an
interpretation of the world of touch and sensations fabrics evoke, in a collection of bath
products.

With this initiative, and thanks to the special dose of magic that defined this world, Zara
has created a more direct and emotive link with all those Zara clients who identify and
express themselves with Zara fashion. This inspiration behind this project, its
development and launch accurately define Zara's international character. Antonio Puig,
one of the most internationally experienced companies in the field of fragrances, has
worked with Zara on this new venture into the world of perfume and cosmetics.

A group of fragrance specialists have collaborated in the design of this line, including
Carlos Benaim of IFF (New York), Alberto Morillas of Firmenich (Paris) and in design
Fabien Baron (New York). Fabien Baron, the design creator, has ample experience in
other international perfume projects including Emporio (Armani), Acqua di Gio,
Contradiction and CK One by Calvin Klein, Eau d' Issey Miyake, 212 by Carolina
Herrera, amongst others.

Fabien Baron is also the Artistic Directory of the magazine Harper's Bazaar. As for
Carlos Benain, we must mention the creation of highly successful fragrances such as Polo
(Ralph Lauren), Herrera for Men, Calvin Klein and Contradiction for Men, amongst
others. Alberto Morillas has created such well-known fragrances as Acqua di Gio,
Gucci3, CK One, 212 for men and women, Must de Cartier and Tommy Hillfinger,
amongst others.

Grupo Inditex, one of the world's largest fashion wear groups, has more than 788 stores
in 25 countries and around 12,000 employees. Last year sales were in excess of 266,000
million pesetas and net profits rose to 25,400 million pesetas.