STRATEGIC PLANNING

Zara: Fast Fashion from Savvy System

Zara: Fast Fashion from Savvy System

1.0 Introduction and Key Issues

Zara is a subsidiary of the Spanish Inditex Group. Zara is a famous apparel brand that was established in 1975 in Spain. The brand ranks third in the world and first in Spain. Zara is the brandd that is the most preferred choice of young peopleand customers who want to adopt the latest fashion. It is because Zara allows customers to engross themselves in the latest fashion. There are diverse factors that differentiate Zara from its competitors including its excellent design and inexpensive prices and the opportunity to embrace high fashion (Capell, 2004, pp. 1).

There are approximately 2200 women apparel chain shops of Zara in 27 countries. The performance of Zara has even outnumbered Gap that is the largest brand in the United States (Birger and Stires, 2006, pp.3).

The success of Zara can be summarised into four factors. The most important factor that has contributed towards the success of Zara is its professional group of designers. Secondly, there are as many as nine garment factories owned by Zara. These factors allow Zara to provide its customers with fast and efficient service (Helft, 2002, pp. 2).

Another success factor is Zara is its fast delivery. The strategy of Zara that has provided it with a competitive edge is the availability of limited collection and new design. The company prefers to update its products after every three week (Berger, 2005, pp. 23).

The creativity and enthusiasm of Zara's designers cannot be replaced. The designers at Zara endeavour their best to stay updated with the latest fashion. The designers gather the first-hand information of customers' choice and preferences (Su & Zhang, 2008, pp. 1759).

The mode of transportation used by Zara is truck. The products of Zara are transported by means of trucks in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and other European countries. The average arrival time of production is 48 hours.

The business model of Zara is very successful. The business model and strategies adopted and implemented by Zara are different from most of its competitors. However, there are certain key issues that Zara is confronting. These key issues are likely to influence the sustainable growth of Zara (Pellegrini, 1994, pp. 121).

Zara contributes towards a large portion of Inditex's sales. Inditex has made a lot of investments for the growth and prosperity of Zara. In other words, it can be comprehended that Inditex is putting all of its eggs in one basket. It is because of Zara that Inditex has increased its international sales (Dawson, 2007, pp. 373).

A lot of Inditex's strategies have been formulated by considering the business processes of Zara. It can, at some point in the future, could prove to be an internal meltdown. If Zara's growth ever follows a downward slope, Inditex would have to re-formulate its strategies (Daily News Record, 2006, pp. 2).

Zara has been unsuccessful in developing effective strategies to succeed in the United States market. The strategies that Zara has adopted for the ...