Essay Summary of Zara Fast Fashion

Inditex – Zara: Fast fashion Case analysis Company Structure and Goals Overview Zara’s vision on growth and global strategy -Building up fixed assets -Vertical integration -No advertising, creating premium stores -Fashion follower – QR to fashion trends -Strongly customer oriented -Stable growth -Markdowns half the average (15% as supposed to 30% ) -Pricing market based Business model: -Vertical operations and downstream activities -Multi-chain concept -Creative design team -Competitive advantage – Sustainable growth As attachment: Porter’s Five forces; Company structure; Financials) Problem Statement Growth challenge – 20% per annum expected, 76% of equity value implicit on Inditex’s stock price was based on expectations on future growth. Failure to deliver expected growth results might cause a serious offset in company’s market capitalization. Room for non-local growth – in average a retailer was present in 10 countries while e. g. a pharmaceutical company averaged operations in 125 countries.

Problem statement is: In what geographical area(s) should further Zara expansion follow? Should there be another logistics-distribution centre created as increase of operations might cause dis-economies of scale? Should it acquire additional chains given the complexity of managing those and the risk of own-product-replacements? Preserve the margins; (visible threat to the sustainability of Index’s competitive advantage) Evaluation of the alternative solutions 1. Growth challenge: Notes: not much potential on the local market; -different markets require different positioning -though costs grow as distance grows, prices also change (margins are kept) -50% of all export is to developing countries -Zara shopper visits the store 17 times a year, average is 2-4 times -Creating a climate of scarcity and opportunity in stores Evaluate growth options in different markets: Spain Europe str4 – production in North Africa, turkey and East Europe. US – production in Mexico and the Caribbean subjected to retailing oercapacity, less fashion-forward than Europe, demands larger sizes and exhibits considerable internal variations Japan – no quotas to restrict imports, produced in China. – teenage market segment considered as the trendiest in the world Italy – fashionable, visit stores frequently and spend more on clothing 2. Change in marketing strategy Current: Three types of entering a market: company owned stores, joint ventures, franchising Strategy is standard across the countries -No adv -One big shop central city (capital) Followed by smaller ones (spreading around the country) -Shop windows used excessively -Products do not differ much from country to country -Model is downstream -No knowledge is shared -From design to stores within 4-5 weeks , industry average 9 months -Due to product testing, failure rate only 1% compared to industry average of 10% 3. Change in pricing strategy Current: Prices vary on the different markets, due to transport costs (all supplied from the base in Galicia) – this changes positioning Lower mark-down than industry average