The Surprising Truth About Zara’s Success Story

Zara is one of the most famous fashion brands in the world. The brand strives to create responsible enthusiasm for fashion among a wide range of consumers, spanning multiple cultures and age groups, with the strong introduction of the concept of “fast fashion” shopping since its inception.

Born in 1975 in Spain, Zara is owned by Inditex, the parent company of Zara and one of the largest retail groups in the world.

Inditex was founded in 1985 as a parent company, laying the foundation for a distribution system capable of reacting quickly to changing market trends. Ortega used the term “instant mode” to describe a revolutionary approach to design, manufacturing, and distribution that can shorten lead times and react faster to new trends.

There are many factors that led to Zara’s success, but one of the most important characteristics that have helped Zara become the global fashion giant it is today is its ability to prioritize consumers. Customers loved Zara, and they defined the company and brand philosophy from the start.

Zara’s Biography

Amancio Ortega and Rosalia Mera opened the first Zara stores in Spain in 1975. They were going to name the store Zorba, after the movie Zorba, but there was already a bar on the same street with that name. Instead, they chose the name, Zara. Therefore, they decided to use the name, Zara, as having two Zorba stores on the same street can confuse customers.

In its early days, Zara was known for selling knockoffs of more expensive, popular clothing and accessories brands at deeply discounted prices. However, the 1980s were the beginning of change.

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Zara’s Growth

Zara rose to fame shortly after the turn of the century, and its fame quickly spread beyond the borders of Spain.

By the 1990s, the retailer had opened stores in many countries in Europe and the United States, including France. Due to their vertical integration, Zara is able to maintain control over processes such as dyeing and curing, and they have the ability to process fabrics as needed. This allows them to produce new trending materials based on customer preferences.

Zara has come a long way since starting its adventure in 1975 with a limited 30-euro budget.

It has expanded in both categories and reach, and now has about 7,000 stores around the world. This expansion includes the addition of men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing, as well as footwear, accessories, and other fashion products.

The success of Zara is largely due to its ability to keep up with rapidly changing fashion trends and incorporate them into its collections with minimal delay.

Zara has identified a huge gap in the market that very few apparel manufacturers have adequately addressed in the first place.This is one of the reasons for Zara’s success. The store manager orders new clothes twice a week at specific times, and those orders are fulfilled twice a week on schedule.

It is claimed that Zara’s success, the company’s continued dominance and appeal, can be traced back to its activities and culture.

 New Trends

Zara continues its aggressive expansion into global markets over the next decade, including Portugal, New York, Paris, Mexico, Greece, Belgium, Sweden, Malta, Cyprus, Norway, and Israel. Zara stores can now be found in most developed countries.

And that’s not all. Zara has a significant advantage in that it can control its supply chain more effectively than most other retailers. Zara can be flexible about the number, frequency, and variety of new product launches as the company manufactures its products in-house. Just about two weeks after the original design first hit the runway, the entire design, production, and distribution cycle are now complete.

Zara is known for making clothes that outlast fashion trends by a month or two, and here are three areas the brand likes to focus on.

This is done to keep up with the latest fashion trends while providing high-quality and inexpensive clothing collections. 

Growth Strategy

The brand closely follows the evolution of fashion and the latest trends developing around the world. Based on these ever-changing trends and styles, Zara creates new designs and hits stores in about a week. Compared to other brands, most fashion brands take almost 6-7 months to bring their new designs and collections into the store.

This strategic ability to quickly introduce new collections based on the latest trends has helped the company beat other competitors. It is for these reasons that the brand has become a popular item. It is especially popular with those who like to stay up to date with the latest fashion trends and styles.

Zara has, for many years, been a prime example of the type of company that fully understands its customer base and meets its specific needs. Instead of trying to predict what fashion will look like in the distant, unpredictable future, the company focuses on meeting the real needs of the fashion industry.

In addition, it eliminates storage requirements and helps mitigate the impact of volatile demand. As Zara produces more than 50 million items and introduces approximately 12,000 new styles each year, it is important that its supply chain is as efficient as possible to ensure that the constant renewal of in-store collections is possible.

Orders are made efficiently in both fluid and efficient manner. This famous fashion brand’s success story is truly inspirational. Implementing a centralized enterprise resource planning system is central to Zara’s success.

The cloud-hosted backend is responsible for inventory, product, and logistics management. In addition, Zara receives about 85% of the total price of each garment it sells, even though the industry average is only 60–70%.

Heavy spending on information technology, as well as reliance on teams rather than individual designers for the essential “design” aspect, has fueled this trend.

This is certainly the driving force behind Zara’s meteoric rise. Zara designs are only allowed to stay in the store for three to four weeks. This strategy encourages customers to return to the store because if they are only a week late, all the clothes of a particular style or trend will disappear and be replaced by a new trend

It’s no surprise that Zara has grown from a humble boutique in Spain to the world’s largest fast fashion retailer and leading Inditex brand.

 According to Forbes magazine, Amancio Ortega, the company’s founder, is the sixth richest person in the world.

Currently, Inditex is recognized as the largest fashion group in the world with more than

Approximately 17,000 employees operate in more than 7,000 stores in 202 markets worldwide, including 49 online stores.

 

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Inditex’s revenue was $23 billion in 2019. Additionally, other fashion brands in Inditex’s portfolio are:

Zara Home: Zara Home was founded in 2003 and sells home and designer products. There are 183 markets in which we operate, 70 of which have storefronts.

Pull and Bear is a youth casual and casual clothing and accessories brand founded in 1991. It has 185 markets, 75 of which have stores.

Massimo Dutti: Massimo Dutti was founded in 1995 and sells high-end clothing and accessories for men and women internationally. It has 186 markets, 74 of which have retailers.

Bershka: It was founded in 1998 and combines urban trends with trendy fashion for young women and men. There are 185 markets in which it operates, 74 of which have shops.

Stradivarius: In 1999, Stradivarius purchased a line of casual, feminine clothing for young women. There are 180 markets in all, 67 of which have shops.

Oysho: Oysho was founded in 2001 and specializes in lingerie, casual outerwear, sunglasses, and unique accessories. There are 176 markets, of which 58 have facades.

It was founded in 2008 and offers high-quality fashion accessories at reasonable prices. There are 158 markets we operate, 17 of which have storefronts.

In addition to fashion companies, Amancio Ortega founded Pontegadea Inversiones, a global real estate investment firm with offices in 9 countries, including the United States (Seattle), the United Kingdom (London), France ( Paris), Canada, Italy, and South Korea.

Major corporations such as Facebook, Amazon, and Apple, as well as leading retail and luxury brands, are part of these corporate complexes.

Zara was ranked 29th by global brand consultant Interbrand among the best global brands in 2019. Its main idea can be summed up in four words: beauty, clarity, functionality, and lasting durability.

The Zara brand was created with the eye of the consumer in mind—the ability to understand, anticipate and satisfy customers’ desires for modern items at reasonable prices. 

The ability for brands to have customers co-create designs, beyond an efficient supply chain, is unique and gives the brand a competitive advantage. 

Most fashion trends start out of nowhere, emerging from unexpected places, and pop out of nowhere. One of the keys to Zara’s global success is a culture and respect for the notion that no one is a bigger and more authentic trendsetter than the consumer—and this attitude must always be embodied in every business strategy of the company.

 

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