Zara apparel
Zara is an apparel retailer that concentrates on market trends related to fashion, such as clothing, perfumes, shoes, accessories, among others. Founded back in 1975 in Spain, the retailer has grown to become the largest in the Inditex group, thus commanding a huge following from its peers, consumers, and prospective customers. Technological advancements and globalization have changed the way people look at trade. The fashion and apparel industry has grown tremendously ever since the inception of technology. Textile companies have adopted more advanced processing and recycling methods that save on time and resources in a bid to capitalize on all aspects of the trade (Liu, 2015). Initially, marketing and strategic planning were based on a small scale, considering the few reachable markets. However, the business climate has changed, with retailers willing to expand to new territories to expand their demand and reach out to every prospective consumer.
With over 2,000 physical stores in more than 90 countries, Zara has adapted both offline and online trading to attract consumers from all walks with flexibility and accessibility being factored. Concerning market position, Zara has been highly rated by consumers over the years due to its business approach, affordability, branding, and speed to avail products in the market. Additionally, the retailer uses consumer feedback as part of the general manufacturing approach through its group Inditex. With an estimated annual revenue of up to $20.6 billion, the retailer is one of the leading income generated from sales. It is a clear indication of their ever-growing presence in the apparel industry despite the numerous competition and challenges that come with business trends.
The retailer has taken a different approach regarding the target market, considering fashion can be embraced by anyone willing despite the age bracket. Therefore, Zara approached the market with considerations for the young generation’s price to be able to afford and feel part of the journey to sustainable development (Doshi et al. 207). The stores consist of both male and female products to cut across both society’s divides and ensure consumer satisfaction without gender biasness. They guarantee the restocking of new products frequently. Their approach is mostly customer-centered since they provide what is mainly considered the current trend in the market. Retailers have adopted this unique sales style to maintain consumers and create a relationship that enables them to ascertain sustainable development in equal measures.
An increased presence in the emerging markets has also ascertained Zara’s continued need for global operations. It is evident with the Inditex group manufacturing plant in Morocco, based in Africa, with some of the emerging markets (Aggour et al. 2016). Additionally, the retailer has manufacturing plants in Europe with some of the developed countries. It shows it cuts across the board in the quest to increase profits. Through online stores, Zara has reached out to almost all the world markets hence a strategic approach for growth.
Value Proposition
Although Zara does not partake in advertising as a marketing strategy, it is widely known worldwide. Marketing is hardly done, considering only an estimated 0.3% of income from sales is set aside. Zara’s value proposition is mainly reliant on consumers’ feedback. The retailer has created an avenue for consumers to provide input while shopping to be embraced into the apparel. In a quest to attract prospective customers, the retailer has adopted the feedback program from consumers and efficiency in both production and market delivery as some of the major factors for development. Consumers feel part of the group since their ideas as embraced wholeheartedly and showcased through co-creation of fashion trends. It is an approach that has been attained through frequent staff training to ensure the little details from the consumers, and prospective customers are always captured. Comparatively, H&M, a competitor in the market, does advertise through its various agencies. However, they are not as efficient and consumer-centric as Zara. It is in terms of production and supply, thus the gap in demand and supply.
Moreover, fashion trends are always changing from time to time. Thus, the need for quick and efficient stock distribution to ensure time doesn’t lapse before full sales are achieved. Zara has strategically located its stores along busy streets and branded them for easy access by consumers. They have also created distribution channels that are efficiently situated near-production chains to ensure the transition from production houses to the market takes the least time possible.
The speed of trend adaptation is another value proposition that markets the retailer to the consumers (Aftab et al. 2018). Upon one week of a fashion show, the trends showcased are most likely to be found in Zara stores. The speed in which the firm reacts t new trends has enabled consumers to increase demand, thus ascertaining returns on investments. Its worldwide appeal is attributed to quality and delivery speed to the market, thus creating enormous demands. The efficient distribution channels have provided income with limited costs being incurred. A look at their financials speaks volume about the demand and supply hence increase in returns on investments
Communication and Engagement with Customers to Develop Relationships
Businesses across the globe are always adapting to a new strategic approach to ensure they can maintain their consumers and ascertain their future expectations. However, with the increase in technological advancements, consumers are getting more conscious of price, quality, and accessibility. It is an approach that is changing the business’s daily operations to ensure demand and supply is met in equal measures, albeit to ensure competitors don’t get a chance to convince loyal consumers of alternatives.
Most retailers use advertisements and social platforms to communicate and engage with customers from different spheres of the globe. Contrastingly Zara partakes on minimal marketing procedures. Instead, they have formulated a customer-centric system (Viardot, 2013). Zara staff are different outlets and through e-commerce are expected to engage consumers while purchasing or making orders to have a feel of the consumers’ needs. Through this feedback, the retailer manages to input the consumers’ needs to produce new apparel. In a way, the consumers feel involved in Zara’s decision-making process and thus enhances their relationship. The modern clothing industry has a lot of detailing and preferability; hence Zara’s approach ensures most if not all consumers’ requests are addressed. The engagement of consumers ascertains them of their relevancy and assures them further of the retailer’s effort to fulfill future expectations. This approach has ensured Zara leads the way in the apparel business for quite some time now, considering other huge retailers’ non-involvement with customers.
Staff training has also enhanced the consumer orientation strategy adapted by Zara. At all times, the staff in both the physical and online stores are expected to ensure consumers’ long-term needs are satisfied. It is a strategy that develops a relationship with the consumer and provides there is always a need to come back to Zara. Whether individual staff or teams, their objectives are always aligned to ensure satisfaction. Hence an additional incentive to the workers of 25% after a certain period. The incentives on employees boost morale and provide the management message of feedback, and consumer specification reaches the target market. The strategy works very well, considering the retailer has over 150,000 employees.
Zara has further adopted the ‘Fast, not First” approach to delivering apparel to the market. The merchandising strategy strives to ensure consumers acquire clothing within the shortest time possible from when the fashion was presented to the world, thus developing the reliability tag from consumers. The supply chain manages this distribution because of the production system instituted by the parent firm Inditex. Inditex has strategically obtained manufacturing plants in Morocco, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey to fast track production, thus creating a satisfactory outcome (Caro et al. 2015). Consumers are always changing preferences when it comes to apparel. In the quest to remain relevant, Zara approaches the market with new trends and observes the consumers’ reaction before manufacturing in bulk. It is an approach that ensures consumer’s expectations are met with limited costs incurred, thus enhancing the returns on investments.
Initially, in the wake of e-commerce, Zara was reluctant to engage in sales online. Upon realizing the new market trends and constant pressure from consumers seeking flexibility in accessing apparel, the retailer embraced e-commerce. As per Appendix 1, it did not take long to see the effects of the changes. Zara’s online platform surpassed the physical stores hence heralding a new dawn in supply chain and engagement with consumers for feedback. It further strengthened ties with loyal consumers who were beginning to think of alternative shopping simply because Zara’s system was not flexible enough. A consumer may be willing to forego his or her preferred retailer product because of the challenges in accessing it or even the costs incurred in a bid to acquire the apparels. Through e-commerce, Zara managed to put all these worries aside.
Additionally, Zara has adapted a generous pricing strategy to ensure all consumers and prospective customers purchase their required apparel. The market structures demand that provided the costs of production are equal. Pricing is supposed to be relatively the same. However, Zara has taken additional measures to ensure they do not incur extra charges and ensure consumer satisfaction. Most retailers are reluctant to trade in markets with additional government restrictions regarding taxations on importations and other aspects of the trade. According to appendix 2, Zara’s apparel prices vary in different nations, considering the constraints and extra costs incurred in shipping. Although some may find the approach as the exploitation of the foreign markets, Zara looks at the approach to ensure all consumers are satisfied regardless of their markets restrictions thus building a more formidable relationship with the consumers
Designing of Stores
A look at all Zara’s stores, for example, in appendix 3, shows the uniqueness that comes with them. Many apparels retailers have an approach of attracting consumers through structural designs of the buildings they set shop in or the surrounding environment. Zara has gone a step ahead and provided the customer ambiance required in any of their stores. Through the interactive fitting rooms, customers feel their importance to the retailer and engage in various aspects that could differentiate the apparel they are purchasing. The fitting rooms are further equipped with state-of-the-art Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID) to ensure consumers’ recommendations or coordinating items upon scans (Al-Kassab et al. 2010). The system is used to control stocks in the always busy Zara stores due to its popularity. Zara stores have also been installed with the self-checkouts systems to ease the traffic of customers. Understandably, Zara attracts many shoppers in its stores; therefore, the need to reduce queues was always in the pipelines. Through the check-outs systems, consumers with specific orders can access apparels with much ease (Christopher et al. 2004) and thus fastening the period they take in the stores.
Websites
Ecommerce business has been the leading approach to trade for quite some time now. Many customers are always on the online platform’s shopping or interacting with the retailers considering the flexibility in access that it offers. Zara website has been developed on four key aspects; functionality, reliability, proficiency, and usability.
The functionality aspect is very crucial in any website design. Zara website enables a consumer to search and view items. It can add the items to the cart and complete transactions about the same in case of shopping. Although it is a responsive web design, the Zara website meets all its intended purpose, thus fulfilling the aspect of reliability. Consumers will always want to shop online using reliable platforms since purchase details are still vital in this type of buying approach. Proficiency in the apparel industry all comes down to size and fittings. Zara ensures their website serves the purpose by providing additional requirements that ensure a customer enters their exact measurements to enable the retailer to get the correct sizes. Finally, the usability aspect of the website is also critical. Although Zara’s website usability is still a step behind its competitors such as H&M, it provides a new wing to their store’s sales. Usability always boils down to individual customers and their preferences, such as the inclusion of “sort” functions or breadcrumbs. Zara’s website has filter functions that work well to reduce the chances of similarities, thus ascertaining the usability aspect. Appendix 4 shows a diagram of Zara’s website.
References
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Chain: The Case of Spanish Fast Fashion Retailer Inditex-Zara. International Journal of
Business and Management. 13. 212. 10.5539/ijbm. v13n5p212.
Aggour, Abdelmounaim & Moussaid, Abderrahmane & Hassan, Ahmed. (2016). Fast Fashion in
the Moroccan Apparel Supply Chain: A Case Study. International Journal of Managing
Value and Supply Chains. 7. 17-24. 10.5121/ijmvsc.2016.7402.
Al-Kassab, Jasser & Blome, Philipp & Wolfram, Gerd & Thiesse, Frederic & Fleisch, Elgar.
(2010). RFID in the Apparel Retail Industry: A Case Study from Galeria Kaufhof.
10.1007/978-3-642-03462-6_13.
Caro, F., & Martínez-de-Albéniz, V. (2015). Fast fashion: business model overview and research
opportunities. In Retail Supply Chain Management (pp. 237-264). Springer US.
Christopher, M., Lowson, R., Peck, H. (2004). Creating agile supply chains in the fashion
industry. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 32(8), 367-369.
Doshi, Harisai & Lim, Li. (2017). An Enterprise Strategic Positioning: Business Practicum
Experimentation on Zara. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. 5. 2-
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Liu, Kerui. (2015). ZARA: Case Study Analysis.
Viardot, Eric. (2013). Always trust the customer: How Zara has revolutionized the fashion
industry and become a worldwide leader. 68-94. 10.4018/978-1-4666-4357-4.ch007.
Appendix
Appendix 1
Zara online platform markets between 2015 and 2018 compared to the physical stores.
Appendix 2
Zara prices of one specific apparel in different nations
Appendix 3
An image of the Zara store in Hongkong
Appendix 4
An image of the Zara website showcasing some of the functionalities