zara ver 1

8/8/2019 ZARA ver 1

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Zara¶s Fast Track to Fashion

The key to the the Spanish clothing chain is efficiency ± with aside order of fashion sense. Take a look at how it¶s doneBy Kerry Capell Spanish retailer Inditex, owner of cheap-chic clothing chain

Zara, pioneered the concept of fast fashion. While most of the retail industrytakes months to bring new merchandise to market, Zara is able to move fromdesigner¶s drawing board to shop floor in as little as two weeks thanks to itstight control over every step of the process. Instead of setting the trends, Zarafollows them. It relies on a combination of fashion reconnaissance -- spottingtrends everywhere from the street to movies to couture fashion shows -- andinformation from its customers to keep its merchandise fresh.

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Tag Team

In Arteixo, Spain, Zara¶s 200 in-house designers work in teams for thecompany¶s women¶s, men¶s, and children¶s clothing lines. From their perch inthe massive 11,000 sq.-ft. hall, they work with Zara¶s ³commercials´ (Zara¶sterm for the folks who act as liaisons among the chain¶s 2,800 global storemanagers, designers, and production planners). The designers sketch out

new styles and determine which fabrics offer the best combination of fashionand price.

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Zap It

The design team electronically sends the patterns to Zara¶s factory across the

street, where a prototype is made. The patterns are optimized via computer

so that no fabric is wasted.

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Massive rolls of fabric are moved in the factory by lifting equipment. The fabricis rolled out on a large table and covered tightly in plastic before a laser -guided machine cuts it according to the pattern. The fabric is then bagged anddistributed to local sewing cooperatives, which return the finished garments tothe factory within a week.

Press and Go

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Once the finished clothing is back at the Arteixo factory, workers handlefinishing touches, such as adding buttons and detailing. Each garment ischecked for quality. Those that do not pass the test are cast aside. Once thechecks are complete, the garments are individually pressed.

Alarming Efficiency

Next, labels for each country are attached. Zara used to rely on storemanagers to do this once the product reached the store. But managementrealized labeling all garments and applying security alarms at the factorysaved both time and money. The less time management spends on taskssuch as tagging merchandise, the more time it can spend selling.

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Lonely Job

Once tagged, the garments are sent to Zara¶s nearby distribution center viatunnel. At the massive 500,000 sq.-ft. center, all merchandise is allocated firstby country, then by individual store using a moving carousel of hanging rails.

Although more than 60,000 items move in and out of the center each hour,only a handful of workers are needed to monitor the process.

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Quick Turnaround

More than 2.6 million items move through the distribution center each week,and most spend little more than a few hours at the center. Using electronicbar codes, each shop¶s orders are carefully placed onto the appropriate

moving rail, ensuring each store gets exactly the right twice-weekly shipment.

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Show Time

Just two days after leaving Zara¶s distribution center in Spain, merchandise

arrives in U.S. stores. Zara transports its merchandise to the U.S. and Asia by

plane, enabling it to arrive in 48 ho urs. Delivery time in Europe is even faster.

Garments are trucked from the distribution center to stores within a day.

Instead of advertising, Zara lets its elegant, spacious stores in the world¶s

ritziest shopping locations do the talking.

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Store operation:

The t e i ense is the enter f ra¶s entire erati n²this

is here ntact ith cust ers takes lace. Each item is carr ied in small uantities n the r inci le that scarcit reeds desirabilit :hen cust mers find something they like, they tend to buy it on

the spot, since it might not be there hen they return. ara has a much higher inventory turnover rate than most of its competitors.Eighty-five percent of ara¶s garments are sold at f ull pr ice,compared ith the industry average of % to 7 % erdows,Lewis, and achuca, Rapid-Fire Fulfillment, Harvard Business Review, ovember .

zara ver 1

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