Background Information
Zara is a chain of retail stores located all over the world despite the fact that in the end of 1995 “Zara… had only about 500 stores and more than three-quarters of them were located in Spain” (Sull & Turconi, 2008, p. 6). The official address of the headquarters is related to the Inditex; the address is as following – “Avenida de la Diputación s/n 15142 Arteixo, A Coruña, Spain” (Inditex, 2010).
The origin of the company is the retail group Inditex the headquarters of which is located in Spain. In 1975, Amancio Ortega Gaona who also founded Inditex, opened the first Zara store in Spain (Ferdows, Lewis, & Machuca, 2003, p. 62) which became the source of success of this business later developed with the help of other chains of retail stores.
Mission Statement
The mission statement includes the environmental policy and animal welfare policies that are aimed at protecting the natural environment and living beings that inhabit it and promoting the ideas of eco-friendly activities.
As such, Zara stores are claimed to employ teams of professionals that are completely aware of the environmental policies and are ready to use products with packages that can be later recycled. In addition, the lorries which deliver the products use 5% biodiesel fuel as alternative energy and waste-reducing technology.
Table of Major Products
The major products concern the collections designed for Zara stores including clothes, bags, shoes, and accessories for women and man, a TRF collection which comprises clothes and accessories for young women, and a collection for children of different age groups.
In this respect, the information about the major products is available on the official website of the company as well as pictures of different perspectives of items, color designs, data about products, and prices.
As such, the major line contains the following items:
- women: trench coats and parkas, jackets, blazers, dresses, skirts, trousers, jeans, knitwear, shirts, t-shirts, swimwear, shoes, handbags, belts, scarves, and accessories (Inditex, 2010);
- TRF: excluding trench coats, jackets, swimwear, belts, and scarves;
- men: jackets, blazers and waistcoats, suits, trench coats and parkas, knitwear, shirts, t-shirts and sweatshirts, trousers, jeans, bermudas, basics, shoes, bags, hats and caps, scarves and foulards, ties, belts, accessories, loungewear, and beachwear (Inditex, 2010);
- kids: the collection for kids includes almost all items presented in the adult collections except for babies aged from the newborn to 9 months.
Competitors
The competitors include the companies that also operate in the fast fashion style; for instance, “Sweden-based H&M, Japan-based World Co., and Spain-based Mango” (Caro & Gallien, 2010, p. 1). Topshop and Benetton are also called the competitors of Zara with regard to the operational style and business model applied.
However, The Gap, H&M, and Benetton are called the major competitors of Zara in the study by Ghemawat and Nueno (2006, p. 4). As such, the competition moves the companies forward.
Position in the Market
Main competitors
The position in the market in terms of competitors is favorable because it obtains a niche in the fast fashion market for a long time and introduces new technologies and approaches to sustain its competitive advantage and remain compatible.
Competitive advantage
The competitive advantage is that the company is always in the vanguard of fashion tendencies to deliver those to the general market.
References
Caro, F. & Gallien, J. (2010). Inventory management of a fast-fashion retail network. Operations Research. Web.
Ferdows, K., Lewis, M., & Machuca, J. A. D. (2003). Zara: A case study. Supply Chain Forum, 4(2), pp. 62-66.
Ghemawat, P. & Nueno, J. L. S. (2006). Zara: Fast fashion. Report of Harvard Business School, 9-703-497. Web.
Inditex. (2010). Zara official website. Web.
Sull, D. & Turconi, S. (2008). Fast fashion lessons. Business Strategy Review. pp. 4-11. Web.