Fashion Retailer Supply Chain Model: Zara

Through the use of literary articles and other academic material this paper will review the strategic supply chain initiatives that gives Zara an advantage over it’s competitors. The report will examine other fashion retailers supply chain model to show how Zara has mastered the supply chain model to gain advantage over others.

The Report will also examine the following areas.
i. Origins and history of the organization. ii. Examination of Zara’s supply chain model.
a. New product design.
b. Manufacturing.
c. Distribution & Logistics.
d. Store size and layout. iii. Examine other supply chain in high street fashion. iv. Compare and contract findings of Zara and other retailers.

The overall aim of the report is to show how Zara while trading in a highly competitive market has produced a supply chain model, which is unique. This uniqueness has led to the overall success of Zara and helped to make the organization a worldwide success.
Origins and history of the organization
Zara is a sister company of the Inditex Group which is owned by the Spanish tycoon Amancio Ortega. Inditex is one of the world’s largest fashion retailer and its foundation dates back to 1963. Zara opened it first store in 1975 near the Inditex headquartered in La Coruña, Spain. The store featured low-priced lookalike products of popular, higher-end clothing fashions. In 1979 the Zara brand had 6 stores. These stores proved to be successful, and in 1988 it opened its first store outside Spain.
However, by 1990 Zara had stores across the world, ranging from stores for example in Oporto, Portugal, New York, and Paris. According to Inditex Annual Report 2012, Zara opened a total of 120 stores in 2012, thus reaching 1,925 stores in 86 markets worldwide. Zara sales i...

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...gistics department. They are shipped by time zone to allow Zara to better meet customer demand. Zara utilizes the services of third party logistic providers to manage all its freight and delivery’s. It takes two days to ship merchandise by truck to their European retail stores. The non-European shipments are shipped by air.
When the deliveries arrive in store the merchandise process downstream is simplified. Store will receive all orders on ready to hang assembly, all store assistance need to do is hang the rail, remove the protective plastic cover and items are ready for sale.
Store size and layout
Stores receive delivery of products twice weekly. These deliveries are based on information received from its stores worldwide. This insures that Zara is always offering what the customer wants. This may be exciting designs or items redesigned to suit consumer demand.