ISM - Group Assignment- ZARA: IT for Fast Fashion

Introduction: Zara is a flagship brand of Spanish retail group Inditex. It had gone beyond the
conventional way to establish itself as a leader in fashion segment. There are numerous
takeaways at each level of business, be it Supply chain management, Marketing management or
business strategy formulation. Given below are learning gained by group 3.
Learnings for operations:
 It is always beneficial to keep lead time shorter which helps in serving the customer with
latest offerings.
 Standardized and regular operations makes the supply chain management efficient.
 Keeping check on quantity produced helps to save a cost on inventory and reduces risk of
wastage of clothes and avoids the case of relying on sale for clearing up inventories.
 Implementation of technology helps in reduction of cost as well as improvement in
quality of products and services.
 High speed communication ensures quick and accurate ordering, fulfillment, design and
manufacturing process, thereby proactive respond to consumer shifting demand.
 Major part of procurement and manufacturing should be carried in close vicinity of
consumer market which enables to save time on logistics and deliver finished good in
market in least of the time.
 Intensive use of technology to keep track of supply chain and operations process.

Learning for Marketing:

 Stores outlook and internal outlay should be appealing and consistent with the products
offered which delivers the uniform message to customer about the quality of products
they will be served with.
 Customer loves freedom of choice hence large variety but unique set of products should
be served to them.
 Price determination should be such that it should be slightly less than premium but higher
than price for general consumer segment.
 Limited quantity of fashion products should be produced.
 Life cycle of fashion products should be less.
 Proportion of fashion products being sold should be in line consumer segment.
 Market the products in economy where volume of sale will be high.
 Provide less time to consumer to decision making to buy or not to buy the products.
 Target the generation of population who are most interested in your products.
 Be aware of current trend in market and among customers.
 Keeps stores in close proximity but products in each store should be different from one
another.
 ISM - Group Assignment- ZARA: IT for Fast Fashion

 Marketing budget should be consciously planned, not necessary to invest in

advertisement but to increase the value of brand.

Learning for business strategy

 In today's fast-moving world, the ability to take decisions and respond to the customer
demands should be extremely swift for a business to succeed.
 Find an effective balance of decentralization and centralization of decision making
within an organization.
 Increase autonomy and reduce redundant reviewing processes.
 All the ancillary strategies (such as Marketing / Supply Chain) should be completely in-
line withe business.
 Effectively employ IT infrastructure within an organization to boost business productivity
and gain competitive organization.
 Customer focused approach greatly helps to serve the purpose of business.