Zara Supply Chain

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A. Introduction The retailing industry is constantly expending and presently encompasses massive amounts of money. In 2003, the clothing market in the major countries was estimated at about 580 billion, with the US accounting for about 180 billion and Western Europe representing 225 billion. Given the vast scope of the industry, it is logical that many competitors enter the lucrative commerce every year. In 1975, Amancio Ortega Gaona opened the first Zara store in La Coruna, Spain. A decade later, there were 82 Zara stores in Spain and the company undertook its worldwide expansion. By year 2000, Zara’s affordable designer-clothes had spread across the globe and half of the company’s sales were outside of Spain. In 2001, Inditex (Zara’s parent company) made an initial public offering of stocks and was by then the world’s third largest clothing retailer. Zara produces about 11 thousand styles each year – perhaps 5 times as many as a comparable retailer would typically produce, and all in relatively small batches. This encourages the company to experiment, but always within a commercial orientation. Gaona describes his strategy as follows; “Today it is more important to respond to quickly changing fashion trends than to have low costs.” 2 In 2002, 450 Zara stores were operating in 33 different countries with about 10 new boutiques opening every month. Although nowadays Zara has become a large multinational firm operating well over half a million stores globally, its success is rooted in developing a remarkable strategy for defending its position in the national market. The company’s staggering growth has led Zara to being described as “possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world”. On the other hand, Benetton was founded in 1963. Throughout the years, this Italian-based company opened 5000 stores in 120 different countries around the

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