Zara: It for Fast Fashion

1888 Words8 Pages
Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 1 Case Description 4 1.1 Goals and Strategy 5 1.2 Speed and Decision-making 5 1.3 Marketing, Merchandising, and Advertising 5 1.4 Information Technology 5 2 Problem Analysis 6 2.1 IT Infrastructure 6 2.2 Inventory Management 6 2.3 Decision Making 6 2.4 Stock Ordering 7 3 Recommendations 8 3.1 System Up gradation 8 3.2 Stock Ordering Operations 8 3.3 Corporate Strategy 8 3.4 Corporate Communication 8 3.5 Inventory Management & Decision Making 9 3.6 Employee Development 9 3.7 Information Security 9 3.8 Outsourcing 9 3.9 Cost Analysis 10 4 Conclusion 11 5 References 12 Executive Summary The case paper presents the business analysis of Zara, a leading and profitable brand for Inditex. Zara’s core business model is vertically integrated; it specializes in speed, efficiency and the fast fashion trend. Zara’s approach to information technology supports its core business model. The Internet portal for Zara only serves as display window and the company does not utilizes the Internet to make sales. Zara relies on an outdated operating system, the POS (Point of Sale), for its store terminals and has no full-time network in place across the stores. Despite its known limitations, this system formulates an extraordinary well-performing value chain for Inditex. All IT related applications are developed internally, thus, minimizing Zara’s dependency on any commercially available software. However, in 2003, Zara’s CEO must decide whether to upgrade the retailer’s present system and risk the reliability with the current system, or continue with the old system that will not be compatible for future changes or improvements. This paper assesses the possible areas where system upgrade can add substantial value to both business operations and environment. This paper
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