How Does ZARA Deduce "Fast Fashion"? Speed Is The Key To Winning.

Without completely changing the way of product design, production and distribution, it is very difficult for competitors to replicate the Inditex mode.

Recently, the Zara New York flagship store launched a black high necked woman's coat with metal rings.

It took only 25 days from design to sale.

Store managers said: "this season, customers prefer metal texture."

He also said that customer feedback brought new design inspiration to Zara, and the clothing of the corresponding style arrived in stores in a few weeks.

Tracking the whole process from the Spanish design studio to the Manhattan store shelf gives the outside world a glimpse of the fast fashion business model.

This is the way to help Zara parent Inditex SA become the world's largest retailer with the highest sales volume.

At Inditex's headquarters in Altai, Spain's industrial town, according to customer needs discussed by Zara store managers, a group of designers and fashion designers spent 5 days designing samples of this loose winter coat.

Another group of clothing printer and sewing technician took 13 days to produce 8000 such coats.

During the next 6 days, these coats were ironed, labelled, completed for quality inspection and shipped to Zara in Saragossa.

And then sent to Barcelona Airport.

The next day, some of the jackets will be loaded from the John Kennedy airport in New York and shipped to the flagship store in Fifth Avenue at a price of $189.

For a long time, Zara's ability to respond quickly to consumers' tastes has always been a major research topic in the industry.

At present, Zara's US competitors are trying to imitate such short cycle mode.

This model has helped Inditex expand its business to more than 7000 stores in 92 countries.

Last year, its sales reached 20 billion 900 million euros (US $22 billion 100 million), more than doubled in 2008.

One of the ways that Inditex speeds up turnover is to distribute 60% of its clothing production in Spain and its surrounding countries, rather than in the distant Asia Pacific region.

Retailers like J.C. Penney are also turning to closer providers, such as those in Central America, to reduce their dependence on Asian suppliers.

With the optimization of design and logistics processes, the delivery time of some J.C. Penny brand products has been reduced from 10 months to 8 months.

As a former industry leader, Gap revenue has been stagnant in the past 10 years.

The company also shifted some of its production work from Asia to the Caribbean.

In addition, the company is speeding up decision-making, and sometimes even approves the production of new products within 24 hours.

Liz Dunn, founder of Talmage Advisors, a retail consultancy, says Lizz's rivals may make production sites closer to home, but their "organizational structure is not able to respond quickly to fashion trends". Lizz

Anne Critchlow, an analyst at Societe Generale, France, said: "in short, the success of Inditex is due to a very short operating cycle: what other retailers can't do," Anne Crichlo said.

Push design to customers. "

Therefore, the company can mark higher prices for goods.

"Zara is not just a brand, but a fast changing chameleon," he said.

Including this women's coat, every creative decision made by Zara clothing can quickly flow from an improvised discussion at Inditex headquarters to an open working area.

The area here is slightly larger than a football field.

Designers and business people sit here to contact Zara store managers around the world via telephone or Internet.

Store managers often come here to seek advice, they will look at the samples of the coat and help them to design.

There is no formal meeting here.

Societe Generale pointed out that due to Inditex's emphasis on speed and the mode of production nearby, the company will be able to deliver new clothing products to stores within two weeks.

In contrast, 80% of Sweden's H&M clothing has to be booked several months in advance.

Inditex said the central distribution system ensures that a garment will arrive directly at the next store after production.

Retail analysts say goods from other retailers are usually shipped to warehouses in large quantities and then distributed to stores.

This increases the possibility of backlog of unsold goods.

Inditex only uses warehouses in e-commerce sales.

Inditex chairman and CEO Isla (Pablo Isla) said: "from the beginning, our philosophy is to understand what consumers want first, then quickly complete production and delivery through a comprehensive production and logistics system."

Analysts say that as Inditex expands its global market, the company's model may be limited, especially in the fast-growing Chinese market.

Dunn said: "you will not always be close to your supply chain."

although

Research has been done to improve efficiency, but Isla said the company will not abandon centralized inventory system.

This autumn, this women's coat is one of the 50 commodities that are shipped to small flagship stores in New York Fifth Avenue in small quantities.

Store managers said the sales of these goods were fast.

Later, he ordered more of these products from headquarters.

To make customers feel that products are scarce, Inditex said that the production of these coats would not exceed 25 thousand, and would not be replenished after sale.

In addition, stores must have room for two new products shipped from Spain every week.

At the flagship store in Fifth Avenue, the store manager points to the latest hot commodity, a red and black flannelette sweater with a bow. "Customers say they want to look like a rock, but feel soft."

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