Zara's Supply Chain Management Practices

In 2004, a famous pop star toured Spain to give a series of concerts. Her outfits attracted instant attention from teenagers and young girls across Spain. By the time the pop star had reached the last leg of her tour, Spanish girls were sporting outfits similar to the ones she had worn during her first concert. The outfits were designed and distributed by apparel retailer Zara, which quickly gauged the demand for them and stocked up its stores across Spain in less than two weeks.

According to a survey conducted by Interbrand⁴, Zara was the only Spanish brand to be featured in the list of 'The 100 Top Global Brands' in 2005. It was featured at the 77th position in the list that featured Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and IBM in the first three positions.

Interbrand describing Zara, said, "Cutting-edge Spanish apparel retailer epitomizes cheap chic knocking out mass-produced copies of catwalk fashions almost overnight."⁵ Zara introduced about 12,000 designs every year; the shelf life of each design was about four weeks. In January 2006, Zara had 853 stores, located across the world (Refer to Exhibit I for the geographical spread of Zara's stores). These stores received two deliveries from Zara's central distribution center every week. The deliveries were customized in accordance with the data sent by them every day. Zara pioneered the concept of customized retailing and was able to conceptualize the garment, develop, and deliver it to the stores within two to three weeks.