It Management

Analysis on the Successful Case of Efficient Supply Chain in ZARA

Qinghua Zhang

School of Information Management & Engineering, Shanghai University of Finance & Economics, Shanghai, P.R.China, 200433 zhangqh@mail.shufe.edu.cn

Abstract By searching on the efficient supply chain of ZARA which is the well-known world-level garment brand, four key links has been analyzed and three of the advanced ideas been concluded. By presenting some of the famous branded clothing in China, the paper releases to the public what is possible for those Chinese costume enterprises which can borrow the successful experience from ZARA and what is impossible to imitate ZARA for aims to propose some constructive suggestions for the development of domestic costume enterprises. Keywords Supply chain; Efficient supply chain; ZARA

. INTRODUCTION ZARA is the subsidiary of Inditex who is ranked in the No.1 position in Spain and No.3 in the whole world among apparel retailers. ZARA is both a clothing brand and a brand of retail chain. Founded in 1975, ZARA has become the leader of fashion brands over recent years. What is the reason behind for ZARA who has grown up into the world first-class brand with a great competition within such a short period of time? ZARA owes its success to many reasons, e.g. customer orientation, efficient organization management, and one of the most important reason is that the application of efficient supply chain system has helped greatly in reducing the lead time (the time from designing to selling of garments to the consumers). The time is usually 6-9 months for Chinese clothing industry, 4 months for international brand and only 7 days for ZARA inside the shortest time, 12 days on the normal base. The charm and attraction of ZARA shames China who is known as “the world factory”. . THE EFFICIENT SUPPLY CHAIN IN ZARA The efficient supply chain of ZARA is of brand demands, i.e. the chain coexists with brand. Without the support of a brand, the realization of such...