Zara: Operaciones Y Cadena De Suministros En Ingles

Zara at a Glance: Operations and Supply Chain Management

The first Zara clothing store opened in 1975 in Spain as a small retailer selling men’s and women’s clothing. Since then Zarachains have grown into retailing giants with almost 1000 stores worldwide and an impressive sales record. The success of Zara is partly to do with the appeal of its men’s and women’s and children’sfashions and accessories that display unique style but at real world prices. But it is also partly as a result of their collaborative, digital networks that link Zara with its suppliers and customers.These advances have enabled Zara to deliver tailored products quickly and reliably, creating what the company terms a ‘value net’ for all the firms in the supply network. This value net is a key partof the operations strategy, allowing customer choices to be simultaneously transmitted to all supply partners who then deliver components as need by other partners. The company at the center of theoperations strategy coordinates all activity, provides continual updates to all players, and captures significant value for its efforts.



The particular operation strategy used byZara helps it respond quickly to shifts in customer demand and build a powerful brand. Zara estimate that it takes only two weeks to convert design ideas into products on the shelf to satisfy its young,hip, clientele with fashion for the masses. Store employees regularly tour urban hot spots looking for new trends and reporting back to designers. Knowing what’s in today may be out next month is thesecret of the success of the Spanish retailer as is the ability to apply operations strategy that puts new fashion concepts on the shelf twelve to fifteen days. As part of this strategy,capital-intensive steps are executed in factories owned by Zara, while labor intensive operations are outsourced to small shops and manufacturers with whom Zara have collaborative partnerships that include...