Founded in 1975, Zara rings up nearly €14 billion in annual sales worldwide. Gone are the traditional spring and fall fashion collections, priced at full retail when released and later marked down to sell at a discount before the new collection debuts. Gone are the weekly or monthly sale promotions. The focus is on up-to-the-minute styles, priced to sell today (without markdowns tomorrow).
Inditex maintains its own manufacturing facilities and partners with small shops for finishing details close to its headquarters in Spain. It has great flexibility to make more of a very popular item or switch to something else as customer tastes change. Store managers report daily on customer requests, what's hot and what's not, so the experts at Zara's main office can design, produce and ship updated apparel in about two weeks.
This fast fashion cycle means that consumers must have a different attitude when they shop at Zara. 'With Zara, you know that if you don't buy it, right then and there, within 11 days the entire stock will change,' the editor of Tank tells the New York Times.
