Look who’s coming to town!
Published on July 28, 2010 to www.insideretailing.com.au
Tired of the same old humdrum 'stack it high watch it fly'?
Bored with the same old retail strategy delivering the same retail results with a variance somewhere between two to 10 per cent up or down on any given week?
We all love a little bit of excitement and inspiration in our daily retail lives and when a worldwide player like Zara comes to town (finally!) we sit up and take notice.
Inditex Group (Euro 4 billion), owners of Zara, are serious players in the global retail market. Inditex has over 1900 stores in 76 countries across the world with a range of brands available to them.
Zara, a phenomenal fashion brand, has become known for some focussed and inspirational differentiators.
Production responds incredibly quickly to trends.
The time between design and production to the shop floor is often as little as two weeks. Inditex designs and responds quickly rather than sources quickly. It produces styles in short runs with 20,000 different designs per year. Each style is a response to a specific trend. There is a strong focus on controlled fabric sourcing and usage
High fashion at affordable prices.
Zara’s affordable pricing strategy and high fashion styling gives them opportunities across a broad range of the target market. Its younger customers are driven by fashion and will buy primarily for this reason while the older group will be motivated by affordability.
Recently Louis Vuitton fashion director Daniel Piette, described Zara as “possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world”.
After appearing on A Current Affair this week, I was besieged by calls from Zara customers and fans asking when Zara was actually opening and where.
(That’s a first and shows the power and impact of this brand)
But wait there’s more to come:
The global trend of migration into emerging markets such as ours is accelerating. The 10 largest public retailers in the world now have 40 per cent of their stores in countries outside their domestic markets. Two of these - the French retailers Carrefour and Auchan - have more than 65 per cent of their stores in countries other than France.
This trend is not just limited to large chains per se (although they make the headlines). Many other smaller brands originating in Europe and the US are now finding their way into the UAE and China and will soon knock on our doors as well.
The refinement of licensing and the development of quality retail space in the global marketplace have contributed greatly to this growth as have rapid improvements in supply channel logistics. The increasing role of the internet and the trend (especially amongst younger consumers) to travel abroad has made leaps and bounds in terms of brand awareness, making entry into new markets a much easier task.
Continual refinement of supply chain and logistics processes and technologies, keeping up to date with trends and fashions and supplying great customer service and experiences will give these global retailers the tools they need to be truly ‘fit for business’ and to succeed on a global scale.
So our guests are joining us at a rapid rate and will continue to do so. While this may cause some challenges for some Australian retailers, healthy competition will continue to exist and the truly ‘fit’ businesses will survive and thrive in this changing retail landscape.
These are the final days to register for our upcoming breakfast event in Melbourne - Customer Connectivity – 2010 and Beyond.
This breakfast seminar will explore trends in consumer behaviour and draw on global and local best practise to give you the tools and knowledge you need to connect with your all important customers.
The breakfast will follow in Sydney on August 31.
Visit www.retaildoctor.com.au/events , email louise@retaildoctor.com.au or phone 02 9460 2882 for more information and to register today.
Happy ‘Fit’ Retailing
The Retail Doctor
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