Fast Fashion Brand ZARA Successful Business Mode Decoding

　　 ZARA In China, which has been widely recognized, the society provides reference for the development of China's fashion industry from different perspectives. However, although the research results are summed up in many ways, it seems that the impression is very important. Especially for enterprises entering the scale of growth, many have begun to explore how to promote the operation of the brand management platform with such a brand effective industry. In fact, this new concept originated from the development mode of new industries such as computers and mobile phones needs to be considered for the fashion industry. Based on the analysis of ZARA model in Europe, I will make a brief analysis.

　 1. The main business and auxiliary working system of ZARA: its job is not subversive.

Inditex group (INdustrias de DIse.o TEXtil, S.A., referred to as INDITEX) is ranked first in Spain and one of the world's four largest fashion chains. (the other three are the American leisure fashion giant GAP, Sweden's fashion giant H is the most successful Inditex company. clothing Brands (several others are Pull and Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, Uterque, and Zara), because it is considered one of the most valuable brands in Europe because of its success.

The operation and design of ZARA's strategic operation and its profit mode are analyzed. It has not left its own job from beginning to end, that is, "focus on marketing and carry out its own work steadfastly" product design and production in kind ". All other business and functional activity systems and processes of ZARA are subsidiary, which are carried out around their own work, including: information marketing and customer management system, fast global logistics distribution system, global marketing network and store layout, classification of market demand feedback design and order planning, cost control plan, limited supply strategy, and cultural identification system.

Fundamentally speaking, for the success of ZARA, apart from the main business of "marketing design and production of clothing", all other work has the supporting function of supporting the main industry, and even the proportion of the cost paid by the enterprise will not be smaller than the budget expenditure of the main industry.

　　 Two, look at several misunderstandings of China's fashion industry from the perspective of ZARA's strategic management mode: what is "one flower, one world, one leaf, one Bodhi"?

1. Several misconceptions in the development orientation of China's fashion industry: the differentiation conditions and barriers of products and brands.

First, the misunderstanding of the future positioning of some fashion industry in China: what is the main business and what is the supporting support?

On the contrary, when our fashion industry enters the scale, it will often launch the so-called "virtual business platform" that can reflect progress or "keep pace with the times" as the ultimate goal of industrial upgrading. Enterprises often assume that outsourcing all core businesses, except for management brand, will revolve around the platform economy. This idea and idea are good, but the personalization differences and fashion and cultural elements in the fashion industry are more transformative and highly responsive to the changing cultural context. This idea may be related to the high technology or standardized customized computers or consumer durables industries (I have talked about the characteristics of brand formation in different industries), but the development of this effect will often seem unsatisfactory. If the enterprise thinks that this kind of job or core business will be completely thrown off, it is an advance to the advanced productive forces.

Because in this way, ZARA brand in our fashion industry will appear "outdated" instead of keeping pace with the times? Actually, the conclusion is the opposite. If you give up your main business and develop a virtual electric business with independent development, you can do it without waiting. It can be done at any time. It is only a daily work for the computer network business, but for the fashion industry, it should be only a supplement to the core professional business. If you do not rely on the main business of your own profession to go to the virtual e-commerce platform, is the core business virtual electric business or clothing design and production? The business priorities and core strengths of these two businesses are totally different.

Second, the difference between fashion industry and emerging industries: the differentiation conditions and barriers of products and brands.

The fashion industry is one of the most influential consumer goods industries that are most influenced by cultural, personality and fashion differences. There are fundamental differences between outsourcing of computers, durable consumer goods and other high-tech industries. The latter is formed by technical and industrial standards, forming the core of product differentiation with social identification, and constitutes barriers to industry. At the same time, the latter has the characteristics of high capital and high technology core competitiveness and differences in professional standard allocation, which not only constitutes technical standardization barriers, but also constitutes cost barriers. At the same time, after mastering core technology and technology standards, the latter will face the requirement of large-scale production under the technical criterion, and the outsourcing and supporting production behavior that it realizes will not affect the society's recognition of Technology and standards. Even if there is the form of industrialization standardized mass production, it will also show the difference of technology and standard between brands.

Therefore, similar computers, cell phones, durable consumer goods and so on are often the core of platform management through technological core strengths, or brand, technical standards and logistics advantages. Outsourcing will not affect the existence and discrimination of social barriers to essential differences between technology and standard quality.

But the fashion industry is very different. The traditional fashion industry as a differentiated consumer goods industry, the effect of the brand identification of its consumer goods is quite high. It differs from emerging technology industries and industrial standard parts. The fashion industry is influenced by changes in culture, personality, market and environment, and even changes in lifestyle and habits. All kinds of cultural elements can make new brands grow quickly.

Based on this feature, the growth of fashion enterprises does not mean that when enterprises reach economies of scale, they must consider outsourcing their core strengths and core businesses (of course, the core competitiveness includes the competitive advantage of marketing network that is designed or accumulated personalized demand). Because core advantages often cannot be outsourced for the core strengths of emerging technology or technology standardization enterprises or standard parts enterprises.

Third, the rapid growth and differentiation of the brand in the fashion industry: "one flower, one world, one leaf, one Bodhi."

It is precisely because the fashion industry needs to have larger differentiation and individualization characteristics, such as other initiatives to abandon their functions and even the core competitive advantage, and its strategy is undoubtedly abandoning the industry. It is actually abandoning the accumulation of all kinds of demand characteristics based on cultural differences, individual differences and group differences accumulated over a long period of time. Perhaps enterprises will scale mass production or meet all groups because of the scale brand they have built. This is a big mistake.

The understanding of the need for "people-oriented" cultural color change is just like what Buddhists say: "one flower, one world, one leaf and one Bodhi, one sand, one bliss, one smile and one dust margin".

2. What is the core of ZARA's success? Around marketing, {page_break}, the design, production and sale of its business.

First, the success factors of ZARA from different perspectives: Drucker's correct understanding of marketing.

At present, there are many perspectives to evaluate the success of ZARA: some find the success motivation from the fast logistics distribution system, others find the successful genes from the cultural identification system, others from the huge ones. Designer The team reviewed its success concept, some from the real-time market demand interaction system feedback to see the success connotation, some from the store layout to explore its successful market share, some from its limited sales strategy to evaluate why it touted people, and so on.

However, all of which can not replace ZARA's "job" around the "marketing" activities, that is, from design, production to product sales, and its foundation is "product" itself. Therefore, all the above perspective work is used to assist the construction of the auxiliary system of marketing, and for marketing, the foundation that it relies on can not be abandoned. That is, we can not lose the foundation of the "product" shaping of its existence -- the foundation of the enterprise's own job, and lose it like the "rice without straw" of the clever wife. Therefore, when we understand Drucker's "marketing" is the only function of the enterprise, we can not even get rid of the foundation of marketing, or the basic business of the enterprise, because of marketing, and be thrown away and talk about "marketing".

Second, what is the success of ZARA's strategic business model?

Based on the above points, we can again summarize the order of ZARA's strategic profit models, which can be summarized as follows:

1) core business mode: product design to market -- a real-time interaction form between marketing network and product form.

A, the huge designer team of 480 people, these designer's aliases should be called "copy clerk".

B and product design can always lead the fashion trend. In Paris, Milan, New York and other fashion fashions released a complete fashion intelligence station.

C, anywhere in the world, the most fashionable fashions come out. ZARA can produce products in five days, push them to the market, and can put all the same products off the shelves within five days when competitors launch the same style.

2) core competitive advantage: providing excellent value added marketing service system around the outstanding difference of products.

One of the successful elements of A and business mode is to create real-time fashion and enjoy the cost advantages that top brands can't match.

The salient features are: pushing ZARA into top brands and obtaining acceptable prices. All of its work is to promote ZARA to become the world's top reputation and to enjoy the prestige of top brands at a price acceptable to consumers, creating market demand. At the same time, a price acceptable to consumers must be made.

The success of B and ZARA also stems from its rapid response to the market: creating a fast global logistics distribution system.

It can faster, faster and more thoughtful logistics service than peers, providing goods that consumers like and buy. It has established an efficient information system. It is the only fashion company in the world that can distribute garments produced in 15 days to more than 850 stores in the world. It has adopted a competitive strategy of rapid, agile, multi category, small scale and large terminals.

3) expansion of the value chain network: the unique way to expand Zara marketing network -- regional distribution and loyalty groups

A, a unique way to build loyalty groups. ZARA also did not spend too much promotion to build brand loyalty, including the following unique elements:

(1) attracting consumers with fast changing fashion.

(2) to promote new products with a strong and distinctive brand image.

B, store global positioning and regional or urban distribution -- strengthen the communication with consumers through layout strategy, and make up for the lack of advertising.

(1) ZARA does not want any design to appear at different stores simultaneously, and maximize sales according to the characteristics of economies of scale. It not only limited the number of stores, but also made different stores with different styles, so that different stores had different fashions. For example, the style that is not found in a shop may be found in another shop nearby.

(2) shop in the world's leading places, such as New York 5th Av, Tokyo Shiboya, Paris Champs Ely sees, London Regent Street, which are represented by global fashion and mainstream or new trend of thought, as well as the bustling, fashion and cultural centers of central cities and regional central cities in major regions of the world.

Regional layout and loyalty group strategy of C and ZARA

(1) ZARA also strengthens loyalty groups from the perspective of consumers' individual psychology. And the implementation of limited style sale. Zara has created a model of limited sale. Once a style is sold out, it will no longer be produced, and then put the new style on the market according to the new design.

(2) in addition, in order to save costs, Zara has almost no other promotional activities except for two times in store advertisements every year, and every promotional activity will first notify consumers of loyal groups.

4), marketing tools should be combined with cultural identification enhancement: ZARA brand recognition system and strict management mode of store design.

Channels for A and ZARA: segmenting consumer preferences

(1) salient features: a very detailed analysis of the preferences of consumers in different market segments in Europe, and a fixed preference for retail channels, so as to determine the preferences of customers in the European market segments.

(2) market channel: market segmentation and consumer classification management -- stores and other ways to cover and supplement {page_break}

Market segmentation channels:

Independent stores; department stores; post; others.

Consumer:

A rational person; a conservative; a hedonic; a saver.

B, extended mode constraint: the way to support this strategy is not blind expansion, strict implementation of standards.

Zara does not pursue the strategy of blind expansion. It is not allowed to participate in the production and operation of ZARA brand through joining, cooperation and listing agents. Because any product is valuable to the product. On the basis of free stores, ZARA only grants franchises to stores that are fully capable of implementing their cultural concepts, business strategies and standards, and strictly enforce their policies. ZARA is different from other fast expanding businesses, and only a few stores are franchised.

Third, how to locate the key of business mode? From carrier design to strategy choice

1) how to locate the key of the business mode? From the carrier design of marketing to the foundation that cannot be neglected.

Marketers, Kohler (Kotler, 2003), define marketing management as "selecting the target market under the macro strategic framework of the enterprise, providing creative value, providing customer value and disseminate value information to win, maintain and continuously develop the art and science of customers".

In marketing and advertising, target groups are also called target customers, target audiences, etc. It is a social group to be developed by enterprise marketing activities, including population groups that may generate demand. There are many ways to divide this group into marketing activities. The most common ones are age, sex, nationality, marital status, urban and rural area, country and so on. So it has a lot of work, but these are carriers, not the material foundation of marketing and services. Its material base is product design, production and service, which is a whole process.

2) ZARA marketing evaluation: the successful elements of strategy and their grasp are also important.

A and ZARA overcome the weakness of human nature: "expect too much". Consumers often have a phrase called "value exceeding expectations", "value for money", "value service" and so on. However, most enterprises fail to do so. Human nature has "greed", "desire", "seeking" and so on. Precisely because of the "seven deadly sins" of human nature, human nature will exist in the form of "seeking" which is not fully rational. Most businesses can not cross the ridge of "evil" in human nature.

At the same time, if the businessman and the service public have the same "high expectations" and pursue the "super high price" form of the famous brand, the ultimate road will be very narrow, only to satisfy the value pursuit of the nobles, even the psychological gratification of the local tyrants, and so on. How large will the market without a hundred years of brilliant history be? If the irrational expectation of the business exceeds the consumer, the result will be a failure.

The successful elements of B and ZARA business models: overcome human weaknesses

The core concept of ZARA brand is the opposite. It hopes to provide goods that are close to the world's top brands at a price acceptable to many consumers. To do this is actually beginning to overcome the weakness of human nature.

Therefore, the strategic mode of ZARA is in conflict with the industrialization mode of scale production on the marketing concept. It is located in how to meet the needs of differentiated human nature and try to overcome human weakness.

3, what is ignored in the strategic development of China's apparel industry, and how to adjust the difference between the two sides: Based on the ZARA model comparison evaluation

First, what is neglected in the strategic development of China's apparel industry and how to adjust the differences between the two sides?

In recent years, the fashion industry in China has been influenced by outsourcing of standardized industries such as durable consumer goods, new technology industries and high-end manufacturing industries, forming a strange understanding. It may be mistaken for the trend of progress or upgrading. That is, the real economy has begun to transform into virtual economy when entering the stage of scale economy. After the virtual economy has developed to a certain scale, its demand is just the opposite, and there is a desire to connect with the real economy. The direction of the two directions is just the opposite, which seems to be somewhat inconsistent, reminiscent of the extreme left or extreme right. And each of them can find a seemingly solid basis and reason in the transformation of its strategic mode.

Perhaps the reason for the former is idealized. If the enterprise can get rid of the burden (fixed assets investment under the entity operation), only manage the brand or technology, and outsource production and other links, it will not be easy and easy to realize the OEM production. The latter reason is also very simple. If there is only virtual operation, the severity of the competition of virtual electric business nowadays, and the expansion of scale has lost its past environment and conditions. Whether it is technology or means or business mode, it is easy to be imitated in the short term, and it is easy to get into and out, and there will be more N models. Under this kind of panic, the virtual electricity supplier will think of the money that has just earned the money and invest it in the real economy, and explore a more realistic and diversified profit model in traditional life.

Second, based on the ZARA model, Drucker's marketing -- what is the foundation and what is the auxiliary system?

In fact, from the point of view of management, any reason is established, because management itself is a management with "camera choice" form. For example, a lot of management will be put forward: ecological management, timeliness management, situational management, innovation management, cultural management, etc., while talking about incentives such as organizational culture and mental models will also be effective.

Although it is not denied that management is an analytical system based on many perspectives, their theoretical methods and planning rules will also apply in their respective frameworks. But, as Drucker said, all are auxiliary, in order to better satisfy marketing. However, Drucker talked about "marketing" is not "marketing without rice" marketing, which is often easy to understand without our division. Once the enterprise loses its job and the foundation of its existence, its marketing work will lose its cornerstone of support. Because of the product, all ancillary work revolves around marketing and returns to directing success, so the organization under this complex system has been established.

But simply speaking, what can be ignored in any management? What is its foundation? The empty hands and white wolves in the early days of the Internet are no longer easy. Besides, the clothing industry is a traditional industry, and all auxiliary systems and means are used to support the development and promotion of its essential work.

Three, conceive the virtual from the entity stage, and think about how to link the entity from the virtual stage: the fashion industry's success road?

1, conceive the virtual from the entity stage, consider the docking entity from the virtual stage: what is the foundation and how is the equilibrium point?

So, when you try to choose to give up your main business, only leave the brand or platform virtual management, and ultimately form a virtual operation that loses the main business, what do you think of the virtual electric business? If the clothing industry enterprises regard virtual as the ultimate goal after the stages of strategic development, there is no need to accumulate such strength at all, because you finally choose to give up the main business. And to do a pure virtual business, can start at any time.

In addition, our business tends to blindly pursue rapid scale, such as rapid expansion through franchising or chain mode, especially in the Department of clothing and catering, which objectively promotes the independent integration of dispersed resources and expands the scale rapidly. However, we need to consider that there is often a paradox in the rapid expansion of scale, that is, the industries with large demand differences, especially the daily necessities industry, will form an inverse proportion or contrast between the scale forming effect and the personalized demand formation effect. It will negatively affect corporate performance. Then, when the market structure has changed, from the market structure to the market behavior, the order of market performance will change, and the market structure will be affected by market behavior or market performance. The contrast between the scale behavior and the personalized market will inevitably reduce the concentration of the market structure and form the "deviation" effect of the performance optimization. Then, the clothing in the daily consumer goods market is a highly differentiated industry. The differentiation of market personality preferences can easily create new brands, form more and more differentiated market demands, and create more new strength and new brand. When giving up its functions and businesses, what will be the consequences of blind pursuit of expansion and scale? What is the result of every business operator?

2. What does ZARA's strategic business model tell us? Around the expansion of our support system, we will win the society.

It can be seen that ZARA has a complete structure of auxiliary operation system around its job, and it is not the same with the times, or advanced. However, from the beginning to the end, it will not abandon the job of the garment industry, that is, "focus on marketing and do solid work" - "physical product design and production".

As a matter of fact, enterprise With the expansion of business and the experience accumulated in changing social needs, the mass customization of scale often ignores and submerges many cultural group preferences and classified personalized information of the market. These are the most valuable things in product operation and production. Because once the enterprise has been working for many years, what is the purpose of it? It seems ideal to serve the people. But what do you accumulate information that does not serve the people and what can they do?

Therefore, all inputs (including information technology and global logistics and distribution, etc.) are auxiliary systems, and their input can be huge. However, the foundation of your job is products, and what you need to do is to serve the people.