Having shopped at Zara multiple times in Canada as well as Hong Kong, it was interesting to see how their business model worked in the class covering Supply Chain Management. Unlike other producers, Zara had a fast fashion business model of a short supply chain as opposed to a long supply chain. The difference is that most producers manufacture their products from China and have them shipped out, while Zara has their products sourced from Spain, Portugal and Morocco. This increases the relative costs Zara must pay as opposed to manufacturing in China, but allows Zara to watch global trends and react to them when necessary. I found this to be a very interesting strategy because it directly reflects upon myself as a consumer. The prices of Zara in North America and Hong Kong are relatively similar and marketed as a mid to high cost brand, as stated in this article, the prices should be slightly cheaper in Europe because of the shipping costs Zara must pay to import their brand into the North American and Asian Market. This is probably the reason for the slightly higher pricing. The company also rarely has large sales and I believe this is due to the ability of the company to transition into new trends without having to retain stocks from previous seasons, allowing them to not have to liquidate their products at any point in time.
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