Sharon Mui's Blog

As a customer service associate at Jacob Clothing Boutique, Zara poses as one of my company’s leading competitor. Both stores are located within the same mall and on my way to work, I see lots of women entering the store and leaving with large bags filled with their purchases. I assume that my own store will be just as successful, but more often than not, I am disappointed by what I see. So why is there such a large difference in in-store traffic?  Let’s do a few comparisons shall we?

First I assumed an age gap. Zara may have possibly established their business for a longer period of time and consequently gained more loyal customers. But, founded in 1975, Zara is merely two years older than Jacob.

Next I look at each company’s clothing line and lookbooks. Zara’s products have a more youthful style, providing interesting graphic shirts, and heavily patterned prints, whereas Jacob provides closet basics, with solid colours and signature stripes.

Following Zara’s vertical supply chain Jacob recently introduced that new clothing pieces arrive every two weeks. This method, in theory, should keep customers frequently checking store locations to catch new designs before they’re gone. In addition, Jacob almost constantly has big sales, offering an average of 30 -40% off both regular and on-sale clothing.