Zara delivers their fast fashion through a controlled and integrated process called ‘‘just in time’’ they keep the majority of their production in house and make sure that its own factories reserve at least 85% of their capacity for in season adjustments. This allows the business to be flexible in the amount, frequency and the variety of new product they produce. The business stays in Europe close to its headquarters in Spain, with their fabric sourcing, cutting and sewing facilities although this is more expensive as the wage for the workers is higher they are able to turnaround time extremely quickly than if they sourced from elsewhere. Whereas non-integrated business is most likely sourcing their material etc. from somewhere much further away causing delays in communication for one the materials are manufactured and sourced making the supply chain process already longer however for small business this may work as it means that they would be paying the factories much lower cost as the wages of the employees would be lower. Zara are able to have in
season production where
they can on the spot create
a new garment if they
know it is popular trend at
the moment.
Zara has a strong distribution network this enables them to deliver goods to its European stores within in 24 hours and to its American and Asian stores in less than 40 hours.
Overall the integrated supply chain works extremely well for the retailer Zara as they are able to quickly and efficiently produce goods in order to make a good profit and not waste any. By using the integrated supply chain Zara are able to get a product out from concept to store in just 15 days, whereas a usual standard retailer would take about 6 months to follow through this supply chain. However I do believe that for a smaller scale business a non- integrated supply chain could possibly work out better for the as it would be cheaper and they would not need to get as much product produced as efficiently.
This means that,
there integrated supply
chain also plays a massive
part in this as their
production facilities are so
close to their distribution
headquarters in Spain, it means that they do not have to ship large quantities over they can just ship small batches more often, this means that if the design that they have made does not sell well it will cause little harm to the efficiency of the supply chain and getting product into their stores.
ara also ensures they that they stick to the same procedure of each outlet sending in two orders per week on specific days and timing, the truck leaves at a specific time and the shipments also must arrive into store at specific times.
They ensure that every single staff member involved with the supply chain knows the timeline and how they make the chain work with other functions.