Zara is a Spanish chain of clothing and accessories stores founded in 1975 in Galicia by Amancio Ortega and Rosilla Mera, it is the main brand of the Inditex organization. Inditex is the largest company in the modern world, which includes Massimo Dutti, Pool & Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius brands.

Story
In 1975, Amancio Ortega opened the first Zara store in Spain, in A Coruña, Galicia municipality. Ortegan originally named the store “Zorba” after the Greek movie “Zorba”, but after learning that there was a bar with the same name 2 blocks away, he rearranged the letters and called it “Zara”. The first store supplied cheap popular fashion items. Ortega opened additional stores throughout Spain. In the 1980s, Ortega changed the design, application of process information, manufacturing and delivery process.

The shops
There are more than 2,000 Zara stores in 88 countries around the world. Zara generally chooses the most expensive locations to open stores. Zara stores operate on “5th Avenue” in New York, Oxford Street in London, Serran Street in Madrid, Champs Elysées in Paris, Via del Corso in Rome, etc. As of October 31, 2014, there are 1,895 Zara brand stores worldwide.

Product quality
Every sale at Zara is an impulse buy. You buy clothes not because you love them, but because there is a chance that they will “wear out” in a few days. Many customers are satisfied that the quality of Zara’s products is quite good, even comparable to companies that offer similar but much more expensive products, such as Armani, Gucci or Prada.

Proprietary software and design process
Zara uses fashion analytics software in each of its hundreds of stores worldwide. Together with specially trained professional staff, this software optimizes Zara’s fast changeover cycles by recording in real time which products are being bought, in what quantities and where. This allows Zara to bring the latest fashion trends to life. It’s also interesting that Zara carries more designers in more stores than anyone else, often knowing which models will double and which will be phased out long before their competitors.

goods
The Zara store chain has women’s, men’s and children’s departments. New products are inspected, sorted, labeled and loaded into vehicles. In most cases, clothing is delivered within 48 hours. Zara produces more than 450 million products a year.

5 business tips from Zara founder Amancio Ortega

Money should not be the only goal.

Ortega grew up in a poor family. his father was a railway worker, his mother a maid. The money was enough only for basic needs. Ortega barely remembers the story when at the age of 12 he went to get bread with his mother and came back with nothing. The owner of the shop refused to lend goods to the family. Ortega decided that such situations should never happen again. He dropped out of school and started working.

Find your place.
“Since I was just starting to work, I had only one thought in my head. why not create something different from what is on the market? I clearly understood that it is necessary to fill the gap that exists in the field of textile production,” said Ortega in an interview with Telva magazine.

In 1963, Ortega entered the business for the first time. Then he was joined by his wife and later by his brother and his wife. They sewed and designed linens and robes that looked like designer goods. Ortega says that they did it because they couldn’t stand the fact that only the rich dress nicely.

Later, the founders of Zara began to travel around the world and visit exhibitions. Later, Ortega’s company was accused of copying, to which they responded by saying that they were using fashion trends, but it could not be considered copying. Several times Zara was even accused of direct copying.

Do everything quickly.
Speed ​​is key for Ortega. It does its best to work fast, ship fast and update models fast. Ortega introduced a strict rule at Zara, according to which a new range of clothes must be updated every 2 weeks and delivered to warehouses within 48 hours.

By offering new and original clothes to customers, Zara designers make sure that the product is sold out. If the product is not sold or is not in demand, it is immediately replaced by another product.

Ortega taught her clients to regularly update their wardrobe.

Everyone should stay in their place.
Ortega is convinced that in order for everything to be in order, every worker must stay in his place. His friends describe him as a person who is ready to work even on his own birthday. The businessman likes to keep everything under control, from the choice of models to the cleanliness of workplaces.

Ortega stepped down as CEO of Inditex in 2011 at the age of 75, but still goes to the office every day to meet with shareholders in person and organize consultations.

Keep moving forward.
In 1975, the first Zara store was opened. The number of shops in Spain has increased in a few months. In 1988, a store was already opened in Portugal.

In the 1908s, Ortega realized that one brand was not enough. The Pull&Bear brand was created. Then he bought some of Massimo Dutti’s shares. Bershka was founded in 1988, whose main target audience is youth. This range is regularly expanded.

Now Inditex is the largest brand in the clothing industry with 9,777 stores in 88 countries.