For some years now, people are living in a new OnOff context characterised by the constant use of smartphones (we call them ‘e-bodies’). This affects all spheres of our lives, including the purchase of fashion items which are increasingly bought via web or app.
Zara – the company that invented fast fashion retail about 30 years ago – is aware of this new OnOff context and will launch a new retail concept in a flagship store in Westfield (London) in May 2018.
One of the consequences of purchasing fashion products via the internet or the app is that the customers do not always keep all the things they have previously ordered. Therefore, a large portion of the purchases are returned. This implies an additional cost for the selling company: it has to “revitalise” the returned garments and then reintroduce them to the logistic-commercial flow so that they can be acquired by other customers.
Considering that Zara’s business model is based on the freshness of its products, every time that a garment is returned, its useful commercial life is shortened.
Time management is utterly important to Zara. Paradoxically, the more their sales via the web/app increase, the more Zara’s business model is jeopardised.
Zara addresses this challenge with a new OnOff retail concept whose strategical impact could be pretty important.
If you want to read the complete article that Lluis has published on Linkedin, just click here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-zara-reinvents-fast-fashion-retail-lluis-martinez-ribes?trk=portfolio_article-card_title
