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WHY MIGHT ZARA “FAIL”?
HOW SUSTAINABLE ARE THEIR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES?

Zara’s plan to expand internationally could be a possible threat of failure to Zara. To enter in international markets, Zara needs to deliver its apparels in-time, at competitive prices, customized for local markets and everything in a short lead time. Thus, Zara faced several important issues regarding its international expansion. There are visible differences in cultural, social, political conditions in others countries and they have different tastes as well. In addition, Zara has a centralized logistic model may make the expand plan more difficult because they need a distribution centers in their international locations to save on lead time, transportation costs and logistic costs. Moreover, another threat of Zara could be the direct competition in the international Market, such as H&M and Benetton. In the case of H&M the threat is bigger because it uses a similar model than Zara if we talk about the price and fashion characteristics of its products. As do Zara, H&M designs clothes based on international tasted.

Zara’s competitive advantages are highly sustainable and have pumped the company’s success in Europe. As we know, the main competitive advantages are a low level of inventory, an efficient distribution system and a high turnover of product. Zara has the ability to adapt quickly to marked needs, has a quick response system and has emphasis on using backward vertical integration to be a very quick fashion follower. Zara has also mantained low advertising cost than its competitors. The Zara’s product merchandising policy is also important in its success because they emphasized a climate of scarcity and opportunity. So, its consumers know that if they like something, they must buy it in this moment and not later. All these characteristics makes Zara a business model

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