Throughout the world top fashion retailers have always clamored to be the number one company in the spotlight through glitzy advertising campaigns and always showing their most forward thinking designs on runways around the world. One company stood apart from the rest in its ideas and business acumen and has become the largest fashion retailer on the planet without spending money on advertising, an incredible achievement. The Barcelona Zara stores are hailed by most Zara shoppers as the best in the world for their selection and availability of product. When looking for great fashion, remember to come to Barcelona and stay in a vacation rental to maximize your shopping time.
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Early Beginnings
The success of Zara traces its beginnings back to 1963 with the first store opening in 1975, first named Zorba, but changed after another local bar had brought it to their attention. Founder, Amancio Ortega Gaona, now the third richest man in the world set out making house coats and robes. Zara and a host of other brand names are now under the umbrella of Inditex, a global holding company created in 1985. From these humble beginnings grew a brand that now boasts over 5900 retail outlets, in 85 countries with reported sales over US$20 billion annually.
Fast Fashion
The difference between Zara and many other fashion companies is their ability to produce and market fashion trends as soon as they arise. Most of these fashion trendy clothing is produced directly in Spain at their headquarter production facility. These trends are monitored by production managers that reach out to all their stores across the globe and monitor what current customers are asking for. This is then relayed in a meeting across all managers to recognize global trends which they then rush to waiting teams of designers for immediate design and production. This is one of the reasons why, Zara can have trends to market in as little as two weeks whereas the industry standard is almost 8 weeks. Surprisingly in an industry where most reduction is completed in China or India where labor is cheap, Inditex produces more than 50% of its clothing near its headquarters in Spain and North Africa. It has been able to keep its profit margins in line with industry standards by being the first to market as well as maintaining a close eye on inventory levels as production is closer to the markets where they are sold.
Barcelona Zara Savings
A little kept secret is that Zara stores in Barcelona have much better selections than most other stores across Europe and even in the US, as they are closer to the production facilities. Another aspect that many vacationing shoppers or those looking to rent an apartment in Barcelona should be aware of is that the prices can be up to 40% less expensive than in other places. With great selection and amazing prices finding fast fashion in Barcelona Zara’s stores is easy.
If you plan on immigrating to Spain and are looking for a great place to settle, not only will you find great long-term rentals in Barcelona, but great shopping deals on the best fashion produced by the largest fashion retailer in the world.
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