In Spain customers visit Zara stores 17 times per year on average compared to 3 times per year for competitors. Because their clothing designs change often, it is harder for people to see them clearly on the Internet and thus they are encouraged to come into the stores instead and try on the unique fashions that Zara offers.

Suzy Hanzel, production technician associate, Zara Clothing Company

Agents for the company are always scouting out new fashion trends at clubs and social gatherings. When they see inspiring examples they quickly send design sketches to the garment designers at the Cube. New items can be designed and out to the stores in 4 – 6 weeks, and existing items can be modified in 2 weeks. Clothing items are priced based on market demand, not on cost of manufacture. The short lead times for delivery of unique fashion items combined with short production runs enable Zara to offer customers more styles and choices, and yet still create a sense of urgency to buy because items often sell out quickly. 

The company’s core market is women 24 – 35 years old. They reach this market by locating their stores in town centers and places with high concentrations of women in this age range. Short production runs create scarcity of given designs and that generates a sense of urgency and reason to buy while supplies last. As a consequence, Zara does not have lots of excess inventory, nor does it need to do big mark-downs on its clothing items. Zara has 12 inventory turns per year compared to 3 – 4 per year for competitors. Stores place orders twice a week and this drives factory scheduling.

Creating a positive experience for the distributor’s customers started with improving visibility and communication. Success within the supply chain depends on connectivity, and technology suite ensures everyone involved in a shipment has visibility into what is happening.

Lora Carson, join CEO, Warehouse Company

The distributor turned to Logistics to help streamline and improve its deliveries to warehouses, houses, job sites, apartments and businesses. The partnership has allowed the distributor to improve customer service, reduce the size of its in-house fleet and tap into dedicated capacity. Utilizing expertise also enabled the distributor to focus on its core business rather than transportation concerns.

The distributor’s parent company uses transportation-as-a-cost-of-sales as a metric to compare business units, so managing costs is critical. ClearChain technology allows customers to centralize their data, giving them the ability to see and understand their total transportation spend. The technology has also helped optimize the network and streamline deliveries, driving overall cost savings. Moreover, the distributor saw added value in efficient, professional drivers that arrived at its customers’ sites on time. As part of its communication, team members from Logistics and the distributor meet regularly to discuss metrics, data analysis, priorities and plans. The increased visibility enables data-driven decision making, and regular meetings give both parties clear direction for the future.

A proprietary system helps design the most efficient routes with a route algorithm. Dedicated staff constantly redesign this QSR’s routes for absolute optimization. Imagine if each shipping line or container operator followed their own specifications without adhering to the ISO Standards set for the industry. A unified shipping approach would have been impossible.

Joe Carlier, senior vice president of Global Sales

The changing supply chain and higher customer expectations will require that you know every detail about where your inventory has been, is going, and when and how it will arrive. With it, you’ll have a more comprehensive understanding for better decision-making around order fulfillment and operations management, as well as transparency throughout the recall process.

Many of today’s best-known food and beverage brands trust HighJump for supply chain management and visibility because we offer unparalleled advanced inventory management capabilities and real-time visibility to critical information. From the supplier to the store shelf and all locations in-between, this level of material and inventory control allows our customers to focus energies on expanding their businesses and building new effiencies into their processes.