Zara is the flagship chain store for the Spanish Inditex Group, which also owns brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius and Bershka. The group is headquartered in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, where the first Zara store opened in 1975. Today, Inditex is probably the world's fastest growing retailer with over 3,100 stores around the world in over 70 countries (more than four times the 2000 figure) the Zara format taking around 1,000 of those stores. In March 2006, the group overtook Sweden's Hennes & Mauritz to become Europe's largest fashion retailer.

Zara has a unique business model that has enabled it to expand and compete with quality brands at affordable prices. For instance, it is claimed that Zara needs just two weeks <ref> profiles Zara: Taking the Lead in Fast-Fashion, BusinessWeek, 4 April 2006</ref> to develop a new product and get it to stores, compared with a nine-month industry average, and launches around 10,000 new designs each year. Zara has resisted the industry-wide trend towards transferring production to low-cost countries. Perhaps its most unusual strategy was its policy of zero advertising; the company preferred to invest a percentage of revenues in opening new stores instead.

Zara was described by Louis Vuitton fashion director Daniel Piette as "possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world".

External links

BMA official website