Introduction
Zara is now a household name in the global fashion industry. Founded in the mid-1970s by Rosalía Mera and Amancio Ortega, Zara began operations as a family-owned business located in the Spanish city of Galicia.
In the beginning, Zara focused on producing low-priced trendy outfits that looked almost identical to high-priced designer labels.
Zara, therefore, offered a cheaper alternative to low and middle-income earners who wanted to look fashionable but could not afford expensive designer brands.
In time, Zara would open nine stores in popular cities in Spain like Barcelona and Madrid. By 1985, Zara would be incorporated as a holding company under the name of Inditex. From the late 80s to date, Zara has expanded to become a global phenomenon.
The introduction of "instant fashion" by the founders helped Zara quickly absorb new trends with a significant drop in lead times. The use of technology in implementing "instant fashion" would ensure that Zara positioned itself as a trend-setting fashion company in the future.
Today, this internationally renowned fashion brand has more than 200 stores located in over 90 countries worldwide. Zara stores can be found in countries such as; Israel, Malta, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Norway, and Sweden.
In 2019, the Zara brand was worth about 16.5 billion Euros. This post highlights the Zara market segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies of this global fashion company.
Market Segmentation of Zara
Undifferentiated market segmentation is the main type of Zara segmentation in play. This type of marketing strategy is where Zara deliberately ignores the differences inherent in different segments. They then provide a universal proposal to the entire market as a whole rather than different proposals designed for each segment.
Zara focuses on the common denominator of the needs of existing and prospective customers rather than concentrating on the different needs of customers. This way, Zara can develop products that will satisfy the common general needs of most customers.
Therefore, the company can attract a much larger target audience at any one time. Using both mass advertising and mass distribution strategies, Zara can minimize costs while potentially reaching out to a wide range of customers at the same time.
Zara's target market is broad-based as they produce clothing for all ages. Rather than spend a tremendous amount of money on market research for individual segments, the economic undifferentiated marketing plan cuts down on marketing research and production costs.
However, this company puts more effort into producing clothes for teenagers and young adults. These groups provide the largest source of revenue for the Zara clothing line.
Targeting of Zara
Zara's target market primarily consists of teenagers, young adults, and adults aged between 18 and 40 years. In addition to this, the brand targets individuals with income levels ranging from average to high. Zara targets seemingly busy individuals with an eye for fashion.
These people are likely to purchase clothing on impulse because they are trendy and affordable. The "instant fashion" concept of Zara plays a key role in this, as the company strives to develop and produce clothing that follows the latest fads.
Their target audiences are typically aware of the latest fashions and instantly draw to brands that offer such trends at pocket-friendly prices. Zara stores are strategically located in urban cities with a largely young and vibrant population.
Positioning of Zara
Zara adopts an ultramodern approach in its clothing development and marketing. Zara is in tune with the fashion needs of a young generation. Before, this was with Generation X, but today the brand has fine-tuned its product offering to meet the needs of millennials and Generation Z.
By providing instant fashion trends at a comparably lower price, they are able to satisfy the needs of a huge number of young customers and position themselves as a leader in this market.
Therefore, Zara's positioning strategy is geared towards establishing itself as the number one global brand for the latest fashion trends. Whenever young people want the most recent fad in the fashion industry, their first thought should be Zara. This is the hope and aspiration of the company as it positions itself to adapt quickly to the ever-changing fashion industry.
Apart from providing the latest fashion trends at an affordable price, Zara also ensures that its outfits are made from good-quality fabrics. Quality is something that the brand does not compromise on, as it is fully aware that its young customers can easily switch to other fashion lines if they are not satisfied with the quality of their clothing. So while the trend and pricing must be right, Zara also makes sure the quality of its clothes is good enough.
It is estimated that Zara develops more than 450 million clothing products annually. They have a huge collection of designs and styles based on prevailing trends. In terms of targeting by gender, females make up over half of the target market of Zara. This is partly because women are more likely than men to acquire fashion trends quickly and to prefer changing styles.
Each clothing item is naturally trendy at certain seasons. However, by positioning itself as a go-to brand for new styles, there is always a Zara product that meets customers' fashion needs regardless of the season. To meet up with the demand for trendy clothing, Zara operates a proactive supply chain that stocks Zara stores around the world with new clothing products at least twice in seven days.
Zara understands the fashion needs of its main target market group and provides quality, affordable clothing at the right time to meet demand. Therefore, Zara's positioning strategy is to make the brand a global leader in providing the trendy youth with the latest fashion at the right time and at an affordable price.
Mind Map
Key Takeaways
Zara is an international clothing company with over 45 years of experience in the fashion industry. They specialize in developing clothes that are in tune with recent trends. Each piece of clothing is made from good quality fabric and available at affordable prices while the clothing style is still trending.
Zara implements an undifferentiated marketing strategy where it addresses the general need of its target market group rather than the specific needs of different segments. Zara targets young people, particularly those from the age of 18 to 40 years.
Over time, Zara has positioned itself as a leading brand for stylish and trendy clothes for young adults. Clothes of good quality and readily available in stores around the world at comparably low prices.
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References
Zara Brand's Market Segmentation
https://studycorgi.com/zara-brands-market-segmentation/
Zara Marketing Strategy - To Be The World's Top Fashion Retailer
https://blog.avada.io/resources/zara-marketing-strategy.html
