Challenges in the Fashion Industry and How to Overcome Them

Zara Case
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Zara Case The main challenges facing the fashion industry and Zara, in particular, include the fast-changing consumer tastes, competition, and expansion problems. Arguably, the biggest challenge the industry faces is the fast-changing taste and preferences of consumers. The article in the New York Times calls this "dizzying fashion time frame," which is characterized by products running out fashion as soon as it is consumed (Hansen, 2012). With consumers' tastes changing rapidly, firms in the fashion industry face the challenge of getting the products quickly to the stores. This means that supply chain processes have to be sped up, or a firm will risk losing customers. Regarding competition, the industry is filled with major players other than Zara, including H&M, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and GAP. With the tastes and preferences of consumers changing rapidly, the market can easily be taken up by the competition. Therefore, firms face the challenge of operating in a highly competitive industry. Expansion is also a major challenge faced by the fashion industry players, including Zara. As companies compete with one another for a share of the market, they open numerous stores in different places around the world. Zara, for instance, opens more than 500 stores annually (Hansen, 2012). This presents a management challenge as firm leaders have to oversee operations in distant places. Zara plans to open hundreds of stores in China, and as informed by Hansen (2012), there is potential to lose control of efficiency and quality with the expansion.

Zara managed to overcome some of the challenges in the fashion industry. Moreover, Zara approached the challenge of the fast-changing tastes of consumers, unlike any other company. Its business model allows it to addr...