Fashion Marketing: Contemporary Issues, Second edition - Pr School

Fashion retailer desired and perceived identity 251
indicate on its website and public documents. Rather, Zara has attempted to
provide fashion to everyone in the society:
There’s something of Zara in all of us . . . Zara is in step with society,
dressing the ideas, trends and tastes that society itself has
developed. That is the key to its success among people, cultures
and generations that, despite their differences, all share a special
feeling for fashion.
Inditex, 2006
Some participants regarded Zara as a rather up-market retailer who competes
with established fashion brands. However, a few participants felt that H&M
could potentially be seen as Zara’s leading rivals due to its market position, as
one customer explained:
Zara is offering something very high quality at a reasonable price.
Because of the image of the stores, people associate it with expensive
and high end sort of stores and some high street stores as well,
so it may have competitions from two different angles, one is coming
from high end, like Austin Reed, Reiss, Ted Baker, FCUK, the other
one is Topman, River Island and may be H&M, but I’m not sure.
Zara Interviewee no. 4
Zara’s fast turnaround time means that the retailer can bring in the fashion
clothing from the drawing board to the store shelves within a short period of
time:
. . . the ability to adapt the offer to meet customer desires in the
shortest time possible . . . vertical integration enables us to shorten
turnaround time . . . new articles reach the stores twice a week . . .
Inditex, 2006
Participants strongly agreed with Zara’s desired identity on its market strategy,
as one participant expressed:
The stock keeps changing, it gives me a fresher feel. Every time I go
there, I always find something different. I know if I don’t like anything
this month, I’m sure I will find something new next month.
Zara Interviewee no. 3
Case analysis
There is a narrow gap between desired identity and perceived identity in
Zara’s case. There is only disparity in some of the corporate identity constructs,
including the concept of corporate identity, Zara’s products and Zara’s
market condition, as shown in Table 12.2.