ZARA- IT for fast fashion

Group 5- Section B
Praveen Kumar
Pardeep Singh
Sakshi Tawar
Vaishnavi Kumbhare
Karan Sehgal
Introduction
Zara was founded by the richest man of Spain, Amancio Ortega who opened the first store of
the company in 1975 in La Coruna; he was still the largest shareholder of the company as per
the 2003 financial reports. He believed that in order to get success in the apparel industry, the
manufacturing and retailing departments of a company needed to be closely connected with
each other, so that they could timely understand the changing needs and demands of the
customers and respond them accordingly.
Problem Statement
Major issue faced by the company was related to the operating system that it was using for its
POS Terminal. The company was using the DOS Operating System for their POS terminal, which
was no longer supported by its vendor, Microsoft. The company thought that if the hardware
suppliers decided to upgrade their machines and they were no more compatible to be used in
the DOS Operating System, then Zara would not be able to open new stores until they upgrade
their existing OS.

Solution
When the company cannot run with obsolete system any more, suppose that hardware vendor
no longer support ancient DOS system, Zara would have to develop new information systems
(IS). When design and configuration of new information systems, it should be considered to
work well and support peoples’ work, not rather to make things more complicated (Kling,
1999). The expression requires understanding of how people work and what organization
practices should be obtained. When use more advanced technology, we should consider
whether it is faster or easier to use (Kling, 1999). What is more, we should determine the role
of information technology in industry structure, analysis how IT might affect each competitive
forces (Porter, 1985). Additionally, we should develop a plan for taking advantages of
information technology (Porter, 1985). In the case of Zara, we should consider whether new IS
still meet the company’s competitive advantages and competencies, only in that way,
information could help to improve growth of firm.

What is more, there are some areas that Zara could achieve improvement of its IT
infrastructure. For example, there is a lack of connection of in-store network; employees have
to copy daily sales on a disk first. The weakness of intra-communication should be filled when
developing systems. Moreover, personal handhelds which used in every store could not
connect to other stores or headquarters, it also should be considered at the time changing the
system. Meanwhile, real-time inventory tracking could also been improved as currently Zara
does not have ability to see other stores’ inventory. What is more, Zara has to keep updating its
information flow to forecast future trends; with efficient IS it could keep leadership of the
industry. In a word, the change of Zara’s IT infrastructure is absolutely unavoidable and
necessary because Zara such a big company cannot run with obsolete technology, and an
effective IS should help with company’s growth.