Marketing Practice 6 Aurora Gropen 15.11.

2022
Question 1:
a) When defining what kind of intermediary Zara is, I would argue that it is a retailer. This is
because Zara fulfils the description, which is consumers are most familiar with and interact
with the most. Shops, supermarkets, websites, etc., are examples of retail. Zara uses a factor
owned intermediary model. Inditex, who owns Zara among many other retailers, uses the
vertical marketing system.
b) The function of a retailer in the placement system is that they buy their products from the
Inditex manufacturer, which then again sells to the costumer or consumer. In that since, Zara’s
function is to be the part that interacts with the customers.
c) Among the three, Zara uses selective distribution, which means that they select only have a
certain number of stores in the area. The reason I think Zara has this distribution strategy is
because the company has a lot of stores in different places, but the costumer still has to go into
a Zara store to get their product, in comparison of inclusive distribution where the company
tries to have their products in as many places as possible.
Question 2:
a) A major obstacle for Zara is their bad costumer service. On Facebook they have over 1 million
reviews, and after a quite look you see that what a lot of the mention is that the employees are
rude, and that they will not return clothes even though it is in their policies.
b) One of the solutions for Zara could be better training for the new employees so that everyone
knows and are familiar with the policies of the company. In this training, it could also be a
good idea to have some customer service training as well, since a lot of the reviews mention
that the workers are not pleasant to talk to.
c) When thinking of the problems Zara is facing, one of the problems that comes to mind is their
online store. It has been criticized by many for giving a poor user experience.
Question 3:
a) One of Zara’s main competitors is the Swedish owned brand H&M, which caters towards the
same consumer group. Even though Zara is viewed as more fashionable, H&M has a lot of the
same clothes to a more affordable price. In the last few years, however, new online retailers
have become a big competitor for Zara as well. In 2022, I would argue than retailers like
ASOS and Shien has become a big competitor for Zara, because they also appeal towards
younger girls who are conserved with being fashionable.
b) The main differences between the shops in terms of placement is of course that Shien and
ASOS are solely online retailers. In terms of placement online. H&M and Zara do also have
online stores, but the placement of their online presence is hard to differentiate. With Zara and
H&M´s physical stores however, they are often at the same places. You can almost always
 find a Zara and an H&M in every big shopping street or at malls. I would argue that H&M´s
presence is bigger, with stores in smaller cities and more rural areas. Zara´s stores are mostly
in bigger cities, and often they often have a couple of bigger stores rather a lot of smaller ones.
c) Zara’s return policy is that an item can be returned within 30 days, if the article of clothing
has not been visibly used.