Zara has a secret weapon to beat every other retailer
Parent company Inditex is routinely praised as having "the best business model in apparel."
"We believe that Inditex has the best business model in apparel and expect Inditex to deliver double-digit earnings growth per year over the next five years," Bernstein analysts wrote, according to The Wall Street Journal.
This seemingly unflappable success is no fluke; Zara has some secrets up its trendy sleeves that helps it avoid fashion misfires.
Refinery 29 recently spoke to Jesús Echevarría, CCO of Zara's parent company Inditex, who told the website that it has a "data processing center" that's open every hour of the day.
According to Refinery 29, this center allows every single one of the stores to track sales data. Another team zeroes in on customer feedback.
Many of traditional retailers like Banana Republic and J. Crew have suffered sales blows over the past year when they have alienated their target customers. But Zara appears to have that problem solved before it even starts.
This seems to be par for the course for the retailer, which famously doesn't stock very much of one style, as Suzy Hansen of The New York Times noted in 2012, thereby allowing it to not have to worry about racing to clear inventory.
At the time, Hansen noted that the company would pay heed to how customers reacted to the different styles. Now, it seems the company has that system down pat.
Read Refinery 29's full interview here.