Zara ProfileZara is a fashion brand created in 1975 by the Spanish group Inditex which was owned by Amancio Ortega. The brand is supported by other sister companies like Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, Zara Kinds and Uterque. Zara has made huge profits over the past two decades and is now ranked as the third largest retailer in the world (Zhang, 2008). Unlike its competitors, Zara manufactures more than half of its products in Europe and not in Asia or South America as most companies do today (Bruce and Daly, 2006). Zara's average markdown rate is pegged at around 50 percent according to Sull and Turconi (2008) and unlike similar brands Zara, only sold 15 percent of their products based on sales. All these factors have allowed Zara to increase its sales and profits by more than 20 percent per year. Zara is credited with its agile supply chain and most market research researchers attribute the success it has achieved so far to its success with its efficient agile supply chain (Dutta, 2002; Tiplady, 2006 ; Sull and Turconi, 2008; Zara's success can be summed up in four factors.1- Owning a professional group of designers.2- Operating 9 clothing factories alone, so that new clothes can be made from planning, design to production in one week.3- Third, Zara has fast delivery.4- Zara adopts “limited collection and new design” strategy. This means that every three weeks, all clothing products must be updated and packaged. (Zara 2010.) Zara designers have unique creativity with trend and enthusiasm towards young people. They often visit New York, London, Paris, Milan and Tokyo to get ideas about the latest women's fashions and trends in order...... middle of paper ...... get a group - Expand assortment Threats - Many competitors - No advertising campaign - Potential oversaturation - Manufacturing base in Spain may become expensive - Competitive market despite falling prices - Consumer distrust due to falling prices - Changing consumer preferences - Competitors or imports at lower costComparison between H&M and ZARAThe differences between H&M and Zara have been shown in this chapter. They have something in common that is easy to compare with. Both are successful clothing companies and enjoy huge popularity in the same industry. However, they have a different business strategy to carry out their business. The benchmarking here aims to evaluate H&M's strategic management and leverage some experiences to better improve their strategy and performance..