Table of Contents

Introduction: ................................................................................................................................................. 2
Key characteristics of the users of Zara: ....................................................................................................... 2
Brand positioning of Zara:............................................................................................................................. 2
Alternative positioning:................................................................................................................................. 3
Marketing approach taken by Zara: .............................................................................................................. 3
Integrated marketing communications strategies of Zara: .......................................................................... 3
Different internal and external elements of the brand which affect the effectiveness of the message: .... 5
Overall effectiveness of marketing communications: .................................................................................. 5
References: ................................................................................................................................................... 5
Introduction:
The main aim of the paper is to critically evaluate the marketing communications strategies of
Zara. Zara is a Spanish apparel brand based on Arteixo in Galicia. Zara was established in the
year 1977. The organization is specialized in manufacturing and selling different types of fast
fashion products which include accessories, clothing, swimwear, shoes, perfumes, beauty etc.
Zara is considered as the largest company present under the Inditex Group and it is considered as
the largest apparel retailer of the world. As of 2018, Zara manages up to twenty clothing
collections every year. Presently, there are a total of 2259 stores present of Zara in more than 96
countries.

Key characteristics of the users of Zara:

The products of Zara are highly unique and they are premium products. The consumers who
want to wear luxury clothing prefer to purchase the products from Zara because the design of the
products of Zara is quite unique and the organization is always focused on customer satisfaction.
The organization always tries to create the customer curiosity through their marketing strategies
and the marketing strategies of Zara are also quite unique in nature which attracts the customers
to purchase the brand.

Brand positioning of Zara:

The brand positioning is basically considered as a way for demonstrating the distinction of the
brand and competitive advantage over the competitors of the brand. The brand positioning is
considered as a functional affair and special emphasis is to be put on the products, benefits of the
products and services, value, usage and the ability for solving the problems for the consumers.
For an organization like Zara, brand positioning is referred as an important element and the
positioning of Zara has been done as an affordable fast fashion brand and they have been
positioned in the global fashion market (Royo-Vela & Casamassima, 2011). Zara has been able
to position themselves as a world class brand but the success of the organization is not only
dependent on the designers who create the products popular or classic but it is mainly due to the
close relationships between Zara and the concept of Fast Fashion. With the help of the rapid
imitation strategy and strong focus on the fast design concept and fast production cycle, and
response to the demand for the products in market, Zara has been able to develop a strong
position in the market. The target customers of Zara are aged between 20 and 35 because
consumers of this age group are highly sensitive to the fashion but they often cannot afford to
purchase the luxury designer clothes. So, for meeting the demands of the consumers of this age
group, Zara has been highly successful.

Alternative positioning:
As there are a number of premium apparel companies have emerged in market today such as H
& M, it is highly important for Zara to change their positioning strategy. The competition in the
market in which Zara operates their business is quite high and although Zara has adopted some
unique marketing strategies, but it is difficult to cope with the competition. So, Zara should
change their positioning strategy and they can opt for the alternative options in terms of
positioning available for them. The alternative positioning strategy which can be adopted by Zara
is that they can position themselves as the premium and luxury clothing apparel by enriching
their product base and targeting more premium customers.

Marketing approach taken by Zara:

There are some differences present between the marketing approach taken by Zara and the
competitors of the company present in the market. In case of Zara, the main aim of the
establishment of the marketing communications is creating the customer curiosity and this is the
most powerful and this is considered as the most powerful pull marketing approach. All human
beings are innately programmed for being satisfied with the approach (Madhani, 2012). Zara
always try to pull the customers to the brand which is different from the closest competitors of
the brand such as H & M which mainly remains fixed on pushing the brand and the products of
the brand to the consumers.

Integrated marketing communications strategies of Zara:

In the marketing model of Zara, the stores are considered as the direct meetings points of the
customers and the company and the store is referred as the only form of the brand for advertising
to the consumers (Mazaira, Gonzalez, & Avendaño, 2003). The most important factor about the
customer service of Zara is that they always try to observe and listen to the customers. The
customer service staffs at Zara always try to understand the products which are more purchased
by the customers and they also observe what kinds of products are not preferred by the customers
in stores. The observation of the brand helps to develop their designs accordingly. The most
important part is that the changes made by the organization within two weeks after the
suggestions made from the stores (Vu, & Medina, 2014). The store advertising is the most
popular form of the advertizing of Zara and annually they spend more than 937 million Euros for
the store advertising including the cost of opening the new stores. The brand spends a significant
amount of money and time to understand where to open the stores.

Apart from that the physical marketing strategies, Zara has strong focus on the social media
marketing as well and they have significant brand presence in different social media marketing
channels such as Facebook, Twitter etc. The customers can get attracted towards their brand
through the posts and the pictures posted by them in the social media marketing channels.

The recent ongoing integrated marketing campaign of Zara called “People” has been introduced
by them in order to attract the readers, followers and bloggers. The campaign allows them to pick
an item and post a photo with it and share the blog and post in the website of Zara. If the blog or
post is published in the website of the company then the users can get a chance to get 300 pounds
or the same amount in another currency (Oliveira, 2014). This is quite innovative marketing
campaign developed by Zara in the recent years because there are no other companies present
which have developed such a campaign in recent years. The campaign is highly successful
because there are a large number of users present who have posted their blogs and posts in the
website of Zara with their products and they have also found it highly effective because the posts
can be published in front of a large number of people.

Although there is a mixed response present for the social networking campaign of Zara but many
critics have stated that Zara does not actively engage in the social media marketing but they use a
lighter approach to post in an infrequent manner and the brand also does not help the customers
to interact with the company through the social media and due to this reason, the purchasing
considerations remain at a very low level. But, many authors also mentioned that Zara
incorporates the 7Ps of marketing in their brand although there are a number of teeny tiny holes
present in the communications area of Zara
Different internal and external elements of the brand which affect the
effectiveness of the message:
There are a number of internal as well as external elements present of the brand which have
impact on the effectiveness of the message. Among them the most important factor is the
economical factors. Due to the global economic crisis in recent times, the disposable income of
people has declined significantly which has strong impact on the purchasing behavior of the
consumers (Serra, 2017). In such a situation, even if the marketing campaigns are impressive, the
organizations might not be able to improve their financial performance from selling the products.
Secondly, the governments of the developed countries are highly focused towards the
environment friendliness which also has impact on the marketing communications of the brand.
Third, the demand of the products fluctuates in the developed nations because people prefer to
purchase the products which are of low costs. It also has significant impact on the effectiveness
of the message.

Overall effectiveness of marketing communications:

The marketing communications are highly effective in order to achieve the objectives of the
organization. For example, the marketing communications of the company have helped them to
improve their financial performance in the last financial year. The organization has also been
able to improve the financial performance by their communications to the customers through
different channels like social media, direct marketing, email marketing etc. The two way
communication systems of Zara is excellent because they understand the needs and demands of
the customers from the brand which helps them to achieve huge success. Zara also has a deep
understanding of the value proposition which is exchanged with the customers and it has been
proven as highly effective for them.

References:
Royo-Vela, M., & Casamassima, P. (2011). The influence of belonging to virtual brand
communities on consumers' affective commitment, satisfaction and word-of-mouth advertising:
The ZARA case. Online Information Review, 35(4), 517-542.
Mazaira, A., Gonzalez, E., & Avendaño, R. (2003). The role of market orientation on company
performance through the development of sustainable competitive advantage: the Inditex-Zara
case. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 21(4), 220-229.

Vu, T., & Medina, S. (2014). Storytelling marketing and its impact on developing company
brand identity, case company Zara.

Oliveira, C. L. B. O. D. (2014). Zara: Marketing in Fast Fashion: A case-study (Doctoral

dissertation).

Serra, J. M. (2017). Online marketing communication: netnography into different types of

fashion brands (Doctoral dissertation).

Madhani, P. M. (2012). Value creation through integration of supply chain management and
marketing strategy. The IUP Journal of Business Strategy, 9(1), 7-26.