I’ve shared my thoughts on how I think cloud computing will make a huge splash in the retail industry. Now here’s an example. Cloud computing and big data analytics is making one company the quickest product producer of top trends in affordable fashion, Zara.
Most of their retail stores are located in Europe, however the states host a few. Zara is one of the world’s largest fashion retailers and belongs to one of the largest distribution groups, Inditex.
The company has consistently demonstrated solid growth and is highly sustainable thanks to their Business Model Innovation. They study current fashion trends, develop a collection, and then send only a small number of each item to their stores. This results in minimal inventory on the shelves, reducing the risk if the trend doesn’t go as expected.
To ensure this, store managers and staff are trained to engage with customers. They learn what customers like and dislike about the design. This information is then sent to headquarters. The designers use this feedback to improve their work and repeat the process. The main difference between Zara and its competitors is that Zara can get new products in stores in 3 weeks, while a store like the Gap takes about 9 months.
Their supply chain is a force to be reckoned with and may even be comparable to that of FedEx or UPS how smoothly they create, produce and deliver. Cloud computing helps the store managers and the market specialists talk in real time by exchanging notes via customized handheld computers.
This data is then transferred, using cloud computing, to the designers. The designers then update the product and send the final draft to the different manufacturers. And voila! Within weeks a new product is on the shelves. It may look like the old one, but it’s improved.
All of this is enabled and executed easily because of their IT Infrastructure. They make decisions based on the data they have all in real time. Daily sales numbers, delivered to systems using cloud computing, show the designers what and what isn’t selling. Enabling them to become agile and encourage frequent visits from their customer base.
Now if only they could focus on enabling online shopping, I’d be happy…
What are some other great examples of retailers using cloud computing? I’m interested to hear! Let me know by commenting on this article or bring the conversation to Twitter LindseyNNelson