Benchmarking & Competitive Analysis

In order to set expectations, identify best practices and pinpoint performance gaps that could lead to improvement, we studied some of Zara's competitors. H&M and Uniqlo, similar to Zara, are international clothing retailers with over 2,000 stores each worldwide. The competitive companies target similar markets but employ different strategies in their business models to manage the distribution of product lines. Prada is a well-established luxury brand and, even if not a direct competitor, the Zara brand holds the position of "luxury fast-fashion", in which it takes the latest luxury designs, manufactures them, and quickly releases them to the public. The brand deliberately places stores next to luxury brands such as Gucci, Prada, or Louis Vuitton in an effort to glamourize the Zara image.