Subject: International Business

Code: DEIN 130

Lecturer : Dr. Assaduzzaman Khan

Student Name: Omar Ali Abdulqadir

Matrix number: N0YKG1HF

Date: 12/3/2018
Go to the four retail web sites and shop for a product. For example, if I were

shopping for a pair of jeans, I would try to find similar jeans at four different

retailers. I might view Levi, GAP, Timberland, Guess because they all offer about

the same quality and target similar markets.

Answer the following questions in detail:

1. Identify the retailers you chose and why.

Firstly, we choose Zara because it was Spanish fashion clothing and flexible fashion

trend follower. Zara is one of the world’s most successful fashion retailers operating in

59 countries. Zara is a Spanish clothing and accessories retailer based in Arteixo,

Amancio Ortega and Rosalía Mera. It is the flagship chain store of the Inditex group; the

fashion group also owns brands such as Pull and Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka,

Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and Uterqüe. Galicia, and founded in 1975 by 1975

Spain 1988 Portugal 1989 United States 1990 France Origins & History: 1992 Mexico

The fist store was opened in 1975 in A Coruña, Spain by the 1993 Greece founder of

Zara, Amancio Ortega. The name of the store was 1994 Belgium and Sweden called

Zorba, like the 1964 film “Zorba the Greek”. But he has to 1995 Malta rename it,

because there had been already a bar called “Zorba”. 1996 Cyprus Since they had

already made the molds for the letters in the sign, 1997 Norway and Israel they just

rearranged and they found Zara. 1998 Argentina, United Kingdom, Zara got very popular

the following years, so the retailer extends Venezuela, Turkey, Lebanon, U.A.E., its

networks of stores to major cities in Spain. During the 1980s, Kuwait and Japan Ortega

started changing the design, manufacturing, and 1999 The Netherlands, Germany,

Poland, distribution process to reduce lead times and react to new trends Saudi Arabia,

Bahrain, Canada, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay in a quicker way, in what he called "instant

fashions". The 2000 Andorra, Qatar, Austria and company based its improvements in the

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use of information Denmark technologies and using groups of designers instead of

individuals. 2001 Puerto Rico, Jordan, Ireland, In 1985 the holding company Inditex was

created. Three years Iceland, Luxembourg, Czech Republic and later, Inditex opened

the fist Zara store outside Spain in Oporto, Italy Portugal. In 1989 they opened the first

store in the United States 2002 El Salvador, Finland, Dominican and in 1990 the first

store in France. In the following years they Republic, Singapore and Switzerland opened

every year new stores. Inditex begins trading on the stock 2003 Russia, Malaysia,

Slovenia and market on 23 May 2001. Slovakia In 2003 the Group opens Zara’s second

distribution hub, 2004 China, Morocco, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania

and Panama Plataforma Europa, in Zaragoza, Spain, to complement the 2005

Philippines, Thailand, Monaco, distribution centre in Arteixo (A Coruña, Spain). Three

years later Costa Rica and Indonesia they opened further two new Spanish distribution

hubs begin 2006 Serbia and Tunisia operating in Meco (Madrid) and Onzonilla (León).

Zara celebrates 2007 Guatemala, Croatia, Colombia and the launch in Florence (Italy) of

Zara shop number 1,000. Oman They also opened a a new distribution centre, which

begins 2008 South Korea, Ukraine, Egypt, operating in Palafolls (Barcelona) in 2009,

next to the existing Honduras and Montenegro logistics platform in Tordera. 2009 Syria

In September 2010, Zara began selling its products online and by 2010 Bulgaria,

Kazakhstan, India year’s end the online store was available in 16 European 2011

Australia, Taiwan, Azerbaijan, South countries. Africa and Peru In 2011 stores opened

for the first time in Taiwan, Azerbaijan, Australia, South Africa and Peru, Inditex has now

stores in every continent. Next, we also choose Topman because Topman competes

primarily on its ability to bring higher end fashion to consumers on a mass level.

Although Topman may not be the most affordable retailer, it is the most stylish of its

direct competitors. Topman was launched in 1978 as the brother brand to women’s

fashion leader Topshop. It provided a new approach to menswear retailing. Topman now
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boast over 185 stores in the UK, with the London flagships store seeing 75,000 visitors

enter every week. (Topman Online) Topman’s main products offer fashionable men’s

clothing, covering anything from suits to informal indie – rock influenced casual styling

ranges along with footwear and fashion accessories. Topman has collaborated with

designers such as Kim Jones, Peter Densen and Markus Lupfer.

2. How do you compare your experience shopping on the Internet to shopping in

a local store for this type of product?

a) Shopping at stores takes more time than shopping online. Shopping at stores need a

lot of energy walking around to look for what we want or compare the prices. Unlike

shopping at stores, it takes less time and effort to purchase goods online, which

takes only a few clips within seconds. And we can easily compare the prices in a

short time.

b) The risk of shopping at stores is less than that of shopping online. We get to see the

products in person so that there will not be incongruence our imagination before and

after purchasing. People who have purchased a product on the internet may be more

likely to experience such kind of disillusion. They may find out what they receive is

not of the same quality as what they see in the pictures posted on the websites.

c) The payment is made immediately without any troubles and worries in store

shopping than online shopping. Both the shop owner and the shopper don’t need to

worry about follow-up problems. In contrast, online shopping owners are bothered

with receiving the payments while customers are worried about the credibility if the

sum of money is big and the credit becomes vital when the risk is higher for online

shoppers.

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3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet shopping

experience?

ADVANTAGES

a) Convenience. We can browse and make purchases any time of the day or night from

any location that is convenient for us rather than having to take time out of our day or

evening to go to local stores in person during their hours of operation.

b) Ease of Comparison Shopping. We can compare offerings and pricing at different

stores with the simple click of a button rather than having to get in our car and spend our

precious time and hard-earned gas money running from one store to another.

c) Identify unique solution. Sometimes special purchase deals and highly specialized

items are only available for online purchase - even from companies that operate physical

stores.

DISADVANTAGES

a) Lose the Tactile Experience. When you shop online, you don't have an opportunity to

touch and feel items you are considering purchasing.

b) Shipping Adds to the Cost. What looks like a bargain might not be such a good deal

when the shipping and handling charges are tallied and added to the total.

c) Returns Can Be Costly. The majority of sites do not pay return shipping if you have to

send something back, so it often costs you more money than you planned to spend if

you need to exchange an item.

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4. Compare the retail offerings of the product you were shopping for:

Compare the retail offerings of the product you were shopping for: ZARA TOPMAN

product quality Flexible fashion trend Stylish trend price Expensive in high quality

Expensive in high quality suggestive selling Give sales Give discount for man website

features e. design of website cheerful Stylish ease of website use Email for information

Detail information about the product closing of the sale 30% off 20% off

 Product quality & price

For fast fashion, most of their product's quality exceeds H&M and Forever 21. Compared

to real designer clothing, no. Fast fashion is generally hit and miss.

Their shoes are plasticky and look extremely uncomfortable so I would recommend you

avoid them. You can get much nicer ones at Nordstrom Rack and spend the same

amount.

Pricing to market At the Zara stores, price tags stated in many currencies and for

multiple countries, so customer feel equality.

For what the items are made of they generally aren't worth full price but once they go on

sale they are a good deal. Their items are overpriced considering the quality. I believe

this because when many higher end stores have sales it mirrors Zara's pricing. I have

gotten a wool blazer discounted to $100 at Brooks Brothers. A regular polyester/cotton

blazer at Zara generally goes for $100. If you wait for sales you can get much better

clothing somewhere else and spend the same as you would at Zara.

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Still, Zara is much better than most fast fashion stores so if you don't have the time to

wait for other places to have sales and have the money to pay for their items, Zara is the

store to go to.

Affordable Prices Owing to its affordable brand label, customers get to enjoy high- end

fashion clothes at affordable prices. Zara’s apparel pricing ranges from $5 to $322,

however, the average price point at Zara is $48. While comparing its prices with its one

of the biggest competitor H&M, the differential pricing structures of these two brands can

be noticed. H&M’s most priced bracket in tops is $20 - $30, whereas, Zara’s is $40 -

$50.

 Suggestive selling

Basically, Zara doesn't do it. There is no ad budget. Instead, the company spends

ungodly amounts of money buying storefronts next to luxury brands to own the label

of affordable luxury.

Zara stores cozy up to the most famous brands in the world to sing their luxury ambitions

even as they profit off a brilliant, cheap, short supply chain that delivers similar fashion at

a much lower price.

Topman used the new interactive social ad format +Post Ads to promote the activity, too.

This brand-friendly format was designed to make it easy to take a piece of Google+

content and quickly transform it into a light box ad that can run across over 2 million sites

in the Google Display Network. Topman used the format to let all their fashion fans

follow the news around their London Collections: Men show, before, during and after it

took place, allowing followers to view the live hangout.

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 Website features e. design of website & ease of website use

Zara tactfully uses information technology to support its international logistic system and
an online store where exchange and return of products are involved. Zara gives its
customers the chance to buy its products by iPod and in-house apps (Forbeswelcome,
2016). Interactive Maps to locate the store: Zara projects a store locator on the website
where you can easily locate a store by entering your desired region and location. The
store locator will show you the closest stores around the entered location. Hence, it gets
easier for the consumers to discover stores as the online maps show the exact location
of the store. New Experience with Zara iPad app: Zara’s attempt in online shopping is
revolutionizing the entire online buying experience. With just a few clicks on your iPad’s
Zara online shopping app, you will now be able to conference with your friend while
looking at the clothes on your tablets. This technology gives any buyer the opportunity to
involve their friend’s suggestions while shopping for their own. The options like video
chat, instant messaging and voice chat are available.

Topman promoted the initiative extensively both online and offline through the windows

of their London flag ship store at Oxford Circus and with posters and billboards in the

interior of the store, while a homepage takeover on the Topman website featured the live

hangout. Not only was the real-time coverage projected in pubs in the London Soho

area, but it was featured on stage at the fashion show itself.

Topman has a very successful internet website where consumers are able to make

online purchases. this indicates that topman have many distribution channels. products

can be sold out quickly which signifies that topman has high sales and the profit made is

also higher. topman provide delivery service for its customer’s who purchase its products

online and they make every effort to ensure that the products are delivered to it’s

customers online. this makes shopping a pleasant experience for everyone and confirms

accessibility to everyone including the international customers. With a variety of stock

including basic clothing, intricate designs, and trend setting collections; topman acts as a

one stop Centre, which is why is feels so accessible and they are so popular.
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5. Which one of these sites would you use? Why

I choose Zara because it available for all gender. But I still recommend Topman brand

as a product trendy, cheap, fun, varied, humorous, pop culture brand as an experience

welcoming, colorful, technology led, cool, social brand as a logo simple, chic, masculine

brand as a person honest, trustworthy, forward thinking, practical, popular, cool brand as

an organization innovative, customer led, good communication