Distribution: Just in time

Just in time is a concept that has become key in the apparel industry and more specifically in fast fashion stores such as Wet Seal, Forever 21, and Zara. We never ended up talking about Zara in class but in my AMT 450 course: Strategic planning and decision making, we completed a case study on Zara and the corporation that owns Zara, Inditex. Zara defines fast fashion and just in time delivery which is "inventory management and purchasing processes that manufacturers and resellers use to reduce inventory to very low levels and ensure that deliveries from suppliers arrive only when needed." Zara is able to take an item from design to in stores in 6-9 weeks, this is unbeatable by any competitors. Items only remain in the distribution center for 3hours to 3 days and Zara's advantage works because all their stores are near to the flagship store and distribution center. In new areas such as New York and Los Angles they don't have such a good advantage. In general other stores could be modeled after Zara's fast fashion and just in time distribution and inventory management.

Pricing: Online Auction

At one of my most recent family get-togethers my cousin, who is now a hot shot patent lawyer in Washington D.C., told us all about her latest case that had to do eBay. eBay is one of the most popular online auctions, defined by our textbook as, "E-commerce that allows shoppers to purchase products through online bidding." Sites such as eBay are a great way for bargain hunters to find deals on new or barely used items that they couldn't find anywhere else. The problem with this is that many people have been claiming to sell real designer purses; brands such as Chanel, Louie Vitton, Gucci etc., when in fact they really had a fake and simply posted a picture on the site of an authentic purse. This is the problem with online auction sites, there is currently no way for them to monitor the authenticity of the items people are claiming to have!

Marketing Services: Variability

As we discussed in class, the quality of a services is more variable than the quality of a product simply because they cannot be mass produced. Our text defines variability as "the characteristic of a service that means that even the same service performed by the same individual for the same customer can vary." I learned about this first hand working in a franchise coffee stand. One of their core values was that the various drinks made at the stands would all be the same. In order to combat any variability employees were required to memorize the ingredients and their measurements for all beverages served. After training we were tested on this knowledge before receiving our scheduled hours. Even with these extra precautions preventing variability proved to be very difficult while working as a barista.