Strategic Marketing Management: Zara's Australian Market Challenges

This report analyzes Zara's strategic marketing management, focusing on its challenges within the Australian market. The key issues identified include a centralized distribution system, Zara's role as a fashion imitator rather than a creator, and limited marketing and advertising efforts. The report recommends several strategic changes, including transforming Zara into a fashion creator by understanding and responding to Australian fashion trends, expanding marketing and advertising through localized campaigns and digital marketing, implementing a direct distribution channel to improve control and customer relationships, adopting a moderate pricing strategy to broaden customer reach, and increasing customer engagement through various marketing techniques. These recommendations aim to enhance Zara's competitiveness and market penetration in Australia. The report also includes references to support the analysis and recommendations.

Running head: STRATEGIC MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Strategic Marketing Management
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1STRATEGIC MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Zara is one of the leading fashion brands that have several branches at a global platform.
The major issues faced by Zara in terms of strategic management in the Australian market
include centralized distribution system, imitator of fashion designs along with limited marketing
and advertising in Australia. Based on the identified issues in the Australian market, the suitable
recommendations are furnished below:
 Fashion creator: Zara needs to be a fashion creator for the Australian market rather than
being an imitator. The products of Zara are not exactly a trendsetter but are influenced by
the fashion trends in other high-end fashion trends. Zara needs to consider the
expectations and demands in terms of the fashion trend for the Australian market. Based
on the present demand of the Australian market, Zara needs to design and develop
fashionable clothing line and accessories for the target customers. Being a fashion creator
rather than an imitator will provide a competitive advantage for Zara to survive in the
competitive market (Fletcher & Grose, 2012).
 Expanding the marketing and advertising techniques: Zara implements limited
marketing and advertising strategy for the Australian market that eventually limits the
power of the brand to reach out to the customers. Therefore, Zara needs to expand their
advertising and marketing technique in order to reach out to the potential customers of
the Australian market. For example, Zara can localize their probable customers and
advertise their products by brochures, pamphlets, billboards along with the
implementation of digital marketing. This will help Zara to reach out the probable
customers in a particular locality, develop products, accessories, and price accordingly
(Wilkie & Moore, 2012).

2STRATEGIC MARKETING MANAGEMENT
 Implementing direct distribution channel: Zara needs to implement direct distribution
channel for the Australian market. This will provide an opportunity for Zara to have
control over all the outlets in the country. Direct control over all the outlets in the
Australian market will also provide an opportunity for Zara to maintain a consistency in
terms of the service provided. Additionally, the direct distribution will allow the company
to develop a positive relationship with the customers thereby, developing the customer
loyalty. Moreover, direct distribution by Zara will provide an opportunity for the
company to obtain direct feedback from the customers and use them for further
improvement. Eliminating the role of intermediaries will also lead to lower distribution
costs (Qiang et al., 2013).
 Pricing strategy: Zara mostly has a high price for the products in terms of the clothing
and accessories that make it difficult for all the customers to afford the products. In this
competitive market, Zara needs to have a broader approach for the customers such as
having a moderate pricing strategy (Hinterhuber & Liozu, 2012).
 Need to increase the reach to customers: Zara needs to reach out to the target
customers effectively by developing their marketing and advertising techniques. This will
allow Zara to reach out to the far-out customers in the Australian market. This can be
done by initiating a blog, encouraging the customer reviews, writing a survey or poll and
encouraging people to join the email list of the company (Bhanot, 2012).

3STRATEGIC MARKETING MANAGEMENT
References
Bhanot, S. (2012). Use of social media by companies to reach their customers. SIES Journal of
Management, 8(1).
Fletcher, K., & Grose, L. (2012). Fashion and sustainability: design for change. Laurence King.
Hinterhuber, A., & Liozu, S. (2012). Is it time to rethink your pricing strategy?. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 53(4), 69.
Qiang, Q., Ke, K., Anderson, T., & Dong, J. (2013). The closed-loop supply chain network with
competition, distribution channel investment, and uncertainties. Omega, 41(2), 186-194.
Wilkie, W. L., & Moore, E. S. (2012). Expanding our understanding of marketing in society.
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(1), 53-73.