• The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, February 20, 2008 12:45 PM

As rivals catch up to trend-setting Zara stores, the CEO of its parent company, Inditex SA, is attempting one of the fastest global expansions the fashion world has ever seen. Pablo Isla is opening hundreds of new stores and entering new markets. To save time and money, he's also changing the systems that have driven its success at Zara and its other store brands.

Among the innovations, the world's second-largest clothing retailer by sales after Gap is introducing new methods to enable store managers to order and display merchandise faster and adding cargo routes for shipping goods. Stores are stocked with new designs twice a week. Collections are small and often sell out, creating an air of exclusivity and cutting down on the need for markdowns.

Unlike competitors that manufacture most of their wares in Asia, Inditex makes two-thirds of its goods in Spain and nearby countries. Store managers also use new hand-held computers that show how garments rank by sales, so clerks can re-order best-sellers in less than an hour--a process that previously took about three hours. These orders arrive, together with new pieces, two days later.

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