#372: Amancio Ortega: The Genius Behind the Inditex Group

Amancio Ortega is one of the wealthiest people in the world. Ortega is the founder of Inditex, a pioneer of fast fashion, an entrepreneur with over 60 years of experience, and has created a business model that is studied in universities that he could not access. His life story is inspiring, educational, and full of valuable ideas for future generations of founders. This episode is what I learned from reading This is Amancio Ortega: The Man Who Created Zara by Covadonga O'Shea.  ---- Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more.  ---- Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book ---- Notes and highlights from the episode:  I remembered a comment that Luis Miguel Dominguin made to me years ago, when he was at the peak of his glory and his son, still a child, played in the garden of his house. "This child will never be a bullfighter. To face a bull you have to go hungry.”  The important thing is to set goals in life and put all your soul into fulfilling them.  I have dreamed of growing the company since I was nobody.  We gave it every day. My priority has always been the company, and I have committed myself to it, with full dedication, from day one.  Ortega is a man of mission. He is so convinced of what he is and what he has to do.  I was convinced that I had to dominate the customer.  Ortega starts with the customer and work backwards: “I am going to manufacture what the customer wants.”  I met Ortega when Zara did not exist. He only had the factories. In those years when nobody thought about technology within our sector, in which there was almost no computer science or mobile phones, he wanted to have a good team in technology.  He built a groundbreaking and avant-garde textile distribution company.  Inditex's business is centered around one simple premise – to be quick at responding to the market.  Their main advantage: an astonishing ability to detect fashion trends, assimilate them, and make them a reality on the hanger at a bargain price, and all in less than 15 days.  Ortega wanted to integrate design and manufacturing first, then complete the chain with distribution and sales in his own stores, turning the customer into his source of privileged information and not just the receiver of a commodity.  I refuse to recognize that there are impossibilities. I cannot discover that any one knows enough about anything on this earth definitely to say what is and what is not possible. — Henry Ford  There are no mature sectors where everything is already discovered, but rather companies or managers with closed minds who resist innovation.  Logistics is a fundamental part of the circle that completes Inditex’s vertical integration process. Inventory control in all locations around the world is as important as getting the design right and producing in a short time; that's why Inditex has invested time, effort, and a lot of money in establishing logistics centers with the latest technologies.  Traditionally, the seller ensures high margins at the beginning of each season, but endures several months of discounts to get rid of stock; the customer knows, therefore, that in the long run they will get the same items at lower prices. Ortega's company renews its clothes in stores around the world every week and twice weekly in Europe. The buyer knows that they will always find new items, but probably won't be able to get what they tried on seven days ago. In this way, customers understand that if they see something they like, they have to buy it immediately, because in a few days it will no longer be in the store. It's about creating an atmosphere of scarcity and opportunity.  Ortega has created a business model that is studied in universities to which he could not acces