In addition to overseeing in-store personnel, store managers decided which merchandise to order and which to discontinue, and also transmitted customer data and their own sense of inflection points to Zara’s design teams. In particular, they provided the creative teams with a sense of latent demand for new products that could not be captured through an automated sales-tracking system. The availability of store managers capable of handling these responsibilities was, according to CEO Castellano, the single most important constraint on the rate of store additions. Zara promoted
approximately 90% of its store managers from within and had generally experienced low store manager turnover. Once an employee was selected for promotion, his or her store, together with the human resources department, developed a comprehensive training program that included training at other stores and a two-week training program, with specialized staff, at Zara’s headquarters. Such off-site training fulfilled important socialization goals as well, and was followed up by periodic supplemental training.