Zara turns sales people into customer insight providers. (Did you hear this you user researchers?)

Businessweek explains how Zara incentives store managers worldwide to provide meaningful insights about customer preferences to designers located in the factories in Spain. Surprise, surprise, it seems like commissions are the secret sauce that makes sales people bond with product development, something that in many companies is completely inexistent (sales people don't even know where prod dev people sit)

"Along the way it has broken almost every rule in retailing. At most clothing companies, the supply chain starts with designers, who plan collections as much as a year in advance. At Inditex, Zara store managers monitor what's selling daily—and with up to 70% of their salaries coming from commission, there's a lot of incentive to get it right. They track everything from current sales trends to merchandise customers want but can't find in stores, then shoot orders to Inditex's 300 designers, who fashion what's needed instantly."