UNIQLO: Or Surpass H&M And ZARA

UNIQLO aims to achieve $50 billion in revenue and become the number one fashion giant in the world.

However, to achieve this goal, we should not only let customers fall in love with their products, but also make customers fall in love with their brands.

Tokyo, Japan -- from

The 33 floor of midtown tower in Tokyo, global headquarters of UNIQLO, looks out and looks like the ambition of the company's founder.

Ryui Masa, chairman, President and CEO of the fast retailing company of UNIQLO, hopes to pform UNIQLO's colourful and well designed basic company from Japan to the world's number one fashion giant in 2020, achieving annual revenue of US $50 billion (about 300 billion yuan), surpassing Zara and H&M, becoming the world's largest and second largest clothing chain.

In the fiscal year 2014,

The sales revenue of the report is 151 billion Swiss kroner ($18 billion, $109 billion 500 million).

The parent company Inditex reported sales of 18 billion 100 million euros ($20 billion 400 million, 121 billion 100 million yuan).

Sales in 2014 were 13 trillion and 800 billion yen (13 billion 300 million US dollars, about 81 billion yuan), of which the contribution rate of UNIQLO was 82%.

Now it is less than five years away from 2020. How will UNIQLO achieve its goal? "This financial goal is unrealistic for them.

To be more precise, this goal is only a manifestation of their long-term vision or strong will, "Murata Taro, an analyst at J.P. chase Japan bond, Morgan, cautiously analyzed.

Mr. Ryui Masa specifically released the data to encourage executives to think about business from a completely different perspective and try new and innovative approaches instead of following the beaten track.

Indeed, the goal of achieving $50 billion in annual income in 2020 may be more symbolic than practical.

But it is certain that if you want to achieve this goal, UNIQLO must win the market outside the home market. UNIQLO has 840 stores in Japan, and the market is saturated.

One of the most important things to enhance global influence is how we can expand and succeed in foreign markets, "Katsuda Yuki, senior vice president of UNIQLO global research and design, confirmed.

"We plan to open stores in more countries and push them to every country successfully, which is the key to achieving our 2020 goal."

UNIQLO has made great progress in Asia.

There are 400 stores in Greater China (mainland China, Hongkong, China and Taiwan). In 2014, the first time in fiscal year was over 200 billion yen ($1 billion 600 million, 9 billion 800 million yuan), and sales increased by 66.5% over the same period last year.

The medium-term plan of UNIQLO is to increase the number of stores in Greater China to more than 1000.

UNIQLO opened more than 140 stores in South Korea, and achieved remarkable results in 2014, while the Southeast Asian market (UNIQLO stores in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia) also grew less than 100.

"The performance of China and South Korea is very strong and they are growing," Katsuda Yuki said.

"I am very optimistic about the Asian market.

Our business in Asia is just beginning to expand.

We have a list of target markets, including Singapore and Malaysia.

And we have not yet entered India.

We have achieved great success in Asia and have great potential in the future.

But the test of reality still exists.

Can UNIQLO conquer Western markets? "The US and European markets also have great potential for UNIQLO, but the nature of these two markets is different from that of Asia.

So it is not easy to develop these two markets, "said Murata Taro of JP Morgan chase.

In 2014, European UNIQLO performed more than expected and achieved profits. Despite the high cost, last April, UNIQLO opened a flagship store of 29000 square feet (about 2700 square meters) in Berlin, Germany, which made UNIQLO's share in Europe bigger.

At present, UNIQLO stores are distributed in Europe: 10 in the UK, 8 in France and 5 in Russia.

This autumn, UNIQLO will open its first store in Belgium, and Spain and Turkey are also expected to open shop.

At the same time, UNIQLO's branch in the United States did not perform well.

As the largest consumer market in the world, the United States determines whether the ambitious goal of UNIQLO will eventually be realized or vanished.

"The United States is the biggest consumer in the world, providing the most exciting opportunity for UNIQLO outside Asia.

But deciding how to develop the brand and achieve profitability is a great challenge. "

In a letter to shareholders, the letter was published in January, entitled "becoming a real global company".

"Achieving the growth of the US market is crucial for UNIQLO to achieve the goal of becoming the world's leading apparel retailer," said Benadette Cassain, an analyst with apparel and footwear at Ou Rui.

"But by the end of 2014, UNIQLO had only 39 stores in the United States and had no significant influence.

In addition, the brand influence of UNIQLO is still limited to big cities.

In contrast, H&M has more than 350 stores in the United States, and it has infiltrated the central part of the United States and has its retail outlets from Denver to North Carolina.

Last month, H&M announced plans to open a new store in the green tree mall in Clarks, Indiana, after 6 stores in Indiana.

UNIQLO stores in the United States are now mainly concentrated in the developed cities of the East and the west, and their brand acceptance is uneven.

"New Yorkers are very fond of the brand of UNIQLO," wrote Larry Meyer of CEO Larry of UNIQLO in the company's annual report.

Indeed, sales of three flagship stores in New York, Suzhou, Fifth Avenue and thirty-fourth street have achieved two digit growth.

But when UNIQLO was extended to the suburbs of New York, New Jersey and conai Dick and San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston and Losangeles, "the performance of stores was uneven," he added.

This autumn, UNIQLO plans to open stores in Chicago and Denver. This is the first time that the company has entered the heartland of the United States, and will face greater challenges.

UNIQLO's popularity in the central United States is lower, and its recognition of value proposition may not be high, because customers there are less valued in design and quality, and are more used to shopping in discount stores such as WAL-MART and Taghit, while UNIQLO has no advantage in price.

"The most important thing is how we can show our brand to our customers, our company and our products," replied Katsuda Yuki when asked how UNIQLO should win the US market.

"I don't think we have done that yet.

We are working hard to expand our business and store network.

But at the same time, how can we convey our brand story and product story? I think this is the key.

Last October, John C.Jay, a legendary creative director, joined UNIQLO in John Christoj, adding new vitality to the brand of UNIQLO.

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John Christoj has long term partnership with UNIQLO. He was a global creative director of Wieden&Kennedy, a well-known advertising agency in the United States. He is most widely known for his work for Nike.

"We are just beginning.

There are 39 UNIQLO stores in the United States, but there are 39 Starbucks in every block in the United States.

"We barely touched our fur," said Jill, who was full of enthusiasm.

"I want to take this.

One level, the primary task is to let the whole world know the real us, people either misunderstand us or basically do not know us.

"As we expand in the United States, brands are becoming more and more important," said Jay.

"It is one thing to succeed in Suho and Fifth Avenue, but now we have to expand to the west coast and enter the central part of the United States. This is another story.

Brand is really important because price is not the only factor to judge, "he added.

"Even in New York, which has a high reputation in UNIQLO, the relationship between the company and its customers is mainly based on the quality and affordability of the products.

If you need a well-designed, reasonably priced basic fund, you can go to UNIQLO.

But the brand of UNIQLO is still not very clear, and its emotional connection with customers is also very limited.

"Let customers know that the best quality of our products is not enough," said Jay. "We must have connotations.

Great brands must give meaning to people's lives.

First, I need to explain: "why do we exist?" and then the next question is: "who cares?" why do I care? "In many ways, UNIQLO is not a fashion brand.

It is not based on specialization, seasonal trend or fashion view from top to bottom.

On the contrary, UNIQLO creates simple, intimate clothes, and customers can match their own unique ways like building blocks.

"I want individuals to have their own styles and fashions," Katsuda Yuki said.

"The products we hope to provide can help customers build their own fashions.

We don't want to impose our wishes on customers: you must wear them or wear them like that. "

But if UNIQLO is not a fashion brand, what kind of brand is it? "The brand of UNIQLO is equivalent to" taking care of life, "Mr. Ryui Masa said.

"We hope to provide our customers with comfortable clothing based on Japan's simple, quality and durable values, so as to make people's lives better.

Indeed, from all the products of UNIQLO, from hot underwear to cheap cashmere clothing, UNIQLO really identifies itself as a convenient brand for everyone and all lifestyle.

But is the concept of service life a strong representation, which resonates with American consumers and leads UNIQLO to achieve US $50 billion performance goal? "Life at least can convey some information: our products can make everyone's daily life more beautiful," said Jay.

"People can understand that what we are trying to do is to improve the quality of life of everyone.

I hope this can be pformed into a part of our meaning, "he continued.

"Obviously, the principle of life, that is, constantly improving things to make your life better, can be reflected in many, many aspects. I hope not only through the exhibits we display, but also through the stores we build, and the actions we take as citizens of cities.

What matters is our actions, not just words. "

"But UNIQLO is not without style. It's not lack of elegance or intelligence," Jay cautioned.

Indeed, on the basis of a series of successful fashion collaboration, UNIQLO will launch the capsule series with Karin Roitfeld (Carine Roitfeld) and Christopher Lemerre (Christophe Lemaire) this autumn, hoping to bring vitality and originality to its brand and products.

"Those are all very important," said Jay.

"That's another pitfall: we make basic and very simple designs, and soon become boring, or" who cares? "For Jay, the solution to the brand puzzle of UNIQLO depends on talents.

"The world revolves around talents.

Therefore, we need more talents, more types of talents, more diverse talents, talents from different aspects.

This is the advantage of going global.

Now we can attract talents from London, China, Japan and New York.

"As a brand that pays more attention to people, I think we can say that at the moment, we do not have our own voice.

If you close your eyes and ask, "what does UNIQLO tell me?" it may be hard for you to hear the answer, at least outside of Japan.

We are trying to make our own voice. "

Xiaobian believes that the business philosophy of UNIQLO's "service life" has captured many hearts of the fashion industry. After all, the top three brands of the world's top ten fast fashion brands are already very simple.

H&M and ZARA are the main attacking styles. UNIQLO focuses on comfort. It seems that a war between fast fashion brands is inevitable.