UNIQLO - Company Case Study

Anne Chen 500 500-word Written Assignment International Advertising & Promotion 9/19/2012

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Brief Company History: What is the UNIQLO brand?

UNIQLO is a Japanese clothing company which describes itself as “a modern Japanese company that inspires the world to dress casual”1. Originally established as a division of public Japanese retail holding company Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., UNIQLO’s first store was opened in 1984 in Hiroshima City. By the October of 2005, the company had 700 stores in Japan and is still currently positioned as the country’s number one specialty clothing retail brand. That following month, Fast Retailing allowed UNIQLO to become its own operating entity, named UNIQLO CO., LTD.2

The UNIQLO Customer: Who’s in the UNIQLO market?

UNIQLO’s products, which include apparel, underwear, and accessories, are offered to four categories: women, men, kids, and children. Products are known to be of high quality and fashionable, as well as basic, casual, and reasonably priced. They thus cater to several demographical age segments: infants and adolescents, teenagers, and people probably up to 25years of age. Both the fashion-focused and the price-sensitive consumer would appreciate UNIQLO’s offerings.

Business Model & Strategies: What’s so “unique” about UNIQLO? As a company, UNIQLO functions as designer, manufacturer, and retailer. Its business model reflects this comprehensive arrangement; the company follows a “SPA” strategy (Specialty store retailer of Private label Apparel), which means it controls “all stages of the business – from design and production to final sale.”3 This setup ultimately provides UNIQLO the power to oversee all operations, whether it is research and development, sourcing of materials, actual production and quality control, or inventory management. Also unique to the company is its dedication to promotional activities – in contrast to its Japanese competitors, UNIQLO is quite marketing-driven, with its marketing department continually churning out new promotional campaigns every season through a variety of media platforms. The company is also especially well-known for its winter products, particularly its light-weight, heat-generating clothing HEATTECH4.

As UNIQLO’s operations encompass all of the activities that must be completed in order to successfully create and sell the latest styles, it can supply its stores in a just-in-time fashion using the most cost-effective means.

UNIQLO also has many projects that invite designers to design exclusive collections, thus maintaining the company’s commitment to providing its customers with the most current styles.

Famous designers such as Philip Lim and Alice Roy have created pieces for UNIQLO’s Designers Innovation Project, for example. The UT Project features unique, graphically designed tee-shirts. Other creative undertakings include the UNIQLO Innovation Project, the downloadable “Music-Dance-Clock” screensavers available through the Uniqlock Project5 Web site, and “social business” endeavor Grameen UNIQLO6.

A Global Company: Where are UNIQLO’s stores?

Since becoming its own operating company, UNIQLO CO. LTD. has entered into markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, France, Malaysia, Russia,

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the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. As of the end of October 2005, the company had 8 stores in the UK; 9 in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hangzhou; 3 in South Korea’s Lotte department stores and marts; and one in Hong Kong, with more stores being planned to be built in that country.7 Unfortunately, e-tailing is only offered to customers located in Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

UNIQLO’s Competitive Situation: Who are UNIQLO’s competitors?

In the United States, UNIQLO faces competition from GAP, American Apparel, and global, fastfashion retailers such as H&M, Zara, and Top Shop. Many of these brands and retailers also have a substantial presence Japan. Other direct competitors include Hong Kong’s casual apparel retailer GIORDANA, Malaysian casual apparel retailers PADINI and F.O.S. (Factory Outlet Store).

UNIQLO’s Future: Where are the growth opportunities for the company?

As it only became its own operating company in 2005, UNIQLO still has many opportunities to continue promoting its name in countries where it recently opened up stores. Also, because of its focus on winter products, UNIQLO should consider focusing new ventures to colder countries, such as Canada. It should also work to strengthen its spring and summer lines. This will enable UNIQLO to not only enhance its overall brand image, but will also assure the year-round loyalty of its customers. Subsequent promotional campaigns should thus emphasize the company’s introduction of products suitable for the warmer seasons.

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Appendix

Source: http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/ir/library/pdf/ar2011_en_08_n.pdf

Source: http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/ir/library/pdf/ar2011_en_11_n.pdf

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Source: http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/ir/library/pdf/ar2011_en_11_n.pdf

Source: http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/ir/library/pdf/ar2011_en_11_n.pdf

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Works Cited

1. UNIQLO Business. Fast Retailing Inc., Ltd. 4, Sept. 2012. Web. 17, Sept. 2012. <http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/group/strategy/>

2. Company: Brand History. Uniqlo Co., Ltd. 2012. Web. 17, Sept. 2012. <http://uniqlo.archive.tha.jp/us/company/index.html>

3. UNIQLO Business Model. UNIQLO Business. 6, July. 2012. Web. 17, Sept. 2012. <http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/group/strategy/uniqlobusiness.html>

4. UNIQLO Lab Heattech. Uniqlo Co., Ltd. 2012. Web. 17, Sept. 2012. <http://www.uniqlo.com/lab/heattech/us/>

5. UNIQLOCK. Uniqlo Co., Ltd. 2012. Web. 17, Sept. 2012. <http://www.uniqlo.jp/uniqlock/season1/>

6. Gramreen UNIQLO. Uniqlo Co., Ltd. with Grameen Healthcare Trust. 2012. Web. 17, Sept.

2012. <http://www.grameenuniqlo.com/en/>

7. Company: Corporate Information. Uniqlo Co., Ltd. 2012. Web. 17, Sept. 2012. <http://uniqlo.archive.tha.jp/us/company/index.html>

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