MUJI UK

University of Westminster MA in Marketing Communications

IMC Project

Purity of Life Student Name: Po-Lin Chen Student Number: 14611184 Date: 28th August, 2014

Content Table About MUJI.................................................................................................................................5 1.

History of MUJI ....................................................................................................................... 5

2.

Financial Performance ........................................................................................................... 6

3.

Philosophy of MUJI................................................................................................................. 7

Micro Analysis ...........................................................................................................................9 1.

Product Segments .................................................................................................................. 9

2.

Brand Wheel .......................................................................................................................... 9

3.

Market Segment ................................................................................................................... 10

4.

Brand Strategy ...................................................................................................................... 12

Macro Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 13 1.

Furniture Market .................................................................................................................. 13

2.

Homewares Market.............................................................................................................. 14

3.

Key players ........................................................................................................................... 15

4.

Competitor Analysis ............................................................................................................. 17

5.

STEP Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 19

SWOT Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 22 1.

SWOT Matrix ........................................................................................................................ 22

2.

Marketing Recommendation ............................................................................................... 23

Marketing Objectives and Scope ............................................................................................ 24 1.

Issues and Opportunities ..................................................................................................... 24

2.

The Role of Integrated Marketing Communications ............................................................ 25

3.

Marketing Objectives ........................................................................................................... 28

Target Market .......................................................................................................................... 30 1.

Target Market Overview....................................................................................................... 30

2.

Market Size ........................................................................................................................... 31

3.

Consumer Insights................................................................................................................ 32

Campaign Strategy .................................................................................................................. 34 1.

The Management of IMC ..................................................................................................... 34

2.

Branding Strategy ................................................................................................................. 36

3.

(1)

Positioning Strategy ................................................................................................. 36

(2)

Message Strategy ..................................................................................................... 39

(3)

AISAS Model ............................................................................................................. 41

The Role of IMC tools ........................................................................................................... 43 (1)

The selection of marketing communication tools ................................................... 43

(2)

Public Relations ........................................................................................................ 44

(3)

Digital Marketing ...................................................................................................... 46

(4)

Sales Promotion ....................................................................................................... 50

4.

Brief of IMC Suggestion........................................................................................................ 51

5.

Strategy Map ........................................................................................................................ 52

IMC Delivery ............................................................................................................................ 54 1.

Improvement of Channels.................................................................................................... 54 (1)

ONLINE: Official website .......................................................................................... 54

(2)

ONLINE: Social media ............................................................................................... 56

(3)

ONLINE: Members Database.................................................................................... 57

(4)

ONLINE: Search Engine Optimisation ...................................................................... 58

(5)

OFFLINE: In-store Marketing .................................................................................... 59

2.

Spring Campaign: MUJI Wake-up ......................................................................................... 60

3.

Summer Campaign: MUJI to GO .......................................................................................... 65

4.

Autumn Campaign: MUJI Leisure ......................................................................................... 68

5.

Winter Campaign: MUJI Dining ............................................................................................ 72

5.

Timing................................................................................................................................... 77

6.

Budget .................................................................................................................................. 78

Evaluation ................................................................................................................................ 79 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 81

Appendices .............................................................................................................................. 83 Appendix 1: Key financial figures of Ryohin Keikaku Co. ............................................................. 83 Appendix 2: Key financial figures of Muji Europe Holdings Limited ............................................ 83 Appendix 3: MUJI’s marketing performance in 2012 ................................................................... 84 Appendix 4: Leading retailers of furniture: share of furniture spending, 2009-12 ..................... 84 Appendix 5: Consumer spend on homewares by main segments, 2013 ..................................... 85 Appendix 6: Leading furniture retailers: Share of all spending on furniture, 2012 ..................... 85 Appendix 7: What furniture people plan to buy in the next 12 months, by ages, June 2013 ..... 86 Appendix 8: Factors important when buying furniture, June 2013 ............................................. 86 Appendix 9: Change in furniture expenditure by category (%), 2014e–19 ................................. 87 Appendix 10: Homewares purchased in the last 12 months, November 2013 ........................... 87 Appendix 11: Attitudes towards buying kitchen and dining wares, November 2013 ................. 88 Appendix 12: Attitudes towards buying soft furnishings/textiles, November 2013 ................... 88 Appendix 13: Population change in the year to mid-2013 .......................................................... 89 Appendix 14: Population pyramid for the UK, mid-2013............................................................. 89 Appendix 15: Population in London by age, 2011 ....................................................................... 90 Appendix 16: Population in London by social grade, 2011 .......................................................... 90 Appendix 17: Percentage of households by household size in 2013 ........................................... 91 Appendix 18: UK search engine market share, 2014 ................................................................... 91

About MUJI 1.

History of MUJI

In 1980, MUJI was established in Japan with its previous name ‘Mujirushi Ryohin’ as a private brand of The Seiyu, Ltd. MUJI started with 9 household articles and 31 food products and began selling clothes in the following year. The new name MUJI is adopted in 1999. Now MUJI sells more than 7,000 products all over the world.

In 1991, MUJI opened the first overseas store in London. In 2014, MUJI has 379 stores in Japan and 206 stores outside Japan. The number of stores in China is growing rapidly in recent years. In the Europe, 59 stores are running now and 12 of them are in the UK. There are 8 MUJI stores in London.

Source: Annual Report 2013, Ryohin Keikaku Co., LTD.

2.

Financial Performance

According to the 2013 annual report from MUJI (Ryhohin Keikaku Co.), the global performance was fine in past five years. The total revenue achieves 15% growth from 2009 to 2013. The net income ratio also grows from 4.3% to 5.8% in five years. The stimulation of the sales was because of the growing market in China.

Global Financial Performance of Ryohin Keikaku Co. 2009-2013, GBP 1600 1400

million pounds

1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 Feb-09 Net income

Feb-10 Operation revenue

Feb-11

Feb-12 Ordinary profit

Feb-13 Revenue

* The financial numbers are published in Japanese Yen and have been converted to British Pound Sterling by exchange th

rate in 26 April, 2014.

Source: Annual Report 2013, Ryohin Keikaku Co., LTD.

However, MUJI was not doing well in the Europe market. The published numbers from the Europe headquarters Muji Europe Holdings Limited shows MUJI’s stumbling performance in the Europe market. The turnover only slightly grew by 3.7% (£2 million) in 2013. The gross profits were very unstable in past few years and MUJI even struggled by small decreasing in 2012. In the 2013 annual report, President and Representative Director Masaaki Kanai pointed out the problems that the recession of the Europe market is because of the economic crisis and the weakened currency in the Europe.

Europe Financial Performance of Muji Europe Holdings Limited 2009-2014, GBP 120

million pounds

100 80 60 40 20 0 Feb-09

Feb-10

Feb-11

Feb-12

Gross Profit

Turnover

Feb-13

Feb-14

* The financial data includes 59 stores in Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Poland, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Protugal and Turkey.

Source: FAME

In the UK, MUJI earned around £20 million, which occupied 30% in the Europe market in 2013.

However, the heavy tax in the UK made MUJI UK less profitable in the end.

3.

Philosophy of MUJI

In the very beginning, MUJI named its brand as Mujirushi Ryohin, which means ‘no-brand, quality goods’ in Japanese. MUJI insists on designing no-label and basic products to represent its philosophy – the simplicity in daily life. It started with the slogan ‘Lower priced for a reason’ to promote its low price and high quality products. Today, MUJI is renowned of its stylish, functional and affordable quality goods.

Masaaki Kanai, President and Representative Director of Ryohin Keikaku, says MUJI continually delivers the message “simple, elegant and comfortable lifestyle at reasonable prices” to customers.

They try to abandon urban thinking which encourages people purchase superfluous products; on the contrary, MUJI evocates simplicity, moderation, humility and self-restraint. (Asker B, 2010)

Three concepts are founded in MUJI: 1. Selection of materials MUJI’s basic principle is to develop new simple products at reasonable prices by making the best use of materials while considering environmental issues. Through the careful selection of materials, streamlining manufacturing processes and simplifying our packaging, MUJI has continually introduced high quality MUJI brand products onto the market, at lower than usual prices. MUJI’s natural and simple design complements today’s lifestyles.

2. Streamlining processes For MUJI the materials they use to make our products are of the utmost importance; consequently, considerable attention is given to their selection. They search worldwide for the most suitable raw materials and use many industrial materials as well as recycling unused materials where possible. The overriding selection criteria is always quality. These activities underpin MUJI’s ability to create low-priced, high-quality products.

3. Simplification of packaging When packaging products, MUJI seeks not to adorn them but rather to highlight their natural colours and shapes. For this reason, MUJI uses bulk packaging and place products in plain, uniform containers. Faithful to their philosophy of simplicity, this approach is also in keeping with their policy of conserving resources and reducing waste. Thus, all MUJI products appear on store shelves in simple packaging bearing only product-related information and a price tag.

(Muji Europe Holdings Ltd)

Micro Analysis 1.

Product Segments

MUJI sells very wide product range. There are three main product sections: Clothing and Sundries, Housewares and Food. Around 7,000 products are sold in MUJI now: 60 percent are household products, 35 percent are clothes and linen, and the rest of them are food. (Zachariah, 2013) In fact, the most profitable products are furniture in housewares sector. MUJI, therefore, tried to concentrate on houseware products in the UK market. In 2014, MUJI promoted new sofa beds, one of their best-selling products, with 21 colour options. This is a unique promotion in the Europe which broke their traditional product design that usually with white, beige and black colours.

There are some other popular products in MUJI UK in addition to the sofa bed. According to the interview with MUJI’s employees, sofa beds, luggage and aroma diffusers are the top sellers in the UK. 2.

Brand Wheel

In order to set an adequate marketing strategy, MUJI has to know their strength. Through defining MUJI’s brand wheel, the core value of MUJI will be clearly revealed. A brand wheel consists of Attributes, Benefits, Values, Personality and Brand Essence. Following is MUJI’s brand wheel: 

Attributes: Necessities of life



Benefits: Home decoration, Durable furnishing



Values: Basic, Relaxed, Delicate, Affordable



Personality: Neat, Smooth, Stylish, Aesthetic



Brand Essence: Simplicity, Japanese Lifestyle

MUJI sells wide range of products includes housewares, furniture, clothing and food. On the other hand, MUJI satisfy consumer’s home life with their durable and affordable products. Furthermore, the philosophy of MUJI is fused into their product design. MUJI’s products are simple, basic and delicate. MUJI provides a unique lifestyle with simplicity, a Japanese simplicity, to their customers.

▲MUJI’s brand wheel

3.

Market Segment

There are four main methods to define market segment: geographic, demographic, psychographic and behaviouristic segmentation. As MUJI is a lifestyle-oriented brand, psychographic segmentation plays an important role in targeting right consumers.

Basically, the target market of MUJI are people aged around 20 to 40 years old, both male and female, social class BC1 and mainly urban residents. They mostly live in London because MUJI has 11 stores in the UK and 8 of them are in London. The rest of MUJI stores are in Birmingham,

Manchester and Guildford.

Home is an important concept to MUJI. Therefore, people who care about quality of their houses will be targeted by MUJI. Those consumers are looking for a comfortable living environment. They like to keep things neat and clear. The unnecessary decorations are probably forbidden in their houses. Hence, clean and simple houseware will help them realize their living philosophy.

Furthermore, the brand they use to decorate their house would represent their style and ideals.

They would probably choose some Japanese homeware to show their exotic and unique taste.

They also choose some simple products because they believe superfluous products would waste natural resources. They think green products are important for them to accomplish their eco-friendly belief.

Geographic 

Urban residents in the UK



Mainly in London

Demographic 

Age: 20 – 40 years old



Gender: Male and Female



Social Grade: BC1



Family size: Small family within four members

Psychographic 

People have an attitude toward simple lifestyle



People have a sense of environmentally friendly



People like Japanese culture and design



People dislike messy information and design

Behaviouristic 

People like to decorate their house



People like to keep their stuff easy, clean and simple



People like to do some positive efforts for environment

4.

Brand Strategy

In order to accomplish their core philosophy of simplicity, MUJI has stuck to No-Brand strategy for a long time. MUJI invests mainly on quality production and make them affordable to consumers instead of spending huge budge on advertising. They believe the quality of goods and comfortable shopping experience will turn up the word of mouth and bring more customers in the end.

However, MUJI still have some moderate marketing plans every year. Strategic products and cross-promotion were two key strategies in 2012. Since MUJI has wide range of products to sale, they decided to concentrate on the most profitable products in each section. For example, sofa bed is the most popular and profitable products, so MUJI promotes it through indoor showcase and introduction from salespeople. The strategic products successfully boosted the sales and they acquired 45% share of sales in 2012 (Appendix 3).

On

the

other

hand,

MUJI

executed

the

cross-promotion between Garment, Household and Food sectors. Four cross-promotions are implemented in 2012: “Hemp, hemp, hemp (clothing)”, “MUJI to Go (travel)”, “As always (disaster prevention)” and “Wool – This Great Earth (clothing)”. According to 2013 annual report, the cross-promotion ended up with the sales over the expectation.

Though the sales of cross-promotion products were not tremendously raised the sales, however, they successfully developed the strong image by creating various campaigns to enhance MUJI’s lifestyle image.

▲ Cross-promotion in 2012: MUJI to GO

Macro Analysis Since MUJI has extensive products, it has a very complex market. Clothing and Sundries, Housewares and Food are three main product segments in MUJI. MUJI’s production and sales are basically dominated by housewares segment which includes furniture and homewares. Therefore, furniture and homewares markets in the UK are chosen to analyse in this section.

1.

Furniture Market

In 2013, consumers spent £13 billion on furniture. According to Mintel’s forecast, furniture market will increase by 19% by 2018. The positive forecast is based on the economic recovery since the terrible recession in 2008. While the rehabilitation is slow and yet reflects on consumer spending, the consumer confidence has shown a steady recovery for almost two years (Mintel, 2013).

▲ Mintel’s forecast of furniture market, 2013-2018 (Mintel, 2013)

In the furniture market, there are some issues and trend. According to Mintel (2013), price remains an important factor when consumers purchase furniture. The sensibility of price has been planted in their mind during the recession time. Hence, although the economic has been recovered gradually, consumers still spend money carefully.

In reality, low price and plenty of discount promotion are not an option due to the low economies of scale. Instead, to create the value of products is more practical for furniture retailers. The combination of quality, design, service, store environment, convenience and price is the key way to gain the value of a brand.

Another issue for furniture market is the online trend. According to the research from Mintel in 2013, 41% of consumers would do the online research before visiting a furniture store, 35% would look online for design ideas, and 31% would read online customer reviews before purchasing them.

Hence, online retailers have been considered as fierce competitors in the furniture market.

However, Argos, the biggest online retailers in the furniture sector, has been losing market share in past few years (Appendix 4). Mintel claims the reason why Argos had ill performance was because of its low-price products and lake of showroom. It also showed consumer’s preference to buy the furniture in stores instead of online. The integration of solid demonstration and online transactional platform becomes a crucial trend for furniture retailers.

2.

Homewares Market

Consumers spent £11.79 billion on homewares in 2013 and Mintel’s has forecasted 19.2% increase in homewares market by 2018. The positive expectation is because of the growing number of adults (especially 25-34s) and households in the UK. Economic recovery also helps the rehabilitation of consumer confidence and their willingness to acquire new housewares. The research shows that 49% of consumers have plans for home improvements in the next year (Mintel, 2013).

Housewares market consists of various products such as home accessories, tableware, kitchenware and bakeware, lighting, household linens and textiles, bathroom textiles, curtains and blinds and other household linen. According to the research from Mintel (2013), household

textiles (29%) is now the top segment in the market and kitchen and table accessories (21%) is following behind. The third category is window furnishings and accessories (12%). (Appendix 5) In homewares market, the trends about the growth of kitchenware and online shopping are noteworthy. In the UK, 40% of consumers cook from scratch most days (Mintel, 2013). The growing cooking tendency motivates the demand cookware and bakeware.

On the other hand, most of consumers have online shopping experience. In the survey, 34% of consumers had bought homewares from pureplay online sellers, dominated by Amazon (Mintel, 2013). Furthermore, same percentage of people had shopped on Argos. The rapid growth of Amazon and Argos in homewares market shows the online shopping trend self-evidently.

3.

Key players

The furniture market is highly fragmented. IKEA UK dominates the sector with its furniture and homewares sales. However, DFS (6%) is the best seller in terms of exclusively furniture sales, which is followed by IKEA (5%) and Argos (5%) (Appendix 6). Contrast to DFS, IKEA UK, Homebase and B&Q are more similar to MUJI which offers a full home decoration business.

â–˛ Leading furniture specialists: share of furniture retailers sales, 2011 (Mintel, 2013)

In homewares market, a wide range of types of retailer are included such as general retailers, online sellers and supermarkets. According to Mintel, the market is dominated by low-priced mass market retailers. Department stores (39%) have the highest share and John Lewis plays the leader in the section. It has been gaining share through brand development, multi-channel selling and the addition of new selling space. Based on the research from Verdict, John Lewis has the greatest loyalty and conversion in 2014.

General mixed goods retailers (33%) are also important and this secgment is dominated by Argos.

Remarkably, IKEA attracts young homemaker and one in five 16-44s bought homewares from IKEA. (Mintel, 2014)

Supermarkets 6%

Other Specialists 2% 5%

DIY specialists 5%

All furniture stores 4%

Home shopping 6% Department stores 39% General mixed goods 33%

â–˛ Market share of homewares by type of retailer, 2013 (Mintel, 2014)

4.

Competitor Analysis

MUJI

Homebase

B&Q

John Lewis

Argos

Furniture Homewares Office accessories Electricals Others

Furniture Homewares Office accessories Food

Furniture Homewares DIY

Furniture Homewares DIY

Furniture Homewares Office accessories Clothing&Accessories Electricals Others

Price Medium (Furniture)

Medium

Low

Low

Low - High

Low

Place (Location)

Central London Online

Suburban Online

Suburban Urban Online

Suburban Online

Central London Urban

Online based Urban

Brand Essence

Simplicity Japanese style

Modern design Swedish style

DIY your stylish house

The DIY decor to improve your house

Wide home accessories with John Lewis style

The fun of shopping housewares

USP (Slogan)

No brand, quality goods

The wonderful everyday

Make your house your home

You can do it

Never knowingly undersold

Argos it (Shop online)

Product

Furniture Homewares Office accessories Clothing&Accessories Travelling accessories Food

IKEA UK

Some main competitors are chosen in order to analyse MUJI’s strength and weakness. As housewares segment dominates MUJI’s production, competitors in furniture market such as IKEA UK and in homewares market such as Homebase, B&Q and John Lewis are selected. Furthermore, the leading online retailer Argos has also be chosen due to the crucial trend of online shopping.

The table above shows that MUJI has a wider product range than Homebase and B&Q, which are pure home DIY retailers. IKEA, on the other hand, sells similar production with MUJI. John Lewis and Argos sell more extensive products that may make their proposition distracted. In price strategy, IKEA has the similar price range but other competitors are cheaper than MUJI’s products except John Lewis.

In terms of location, most retailers such as IKEA, Homebase and B&Q are mainly located in suburban area in order to extend the demonstration environment and maintain storage strategy.

However, MUJI’s stores are located in central London. Competitively, John Lewis shares the same circumstance with MUJI on the high streets that makes their consumers different from other retailers. Although every retailers has their own transaction websites, Argos remarkably is an online based retailer and concentrates on the distinguished online shopping experience.

In marketing communications aspect, Homebase and B&Q are rational oriented that messages are showing how products could help consumers improve their environment. IKEA, on the other hand, combine the functional employ of products with the emotional benefits to families. Moreover, IKEA establishes their position as a brand with modern design and Swedish quality. This resembles MUJI’s strategy and simple and quality brand from Japan.

John Lewis, prominently, has sent the strongest emotional information in order to connect the brand with consumers instead of introducing how many products they have. And interestingly, Argos not only promotes their products but also creates a distinguished and hilarious character to sell them. However, the messages sent from Argos still remain the strong feel of technology.

To sum up, IKEA is considered as the main competitor who has many similarities with MUJI. The difference is MUJI sells more products such as clothing, food and travelling accessories. Also MUJI located in central London but IKEA has several stores in suburban area. The access of internet, however, makes the distance eliminated. Therefore, MUJI needs a more distinct brand image to attract consumers.

5.

STEP Analysis

Social

  



   Technology



  

Economic

  

Political



Opportunity Higher percentage of young consumers plan to purchase furniture in 2014 Delivery service becomes an important factors for consumers Tactile products remain crucial for consumers that 45% of people agree they like to touch and feel before buying The raising trend of dining home increases the demand of cookware and bakeware Functionality (45%) is an important factor while choosing cookware 26% of consumers bough homewares as a gift 34% of consumers have tableware and dining ware for special occasions

  

76% of internet users bough furniture in-store in 2013; 45% of consumers bought furniture online 43% of consumers prefer shop in-store rather than online 41% of consumers would search online before going to a store 36% of consumers like to look online for design ideas



The number of household is expected to 4.9% increase by 2018 49% of consumers have plans for house improvements in 2014 Economic recession impacted people’s eating-out habit and increased the cooking-home demand



Government schemes to encourage house buying and this will stimulate the consuming of furniture and housewares



* Please refer to the data source in Appendices

 



Threat Promotions is the key factors in choosing furniture Wide choice of styles is the second influential factors while choosing a store Only 14% of consumers agree environmentally friendly element will attract them to buy the products

Only 5% of consumers use social media to share idea Only 10% of consumers have posted reviews online 34% of consumers bought homewares from purely online retailers

Consumers remain price-conscious that 30% of people buy cheap products and only 25% prefer quality goods Because of the economic impact, more teens choose to live with parents instead of moving out and this effect the houseware consumption Tax in the UK is relatively high that makes MUJI less profitable

In order to look into macro environment, STEP analysis gives a way to inspect different aspects of market trend. Social, technology, economic and political trends are included in the STEP framework.

Refer to the furniture market and homewares market, social trend is especially worth to notice, although they actually are affecting each other tightly. Following are the discussion of the trends in each aspect.

Social 1. Tactile products remains important for furniture consumers There are some important trends to MUJI in social aspect. First of all, according to Mintel’s research, consumers still prefer to touch tactile products before buying furniture. As a generation invaded by technology, this is a crucial point that marketer still need to focus on tangible shopping experience.

Fortunately, MUJI’s stores are located in central London where consumers are easier to reach.

However, in comparison of their competitors who are located in suburban area such as IKEA, MUJI has relatively small space to show their products. Therefore, MUJI needs to concentrate on demonstrate core concept with key products instead of showing all of them in the stores.

2. Promotions, range of products and delivery service are three main factors According to Mintel, promotion is still the key factor while choosing furniture (Appendix 8). This is the effect from long economic crisis that consumers spend money more carefully now. However, some creditable research companies such as Mintel and Verdict made the same conclusions that although consumers care about the price, the key point for brands is to add extra value on products instead of just make discount.

Secondly, the wide choice of products is also concerned by consumers. Not only furniture but also homewares consumers expect various choices while shopping in stores. MUJI is competitive in terms of product range. However, MUJI’s design is very consistent whereas other competitors such as John Lewis have the strength of wide production styles. Therefore, MUJI should create a unique and consistent style that sells their wide range of products.

Thirdly, delivery service becomes more important for consumers. MUJI already has a SOP for delivery and this might be a way to communicate with consumers.

3. The popularity of kitchenware According to the research, more and more people cook home rather than eat out. Therefore, the sale of cookware and bakeware rose in past few years. Verdict predicts the trend of cooking home will last in following years so that this would be an opportunity for retailers. (Appendix 9) Technology Technology has brought massive impacts in this age. Especially the internet considerably influences consumer nowadays that people rarely live without internet. However, the trend may not destructive to traditional consuming behaviour. In furniture market, although consumers search reviews and design ideas online, they still prefer feel the tangible products and buy them in-store.

Therefore, MUJI should carefully create a good environment in stores to drive the sale, and also generate good content online to stimulate consumers.

Secondly, the research from Mintel found that only 5% of consumers share ideas on social media and only 10% of consumers have posted reviews online. However, they search online before going to a store. This shows how consumers rely on online information but they are not very active on the internet. This could be an implication for MUJI to generate more interactive events online to establish stronger connection with their consumers.

Economic The long time economic recession has been released in the UK in 2014. Many organizations such as Office for National Statistics and Mintel have positive forecast of UK’s finance situation and this would bring the rehabilitation of housing market gradually. Although the recovery would not happen immediately, the research shows that higher percentage of consumers plan for house improvements in a short time. Hence, 2014 would be a good time for MUJI to promote furniture and housewares.

Political UK government has been supported housing purchasing and this has positive stimulation to furniture and houseware market. However, political factors are relative uninfluential to MUJI in general.

SWOT Analysis 1.

SWOT Matrix Strength  Stylish and high-quality products  Wide range of lifestyle products  Exotic brand from Japan  Located in central London

Weakness  Low brand awareness and brand loyalty in the UK market  Lake of localization in product innovation and marketing communications  European consumers is not familiar with Japanese culture

Opportunity  Tactile in-store experience remains important in the market  Online search becomes more important that consumers look for design ideas and reviews before buying products  Kitchen and dinging products seems a trend in the UK market

SO: Maxi-Maxi Strategy 1. Japanese stylish furniture and homewares that help consumers make up their home 2. Improve the shopping experience in MUJI stores 3. Improve the online materials in order to strengthen MUJI’s brand 4. Concentrate on selling furniture in-store but make it easier to buy housweares online

WO: Mini-Maxi Strategy 1. Create brand awareness by marketing communications especially online tools 2. Generate brand loyalty by improving in-store experience and service 3. Generate propaganda for Japanese culture

Threat  Few consumers share reviews on the internet actively especially on the social media  Promotion is the key factor and eco-friendly is less important while choosing products  Consumers still spend money prudently

ST: Maxi-Mini Strategy 1. Encourage consumers share ideas and reviews online 2. Keep the successful cross-promotion that integrate products to build the brand image

WT: Mini-Mini Strategy 1. Do market research about product innovation to meet consumer’s demands 2. Use celebrity to generate awareness and share of discussion online 3. Combine the image of simplicity with environmentally friendly products

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2.

Marketing Recommendation

Some future brand strategies come up with MUJI’s SWOT matrix. The SO strategy resulting from the cross of strength and opportunity is the worthiest strategy for MUJI. Through SO strategy, MUJI is advised to promote their stylish furniture and homewares, and connect them tightly with their Japanese simple philosophy. Therefore, the primary mission for MUJI is to sell furniture and homewares by building awareness and developing brand image.

Secondly, the integration of online and offline marketing is crucial. MUJI has to improve not only the shopping experience in stores, but also the easiness of online shopping. Through marketing research form Mintel, it shows stores are still the place they buy furniture; however, online platform help them do research and consumers also buy some housewares, which are cheaper items, online.

Therefore, MUJI should focus on furniture showcasing and selling in stores, and provide design inspiration and sell cheaper products online.

Other suggestions are provided in SWOT analysis. However, due to MUJI’s limited marketing budget, they are considered as secondary options. But they are still considerable for MUJI. The WO and ST strategies are also good proposals for MUJI to develop annual marketing strategy. The prudent consideration will be detailed in further IMC strategy.

Timing February 1, 2015 – January 31, 2016 Budget Around £1,000,000 (5% of turnover from 12 stores in the UK in 2013)

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Marketing Objectives and Scope 1.

Issues and Opportunities

MUJI becomes successful in Asia with its no-brand strategy and word-of-mouth has been spread due to its quality goods. However, the silent marketing strategy wasn’t work in the UK. The sale of MUJI has been sluggish for few years. The possible reason is the lake of communications. In Asia, consumers are more familiar with Japanese culture so they are confident with the quality of products made by this country. In the Europe, however, the geographic distance makes the perception gap. MUJI’s brand essence, the Japanese stylish and quality products, may not be clearly received by UK’s consumers.

General speaking, MUJI needs to enhance the marketing communications in the UK. The serious problem that MUJI faces is the lack of brand awareness. Therefore, a strong and precise brand essence should be delivered to their consumers. According to the brand wheel analysed in previous section, MUJI’s brand essence is its ‘simplicity and Japanese lifestyle’.

On the other hand, MUJI has wide range of products to sell. It will confuse consumers if MUJI has no central sector of production. Through observation in MUJI’s stores, people usually attract by the stylish design on the street and go into the stores. However, they feel lost in the store in the first sight because there are too many sectors of products. Then they start wandering around and just leave without purchasing anything in the end.

Hence, MUJI needs to decide a primary sector. According to previous analysis, the furniture and homewares is the most beneficial segment and it has the biggest opportunity in the market in the following years. UK’s housing market is recovering and it will bring up the furniture and homewares market in the next few years. Therefore, MUJI is suggested to concentrate on selling furniture and homewares in addition to a valuable brand image.

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2.

The Role of Integrated Marketing Communications

The role of marketing communications After analysing the macro and micro environment, MUJI have some implications to their marketing strategy. In order to develop a fine strategy in the following year, the role of marketing communication needs to be clarified.

In the marketing field, there are some key factors involved: Products/Brand, Market/Consumers, Competitors and Environment. All of these factors affect each other synchronously. Corporate sells product or does branding by delivering their core value through marketing communications, and consumers pay back if they think it is worthy. The connection should be developed firmly between brands and consumers.

â–˛The key issue for a product/brand is to build the connection with consumers

In the specific market, however, external environment would influence both companies and consumers. For instance, a new technology might change the invention of products, and also change buyer’s behaviours. Competitors, on the other hand, would also interfere in the market.

Consumers might have many brands to choose and they would eventually pick up one product that meets their need (physically and psychically) while making a decision in the stores.

Marketing communications is to help a brand build its connections with consumers. Once a firmer connection has been built with consumers, the brand gets a bigger chance to be chosen by consumers in the end.

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What is Integrated Marketing Communications?

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a relatively new concept in the marketing history.

The very first concept is defined by American Association of Advertising Agencies in 1989 that IMC is “the value of a comprehensive plan that evaluate the strategic roles of a variety of communications disciplines advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion and combines them to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum communication impact.” (Schultz, 1993).

As the time passed by, the concept of integrated marketing communications has adapted and changed. The core value of IMC, however, has not been drifting away. The main concept of IMC is to deliver consistent message through various marketing communications tools in order to develop the relationship between brand and target audience. Following are the brief ideas have been casted by influential marketing experts: 

IMC can be defined as the management process of integrating all marketing communications activities across relevant audience points to achieve greater brand coherence. (David Pickton and Amanda Broaderick, 2005)



IMC is a process for managing the customer relationships that drive brand value. (Duncan, 2002)



An organisation’s unified, coordinated effort to promote a brand concept through the use of multiple communications tools that ‘speak with a single voice’. (Shimp, 2000)



IMC requires that all of a brand’s communication media deliver a consistent message. (Terence A. Shimp, 2010)



IMC is the concept under which a company carefully integrates and coordinates its many communications channels to deliver a clear, consistent and compelling message about the organisation and its products. (Kotler et al., 1999)

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The Importance of Niche Market BrandZ, a global equity brand database commissioned by WPP group, has developed a methodology to evaluate brand value and has published top 100 global brands annually since 2006.

According to BrandZ, brand value is developed by a brand pyramid consisting of presence, relevance, performance, advantage and bonding. Consumers are asked to rank the relationship with a brand.

For example, a young man might be aware of MUJI and he thinks the quality is good to wear.

However, he doesn’t admire the style and he doesn’t feel strong emotional connection with the brand either. The brand value will be measured by consumers based on the rating of all criteria.

The research from BrandZ also finds that a successful brand should make a firm connection with consumers instead of only earning wild awareness from public. The research shows that consumers spend only 2% of budget on the brands they had heard. However, 50% of budget will be invested on brands they were bonded to. BrandZ has defined this as Share of Wallet (SOW).

To sum up, a brand should increase customer’s loyalty and they would be willing to spend more money on the brand. MUJI should find the niche market and communicate with them to increase Share of Wallet instead of generating huge but aimless awareness. MUJI’s goal in integrated marketing communication campaign is to build firm connection with those niche target audience and make them consider MUJI as a bonding brand.

BrandZ’s Brand Pyramid

Source: BrandZ

27

3.

Marketing Objectives

First of all, MUJI needs to set up a primary goal for the corporation. The turnover of MUJI in the UK was £20 million in 2013. In order to make a reasonable goal, 5% increase of turnover is set as business objective in the following annual campaign. In the other word, MUJI has to increase £1 million and to reach totally £21 million during the campaign.

Secondly, MUJI has to set segmental objectives to reach business goal. According to analysis, MUJI is suggested to concentrate on the f furniture and homewares sectors. Hence, the marketing objectives are the achievable aims for the sales of these products. The objectives are to increase sales in furniture by £0.7 million and to increase sales in homewares by £0.3 million. In the other sectors, MUJI has to maintain the sales as well.

Finally, strategic IMC objectives should be developed to achieve marketing objectives. According to Colley (1961), four steps are defined as the process how consumers recognise a brand: awareness, comprehension, conviction and action. Based on this, MUJI has to organise a strategic plan to build up the brand image in customer’s mind and make them choose the brand in the end.

In the beginning, MUJI needs to generate awareness from consumers. This has been diagnosed as the main issue for MUJI. Hence, the increase of brand awareness should be the primary objective.

On the other hand, the online store has become the opportunity for MUJI to sell its homewares.

The online shop can reach the consumers who are outside the cities where MUJI’s stores are located.

Therefore, in addition to drive offline sales, MUJI should also explore more market online.

And in the end, the brand loyalty should be firmly cultivated at the same time so that MUJI can increase its share of wallet. According to BrandZ’s brand pyramid, the loyal customers are much more important for a brand. They spend 80% of budget on the brands they feel bonding to.

Therefore, MUJI should not only generate brand awareness, but also pay attention to develop brand loyalty from niche consumers.

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Business Objectives 

To increase sales by 5% (£1 million) by January 31, 2016

Marketing Objectives  To increase the sales in furniture section by £0.7 million by January 31, 2016  To increase the sales in homewares section by £0.3 million by January 31, 2016  To maintain the general sales in clothing and food section by January 31, 2016 IMC Objectives  Increase brand awareness by 15% by January 31, 2016  Acquire online customers by 10% by January 31, 2016  Increase brand loyalty by 5% by January 31, 2016

Colley’s hierarchy of objectives (1961)

Source: Pickton and Broderick, 2005

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Target Market 1.

Target Market Overview

In market segment section before, four types of target market segmentation have been discussed.

Geographic, demographic, psychographic and behaviouristic segmentation are involved. As MUJI has been a lifestyle-oriented brand, psychographic segmentation is determined as the most important factor. In order to build firm connection with target audience, MUJI is suggested to find out the target group which share the similar philosophy.

MUJI’s target group are defined by integration of those segmentations. Geographic and demographic segmentation could give a general sample size of target group, and psychographic and behaviouristic segmentation would help MUJI target consumers more precisely.

Following is the target audience that is chosen as the most potential group for MUJI: Geographic and Demographic Segmentation 

Residents in England



Aged 25-44 years old



Male and Female



Social grade ABC1



Small family within 4 members

Psychographic and Behaviouristic Segmentation 

People have an attitude toward simple lifestyle



People have interests in exotic culture especially Japanese style



People like to decorate house with neat and serene style

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2.

Market Size

In order to achieve marketing goal, MUJI needs to estimate the market size. The market size is based on the geographic and demographic segmentation. Psychographic and behaviouristic segmentation will be added when analysing the insight of target audience. The real target group, therefore, will be much smaller in the end.

Geographic and Demographic Segmentation 

Residents in England

53,865,000



Aged 25-44 years old, male and female

36% in the UK



Social Grade ABC1

62% in London



Small family from 2-4 members

51-71% in the UK

Estimated population

7,213,600

The population of target market is estimated around 7,213,600 people. However, the psychographic and behaviouristic segmentation will limit the target market and MUJI measures that there will be only 8% of target market will purchase MUJI’s products. In summary, the target market size will be 577,088.

In terms of MUJI’s marketing objectives, it should reach £21,000,000 by the end of this campaign.

Hence, each target audience should spend £36 on MUJI’s products during this annual campaign.

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3.

Consumer Insights

Consumer Profiles John is a creative director in a digital marketing company. He is 32 years old and still single. He really enjoys his single life that he has much social time with his friends and attends some interesting exhibitions in London after work. He usually cooks tasty food and invites his friends home to have wonderful dinners during weekends.

Picture source: Getty Images

John also likes to travel around if he has holidays. He likes exotic cultures and usually buys some decoration to make his flat special.

Janice is 35 years old and she is a senior manager in a local bank. She feels very confident in her career life. However, because she needs to contact with her clients and colleagues at any time, iPhone has become the most important thing for her.

Picture source: Umbrella Payroll

She has a boyfriend and they both like books and movies. They like to stay home to read books or watch DVDs together on weekends.

Therefore, she likes to keep her house in a very clean and organized condition.

Henry and Marry are young parents who both have jobs. They are both 30 years old. Henry is a freelancer so he works home and takes care of their lovely kid. To make the circumstance safe for their baby, they decide to make the house clean and simple without much extra dangerous stuff.

Picture source: Marianne Taylor

Henry and Marry especially love their weekend time stay with their little baby and play games with her in the living room.

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Media Usage According to the research from Ofcom, consumers aged from 25 to 44 years old use television as well as mobile phone mostly. Online media through other digital device such as PC, laptop and tablet is the third media they usually use. The usage of radio and newspapers are stable but not as frequent as previous media. Hence, television, mobile phone and online media would be primary choices for MUJI to communicate with target audience.

Regular media activities, by age: 2013

Source: Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report 2014, Ofcom

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Campaign Strategy 1.

The Management of IMC

In order to achieve marketing communication objectives, integrated marketing communications play an important role to deliver consistent brand messages and develop firm relationship between brand and target audience. Belch and Belch (2001) presented the integrated marketing communications planning model. It shows the benefit of vertical integration and horizontal synergy that maintains the consistency of brand strategy.

Linton and Morley (1995) also claimed the advantages of IMC which including creative integrity, consistent message, unbiased marketing recommendations and greater marketing precision.

Pickton and Broaderick (2005) mentioned IMC strategy should ‘bring together the various facets of marketing communications in a mutually supportive and enhancing way then the resulting whole is more than the simple sum of its parts’. Therefore, the consistency of IMC campaign should be deliberately planned.

Source: Belch and Belch, 2011 34

First of all, the vertical integration should be accomplished. A brand would have some implications for the future plan from the situation and consumer analysis. This will guide the brand to set proper objectives and core messages to communicate with its target audience. To make sure consumers would receive the key messages through various marketing communications tools, the vertical integration of IMC campaign plays a crucial role.

On the other hand, an IMC strategy should also pay attention to the horizontal synergy. Once a brand decides key concept and the tactics to use, it will be complicated to implement the tools as additive integrations instead of messy and confusing weaving. In brief, not only the solid message should be vertical integrated but also the characters of different tactics should be horizontal synergetic in an IMC campaign.

4Es and 4C of integrated marketing communications are concluded by Pickton and Broaderick (2005) as following points: The 4Es of IMC 

Enhancing – improve; augment; intensify



Economical – least cost in the use of financial and other resources; not wasteful



Efficient – doing things right; competent; not wasteful



Effective – doing the right things; producing the outcome required; not wasteful

The 4Cs of IMC 

Coherence – Logically connected; firmly stuck together



Consistency – not self-contradictory; in agreement, harmony, accord



Continuity – connected and consistent over time



Complementary communications – producing a balanced whole; supportive communications

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2.

Branding Strategy

The importance of branding strategy has been raised in plenty of academic and practical marketing field. American Marketing Association defined a brand as ‘a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of these, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers, and to differentiate them from those of a competitor.’ (Patrick, Maggie and Joeri, 2013) In the other words, the strategy should help a brand identify their value and make an accurate plan to deliver consistent brand messages.

The brand essence plays the most crucial character in the branding strategy. The brand wheel defined in the previous section has showed MUJI’s core value. MUJI needs to deliver this key point to their target audience. Although the brand essence of MUJI has been discovered and exposed in their stores, the message is barely conveyed to their customers actively outside stores. Hence, MUJI needs to clarify their brand strategy that includes ‘what to say’ and ‘how to say’ to communicate with consumers.

(1) Positioning Strategy Perceptual Maps Through defining perceptual map with competitors, MUJI could clarify its brand position. This also reveals the strength and risk of the brand. For example, if the map shows the position of brands in the market are very close, it means a brand will be very hard to differentiate itself and stand out from competitors when consumers are making decisions in shops.

Following are the perceptual maps separated to consumer perspective and products perspective.

Both maps include the considerable criteria that might influence consumers on their purchasing process. The map from consumer perspective includes price and the range of products; and the map from production perspective includes the durability and the design of products.

The main competitors such as IKEA, John Lewis and Argos are selected to compare with MUJI. This will clearly show the position of brands in the market. MUJI needs to know its strength through those perceptual maps and decides what their unique selling point is.

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Perceptual Maps from Consumer Perspective

In terms of consumer perspective, price and range of products are chosen to be the main criteria since those affect consumer’s purchasing decision significantly. According to the map, the pricing strategy of MUJI is in the middle of the market. John Lewis is relatively a luxury brand in the market and it sells the widest range of products. On the other hand, Argos sells wide range of products as well but their price is much more affordable.

Comparing to their main competitor in the market, MUJI has more choices of products than IKEA. IKEA’s products, however, are cheaper and more affordable.

In summary, if consumers have sufficient budget, they will probably go to John Lewis. On the contrary, people with very limited budget will try to find products in Argos. The medium consumers will check IKEA and MUJI instead. They will consider MUJI without thinking only when the products are exclusive such as clothing and travelling accessories.

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Perceptual Maps from Production Perspective

In production perspective, durability and design of products are chosen to be the main criteria. The consumers looking for modern products might go to IKEA and MUJI. Those two brands provide relatively modern design that fused exotic elements from Sweden and Japan. On the other hand, products of John Lewis and Argos are more classic that they are more suitable for the consumers who like traditional design.

The durability of products is usually reflected on their price. John Lewis has the best quality of products that can last many years. Therefore, they are more expensive. Likewise, MUJI has relatively durable products with higher price. On the other side, IKEA sells cheaper products and provides comparatively unsustainable products due to its storage strategy and assembling products. Argos, surprisingly, has durable products with low price because of its reductive cost on storage and stores.

In conclusion, perceptual maps reveal some implications to MUJI: 1.

Durability of products could be a strength for MUJI

2.

Modern design with its Japanese style makes MUJI different from competitors

3.

Price is not MUJI’s advantage in positioning

4.

The product range is too similar to competitors so MUJI should promote its unique products to create differentiation 38

(2) Message Strategy Liebermann and Flint-Goor (1996) claims message strategy is a combination of two main components: creative strategy and message appeal. Creative strategy, according to Franzer’s definition (1983), is a principle or guidelines that identify the nature of messages. Those messages are required to generate desired reactions from consumers.

On the other hand, Liebermann and Flint-Goor claimed message appeal should be revealed as rational or emotional expression. Those two appeals represent two approaches. The rational approach provides informative messages, and emotional approach creates psychographic connection with consumers.

In the following sections, Central Organising Idea (COI) will be discussed as the creative strategy of MUJI. Furthermore, Foot-Cone-Belding Grid and Four Quadrant Grid are used to set up message appeals. Some implications will be given through analysis and this will help MUJI to create message strategy more precisely.

Creative Strategy: Central Organising Idea (COI) MUJI needs to define its central organising idea (COI) to convey its core value to target audience.

The definition of brand essence would be helpful to decide the COI. According the brand wheel analysed before, MUJI’s brand essence is “Japanese simplicity”. This is the soul of the brand. In the other words, when consumers think about MUJI, they can feel the Japanese simplicity.

However, brand essence is more about the feeling that delivered by the brand. However, the COI should make it straighter and easier to memorise. This would be the message that when people talk about MUJI, they will speak out the words without thinking.

MUJI is a lifestyle brand and is well-known for its simple and clean design. Their extensive products will help people create a stylish house. The COI should combine those elements and generate emotional connection with consumers. In brief, it should be a concept that makes target audience believes in this unique brand philosophy.

“Purity of Life” is designed as MUJI’s central organising idea. This COI will convey the message that MUJI has the simplest products that make you life pure and serene. Superfluities should be 39

abandoned. Keep your life easy with MUJI is the way to happiness.

In this campaign, MUJI will use different IMC tools to deliver this message. The brand essence will be fused into the message and “Purity of Life� will make all the messages integrated together.

Message Appeal: Foot-Cone-Belding (FCB) Grid and Four Quadrant Grid In order to decide the method to communicate with target audience, MUJI needs to understand their consumers and the key factors while they are making decisions. Vakratsas and Ambler (1999) introduced Foot-Cone-Belding (FCB) grid to classify different decision making process when the consumers purchase different type of products.

Source: Patrick De Pelsmacker, Maggie Geuens and Joeri Van Den Bergh, 2013

The category is divided by two criteria: the level of involvement and the think-feel dimension. After putting MUJI’s production types into the grid, the furniture sector is classified as cognitive and high involvement sector that consumers usually think, feel and do when buy a product. On the other hand, MUJI has other products which are homewares, clothing, office and travelling accessories and those belong to feel and high involvement sector that people feel, think and do when purchase products.

In four quadrant grid model, the various types of production are not only classified but also given some marketing strategies. In terms of furniture sector, MUJI needs to provide credible source and strong message because consumers are more rational. However, other sectors more emotional 40

messages should be created.

In brief, MUJI is suggested to sale furniture tangibly and rational messages such as sustainability should be provided in-store. On the other hand, online stores are advised to concentrate on homewares and other accessories, and emotional messages should be given to consumers while selling those products.

Cognition

Affect

High Involvement

Well thought through attitudes based on knowledge and beliefs

Strong emotional reactions

Strategy:

• Increase attractiveness of message source

Strategy:

Via credible source and/or strong message • Change beliefs

• Create appropriate emotional appeal in the message (positive and negative)

• Change evaluations • Add a new belief

• Create emotional impact through message style

• Target normative beliefs

• Honest information/fun/intrigue

Low Involvement

Few simple beliefs

Conditioned responses

Strategy:

Impact of mood / occasion

Persuasion likely to be peripheral - buyers want to process easily

Strategy: (Brands development)

• Credible message source

• Attractive likeable sources

• Immediate positive message associations • Simple messages

• Message/styles lead to positive emotions (happiness, fun, sexiness, belonging)

• Involving messages

• Repetition in appropriate context

Easily processed peripheral clues

Source: Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard and Hogg, 2009

(3) AISAS Model There are plenty of buyer behaviour theories in marketing communications field. AIDA is one of earliest models and still being used in modern marketing communications plans. AIDA model is proposed by Elmo Lewis in nineteenth century. He claimed there is a sequence of purchasing making for consumers that consists of Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action. Later, Lewis has improved AIDA to AIDAS model with Satisfaction.

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In the 21th century, the Internet has proved its significant influence. The explosion of search engine and social media has changed people’s behaviours dramatically. In order to make the marketing model more suitable for the new internet era, Dentsu Group, one of biggest international advertising and public relations companies in the world, advocated AISAS model in 2007.

The AISAS, which is based on AIDA model, replaced Desired by Search, and added Share after Action.

In the other words, AISAS is composed of Awareness, Interest, Search, Action, and Share. This distinctly shows the effects of the internet. Consumers generally search online when they are interested in the products before they buy them. After purchasing the products and experiencing them, people like to share their ideas about the products or experience through social network.

The social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube play crucial roles in the digital generation.

As consumers share their experience online, they help brands to spread the messages and this will, once again, drive awareness among their social networks. This circulation of marketing communications will be flowing like a vortex.

The AISAS model will be applied in MUJI’s IMC campaign. Through variou marketing communications tools, MUJI will set different purposes for different projects to bring consumers move from one stage to another stage.

AISAS Model

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3.

The Role of IMC tools

(1) The selection of marketing communication tools Advertising

Sales promotion

Public relations

Personal selling

Direct marketing

Digital marketing

Absolute costs

High

Medium

Low

High

Medium

Low

Cost per contact

Low

Medium

Low

High

High

Medium

Wastage

High

Medium

High

Low

Low

Medium

Size of investment

High

Medium

Low

High

Medium

Medium

Ability to deliver a personal message

Low

Low

Low

High

Low

Medium

Ability to reach a large audience

High

Medium

Medium

Low

Medium

Medium

Level of interaction

Low

Low

Low

High

High

High

Credibility given by target audience

Low

Medium

High

Medium

Medium

Medium

Ability to target particular audiences

Medium

High

Low

Medium

High

High

Management’s ability to adjust the deployment of the tool as circumstances change

Medium

High

Low

Medium

High

Low

Costs

Communications

Control

Source: Dahlen, Lange and Smith, 2010

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Marketing communications play crucial role in deliver message to MUJI’s target audience. To choice the marketing communication tools that are suitable to MUJI, the characteristics of them should be comprehensively understood. The marketing objectives, target audience and budget should be contemplated. Due to the limited marketing budget that MUJI has, it would be the primary consideration in the choice of tools.

In terms of the cost, public relation and digital marketing would be more appropriate for MUJI to develop a marketing strategy. Those tools are relatively cheap. However, the high waste of the tools would be the potential problem, so the management of PR and digital marketing such as the choice of media and the creativity of the content should be discreetly planned.

Furthermore, sales promotion would be the secondary option due to its acceptable cost and MUJI has used cross promotion to integrate and sell their complex products for many years.

Hence, in the following sections, the characteristics of those three IMC tools will be discussed. This will be considerable for MUJI to choose appropriate tools for each campaign to achieve marketing communication objectives.

(2) Public Relations Public relation is the occupation responsible for the management of organisational relationships and reputation. (L’Etang, 2009) Through PR activities, a company could develop good relationships with their stakeholders and earn reputation from consumers. The result of a great public relation would not only generate brand loyalty but also make broad word of mouth.

Oppose to other marketing communication tools, public relation is not a communication method through paid or owned media. Instead, a company speaks out their brand via third parties. This means the message spoke by those media will be more creditable. However, the content will be less controllable because the decision of publishment is hold by media. But the price will be relatively lower because an occupation does not have to pay for the exposure on media. Public relation would be a very cost-effective too if a brand choose the right media and generate a good content to attract their target audience.

Following are some public relation activities that MUJI can employ while planning a campaign.

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Public Relation Toolkit Public relations activity Internal communications Corporate PR

Explanation

Examples

Communicating with employees

Media relations

Communicating with journalists; specialists; and editors from local, national, international and trade media, including newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and web-based communication Communicating with other organisations, e.g. suppliers, retailers Communicating with opinion formers (e.g. local/national politicians), monitoring political environment Communicating with local community, elected representatives, headteachers

In-house newsletter, suggestion boxes Annual reports, conferences, ethical statements, visual identity images Press releases, phototcalls, video news releases, off-the-record briefings, press events

Business to business Public affairs

Community relations/corporate social responsibility Investor relations Strategic communications

Issues management Crisis management

Copywriting Publications management Events management, exhibitions

Communicating on behalf of whole organisation, not goods or service

Exhibitions, trade events, newsletters Presentations, briefings, private meetings, public speeches Exhibitions, presentations, letters, meeting, sports activities and other sponsorship Newsletters, briefings, events

Communicating with financial organisations/individuals ID and analysis of situation, problem Researching, planning and and solutions to further organisational executing a campaign to improve goals ethical reputation of organisation Monitoring political, social economic Considering effect of US and technological environment economy on UK organisation Communicating clear messages in Dealing with media after major fast-changing situation or emergency rail crash on behalf of police, hospital or local authority Writing for different audiences to high Press releases, newsletters, web standards of literacy pages, annual reports Overseeing print/media processes, Leaflets, internal magazines, often using new technology websites Organisation of complex events, Annual conference, press launch, exhibitions trade shows Source: Theaker and Yaxley, 2013 45

(3) Digital Marketing Digital media, undoubtedly, has been developed rapidly in past few decades. Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick (2012) defined digital marketing as ‘achieving marketing objectives through applying digital technologies’. The growing of new technologies, in other words, not only impacts consumer’s behaviours but also changes the use of marketing tools.

There are some distinguished characters that new digital media has and those are quite different from traditional media. For example, old media play a one-way communications role that the information usually diver from advertisers to consumers. Digital media, however, is a two-way communication platform that not only brands could send the messages to receivers, but also consumers can give some feedbacks through online media.

This is a big change for marketers nowadays. In modern marketing communications, interaction between a brand and target audience becomes more and more crucial. Consumers are not just buyers anymore. They become vital characters to create a brand. The personality of a brand is not created by marketers now but would be solidly developed in consumers’ minds through their engagement and interaction with the brand.

Hence, MUJI needs to consider this powerful media and imply them carefully in the campaign.

Consumers’ engagement and interaction should be well stimulated through digital marketing.

The differences between the old and digital media Traditional media

Digital media

One-to-many communication model

One-to-one or many-to-many communication model

Mass-marketing push model

Individualised marketing or mass customisation. Pull model for web marketing

Monologue

Dialogue

Branding

Communication

Supply-side thinking

Demand-side thinking

Customer as a target

Customer as a partner

Segmentation

Communities Source: Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012 46

Paid, Owned and Earned Media The digital media has been separate by three different types: paid media, owned media and earned media. Different media have their unique roles in digital marketing. In order to achieve digital marketing objectives, a good integration between those three types of media is critical.

Source: Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012

A.

Paid media

Paid media is the online advertising that a company needs to pay for to reach its target audience. In the traditional media, companies usually use paid media such as printed, TV or radio advertisements. In terms of online media, brands also need to invest money on the paid channels such as search engine, display ads or affiliate marketing. The content of paid media is normally well controlled by companies who pay for it, but sometimes it needs to be adjusted due to the various requirements from media.

B.

Owned media

Owned media are the online channels that owned by companies. For instance, websites, blogs, mobile apps or social media such as Facebook pages, Twitters or YouTube channels are media that managed by corporations. The cost will be more moderate and the content can be totally controlled by companies to deliver consistent brand messages.

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C.

Earned media

Companies do not have to pay for earned media because their attractive messages or events make media want to report them voluntarily. Brands need to create these contents that are worth to report firstly. Those earned media will help brands to spread messages and generate word-of-mouth. Generally earned media is the cheapest but they are the most credible for consumers.

In addition to online news media, the viral contents spread through social media are also very powerful and influential for brand to generate awareness and WOM. However, although cooperates do not spend money on earned media, it is the most difficult media to manage. Sometime consumers stand for the company, but sometimes people against it due to any reasons. If the situation goes out of control, company even needs to use PR to manage the risks.

Paid media

Own media

Earned media

Cost

High

Medium

Low

Control of contents

Medium

High

Low

Credibility

Medium

Low

High

Examples



Search engine



Websites



Word-of-mouth



Display ads



Blogs



Buzz



Sponsorship



Email lists



Viral



Mobile apps



Social media

Digital marketing tools Promotion technique

Main strengths

Main weaknesses

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

Highly targeted, relatively low cost of PPC. High traffic volumes if effective. Considered credible by searchers

Intense competition, may compromise look of site.

Complexity of changes to ranking algorithm

Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing

Highly targeted with controlled cost of acquisition. Extend reach through content network

Relatively costly in competitive sectors and low volume compared with SEO

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Trusted feed

Update readily to reflect changes in product lines and prices

Relatively costly, mainly relevant for e-retailers. No longer widely available

Online PR

Relatively low cost and good targeting. Can assist with SEO through creation of backlinks

Identifying online infuencers and setting up partnerships can be time-consuming. Need to monitor comments on third-party sites

Affiliate marketing

Payment is by results (e.g. 10% of Costs of payments to affiliate sale or leads goes to referring site) networks for setup and management fees. Changes to ranking algorithm may affect volume from affiliates

Online sponsorship

Most effective if low-cost, long-term co-branding arrangement with synergistic site

Interactive advertising

Main intention to achieve visit, i.e. Response rates have declined direct response model. But also historically because of banner role in branding through media blindness multiplier effect

E-mail marketing

Push medium – can’t be ignored in user’s inbox. Can be used for direct response link to website.

Integrates as a response mechanism with direct mail

Requires opt-in for effectiveness.

Better for customer retention than for acquisition. Inbox cut-through message diluted among other e-mails. Limits on deliverability

Social media marketing, viral and word-of-mouth marketing

With effective viral agent, possible to reach a large number at relatively low cost. Influencers in social networks significant

Difficult to create powerful viral concepts and control targeting.

Risks damaging brand since unsolicited messages may be received

Traditional offline advertising (TV, print, etc.)

Larger reach than most online techniques. Greater creativity possible, leading to greater impact

Targeting arguably less easy than online. Typical high cost of acquisition

May increase awareness but does not necessarily lead directly to sales

Source: Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012

49

(4) Sales Promotion Consumer Promotion tools Monetary incentives Price cut on the shelf Coupons Cash refunds Savings cards

Chance to win a prize Contests Sweepstakes and lotteries

Product promotions Sampling Extra volume Free in mail Premiums Self-liquidators

Source: Patrick De Pelsmacker, Maggie Geuens and Joeri Van Den Bergh, 2013

Classification of promotion mechanics Promotional type Value

Price

Immediate Free in-pack Reusable container Instant win Home sampling Free on-pack Pence-off flash Buy one, get one free Extra-fill packs In-store coupon Finance offer

Delayed Free mail-in Competition Free draw Self-liquidator Charity promotion Next purchase coupon Cash refund Cash share-out Buy-back offer Source: Cummins and Mullin, 2011

â–˛ MUJI has many sales promotion events every year 50

4.

Brief of IMC Suggestion

51

5.

Strategy Map

Based on the strategic advises before, MUJI’s annual marketing communications campaign will be planned in this section. First of all, MUJI need to develop a brand strategy above all. The brand essence and core concept should be clearly delivery to target audience. Furthermore, MUJI should focus on furniture and homewares sector which is more profitable. Thirdly, online and offline media should be integrated when the campaign is created.

Four seasonal campaigns The annual campaign is divided into four seasonal campaigns. There are two reasons. First, MUJI has wide range of products. MUJI should not concentrate on only one sector. Furniture and homewares has been diagnosed as worthiest sector, therefore, MUJI should develop strategic plans that combine furniture and homewares with products in other sectors. Take beds for example, the campaign can sell them along with other bedroom accessories or storages. In these four seasonal campaigns, different furniture will be promoted with products in various sectors.

Second, a brand should be active in order to stimulate consumers again and again. One campaign for whole year is too insufficient. Therefore, four seasonal campaigns are suggested for MUJI to keep the brand vibrant. Different furniture is also chosen to promote on the basis of buyer behaviours in each season.

Different products in different season Winter – As Christmas, the biggest holiday in the UK, and the winter sale, the most important period for marketers, are both in the winter time, MUJI should promote the most potential products in this season. Hence, the kitchenware and dining accessories are chosen as the key products to promote during this time.

Summer – Summer is the season that most UK people have travelling plans. Because MUJI has very positive reviews on its travelling accessories and MUJI to go campaign has run globally and successfully for two years, this would be a good chance for MUJI to attract consumers by its star products in summer.

52

Spring and Autumn – The seasonal campaigns during these time are relatively small. The objectives during these times are to keep creating awareness from target audience and acquire new customers through developing different concepts. In spring time, MUJI will promote bedroom and skincare products includes its most famous product - aroma diffuser. In autumn time, living room and bathroom products, including the most popular product - sofa bed, are chosen to be promoted.

The marketing objectives and strategies of four campaigns The annual campaign will set strategic missions for each seasonal campaign. The key selling season will be the winter sale. The budget will also invest mostly on it. Therefore, the mission from spring to autumn will be keeping the vitality of the brand and preparing for the biggest task in winter.

First of all, the mission in spring is to coordinate the sources includes owned online media. At the same time, make some noise on social media to drive awareness and acquire new customers. In summer, MUJI needs to keep attractive awareness. Furthermore, summer time is also an important selling time that MUJI should also try to make a retention plan.

During autumn, awareness is still the point. MUJI has to accumulate customers and try to develop the loyalty toward the brand. And in winter time, the biggest campaign will be organised and the customers that has accumulated during whole year will engage with this largest campaign.

Branding – Purity of Life Spring Feb, Mar, Apr,

Summer May, Jun, Jul

Autumn Aug, Sep, Oct

Winter Nov, Dec, Jan

★☆☆

★★☆

★☆☆

★★★

Wake up Beds Storage Health & Beauty

Travel

Leisure

Travelling Clothing

Living room Bathroom

IMC Tools

Promotion Digital marketing

Promotion Digital marketing Public relations

Promotion Digital marketing

Objectives

Awareness Acquisition

Awareness Acquisition Retention

Awareness Loyalty

Dining Kitchen Cooking Dining Promotion Digital marketing Public relations Awareness Acquisition Retention Loyalty

Time Importance Sale Concept Key Products

53

IMC Delivery 1.

Improvement of Channels

According to the suggestions before, MUJI should provide rational information in stores and make more emotional stimulation when consumers shop online. Based on this, some improvement and adjustment should be implied online and offline. Followings are the improvement plans.

(1) ONLINE: Official website MUJI is a global brand and it has similar shopping stores online in every country. The designs of online stores are quite similar. The layout is very simple and clean, with clear catalogue beside.

Some trendy promotions are provided in main page. The other star products pop up beyond. MUJI’s products are always well described that deliver their concern of materials.

▲ MUJI’s online store is very organised and full of description

However, MUJI’s website in the UK is lake of emotional incentive. The websites in Japan and Taiwan have designed extra pages before consumers enter online stores. Those extra websites concentrate on fancy concepts which not only promote the products but also the philosophy of MUJI. Those pages are full of emotional materials such as powerful lifestyle pictures and texts.

54

Therefore, MUJI UK should develop another entrance website apart from online shopping store.

This website will contain more emotional materials. The concepts in this website would provide specific conditions and values instead of just showing the products. For example, when MUJI promotes MUJI to go, the travelling concept, the websites should create travelling materials that remind consumers how exciting it is to travel around, and what kind of roles that MUJI’s products play in this kind of situation.

Key points of conceptual website: 

Features of recent promotion



Big, clean and moderate pictures



Emotional stories in specific conditions



Few products and people images



Link directly to relative products in shopping store MUJI in Taiwan

MUJI in Japan

▲ MUJI’s websites in Taiwan and Japan have extra conceptual entrances before online store website to deliver its brand value and provide emotional stimulations 55

(2) ONLINE: Social media MUJI UK has very poor performance on social media. The Twitter account has only 1,265 followers and just 17,160 people likes MUJI’s Facebook page. The interaction on social is even worse. Social media is free platforms that MUJI can strongly develop brand awareness and image. In this annual campaign, MUJI should make these owned media more active and attract earned media through the engagement of consumers.

Key points of social media: 

Create emotional connection with users



Deliver brand value via posts



Make followers engage with posts



Make followers share the posts

MUJI’s performance on social media Platform

Account name

UKMUJI

MUJI UK

MUJIglobal

No

Performance



1,265 followers



17,160 likes



15 likes per posts in average



Focus on product and sale promotion



Global channel



8,316 subscribers



No Source: MUJI’s social media

56

(3) ONLINE: Membership database In general, products that consumers buy online are cheaper. If consumers have used the products before and trust the quality, it will be easier for them to purchase online. Therefore, MUJI needs to understand their customers’ preference. Thanks to technology, MUJI can collect consumer’s database and employ them easily.

First, MUJI should collect online shopping experience from their consumers through cookies. The cookies will track how consumers use the website includes what they have searched and looked in the online stores. Through the tracking and recommending, people may make purchasing decision more frequently in the end.

Second, MUJI should develop membership database online and this should be combined with loyalty card. The database collected from loyalty card perfectly records the in-store shopping experience of consumers. This should be utilised when MUJI make some advices online. For example, a loyal customer bought a notebook in MUJI’s store few weeks ago. He is satisfied with the product and plans to buy a new one. When he goes to MUJI’s online shop, the product is automatically recommended by the system and he would probably decide to buy them immediately.

In brief, MUJI should combine online membership with loyalty card so that the database will be well integrated in the online store. The recommendations based on consumer’s purchasing database will be implied on MUJI’s online store.

▲ MUJI has no online members system now. Consumers need to fill up the questions before buying products online 57

(4) ONLINE: Search engine optimisation People nowadays usually search online when they are interested in something. Therefore, after generating awareness from target audience and making them interested in MUJI’s products, MUJI needs to make sure consumers will get the exact thing they want when they search online through search engine.

Hence MUJI has to manage the search engine optimisation. The search engines which have most UK users are considered. According to the research in 2014 (Appendix 18), 89% of UK people use Google to search online, followed by Bing (6%) and Yahoo (4%). Therefore, MUJI has to manage its search results on Google, Bing and Yahoo.

The keywords which related to the brand and COI such as “MUJI”, “MUJI UK”, “Japanese simplicity”, “furniture”, “homeware” and “Japanese furniture” will be strictly bought as a whole year search engine optimisation. In addition, the popular products such as “sofa bed”, “aroma diffuser” and “luggage” will also be paid as enhancement. More keywords will be bought while the various campaigns are running.

▲ Keywords such as “MUJI” should be bought as search engine optimisation on Google, Bing and Yahoo 58

(5) OFFLINE: In-store marketing Shopping experience is the most important part for consumers before they make the purchasing decision. Therefore, the design of shop should be considered carefully when each seasonal campaign is executed.

Furniture Display Based on the suggestion claimed before, more rational information should be provide in-store, especially for the furniture products. Therefore, when designing the in-store display, MUJI should provide more products information in furniture area. The material, design, durability and eco-friendly concept should be communicated when consumers are looking around in the stores.

Homeware / Fashion / Food Display On the contrary, some emotional stimulation is needed in other area when consumers are just looking around in stores. Therefore, the display of other products should provide less information around but more conceptual idea and situational simulation to induce customer’s desire.

Furniture display

Homewares display

â–˛ Give more rational product information in furniture area

â–˛ Give more emotional stimulation in homewares and other products area

59

2.

Spring Campaign: MUJI Wake-up

Campaign Brief Objectives

Increase awareness through social media Acquire new customers

Time

February - April, 2015

Budget

ÂŁ160,00

Key products

Beds, storages, health & beauty

Concept

MUJI Wake-up

IMC Tools

Promotion, digital marketing

Media

Online media, social media

Main Concept In spring time, MUJI is going to sell bedroom products. The main products to be promoted will be beds which are in the furniture sector. In addition to beds, storages and health & beauty products will also be promoted as life essentials in bedrooms. The main concept is needed as a representation of daily condition in bedroom. The condition should be connective to MUJI’s target audience.

Therefore, MUJI Wake-up is chosen to be the main concept in spring campaign. People spend most time sleeping in their bedrooms. Good beds would make them sleep well and this will definitely change their moods in the morning. Opposite to sleep, wake-up is an action with more energetic and positive meaning. A new day start when people wake up on the beds, just like animals wake up from long hibernation in spring. Therefore, MUJI Wake-up is created as the main concept in this campaign.

Picture source: Neha Dixit 60

AISAS Model

Awareness

Interest

Search

Action

• Through posts on social media such as Facebook and Twitter • Through trendy conceptual idea on website

• Generate interesting stories which is related to target audience • Develop a social media game to generate the engagement of target audience

• Manage search engine optimisation on Google, Yahoo! and Bing • Generate news release about the concept to online media

• Post attractive product infomation on social media and link directly to MUJI's online store

• Encourage consumers to share MUJI's posts with friends on social media Share

IMC Tactics Media relations – MUJI will generate interesting press release about the concept of MUJI Wake-up to the lifestyle media including online and offline press Search engine optimisation – the new keywords related to this campaign such as “MUJI Wake-up”, “bed” and “bedroom” will be added during this time Conceptual website – develop attractive content and the concept of MUJI Wake-up to communicate with consumers on conceptual website Social media – the management of owned media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram will be operated carefully create awareness and engagement from customers

61

Management of Social Media 1. Posts on Facebook and Twitter In order to increase the interaction on social media, some contents related to wake-up is going to post on MUJI’s Facebook and Twitter. Basically, MUJI will have three types of posts from Monday to Friday.

The first type of posts will be “Wake-up Story”. MUJI will scheme a project about wake-up stories from various people live in the UK. Pictures and texts will be included in everyday posts. The time to post Wake-up Stories will be 9:00 am from Monday to Thursday. The purpose of this series of posts is to generate the connection and engagement with customers. They should display in real condition with sincere stories.

The second type of posts will be display of products. The selected products in bedroom such as beds, mattresses, drawers, shelves and other health & beauty products will be posted on Facebook and Twitter. The posting time will be 5:00 pm on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The third type of posts will be room concepts. This is a collection of MUJI’s products that shows how consumers can create a unique circumstance by using those units. The posting time will be 5:00 pm on every Tuesday and Thursday.

▲ “Wake-up Story” project will shot a series of photo to represent people’s bedrooms and their stories about wake-up Picture source: Orchard Park / Mari Sheibley 62

▲Bedroom products will be posted on MUJI’s social media Picture source: MUJI UK

▲MUJI’s concept of bedrooms will be posted on social media Picture source: MUJI UK

63

2. Wake-up event on Instagram MUJI UK will create an event on Instagram that encourages consumers to share their wake-up stories. The participants should take a photo on the theme of wake-up with their friends or families, and write down the stories of the photo. Then they need to upload the photos to Instagram and hashtag #mujiwakeup.

MUJI UK will select the most popular photos and post on Facebook and Twitter every Friday. The photographers who are selected will win the coupons for MUJI’s star product – aroma diffuser.

◄ Participants upload their wake-up stories to Instagram and hashtag #mujiwakeup to win the competition

Schedule of MUJI Wake-up posts on social media

9:00 am

5:00 pm

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Wake-up Story

Wake-up Story

Wake-up Story

Wake-up Story

Wake-up event

Wake-up event Wake-up event Wake-up event Wake-up event selection promotion

promotion

promotion

promotion

Product display

Room concept

Product display

Room concept

64

Product display

3. Summer Campaign: MUJI to GO Campaign Brief Objectives

Increase awareness through social media and online advertising Acquire new customers

Time

May - July, 2015

Budget

£160,00

Key products

Travelling accessories, clothing

Concept

MUJI to GO

IMC Tools

Promotion, digital marketing, public relations

Media

Online media, social media

Main Concept Summer is the greatest travelling season for UK residents and large amount of visitors come to the UK for summer vacations. This is the best time for MUJI to sell its travelling accessories, which already have very good word-of-mouth among loyal consumers. Furthermore, MUJI to GO has run globally since two years ago. Customers are probably familiar with the promotion that helps them have a good trip every summer. Therefore, MUJI decide to promote MUJI to GO again in 2015.

First of all, the value of MUJI’s products has been considered. For travellers, the most annoyed moment is the preparation before the trip. MUJI’s products will help your prepare easily. In MUJI to GO campaign, people will be encouraged to enjoy the preparation of the trip. It should be a joyful time when image how wonderful the trip will be.

In short, MUJI to GO will focus on the happy time before the travelling. That is the moment that people have fantastic imagination of their trip. Travelling with MUJI and they will realize the wonderful vacation.

65

AISAS Model

Awareness

• Through online advertising in airway and travelling websites • Through trendy conceptual idea on website

• Create interesting advertising on the websites Interest

Search

Action

• Manage search engine optimisation on Google, Yahoo and Bing • Generate news release about the concept to online media

• Link produt infomation directly from online advertising • Post product infomation on social media and link to MUJI's online store

• Encourage consumers to share MUJI's posts with friends on social media Share

IMC Tactics Online advertising – MUJI will spend some budget on online advertising to reach the target audience who are looking for the travelling information Media relations – MUJI will create interesting press release about the concept of MUJI to GO to the lifestyle media including online and offline press Search engine optimisation – the new keywords related to this campaign such as “MUJI to GO”, “travel”, “tour” and “” will be added during this time Conceptual website – develop attractive content and the concept of MUJI to GO to communicate with consumers on conceptual website Social media – the contents on MUJI’s owned media will be generated to create awareness and engagement 66

Online Display Advertising In order to reach target audience who are planning a travel, MUJI decides to invent online advertising on top 5 websites that most consumers use in the UK. According to the research from MediaTel, Google Map, TripAdvisor, Priceline Network, Booking.com and National Rail are the top five websites in travel category. Therefore, MUJI to GO will have some display advertising in these websites.

Top Websites by Category, Travel, UK, July 2014 Site

Site Category

Unique Audience

Active Reach

UK Rank

Google Maps

Travel - Maps/Travel Info

8,927,000

22.92%

17

TripAdvisor

Travel - Multi-category Travel

4,724,000

12.13%

42

Priceline Network

Travel - Multi-category Travel

3,195,000

8.20%

71

Booking.com

Travel - Hotels/Hotel Directories

2,987,000

7.67%

74

National Rail

Travel - Ground Transportation

1,869,000

4.80%

139

Source: Nielsen NetView / MediaTel

▲Display advertising will be showed on UK’s top travel websites Picture source: TripAdvisor / MUJI

67

4. Autumn Campaign: MUJI Leisure Campaign Brief Objectives

Increase awareness through social media and public relations Increase brand loyalty through public relations

Time

August- October, 2015

Budget

ÂŁ160,00

Key products

Living room products

Concept

MUJI Leisure

IMC Tools

Promotion, digital marketing, public relations

Media

Online media, social media

Main Concept In order to sell living room products during autumn time, MUJI needs to figure out the condition that people usually have in the living room. In fact, living room is where people relax themselves no matter they are alone, with friends or with families. Some people enjoy being alone to read books or watch videos. Some people like to invite their friends and just have good leisure time with them.

Parents with small members in their families especially love spend time in living room with their adorable kids.

Therefore, MUJI Leisure is proposed to represent the value of the time in living room. In this campaign, MUJI will show how the products help people create a good circumstance and enjoy their leisure time happily.

Picture source: IT-review 68

AISAS Model

Awareness

Interest

Search

Action

Share

• Through the posts on social media • Through trendy conceptual idea on website

• Hold interesting PR events to attract target audience • Develop fun games on the websites to

• Manage search engine optimisation on Google, Yahoo and Bing • Generate news release about the concept to online media

• Stimulate consumers when they come to stores • Post attractive product infomation on social media and link to MUJI's online store

• Encourage consumers to share MUJI's posts with friends on social media • Encourage consumers to share games with families and friends

IMC Tactics PR Event – MUJI will hold a small festival which introduces Japanese culture to boost both the awareness and brand loyalty Media relations – MUJI will generate interesting press release about the concept of MUJI Leisure to the lifestyle media including online and offline press Search engine optimisation – the new keywords related to this campaign such as “MUJI Leisure”, “MUJI mastsuri”, “Japanese festival”, “Japanese movie”, “Japanese novel”, “MUJI game”, “Japanese games”, “sofa” and “living room” will be added during this time Conceptual website – develop attractive content and interesting games to increase the interaction with consumers and communicate the concept of MUJI Leisure on conceptual website 69

Social media – the contents on MUJI’s owned media will be generated to create awareness and engagement Japanese Culture Matsuri To help consumers get more understanding of Japanese culture, MUJI decides to hold a Japanese Culture Matsuri. Matsuri means festival in Japan. Japanese usually celebrate for local matsuri in some holidays. MUJI will have a collection of Japanese novels and DVDs. The content of those novels and DVDs represents the daily life in Japan and also matches MUJI’s brand essence – Japanese simplicity.

▲The movie ”Still Walking” directed by Japanese director,

▲Murakami Haruki, the most popular writer in Japan,

Hirokazu Koreeda, presents daily simple life in a Japanese

has published many books about his daily life or fancy

family

stories Picture source: Eigapedia

Picture source: Outrageous Writer

The PR event will cooperate with Japanese book and DVD publishers or retailers in the UK. The books and movies that have been chosen will be exhibited in MUJI’s stores. The MUJI stores will be decorated as a comfortable living room with its sofa beds and quality tables. The exhibition will be set within the cosy environment. Consumers can choose and read the books in the stores.

70

Meanwhile, there will be a cooperative website to sell the books and DVDs. The main conceptual website will focus on the living room concept and will link to cooperative selling websites.

▲MUJI will hold a Japanese books and movies exhibition in stores Picture source: ALPHABETICALIFE

Japanese games on online media In addition to Japanese Culture Matsuri, MUJI will develop Japanese online games on the website.

The purpose of the games is to generate engagement of online users. People can play with their families or friends during leisure time. Through the interaction on MUJI’s website, the brand will be spread and the awareness will grow.

The Japanese traditional game such as Go, Shogi and Hanafuda will be three main games on the website. Those are basically the games that people need to compete to each other. Therefore, it is good for friends to have fun during their leisure time in the living room.

▲ Go

▲ Shogi

▲ Hanafuda 71

5. Winter Campaign: MUJI Dining Campaign Brief Objectives

Increase awareness through social media and PR event Increase the retention

Time

November, 2015 - January, 2016

Budget

ÂŁ400,000

Key products

Kitchen and dining room products

Concept

MUJI Dining

IMC Tools

Promotion, digital marketing, public relations

Media

Online media, social media, press

Main Concept Winter is usually the time that people spend longer time staying at home. Furthermore, Christmas holiday is the best moment to celebrate with families in their lovely houses. Therefore, MUJI decides to concentrate on the most potential products, the kitchen and dining appliance, in winter.

After considering the situation when people use the kitchen and dining room, MUJI chose MUJI Dining as the main concept to integrate all the behaviours, including cooking to eating in these two spaces at home. In this campaign, MUJI is going to make people feel fun in the kitchen and encourage them to share their happy dining time with their families or friends.

Picture source: MUJI / Kinfolk 72

AISAS Model

Awareness

Interest

Search

• Through the promotion of PR event on online media and social media • Through attractiveposts on social media

• Hold an interesting PR events to attract consumers • Gain the interaction with consumers to increse engagement

• Manage search engine optimisation on Google, Yahoo and Bing • Release news release about the concept to online media

• Post attractive product infomation on social media and link to MUJI's online store Action

Share

• Encourage consumers to share MUJI's PR events with friends on social media • Encourage consumers to share MUJI's posts with friends on social media

IMC Tactics Cooperation PR – find a media which shares the similar brand philosophy and target audience with MUJI. Make a win-win situation through cooperation PR Event – two PR events will run during this campaign. First, MUJI recipes will run to generate awareness and engagement from consumers. And the Christmas party will be held as the biggest event for MUJI’s winter campaign. The Christmas event will not only drive wide awareness but also drive brand loyalty when people join the event and share it Social media – the pre-promotion and post-promotion of the event will be managed through social media to generate awareness, engagement and brand loyalty Media relations – MUJI will generate interesting press release about the concept of MUJI Leisure to the lifestyle media including online and offline press 73

Search engine optimisation – the new keywords related to this campaign such as “MUJI dining”, “MUJI cook”, “MUJI food”, “kitchenware” and “Christmas party” will be added during this time Conceptual website – develop attractive content and interesting games to increase the interaction with consumers and communicate the concept of MUJI Dining on conceptual website. Also the details of PR event should be delivered on website clearly Cooperation with MONOCLE

Picture source: Monocle

Monocle started as a magazine in 2007 reporting global affairs, business, culture, design and more.

Monocle has expended their market globally in 10 countries from Europe, America to Asia. Because Monocle also has bureaux in Tokyo, there are many articles talking about Japanese lifestyle, culture and design in their magazines. Now Monocle published 77,000 copies each issue.

Monocle launched online radio station in 2011 and opened Monocle Café in London and Tokyo in 2013. Furthermore, Monocle expands retail network and online business. Monocle searches products that meet their readers taste in their stores globally. A new store just opened in Tokyo in 2014.

As Monocle is a lifestyle media and has introduced Japanese culture to their readers in many issues, MUJI thinks Monocle will be a perfect partnership to spread the similar philosophy. Hence, MUJI will invite Monocle as a media partnership during the winter campaign. Through the cooperation, the events will have more chance to be seen by consumers on Monocle’s magazine and website.

74

Public Relation Events 1. MUJI Recipes First of all, MUJI will create 10 types of Japanese recipes. When people buy MUJI’s products, they will get one simple recipe. Four recipes will be given when people shop in stores, and four recipes will be delivered with their items. The campaign will start from the beginning of November. And before Christmas holiday, two extra secret recipes will be released, one in stores and one through online shopping. People will receive recipes randomly so this will encourage them to come to stores again and again.

▲One simple Japanese recipe will be given when consumers buy MUJI’s products in-store or online Picture source: Moto BUNTO on Pinterest

2. Share on Instagram After consumers receive the recipes from MUJI, they will be encouraged to cook the delicious food and share it with their friends and families. Moreover, they are also encouraged to share this good time with MUJI. MUJI motivates our consumers to take a photo when they finish the wonderful meal and enjoy them with friends and families. Then they can upload the photos to Instagram and hashtage 75

#mujidining. They can also find out the happiness of MUJI recipe time from others sharing on the Instagram.

3. Awards of Instagram competition When consumers upload their photos on Instagram, the competition starts. They will be told to share photos with their friends and try to get more likes on Instagram. The competition will run from 1st November to 12th December. In the end of competition, MUJI will choose the top 15 pictures based on how many likes do they have. The fifteen winners will be invited to MUJI x MONOCLE Christmas Party.

4. MUJI x MONOCLE Christmas Party

▲Consumers will be encouraged to upload their wonderful dining time after finishing MUJI’s recipes

MUJI will scheme a Christmas party with fabulous partnership – MONOCLE. The party will be a Sunday lunch on 20th December. The party will be decorated by MUJI’s products with moderate Japanese style and will be served with MONOCLE’s fantastic food and drink.

There will be an event video recording the happy time during Christmas party. The video will be shared on the social media and increase more awareness and loyalty through enjoying the good time with MUJI.

◄MUJI will hold a Christmas party with MONOCLE. The fifteen winners of MUJI Dining competition on Instagram will be invited Picture source: Love & Whimsy 76

5. Timing 2015 Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

July

Improvement of Channels Official website Social media Members Database Search Engine Optimisation MUJI Wake-up Wake-up Story Wake-up event on Instagram Press release SEO In-store marketing MUJI to GO Online advertising Press release SEO In-store marketing MUJI Leisure Japanese culture matsuri Japanese games on website Press release SEO In-store marketing MUJI Dining Cooperation with MONOCLE MUJI recipes Instagram competition MUJI x MONOCLE Christmas party Press release SEO In-store marketing

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

20/12

77

2016 Jan

6. Budget Around £1,000,000 (5% of turnover from 12 stores in the UK in 2013) Improvement of Channels Official website Social media maintenance Members database storage Search Engine Optimisation

Price

Frequency

Cost

£250/ 10pages £150/ month £100/ month £500/ month

4 12 12 12

£1,000 £1,800 £1,200 £6,000 £10,000

£500/ day £100/ package £10,000/ store

10 1 12

£5,000 £100 £120,000 £125,100

£8,000/ month £100/ package £10,000/ store

5 1 12

£40,000 £100 £120,000 £160,100

£200/ 5pages £100/ package £10,000/ store

1 1 1 12

£50,000 £200 £100 £120,000 £170,300

£40/ 100 flyers

50,000

£200,000

1 12

£10,000 £100 £180,000 £390,100

Total MUJI Wake-up Wake-up Story – Photographer Press release In-store Marketing Total MUJI to GO Online advertising Press release In-store Marketing Total MUJI Leisure Japanese culture matsuri Japanese games on website Press release In-store Marketing Total MUJI Dining MUJI recipes MUJI x MONOCLE Christmas party Press release In-store Marketing

£10,000 £100/ package £15,000/ store Total

Evaluation Evaluation fee Total

10%

78

£100,000 £955,600

Evaluation Marketing evaluation is a crucial part for a campaign to measure how effective the IMC strategy is.

In addition, plans for next campaign are also based on those executed evidences. Pickton and Broderick (2005) claimed the benefits of evaluation including improved decision-making, risk reduction, an improved campaign, cost savings and accumulated wisdom. In the other words, no matter how successful the campaign is, the experience learns from it is more precious. Hence, MUJI has to develop a IMC evaluation plan discreetly.

The evaluation plan is going to check the efficiency, effectiveness and economy of the campaign (Pickton and Broderick, 2005). The best standard for an evaluation is the achievement of marketing objectives. MUJI’s marketing evaluation is going to measure if the campaign achieves those IMC objectives.

Following are the objectives that MUJI has set for this IMC campaign: 1. Increase brand awareness by 15% by January 31, 2016 2. Acquire online customers by 10% by January 31, 2016 3. Increase brand loyalty by 5% by January 31, 2016 Increase brand awareness 1. Social media tracking MUJI utilise social media as the main tool to generate brand awareness. Therefore, the performance of social media will be managed and evaluated in the end. Following will set some standard for social media.

Platform

Measurement

Twitter

1. Increase followers to 3% of target audience (17,312) by January 31, 2016

Facebook

1. Increase page likes to 3% of target audience (17,312) by January 31, 2016 2. Increase ‘people talk about this’ by to 1% of target audience (5,700) by January 31, 2016

Instagram

1. Increase followers to 3% of target audience (17,312) by January 31, 2016 2. Increase the hashtags related to MUJI UK to 5,000 by January 31, 2016 79

2. Media coverage MUJI will send the press release before each seasonal campaign. The media coverage will show how interested the media feel about MUJI. The interest of media also reflects the concern of consumers.

Hence, the increase of media coverage should be tracked in the evaluation as well.

3. Pre-test and Post-test In order to measure the awareness generated by online advertising and other media, MUJI has a pre-test and post-test for evaluation. The pre-test will be held as quantified research that questionnaire will be delivered to measure the awareness of MUJI in February 2015.

In the end of IMC campaign, the post-test will be executed again using the same method to measure the awareness of the brand in February 2016. Furthermore, from which channels that they are aware of MUJI will also be asked. Hence, the result will show the increasing percentage of awareness and how effective the tools are after MUJI run the IMC campaign.

Acquire online customers Online database will be developed in the beginning of IMC campaign. Therefore, to evaluate the acquisition of online customers, the database will show the correct number in the end of campaign.

Hence, the number of online customers from database should be recorded every month, and MUJI will see how much percentage of members has increased.

Increase brand loyalty The best method to measure brand loyalty is market research. The pre-test and post-test which have mentioned before will also ask question about the brand loyalty. The questions will compare with other competitors and the result will shows how many consumers prefer MUJI instead of other brands. The percentage of incensement will be shown after the post-test in February 2016.

Achievement of Sales The business objectives and marketing objectives will be concluded on the sales after the campaign.

The totally turnover in the UK should reach £21 million. The furniture sales should increase £0.7 million and the homewares sales should increase £0.3 million.

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Appendices Appendix 1: Key financial figures of Ryohin Keikaku Co.

Source: Annual Report 2013, Ryohin Keikaku Co., LTD.

Appendix 2: Key financial figures of Muji Europe Holdings Limited

Source: FAME

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Appendix 3: MUJI’s marketing performance in 2012

Source: Annual Report 2013, Ryohin Keikaku Co., LTD.

Appendix 4: Leading retailers of furniture: share of furniture spending, 2009-12

Source: Furniture Retailing - UK - August 2013, Mintel

84

Appendix 5: Consumer spend on homewares by main segments, 2013

Source: Homewares - UK - January 2014, Mintel

Appendix 6: Leading furniture retailers: Share of all spending on furniture, 2012

Source: Furniture Retailing - UK - August 2013, Mintel

85

Appendix 7: What furniture people plan to buy in the next 12 months, by ages, June 2013 30 25 20 15

16-24 25-34

10

35-44 5

45-54

0

55-64 65+

Source: Furniture Retailing - UK - August 2013, Mintel

Appendix 8: Factors important when buying furniture, June 2013

Source: Furniture Retailing - UK - August 2013, Mintel

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Appendix 9: Change in furniture expenditure by category (%), 2014e–19

Source: Verdict

Appendix 10: Homewares purchased in the last 12 months, November 2013

Source: Homewares - UK - January 2014, Mintel

87

Appendix 11: Attitudes towards buying kitchen and dining wares, November 2013 % I like to use good quality homewares for cooking and baking

45

How well a kitchen homeware product works is more important than how good it looks

39

I have some tableware items (eg plates, bowls, glasses, cutlery) that I use only for special occasions

34

It’s important that kitchen homewares can go in the dishwasher

27

The way the kitchen/dining table is presented matters to me (eg place mats, table linens, cutlery, accessories)

25

It is not important for kitchen homewares to match (eg plates and mugs with the same design)

24

I like to buy homewares for the kitchen that coordinate with my décor

23

I like to have decorative homewares on show in my kitchen (eg storage jars, ornaments)

21

If a recipe needs a special pan/tin I will buy that specific one

20

I am often inspired to buy kitchen homewares that I have seen on television (eg MasterChef, The Great British Bake Off)

12

I tend to buy kitchen homewares that are endorsed by a celebrity chef (eg Jamie Oliver, Raymond Blanc, Delia Smith)

7

None of these

6 Source: Homewares - UK - January 2014, Mintel

Appendix 12: Attitudes towards buying soft furnishings/textiles, November 2013 I like to touch and feel before I buy

46

Match or co-ordinate

45

Wait for special offers or sales

35

Generally buy inexpensive items

30

Generally buy high quality

26

I tend to buy the store’s own label

20

I am often inspired by displays

18

I prefer to shop online

18

I tend to buy on impulse

18 0

10

20

30

40

50

%

Source: GMI / Mintel

88

Appendix 13: Population change in the year to mid-2013, UK countries and regions of England

Source: Office for National Statistic

Appendix 14: Population pyramid for the UK, mid-2013

Source: nomis, official labour market statistics 89

Appendix 15: Population in London by age, 2011

* Table population: All Household Reference Persons aged 16 to 64 * Units: Persons Source: Office for National Statistic

Appendix 16: Population in London by social grade, 2011

* Table population: All Household Reference Persons aged 16 to 64 * Units: Persons Source: Office for National Statistic

90

Appendix 17: Percentage of households by household size in 2013

Source: Labour Force Survey - Office for National Statistics

Appendix 18: UK search engine market share, 2014

5.94%

3.55% 1.24%

89.27%

Google

Bing

Yahoo

Others Source: The Eword

91

92