Uniqlo Case Study
FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND LAW
Global marketing LVL H6 UNIQLO CASE STUDY Emmanuel Chabaud 2011/2012
* 1: Critical profile of UNIQLO
In this first part, I will try to give the most objective profile of Uniqlo, considering information from both Uniqlo officials (www.uniqlo.com and http://www.fastretailing.com ) and third party analysis (see the additional sourcing page). Originally, Hitoshi Yanai opened a little store called Ogori Shoji in 1949. Uniqlo (abbreviation for Unique Clothing Warehouse) is a brand specialized in clothes for young people at affordable prices, born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1984, where Ogori’s sonTadashi Yanai (Uniqlo actual C.E.O) settled the first Uniqlo store. Since that day, the brand has been expanding very fast, first at a national scale; by 1994 there were 100 Uniqlo stores across Japan under the holding company title of Fast Retailing, then at an international level, starting with the creation of their first overseas store in London in 2001, the very first step towards global expansion. The brand represents 90% of the Fast Retailing mother group turnover based on 2009 figures. The group specializes in designing in-house casual clothing for men and women of all ages, with 2,258 stores under its various group companies spread across Japan, China,South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, UK, US, and France
In order to explain that growth and success, let’s have a look at their national development strategy. Tadashi Yanai had the simple idea of selling quality products with the best value for money. The system is not based on fashion trends or on the development of new seasonal products; it aims to produce a pretty small range of functional products. That way they can buy large quantities of the same materials, and do great economy of scale. It seems like a simple principle but they applied it in such a way they could reduce their prices and keep a decent margin on the products.
As far as the distribution channels are concerned, Tadashi
Global marketing LVL H6 UNIQLO CASE STUDY Emmanuel Chabaud 2011/2012
* 1: Critical profile of UNIQLO
In this first part, I will try to give the most objective profile of Uniqlo, considering information from both Uniqlo officials (www.uniqlo.com and http://www.fastretailing.com ) and third party analysis (see the additional sourcing page). Originally, Hitoshi Yanai opened a little store called Ogori Shoji in 1949. Uniqlo (abbreviation for Unique Clothing Warehouse) is a brand specialized in clothes for young people at affordable prices, born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1984, where Ogori’s sonTadashi Yanai (Uniqlo actual C.E.O) settled the first Uniqlo store. Since that day, the brand has been expanding very fast, first at a national scale; by 1994 there were 100 Uniqlo stores across Japan under the holding company title of Fast Retailing, then at an international level, starting with the creation of their first overseas store in London in 2001, the very first step towards global expansion. The brand represents 90% of the Fast Retailing mother group turnover based on 2009 figures. The group specializes in designing in-house casual clothing for men and women of all ages, with 2,258 stores under its various group companies spread across Japan, China,South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, UK, US, and France
In order to explain that growth and success, let’s have a look at their national development strategy. Tadashi Yanai had the simple idea of selling quality products with the best value for money. The system is not based on fashion trends or on the development of new seasonal products; it aims to produce a pretty small range of functional products. That way they can buy large quantities of the same materials, and do great economy of scale. It seems like a simple principle but they applied it in such a way they could reduce their prices and keep a decent margin on the products.
As far as the distribution channels are concerned, Tadashi