How Does UNIQLO Rely On Product Success To Impress Consumers?

In 2015, Ryui Masa, the boss of UNIQLO, announced that he wanted to catch up with all fast fashion retailers. After 4 years, the traditional fast fashion was declining.

UNIQLO opened a research and development center in Paris in 2016, and appointed Christophe Lemaire, the original creative director of Hermes, as the creative design director of Paris research and development center, responsible for leading the team to build an upgraded version of the basic Uniqlo U series.

In June, the series of Uniqlo U 2019 autumn and winter series, which has been designed to win the market by detonating the Chinese market with the contemporary American artist KAWS, will also be officially launched in September 20th, including 41 women's wear, 35 men's wear and 3 handbags and accessories.

According to Christophe Lemaire, the inspiration for this season's Uniqlo U series is from the Japanese illustrator and Eric, the French director. Among them, Ohashi Fu's illustrations are rich in color and have a strong flavor of autumn and winter. Eric's love movie, which is directed by Hou Mai, represents the fashion style of Paris in the 70s. Christophe Lemaire, through the exploration and innovation of new materials and advanced technology, and the application of different color and profile design to reflect UNIQLO's "LifeWear service life philosophy".

The inspiration for this season's Uniqlo U series is from the Japanese illustrator and Eric, the French director.

In terms of fabric, the Uniqlo U 2019 series covers not only BLOCKTECH fabrics and Classic Fleece with waterproof, windproof and breathable properties, but also for the first time the 3D knitting technology used in men's clothing. In an interview, Christophe Lemaire emphasized that in the process of creating U series, he always followed the "KISS" principle, that is, "Keep it simple, stupid". He never pursued excessively skills and complicated designs, and designed to produce products that the masses of consumers could intuitively understand and accept.

Some analysts have pointed out that designers' joint names are not new in today's times, but they can leave excellent designers and become routine, which proves that UNIQLO is determined to provide quality clothing for all. After 3 years of running in, the Uniqlo U series has become one of the most anticipated series of consumers every season. "Color matching high-end", "tailoring the atmosphere" and "noble is not expensive" are the most frequently mentioned keywords when people talk about this series.

The Uniqlo U 2019 series not only covers BLOCKTECH fabrics and Classic Fleece with waterproof, windproof and breathable properties, but also applies 3D knitting technology to men's wear for the first time.

Basically, this is related to Christophe Lemaire's "pragmatism" lifestyle. From Hermes to UNIQLO, it appears to be a span of two worlds, but it does not differ in the eyes of Christophe Lemaire. He is uncompromising in pursuit of quality. "Fashion trends will be updated every six months, but the style of self will not be the premise that you know who you are." We have been working hard to design "Wardrobe" wardrobe. The luxury we understand should not be consumerism, but pragmatism.

Perhaps to coincide with the release of this autumn and winter series, the first half year magazine published by UNIQLO this month is entitled "NewForm Follows Function" (originating from functional aesthetics), which was commissioned by POPEYE, the creative director who took office last year. Kinoshita led, from the perspective of designer interviews and aesthetic wear, explained the charm of brand philosophy and life function aesthetics to consumers in a comprehensive way. The Global Limited hairstyle 1 million volumes were divided into English, Japanese and Chinese versions. Besides paper magazines, electronic journals were also on-line. Meanwhile, 9 consumers of different occupations and different sexes have also spoken with UNIQLO to share their stories with their daily lives of Uniqlo U series.

A few days ago, UNIQLO also opened an exhibition entitled "LifeWear's life and art and science -- Aesthetics of function", especially in London's landmark SomersetHouse, which has both historical and cultural heritage and modern artistic creativity. This is the third thematic exhibition held in international cities after the 2017 New York and Paris 2018. Immersive art experience device allows visitors to feel the product of UNIQLO intuitively and highlights the brand's efforts in innovation, value and sustainable development as well as the persistence and determination of high quality.

　 UNIQLO's exhibition has set up different theme areas and immersive art experience devices, so that visitors can feel the brand products and ideas intuitively.

UNIQLO said that London was the first overseas market opened by brands 20 years ago outside Japan, and because of its unparalleled classic taste and continuous innovation in clothing culture, it has become an ideal city for UNIQLO to share the concept of LifeWear service and life in the world.

Compared to last year's single theme of knitting, the exhibition is more comprehensive. It exhibits HEATTECH warm underwear series, Ultra Light Down high light feather down series, AIRism comfortable underwear series, Shirts shirt series, UT series and designer cooperation series. UNIQLO also highlighted the knitting series as a representative of the high quality standard WHOLEGARMENT technology.

Compared with last year's single theme based on knitting, the exhibition is more comprehensive.

According to the fashion business news, HEATTECH's warm underwear series has become one of the best selling products of UNIQLO. HEATTECH is the moisture absorption and heating fabric developed jointly by the brand and the Japanese Dongli group. It can convert human body water vapor into heat energy and pass 4. A special structure woven with different fibers, locks the heat into the air layer formed by the fiber gap, and brings warmth from inside to outside.

Although UNIQLO has never released the sales data of specific products, according to market analysts, the sales volume of its representative HEATTECH products has exceeded 1 billion so far, with an average annual sales of over 10 million pieces. The Ultra Light Down advanced lightweight feather down series, which uses special outer materials to sew fiber gaps, is another pillar product of UNIQLO, which is mainly warm and portable.

In addition to providing consumers with "service life", UNIQLO is also well aware of the importance of improving their aesthetics. Its UT series is based on T-shirt as a carrier, through the cooperation with art, film, design, animation and other cross-border cooperation, so that life can blend in with art, and inspire consumers' inspiration for daily life with creativity. Some analysts believe that UNIQLO's UT is not only a simple T-shirt, but also a cultural trend of resonance and self expression. At the same time, UNIQLO and J.W Anderson, the international original supermodel Ines de la Fressange jointly launched the designer cooperation series to enrich the brand connotation.

In addition to providing consumers with "service life", UNIQLO is also well aware of the importance of improving their aesthetics.

Sustainable fashion has become a highlight of this exhibition. In 2016, based on changing the concept of jeans and the concept of sustainable development, UNIQLO parent Xun marketing group set up the "jeans fashion innovation center" in Losangeles, successfully developing new jeans washing process, which can reduce the water consumption of jeans in the washing process. It is reported that the technology has been applied to two jeans produced and sold in China in 2019, and the reduction rate of water consumption in the washing process reaches 73%-94.9%. UNIQLO's "full commodity recycling" project has been practiced in China for 7 years, and more than 3 million 500 thousand clothes are recycled.

Based on the idea of changing jeans' values and sustainable development, UNIQLO parent Xun marketing group set up the "jeans fashion innovation center" in Losangeles.

At the fair, UNIQLO and Japan Dongli group announced joint research and development of new technologies, using polyester fabric made from recycled plastic bottles to manufacture Dry-EX quick drying clothing series, and the extraction of high quality down eiderdown feather down garment. The new cooperation project is an important part of long-term strategic cooperation between the two sides. It aims to optimize the use of valuable resources and promote the sustainable development of society with the power of clothing. The relevant products are expected to be available for sale in 2020.

UNIQLO will announce joint research and development of new technologies with Japan Dongli group, using Dry-EX polyester fabric made from recycled plastic bottles to manufacture a series of fast drying garments.

Careful observation is not difficult to see that competitors, such as Zara and H&M, gain new growth momentum by developing new businesses. UNIQLO's strategic focus has been betting very clearly on core products, from cooperation with partner production lines, the creation of R & D centers, cooperation with different designers, artists, and the creation of semi annual publications, with only one purpose. Consumers are fundamentally conquered by products and quality.

Under this premise, UNIQLO products can avoid the minefields hit by brands such as Zara and H&M, which are highly dependent on the market trend. They are not affected by the trend, and can be integrated with any style to solve the problem of consumers' daily wear.

The success of UNIQLO, which has its feet on the product, has attracted consumers of different circles from 3 thousand to a million dollars a year. Whether they are wealthy businessmen or young people who enter the workplace, there will always be clothes from UNIQLO in the wardrobe, making "UNIQLO phenomenon" a hot topic in the industry in recent two years.

Ryui Masa, chairman and CEO of fast marketing group, said that in 2013, UNIQLO put forward the brand concept of "LifeWear service life". The purpose is to create new standards of clothing value through innovative technology and innovative technology, so as to make everyday life more colorful for all people.

Ryui Masa has stressed more than once that UNIQLO's competitors are apple technology giants, not Gap's traditional clothing retailers. He hopes to make everyone's lives, not just some of them, better with the power of clothing. In operation, UNIQLO will give priority to global environmental issues. In the design, we will pay attention to the long term design that can really benefit consumers. "Everything we do is for the future," Ryui Masa said in an interview.

To better reduce the negative impact of weather factors on product sales, XXX launched the production and retail transformation based on artificial intelligence AI early last year, that is, through AI analysis of weather and fashion trends and other large quantities of data, to predict the quantity of goods needed, avoid unnecessary production, and deliver goods that consumers need as soon as possible.

The group has also worked with Accenture and other consulting firms to develop a new system to predict its future buying behavior based on customer purchase records. For products that are difficult to predict with other brands and designers such as Disney and other brands and designers, fast marketing group plans to improve accuracy through trial and error.

In September last year, Google announced its cooperation with the Xun marketing group in Tokyo's Cloud Next 2018 event to help accelerate its growth. Some people say that cooperation with Google has milestone significance for Xun marketing group, which means that the group has transformed from a traditional fashion retailer to a technology company.

As the world's most consumer familiar Japanese apparel brand, UNIQLO has also invaded the base of European rivals such as H&M and Zara. After landing in Britain for the first time in the European market in 2001, UNIQLO entered France in 2007, entered Russia in 2010, entered Germany in 2014, entered Belgium in 2015, entered Spain in 2017, and entered Sweden in 2017.

In May 2017, UNIQLO opened a European distribution center in Oud-Gastel, a town near Holland on the Belgian border. The company worked with Ceva Logistics logistics company to carry out its European distribution business. UNIQLO said it hopes to expand to other cities in Holland in the future, but now it will first want to focus on the development of Amsterdam branch and enter Italy in the autumn of 2019.

As the world's most consumer familiar Japanese apparel brand, UNIQLO has also invaded the base of European rivals such as H&M and Zara.

According to the Nikkei news earlier, the executive director of fast Marketing Group Asia and Oceania, director of fruit and nuts, said that UNIQLO will open stores in Asia and Oceania outside China and South Korea, and plan to increase the number of stores in these areas to 2.5 times in 2017 before fiscal 2022, reaching 400.

Facts show that under the layout of Ryui Masa, UNIQLO is not only stable in the Japanese domestic market, but also has been recognized by more and more consumers as its brand has expanded rapidly in overseas markets including China, the United States and Europe.

Since 2007, UNIQLO's overall performance has been on a steady rise, and the real acceleration began last year, and its sales in the international market for the first time exceeded that in Japan. During the period, the brand's sales in overseas markets including greater China increased by 26.6% to 896 billion 300 million yen, or 55 billion 100 million yuan, while Japanese sales in UNIQLO grew by 6.7% to 864 billion 700 million yen. The overall sales volume of the group rose 14.4% to 2 trillion and 130 billion yen, or about 131 billion 400 million yuan, and net profit rose 29.8% to 154 billion 811 million yen, or about 9 billion 500 million yuan, to close to the mark of entry.

In the first 9 months as of May 31st this year, sales of XXX group increased by 7% to 1 trillion and 820 billion yen, or 115 billion 600 million yuan, operating profit increased 3.7% to 247 billion 600 million yen, or 15 billion 700 million yuan, and net profit rose 7% to 158 billion 600 million yen, or 10 billion yuan, all of a record high.

During the reporting period, the sales of UNIQLO Japan fell 0.5% to 701 billion yen, or 44 billion 500 million yuan, while UNIQLO's sales in the international market rose 14.6% to 820 billion 500 million yen, or 52 billion 100 million yuan. China is still the main driving force for the growth of international business. During the period, sales of Chinese brands in the Chinese market increased by double digits.

Up to now, UNIQLO has about 700 stores in the mainland of China, and plans to add 100 new stores every year in the next 3 years. Ryui Masa revealed that in order to revive the already touting Japanese business, it is strengthening its learning mode in China.

In the first "Japan's 100 most valuable brands" list released by the British brand assessment agency Brand this year, UNIQLO was rated as the most valuable clothing brand, ranking the twelfth in the list, and the only one in the top 100 of the clothing brand of Finance.

It is noteworthy that this year Ryui Masa officially welcomed his 70 birthday, which is the retirement period he set for himself. Earlier this month, Liu well was talking about the successor issue again. He expressed the hope that women would take over the company and plan to increase the proportion of female executives to more than half. In the future, he will retire to the second tier, focus on the position of chairman and continue to participate in the company's affairs as a "supervisory" business.

In an interview with Japanese media earlier, he stressed that in a rapidly changing fashion retail environment, the actual operation must be undertaken by young people and insight into the preferences of young people. Their successors need not only the ability but also the rich digital experience to make new business judgement quickly according to market changes.

In June this year, Ryui Masa appointed Akai Tamaki, the senior vice president of the group, as CEO of UNIQLO Japan, the first female CEO in the history of UNIQLO. Akada Maki, 40, joined UNIQLO in 2001 and worked in UNIQLO stores in Tokyo, Japan and Shanghai, China.

In order to improve women's activity and diversity, XXX will also work with the women's Department of the United Nations to implement training programs targeting management positions. It plans to invest nearly 200 million yen in the next 2 years. It is reported that XXX group plans to evaluate the sewing factories in 3 countries in Bangladesh, China and Vietnam in the first year. Based on the results, some 200 major cooperative factories recommend candidates for management positions and provide support projects.

As consumers enter the "post - material era", consumers focus more on product quality and lifestyle and attitude represented by brands than before.