MUJI Has Become "Unscrupulous Printed"? MUJI Overturned Four Times In Six Months

It is believed that today's brand is no stranger to MUJI products. MUJI was founded in Japan with the intention of "no trademark and high quality". Although we try our best to downplay brand awareness, the products that follow the unified design concept do not only interpret the brand image of Muji, but also advocate the natural, simple and simple way of life.

In 2005, Muji was set up in Shanghai, but its performance has not been very satisfactory. In 2015, under the adjustment of China's market price strategy, China had only a wave of MUJI products, and Muji revenue also reached the highest 307 billion 500 million yen in history.

The location of Muji has always been a popular brand in Japan. However, from the perspective of China's strategy of Muji, China's market positioning of Muji is very different from its localization in Japan.

MUJI is positioned as a fast fashion mid end product in China, but in China it is positioning high-end brands. In Japan, Muji can be seen everywhere. Convenience stores, subway stores and even some vending machines can see their products. In China, Muji shops are usually far away from supermarket stores, and shops are located in high-end shopping malls in the first tier cities.

MUJI was once regarded as the standard of the domestic market because of its strategic positioning in the Chinese market. The price difference between the same commodity and the Japanese mainland can be as high as 2 times or more before the price reduction strategy is implemented in the Chinese market. In China, a small notebook of Muji is priced at 25 yuan, and its retail price in Japan is 315 yen (20 yuan).

But this year, Muji is not very good in China.

Two kinds of carcinogens detected in Muji biscuits

As early as January 15th this year, the Consumer Council of Hongkong released a test report that it purchased 58 biscuits from Hongkong from August 2018 to October. Some of the samples were found to have genotoxic and carcinogenic properties of epoxy propanol and acrylamide. One of the MUJI products is Malaysia hazelnut oatmeal biscuits, and the content of propylene oxide and acrylamide is the highest in the pre packaged samples that are not pre packaged or exempt from nutritional labels.

Professor Li Shuguang, Professor of public health at Fudan University, said, "propylene oxide is commonly used in industrial production, not for food production." Why do we find epoxy propanol in biscuits? There is not enough evidence for this.

Lv Minyi, chief news officer of the Hongkong food and Environmental Hygiene Department, responded to an interview with the Beijing Youth Daily reporter that the epoxy propanol and acrylamide mentioned in the Consumer Council report were the highest content of the local food Codex Committee which had not yet formulated the food. However, the relevant codes of acrylamide had been established locally, and the relevant departments were also formulating the code of glycidyl ester.

Lv Minyi said that in accordance with the principle of risk based, the food safety center would draw food samples for testing according to the principle of risk based formulation. If the risk assessment showed that the food was not suitable for human consumption, it would require businesses to stop selling and recover food. In addition, prosecution may be prosecuted.

After the incident was exposed, Muji finished the biscuits in one or two days.

A food processing worker, who asked not to be named, said that in actual production, there might be a connection between the conveyor belt and the machine's rollers on the production line, while the rollers need to be lubricated with lubricating oil and a small amount of propylene oxide in the lubricating oil, so this may be caused by the trace oil lubrication in the transmission belt.

An explanation made by Muji shows that carcinogens mentioned in cookies are not food additives, there is no problem of illegal additions or overdoses, and international standards for such substances have not yet been formulated. The vernacular is: carcinogen is not intentional addition, I do not know how to come, and there is no international standard of content about this carcinogen.

Recall 780 thousand bottles of water worldwide

After the biscuit incident, a natural water sold by Muji in July last year to February of this year detected "bromate" exceeding the standard.

It is understood that bromate is a by-product of mineral water disinfection after ozone disinfection, and it is a potential carcinogen.

For this reason, Muji Japan headquarters decided to take down and recall measures for two types of bottled water and a total of 3 products. The total recall is at least 780 thousand bottles, including about 200 thousand bottles exported to mainland China and Hong Kong and Taiwan. The announcement on its official website in Japan was released in February 22nd. On the same day, Muji China headquarters said that the problem of "natural water" had never been sold in the mainland of China, and "carbonated water" had been sold before the mainland of China. In addition, China Hongkong and Taiwan, China, have been involved in three commodities under the whole line.

MUJI recall notebook and stainless steel ruler

However, after the first two products were turned over, Muji seemed to continue. In April 23rd, the State Administration of market supervision and administration announced the latest announcement that Muji (Shanghai) commercial limited has submitted a recall plan to the Bureau, recalling part of the imported MUJI (Muji) brand painting notebook (M) and stainless steel ruler.

The announcement shows that the product specifications of the MUJI brand painting notebook (M) and some imported MUJI brand stainless steel scales are 14 185x185mm and 375px respectively, and the country of origin is Japan. Because of the high brightness (whiteness) of the series of notebooks, it does not meet the requirements of our national standard "General requirements for safety of student products". Long exposure to paper with high brightness (brightness) may cause eye fatigue and have potential safety hazards.

According to statistics, the number of products affected in mainland China amounts to 334. In addition, the planned recall of some imported MUJI brand stainless steel rulers has sharp cutting-edge edges, which may scratch consumers and may cause safety risks. The number of products affected in mainland China amounts to 3301.

6 furniture storage problems were reported

After two months, there was another quality problem in Muji.

Beijing market supervision and Administration Bureau announced the results of random sampling of furniture quality in circulation field. The bulletin showed that there were problems between the nominal material and the actual material in 6 pieces of furniture, including beech hangers, walnut solid wood chairs, living room dining room sofa chairs, side tables and combined wooden frames, which were produced by Muji.

According to the results of the Beijing municipal Market Supervision Bureau in July 17th, MUJI products, such as beech racks, walnut solid wood chairs, living room dining room sofa chairs, side table tables and combined wooden frames, all had 5 problems: nominal materials and actual materials: 3 of them were walnut, the actual material was black walnut or plywood, 1 were nominal wood, and the actual material was water Fagus. 1 of the materials were white oak, and the actual material was fiber. In addition, there is also a low type table with abrasion resistance.

Regarding this, MUJI products published a statement in July 19th on the official website of the Muji, which is about furniture sampling inspection. In the statement, the company solemnly apologized to the vast number of consumers, and expressed willingness to provide customers with the purchase of these 6 kinds of furniture replacement service. At the same time, the company listed four rectification measures in the statement: first, to check and correct the names of the timber used in furniture; two, to correct the product information displayed in the shop, clearly specify the materials used in all parts of the furniture, ensure that its contents are consistent with the commodity certificate and the product instructions; three, analyze and review the causes of the products whose physical and chemical properties are not qualified, the company will analyze and review the causes, and further improve the product processes; four, increase the monitoring intensity of the furniture products, and avoid similar situations again.

MUJI fell to the altar.

The Muji production plan shows that the sales volume of the 409 billion 697 million yen in the 2018 fiscal year (March 2018 to February 2019) reached 122 billion 340 million yen, while the sales in the Chinese market reached 75 billion 92 million yen, accounting for 61.38% of the total sales in the East Asian market (except Japan).

Throughout the development of Muji in China, it is undoubtedly a success. However, as an important market of Muji, China's quality and recall in recent years do not prohibit Chinese consumers from getting cold. In China, they take a high end line, high price and poor quality.

With the increasing number of domestic brands of similar styles, Muji is also facing great challenges. First is the impact of the electricity supplier. In recent years, NetEase, such as Yan Xuan, Taobao, and so on, has emerged as an electronic business. Its style is quite similar to that of Muji, and NetEase is called "the same manufacturer as Muji" even when it was first promoted. In addition, the men's clothing brand Hai Lan home has said "will mark the Muji", and known as "low profile Muji" of the name of the best quality products, NOME, ABS love each other offline stores, in recent years, the momentum of development is also rapid.

In fact, in the face of fierce competition in the market, over four years, Muji has made more than ten price cuts. In March of this year, Muji fine China issued a number of micro-blog's "price reexamination" topics, including price reductions for bed products, T-shirts and some stationery products.

However, simply relying on price cuts can restore consumer sentiment? Under the light asset subcontract mode, it is the most urgent pain point to supervise manufacturers and lead to quality problems.