UNIQLO'S Strong Momentum Of Expansion In China

On the Huaihai Road on the busiest commercial street, a building that has been idle for nearly a year is about to usher in a new owner. September 30th, Japan leisure clothing The 8000 Flagship Global flagship store, UNIQLO, will open for business, covering more than 5000 square meters, and become the largest flagship store in the world. Japan's Fast Retailing group also introduced its four brands such as g.u. and PLST into China for the first time, and "packed in" the new flagship store.

at home Clothing brand Under the situation of high inventory and tight store, the foreign fast fashion brand represented by UNIQLO has taken the opportunity to speed up its expansion. CEO Pan Ning, senior executive vice president of fast marketing group and fast marketing (China) trading company, said: "if we do not seize the opportune moment to challenge the Chinese market, from the point of view of business, it is the chess game that first loses."

UNIQLO is expanding rapidly in China. It has 850 stores in its own country, and its sales volume in Japan last year was US $7 billion. The company plans to build a system of 1000 stores in Japan on the same scale by 2020, while sales in mainland China will reach US $11 billion. Pan Ning said, "this plan has not been adjusted and can be achieved with confidence. Because the Chinese market is too big to predict. "

Although Sino Japanese relations are still tense, UNIQLO seems to be racing against time, and even has 11 stores opening in the same day. There is no doubt about the importance of the Chinese market. But in the first half of the year, XXX reported that the profits of UNIQLO in Japan had slipped as of February this year. The company takes the focus on overseas expansion to reduce its dependence on the local market. In addition, compared with the European and North American markets, this East Asian style brand is undoubtedly more popular among Chinese consumers.

Pan Ning pointed out that at present, China is the largest overseas market of UNIQLO and has the largest number of stores overseas. By May this year, UNIQLO has opened 254 stores in 48 cities across the country. The location of the largest and newest flagship store in the world is mainly based on the potential for sustainable development of the Chinese market.

This time it was not only a store opening, but also four new brands to enter China for the first time, including the g.u. launched in Japan, the fashionable low price of g.u., the high-end fashion brand PLST of UNIQLO, and the French brand Comptoir des Cotonniers and Princesse tam.tam. The four brands introduced are more Uniqlo The product line was extended in the middle and high-end market and low-end market, and the product category was extended to underwear, sportswear and other fields. Among them, Comptoir des Cotonniers, founded in southern France, is a pioneer brand in the light luxury market. The target population also has a significant difference. The target group of g.u. is a more than 20 year old woman who focuses on avant-garde clothing while PLST targets men and women aged 30 to 35.

In other words, UNIQLO not only increases the size of the Chinese market, but also begins to expand the service crowd. For H&M from Sweden, Germany is its largest overseas market. Its current overseas expansion focus is not only in China but also in North America and Europe. From the brand point of view, H&M is still a single brand in China.

From Europe and America Fast fashion brand UNIQLO has always emphasized the basic functions of clothing: easy to wear, easy to match, more functional, not fashionable and avant-garde. This makes it distinct from the European brand in terms of fashion elements, but also provides a basis for developing brand relevancy. That's the popular saying of "wild clothes", which can be combined with a costly luxury clothing.

However, UNIQLO is much more cautious than Zara's parent company Inditex group's introduction of its own Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear and Bershka stores. These four brands will be displayed in the global flagship store in the way of "store in store". Among them, g.u. is on the ground floor, the average selling price is three to 50% cheaper than that of UNIQLO. It is the first store opened outside Japan, and the other three brands are located on the first floor. Different from other clothing groups' weakening of multi brands, the strategic purpose of UNIQLO's "package promotion" lies in the multi brand synergy driven by the main brand of UNIQLO.

In fact, for UNIQLO, which persists in its overall operation, the risk of such a radical expansion plan in the downturn of the economic cycle and the risk of putting four new brands into China can not be underestimated. Pan Ning responded: "economic development has its cycle. Although China's economy is at a relatively low level in the past 30 years, we have great expectations for the Chinese market and the improvement of the Chinese people's future life."

The industry believes that UNIQLO's self-confidence stems from the future China's two or three tier cities market consumption opportunities valued, and will rely on. Electronic Commerce The rise and the "shopping center fever" two major trends.

Since the second half of last year, there has been an upsurge in shopping centers all over the country, but the vacancy rate is also rising. Shopping malls and department stores are shrinking, and fashion brands are just making up for the vacancies. According to the commercial real estate consultant, the retail group with multiple product lines has great advantages over the current shopping centers and department stores in China. "As long as we seize several companies such as Inditex group, Bestsellers (including VERO MODA, ONLY, and so on) and" love and love group ", the investment mission of a shopping center has been completed by 30%. He said to this magazine. In addition, it is generally believed that multi brand management can spread risks and bring more profits. For a long time Garment industry The observation of Ma Gang believes that multi brand management is a good attempt to produce synergy.

In addition, UNIQLO opened online stores in China in 2009, and was the first to enter the platform. Fast fashion brand 。 Several years of online and offline synchronized development proved that UNIQLO's brand influence even exceeded their imagination. According to the data monitoring of the mall, 2/3 of the distribution of UNIQLO sales is from the areas where it has not yet opened. This means that today's information exchange is very convenient. The speed of UNIQLO brand's Internet transmission has exceeded the speed of display and dissemination of physical stores, and its potential in the Chinese market is huge.

More importantly, the concentration of stores and expansion of the number of brands, for its future landing capital market to provide endorsement. According to recent media reports, XXX group will apply to the HKEx for listing on the basis of the issuance of HDR. In this regard, UNIQLO did not make a positive response. Insiders pointed out that listing in Hong Kong will help UNIQLO win financial support for expanding overseas markets, while increasing its popularity and influence in the Greater China market, thus occupying more market share. It is reported that fast selling group has been listed in the United States and Germany after its listing.

Through the double expansion of scale and brand, UNIQLO hopes to build its own moat in the market competition. Foreign garment brands have intensified their development strategy in the Chinese market in recent years, and competition is becoming increasingly fierce. According to statistics of RET, Rui Yide, a commercial real estate agency in China, the number of seven brands including UNIQLO, H&M and Zara has more than 768 stores in mainland China. The fast fashion brand Gap of the United States also announced the introduction of its brand Old Navy next year at the end of 8. It will also be located in the first Gap store.

The pressure bearer is obviously still busy in China. Clothing enterprise 。 Garment industry observer Ma Gang believes that the fast fashion brands like UNIQLO will accelerate the expansion of stores in the three or four tier cities, and the sinking of this channel will have a great impact on domestic casual wear and sports brands. Take for example, its competitors are not necessarily "H&M". The consumption trend and consumption habits of domestic consumers have changed a lot. Before moving the sports brand into casual clothes, the crowd will soon migrate to the fast fashion category with fashionable and fair prices. Ma Gang told reporters.