Interview With UNIQLO CEO - Pan Ning

　　 penning It is the head of China's CEO, UNIQLO, China's fast selling group of UNIQLO parent company.

During his time in China, UNIQLO grew up to be the largest overseas market of the Japanese multinational company. As of May 2013, the number of overseas stores in UNIQLO reached 410, of which 212 were in China. By the end of September, UNIQLO has so far the world's largest flagship store to open in Huaihai Middle Road, Shanghai.

If we regard UNIQLO China as an independent entity, every shop under the company's number of 9000 employees is making a profit, with a standard area of 1000 square meters, with sales ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of yuan per year - about one of the most successful apparel retailers currently operating in China.

It took Pan Ning more than 7 years to complete these achievements.

When answering the question "what is China's own but not what Japan does not have," his answer is grand and vague: "from an enterprise experience, we are an advanced country and a successful enterprise has been brought to a rapidly developing developing country, and I have gone through different social development processes in a very short time." The biggest difference is that our challenges are different and difficult, because there are many places we haven't met in Japan.

Penning is different from many Chinese executives in many Japanese companies. He likes to talk about something very grand about China, about the Chinese people in this era, about the mission and responsibility of UNIQLO's company in China. Of course, the most unusual thing is that he is a rare Chinese executive in a Japanese company. He is also a senior executive director of the global group.

We can quickly outline the history and current situation of UNIQLO's development in China: in 2001, the company decided to expand the market outside Japan, first of all in the UK, and opened two stores in Shanghai in 2002. By the end of 2005, China had opened 9 UNIQLO stores and 2 closed. In that year, Pan Ning was transferred from Hongkong to the mainland of China as general manager. Now, the total number of Chinese shops in UNIQLO is more than H&M, second only to the number of shops opened by ZARA parent company Inditex group, and the latter also includes Bershka other than ZARA.

At the press conference in UNIQLO China, the purpose of media coverage of Pan Ning always seems to be through his understanding of what Chairman Liu and CEO willow are thinking about. His questions are related to his temperament, way of doing things and even his business strategy and objectives in China. They ignore a fundamental question: what is Pan Ning thinking?

Pan Ning's biggest contribution to UNIQLO was that when he just transferred, he identified the position of the company in China: the middle class.

If you remember UNIQLO at the end of 2005, you will not associate it with the "quality lifestyle" that was emphasized later. Those products that look different from those in UNIQLO stores in Japan are either dull or low-key. Even if you do not compare, you will not file them in quality products. At the end of 2005, Pan Ning, general manager of China, found that UNIQLO was regarded as a low-grade brand in the mainland of China, and its stores continued to suffer losses and staff morale was low. Soon, he received the headquarters order of UNIQLO withdrawing from the Beijing market.

"At that time, we were pushed to the point where there was no possibility of continuity in that mode. Later, I did a lot of reflection, and found a fundamental conceptual mistake, that is, when UNIQLO entered the mainland of China that year, it was affected by the growth of Japanese sales. Pan Ning said to the first financial weekly. At that time, the marketing slogan of UNIQLO, Japan, was "continuous high quality goods at the lowest price in the market", but Pan Ning found that "the lowest price in the market" refers to the so-called lowest price in the Japanese market, which is totally different from the concept of China.

In 2006, the golden week of May, Pan Ning sat in a taxi after the end of the holiday. She heard the news broadcast on the radio: the total number of people travelling home and abroad during the golden week was 150 million. "I was very bright at that time. It is not that 150 million are the customers of UNIQLO, but such a group is emerging.

Pan Ning decided to locate UNIQLO China as a middle class brand. When the media asked whether the concept was related to the annual income or monthly income, he tried to correct the argument that "it is not this feeling, but a change of attitude and lifestyle. This crowd has the desire to consume, not only for clothing, but also for all kinds of information, which is very sensitive, has its own ideas and has its own pursuits. Through their own change, we can bring about the growth of the so-called mass population.

In Japan, UNIQLO is positioned as one. Popular brand 。 After decades of post-war development, especially in Japan, which experienced the peak of the 1980s, the overwhelming majority of the population reached a high standard of living. Therefore, the concept of "mass brand" in Japan will be transplanted to China in 2001, and inevitably the price will be higher. This strategy will continue until 2005.

At that time, its competitors were local brands such as Metersbonwe and Baleno in Hongkong. UNIQLO did not have obvious price advantage, so Chinese management at that time thought that the price must be adjusted, thus sacrificing the design and quality. At that time, the commodity system of UNIQLO China was out of touch with the international market of UNIQLO, regardless of fabric, manufacturer or procurement channel. On the one hand, the price war has led the operation of UNIQLO China into a vicious circle. On the other hand, in order to test the proper store operation mode, the stores of QQ are uneven: the shops are mainly concentrated in Shanghai, and only one in Hangzhou. The largest store is Zhonglian store, Nanjing East Road, with an area of 1000 square meters, while the smallest one is only 60 square meters. Now, 1000 square meters are the standard configuration of UNIQLO shops.

After the positioning of the middle class, UNIQLO China really found its place.

In 1994, Pan Ning applied for UNIQLO in Japan, and interviewer Ryui Masa asked him about his future goals.

"First of all, I want to be the boss of a company, or I can be an entrepreneur, or a boss of a big company."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Many of us in China think so."

"What else do you want to do?"

"What I want to do is to contribute to China's development. I understand Japanese society, and I hope to become a bridge between Japan and China's economic development and friendship."

19 years later, Pan Ning recalled the details of the interview because he was asked "what did you do in UNIQLO for so many years?" In UNIQLO, the store manager is considered to be equivalent to CEO in importance, but only in different jobs. Ryui Masa is a store manager, so is Pan Ning. They share a common style, such as being patient enough to listen to others' ideas, and being bold enough to try others' unbelievable ideas.

But to do something in the Chinese market, things are not quite the same.

Pan Ning let consumers reconsider the practice of UNIQLO, when it was called the best Shopping Mall Shanghai port Hui square opened another 1000 square meter shop. At that time, UNIQLO China was a small company of more than 30 people. From decision making to final opening, it took only two months for the store to finally build the development base of UNIQLO.

Its biggest feature is to imitate the latest decoration style of UNIQLO stores in Tokyo's Duhei black area, retaining the gentle "breeze" and reflecting the simple and comfortable feeling of the rich area. In order to ensure the level of the store, Pan Ning imported four "very simple but expensive" chandeliers from Italy. In addition, he set up a group of products that could be more fashionable and fashionable. It sends a powerful signal to consumers: quality life should be like this.

Six months later, based on the same idea, the Chia Tai Plaza store opened in the largest Shopping Mall in Asia at that time. Many brands were still in the decoration state, while UNIQLO's first day turnover reached 1 million 420 thousand yuan. Pan Ning tried to tell the target audience through a slogan called "Fashion," the slogan is "no need to be stressed". Clothes are only human supporting roles. This is the first large-scale marketing made by UNIQLO China.

Chia Tai Plaza opened successfully, and in the 2100 square meter empty shop after work, Pan Ning had a "standing on the football field" illusion. The success of two consecutive shops gave him proof of his ideas. From the perspective of company management, "staff confidence is increasing, people see what they have not seen and the future they can reach."

This time, Ryui Masa began to play a role in China's fabric research and development technology and multi creative cooperation strategy for UNIQLO products.

UNIQLO is famous for its basic funds. Ryui Masa hopes to produce "high value-added clothing", in other words, not only to meet the needs of the existing consumers, but to create a new way of wearing clothes like nylon stockings. Products such as HEATTECH are in line with his expectations: Based on everyday wear and at the same time, new thermal underwear market has been opened up by technology. In 2011 alone, sales of this commodity exceeded 100 million worldwide.

2013 the LifeWear series launched in autumn and winter shows the integration of UNIQLO's innovative products in a brilliant way. The unified visual elements label 12 project groups, including HEATTECH and silk, cashmere and other fabrics, including high elastic jeans and flannel clothing. These are all items that have been preserved in various seasons, and have undergone many changes in design and technology. UNIQLO has posted "the best definition of UNIQLO design philosophy" ever.

These ideas come from a diverse design team, including UNIQLO Executive Creative Director Misaki Sato Cox and design director Takizawa Naomi and creative fashion director Nicola Formichetti, taking into account the opinions of the Nakamura Yugo team at the web site - he is known as the father of Japanese Flash. Formichetti's best known identity is the stylist of Lady Gaga and the creative director of fashion magazines, Dazed&Confused, Another Man and VOGUE HOMME JAPAN. In 2011, he changed his status as a partner and formally took office in UNIQLO.

Katsuda Yukihiro, a senior vice president of global research and development, has worked as a senior buyer in many companies such as Polo Ralph Lauren. He plays the role of product manager in UNIQLO. He is responsible for managing all the designers of UNIQLO, and the ultimate principle is to make a best-selling design. And when choosing the designer of external cooperation, it is necessary to add "the design philosophy of UNIQLO".

Therefore, UNIQLO does not like to call itself "fast fashion". Although the group's earnings listed are few competitors, they are more willing to accept the term between fashion and basic funds. The subtle difference between these two concepts is that the latter is more inclined to meet the actual needs and self collocation of consumers than to transfer fashion elements quickly. Takizawa Nao, a former design director of Lssey Miyake, has explained in this way: "fashion is to create topics, and we are looking at whether commodities are necessary to consumers. When we were in Lssey Miyake, we created a new dress and opened up a new river. And UNIQLO, we are standing in the center of the river, how to make the river flow more smoothly, which is what UNIQLO is doing.

However, the positioning of the middle class has not yet made UNIQLO China equal to the Japanese market. In China, the market share of Sweden's Bestseller A/S group, the parent company of Only and Jack&Jones, ranks first in China. It first entered China and occupied the market by opening counters in department stores.

But the concept of fast fashion is gaining popularity. More and more consumers realize that this is completely different from the traditional department store counters products clothing category, more rapid update frequency and more advanced, more abundant trend design stimulate the unprecedented consumption desire, not only for the sake of beauty, but also a consumer's definition of themselves.

When Pan Ning reviewed Uniqlo When returning to the failed Beijing market, the important nodes were placed on the popular UT in 2008. This is the printed T-shirt co operated by UNIQLO and global creative people. Katsuda Yukihiro organizes a 8 person team to investigate the most anticipated cultural topic every year, and the result is UT.

Pan Ning believes that when UNIQLO Xidan joy shop and Sanlitun store opened in March, the multicultural T-shirt catered to the international atmosphere created by the Beijing Olympic Games. "At that time, the outdoor temperature was only 5 degrees, and many people bought UT in baskets and baskets. It was really shocking."

Pan Ning always seems to be good at making such a combination. Before 2010, World Expo opened the +J series of Shanghai Nanjing West Road flagship store, synchronized sale and Jil Sander cooperation. When rival ZARA won quickly, UNIQLO turned itself into a combination of multiple creative and technological fabrics, which is an important prerequisite for UNIQLO's strong expansion strategy. It gave Pan Ning enough persuasion to push the idea of UNIQLO to a larger market.

Pan Ning's role is to discover the characteristics of the Chinese market. He believes that the core of all is to understand the changes in consumer habits at any time and respond accordingly. He summed up his ability to make a correct and important decision as a "general view": "it does not mean that I have this kind of superpower, but rather has a global view and looks at the problem as a whole." But he also summed up this as a lucky thing: "every ten years and five years of development in China are very fast, and there may be essential changes."

Such a role accelerates the decision making speed of Japan's headquarters in UNIQLO, by contrast, they have no way to understand the market characteristics of the subtle changes in the Chinese market. This not only involves policy choices, but also opportunities for everyone to see: entering the new front-line and the two or three line market.

Urban classification is one of the characteristics of the Chinese market. Its key lies not in the characteristics of the city itself, but in the different understandings of different companies. According to Accenture, consumers in China's two or three tier cities are not different from the first tier cities in terms of fast fashion consumption. They are even more willing to spend more money on clothing and beauty than the latter. UNIQLO China claims that it has mastered research data for each major city. By 2020, the number of shops in mainland China will reach 1000. In the future, 80 to 100 stores will be opened in the future. Pan Ning said: "I think nothing is unknown, only what we can do now and have not yet done."

The core of his "general view" is summed up as a sentence appearing in a macro report: "we can grasp the development strategy of the country, and we can make a good judgement at every stage. We need to look at the overall situation. China will surely develop to a good place. " This is what he thinks is the biggest difference between China and Japan's consumption mentality: optimism.

In 2013, UNIQLO China issued a notice of recruitment for university graduates. More than 100 thousand people applied for the job, and eventually enrolled 470 employees.

Companies that have such a strong appeal are rare. If we go back to the original question, what is what UNIQLO has in China and what Japan does not have - Pan Ning once again talked about the strategy and the overall situation.

With opportunities for gold development, there are more opportunities to meet. The position that Pan Ning asked at the beginning with Liu Jing Zheng is not bad now.