Japan, South Korea, USA And Europe Compete For Quartet In The Chinese Apparel Market.

　　 Challenges of Japanese style service

Welcome to Shanghai, which is the largest shopping mall in the Huaihai middle road in Shanghai. It has a total area of 8 thousand square meters, and it is the largest in the world. On the same day, the shops were crowded with the expectant Shanghai residents. The Chinese shopkeeper also had a smiling face to receive customers.

The clothes that have been turned over are tiled up and put back to the display rack, and when they see customers enter the shop, they bow and salute with a smiling face. This attitude is common in UNIQLO, but the performance of Chinese salesmen is also the same.

according to Japanese clothing In China's clothing stores, people who smile at customers are seldom seen, according to people in the company. In addition, local consumers often take off their clothes and try them on in the store, so many clothes on display shelves are not scattered.

In the UNIQLO Shanghai store where tens of thousands of customers are patronized every day, if the shop assistants want to keep the clothes worn out by customers in the store, they will be more labor intensive than Japan. However, UNIQLO formally implemented such a Japanese model and won the praise of consumers. A 21 year old college student said: "compared with ZARA and GAP and other European and American brands, (UNIQLO) has a better attitude towards customers, which is my favorite clothing brand."

UNIQLO first entered China in 2002 and has opened about 230 stores. The Japanese hospitality mode is helping UNIQLO build its brand image in China.

The survey of clothing in the Asian brand survey conducted by Nikkei news shows that UNIQLO's "goodwill", "awareness" and "purchase intention" in China outnumber H&M and other competing brands. UNIQLO's business in China (including Hongkong and Taiwan) also showed strong momentum. In fiscal year 2013 (as of August 2013), revenues and profits grew by double. Sales of Chinese businesses are considered to be around 100 billion yen (about 6 billion 237 million yuan), accounting for about half of UNIQLO's overseas sales.

Pan Ning, senior executive director of China's group, led by UNIQLO, said that UNIQLO's high quality goods and services to receive customers in Japan have won the support of Chinese consumers. Pan Ning thought except fever. Thermal Underwear In addition to the "HEATTECH ULTRA" and the lightweight products such as "ULTRA LIGHT DOWN" and so on, through the thorough implementation of Japanese services, UNIQLO, like Japan, has gradually infiltrated its brand image closely related to life into the hearts of Chinese consumers.

On the other hand, UNIQLO also takes into account the Chinese mood toward Japan. Since 3 years ago, the Japanese katakana logo has been specifically cancelled. On the contrary, "HEATTECH" is specifically labeled "Japan technology" to highlight Japan's technological strength.

In terms of appearance and layout, UNIQLO hopes to catch the hearts of Chinese consumers through Japanese style high quality goods and hospitality. In China, the shop network will be expanded to all parts of the country with the speed of employing about 1000 people and opening 80-100 stores each year. In order to achieve this goal, Liu Chi Jing, the president and President of Japan's fast marketing group, and the director of the Japanese fast marketing group, who runs the UNIQLO group, is striving to further expand its business in order to achieve this goal. "1 thousand stores in China in 2020".

　　 Chinese enterprises will break the "three pillars"?

"I am going to buy the lovely dress of Sen girl style in Shanghai city's Jiu Guang Department store, but usually I will find a moderate price of clothes on Taobao," said Xiao Liu, a 21 year old university girl. She lives alone in a student hostel in Shanghai, and spends about 800 yuan on clothes every month, accounting for about 30% of her living expenses.

According to her, in the university campus, she will consciously refer to Harajuku style in Japan and dress up as a fashionable Street fan. While going shopping with friends, she will choose European and American brands to create a steady image.

According to statistics from Euromonitor, the size of China's clothing market is expected to reach 23 trillion yen (1 trillion and 436 billion 800 million yuan) in 2013. This scale will surpass about 9 trillion yen in Japan, and next to the United States (29 trillion yen), ranking second in the world. Especially in Shanghai, large commercial facilities are in row upon row. Young people are more sensitive to fashion and have a strong desire to consume. Xiaolin, a 21 year old college student, said, "I spend 1 thousand yuan on clothes every month. There are nearly 50 clothes in the room now.

And college students, such as Guang Yun, said, "they will go to the store to confirm the feel and work of the clothes they have already looked for, and then search for cheaper stores on the Internet." In China, the habit of "shopping first and buying online" after shopping is confirmed is not unusual. According to Bain, an American consulting firm, China's online shopping market has reached the largest scale in the world and will expand to 3 trillion and 300 billion yuan by 2015.

So, which brands can survive in the Chinese clothing market? Cheng Jindan, a female company clerk responsible for making popular fashion related blogs, explains that "the design of the Cute Japanese brand, the introduction of popular elements such as ZARA and H&M, and the moderately priced Korean brands at the first time, the above three kinds of brands are deeply loved by Chinese 20-40 year old women". The growing Chinese clothing market is showing the "three pillars" trend of competition among Japanese, Korean, European and American enterprises.

ELand, a clothing company in Korea, has opened about 6200 stores in China, and even stationed its 5~6 brand in the same commercial facility. In addition, Japan's Fast Retailing, which has opened some 230 UNIQLO stores in China, has opened its first store in the UNIQLO Shanghai store, its low-end brand "GU", to further explore the market.

Yuzuki Ji, President of GU company, pointed out that "not only the fast fashion enterprises in Europe and America, but also the clothing chain brands of Chinese capital are gradually becoming future competitors." The clothing chain brand built by local capital is rapidly rising in China. In the field of casual wear, China's "Metersbonwe" is well received by college students and other groups, while the women's clothing brand "ochirly" has opened about 1000 shops.

Japanese clothing consultant Kojima Kensuke pointed out that "the level of Chinese designers is improving every year". Donghua University in Shanghai has also opened a designer training course in collaboration with the Japanese Institute of culture and clothing. Ge Yingfei, 21, took part in the course, from clothing sewing to design. She carries a dream that she will have her own brand in the future.

According to Cheng Jindan, in China, besides Uniqlo Besides Japanese brands such as Muji, Mash style lab's "SNIDEL" and Cross Company's "Earth Music &ecology" are also popular as design styles and Lovely Japanese brands.

Sales competition is becoming increasingly fierce in commercial facilities in Shanghai. Merchants who have been forced to close for half a year or 1 years are not uncommon. To seize the hearts of Chinese consumers, enterprises need to highlight differences with other brands.