UNIQLO Is Exposed To Crush Guan Peisheng, China: Low Wage Global Special Case

Fast fashion brand As the latest growth point of the global garment industry in recent years, no matter how strong it is in store expansion and sales volume, there are many unknown aspects behind its gorgeous mask.

First of all, strict control of human resources may lead to sweatshops. Almost all fast fashion brands adopt the mode of foundry production, and their foundries often gather in the third world with low manpower cost. For the moment, whether the fire incident in Bangladesh garment processing factories or the South American clothing workers' strike all shows that the human rights damage to the third world processing workers is still a moral problem difficult to solve by the clothing giants.

Secondly, it is the quality problem of clothing that is pursued by "fast rhythm marketing". From the data point of view, in recent years, complaints about the quality of fast fashion brand products are increasing sharply. Quality assurance is always the first priority of any garment enterprise. New styles, gorgeous colors, and quick ways of buying can only be used to curry favor with others.

In recent years, the rapid expansion of UNIQLO has had to face such a difficult problem in China: in order to compress manpower costs, a large number of students have to be put to use, but heavy work and low wages have led the outside world to accuse UNIQLO of being a "machine for squeezing blood and sweat."

Wu Yuhui, who has resigned from UNIQLO, has a complex relationship with his old family. On the one hand, he has entered the "international big business" through fierce competition for competition. On the other hand, he has been overburdened by long-term overtime.

"Although it means eight hours working hours, the working hours are almost 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 pm." Wu Yuhui said frankly, according to him, working overtime on UNIQLO weekend is very common, and the content of the newly recruited Guan Peisheng has no difference from ordinary salesmen, but it is cumbersome and repetitive.

And the narrow rising channels are also being forced to take care of them. "At the end of my life, the regional manager of UNIQLO told me that the opportunity for Guan Pu Sheng to become a store manager is up to them. If they perform well, they will be the store manager in six months, and some people will be in the store for two or three years or Guan Peisheng." Wu Yuhui said.

It is worth noting that Uniqlo Under the high pressure work, the salary of Guan pson has been kept at a low level. According to the management of the payroll salary scale, UNIQLO management salaries were between 5400-6000, including overtime, meal supplement and other expenses, though higher than the average level of the graduates, but far less than the salaries of other foreign employees.

As an international fast fashion brand giant, UNIQLO's development in China has been running smoothly. So far, there are about 260 direct outlets in China, which outnumber 1/5 of the total number of stores in the world. Its sales in China last year reached 7 billion 500 million yuan, accounting for about 10% of its total sales.

In March 5th, as a fast selling group of the parent company of UNIQLO, it was listed on the Hongkong stock exchange in the form of HDR. For this listing, UNIQLO has made no secret of its ambition in China. It has publicly stated that the listing in Hongkong will not issue shares or raise funds. The aim is to "enhance the visibility of investors and customers in China and in the Asian region".

According to the analysis of the industry, UNIQLO has always pursued a strict control strategy for staff salaries, which is likely to be an important reason for its success in China. But paradoxically, xungang group put the salary unification on the agenda as early as 2013. According to its plan, it will implement a unified global wage standard for leading cadres and cadres candidates who work in UNIQLO offices all over the world. In other words, employees who employ overseas will also be evaluated according to the domestic staff standards in Japan, and their salaries will be adjusted to the same level as those in Japan.

But in China, the official website of UNIQLO shows that its earnings in the past few years have not increased. Is the Chinese market a special case of UNIQLO's global strategy?

"Working hours will be arranged according to the situation of store operation, and weekends and holidays are not fixed. UNIQLO is a listed company, whether it is store manager reserve cadres or shop staff working hours, is fully comply with the laws in place. In March 19th, UNIQLO responded, but UNIQLO said it was "inconvenient to disclose" about staff salaries and the management system.

In reality, the dissatisfaction of Guan Pu Sheng has led to the constant loss of UNIQLO staff. "Loss, recruitment and loss" may be the death cycle that UNIQLO has to face now, which may hinder the expansion of UNIQLO in China.

　 High load and low salary

In March 2012, the campus recruitment season, which had been fiercely competitive, received Wu Yuhui's management trainee entry notice from UNIQLO Guangzhou store after being interviewed by group leaders, managers and regional presidents. Later, he was assigned to the practice of UNIQLO store in Lin and Middle Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou. The post is the fitting room guidance, and the job content is no different from ordinary shop assistants.

In the same year, Chen Jiang, a 211 university graduate, entered UNIQLO as a management trainee. According to Chen Jiang, the basic business of the store must be learned within 3-5 months of the beginning. He has done all the work of collecting, dressing rooms, shopping and cleaning. "In the shop, no one except the shop manager knows which ordinary shop assistants are Guan Peisheng, and the content is the same." Chen Jiang said.

In fact, this sounding occupation is not easy. "Although it's a eight hour working day, the working time is almost 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 pm," Wu Yuhui told. He added, "like the retail industry like UNIQLO, working overtime on a two-day weekend is also normal. If the store is busy, overtime is very serious."

But the salary given by UNIQLO is only medium level for college graduates. The wage list issued by Guan Peisheng on campus recruitment in UNIQLO 2012 showed that the five cities in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou were class A, with a grade wage of 3450 yuan, an overtime wage of 750 yuan, a transportation fee of 300 yuan, and a rental subsidy of 1500 yuan, totaling 6000 yuan. Suzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo and Tianjin are B areas, Shenyang, Dalian and other cities as C areas. The monthly income of these cities, including rent subsidy, is 5700 yuan and 5400 yuan respectively.

According to Chen Jiang, UNIQLO Guan Pu Sheng The salary has not changed in the past two years. And the official website of UNIQLO campus recruitment in 2014 also showed that the income of the student was 5400-6000 yuan, which did not increase compared with two years ago.

According to the "2013 college graduates employment situation report" released by Zhaopin, the average monthly salary of Shanghai graduates is ranked first in 4859 yuan, followed by Beijing, the average monthly salary is 4746 yuan, and third is Shenzhen, with an average monthly salary of 4494 yuan. Although UNIQLO's salary is higher than the average monthly salary of the graduates, it is lower than the wages of other foreign companies, and the actual working hours from 8:30 am to 10:00 PM nearly 14 hours make the salary paid by PPG even more modest.

"The intensity of work and the low salary are very common in fast fashion industry." Liu Wen, the manager of a fast fashion brand store that has been dyeing for nearly three years in the clothing retail industry, has spoken frankly. She said that the fast fashion industry has long working hours and is not fixed. It basically implements the way of "three hours in the morning, middle, and evening". It works for more than ten hours a day, with few holidays being normal. The Zara and H&M employees who are also the fast fashion industry leaders with UNIQLO are not very well paid.

Brain drain

High load and low salary bring about a great loss of UNIQLO management.

Chen Jiang admitted that there were 8 people in the same store who entered UNIQLO stores. Up to now, 5 people have passed the qualifying examination, and the remaining three have already left. And Wu Yuhui also told him that he knew that he had gone almost the same way with his selected UNIQLO management.

According to public information, there are about 260 outlets in China. According to the prospectus published by Hong Kong's parent company's marketing group in Hong Kong, UNIQLO plans to open 80-100 new outlets every year in China. In the official website of UNIQLO campus recruitment in 2014, 400 students were recruited this year, and 65 were recruited for production management and reserve. The recruitment of UNIQLO management trainees in 2013 and 2012 also had a sizeable scale of 500 and 350 respectively. {page_break}

According to this calculation, if every store has a store manager, Guan Peisheng, the new recruit of UNIQLO every year, is the shopkeeper candidate, far exceeding the store manager's growth rate. In view of this, there are not a few people who are running off UNIQLO. "A large number of recruited students are lost, and their mobility is related to their low salary and long working hours". Xiong Xiaokun, a light industry researcher at CIC, thinks that

In fact, although the rate of attrition is quite high, the recruitment scene of UNIQLO management is very popular every year during the school recruitment season. "UNIQLO group is the largest group of people I've ever attended," said Zhao Meng, a 2014 year graduate student at Zhongshan University in 2013. At that time, she passed the online application of UNIQLO and entered the initial stage in 60 minutes and 100 questions. According to her recollection, UNIQLO's initial face was divided into two venues, which lasted for three days and came to take part in the interview of UNIQLO management Pearson interview, covering almost all major universities in Guangdong province.

After graduating from different levels to be a management student, they will undergo more rigorous examinations before becoming a store manager. Chen Jiang told me that after being familiar with the basic business, the store manager will arrange training for Guan Peisheng according to the actual situation of the store operation. Guan pun Sheng himself also needs to take the initiative to learn all kinds of knowledge about UNIQLO, including the history, business philosophy and shop operation basic knowledge of UNIQLO. "Learning these knowledge is necessary," Chen Jiang said. "Because the company must organize exams every six months, only by passing examinations can Guan Peisheng become a store manager."

"At the end of my life, the regional manager of UNIQLO told me that the chance of being promoted to store manager is up to them. If they perform well, they can become a store manager in six months. Of course, some people enter the store for two or three years or Guan Peisheng." Wu Yuhui recalled the interview experience at that time and was still impressed by these commitments.

Even with a large scale of Guan Peisheng and salesmen from social recruitment channels, many UNIQLO stores have been recruiting part-time jobs for a long time. Part time staff must be trained for 2-3 days before work, with a salary of 15 yuan per hour, and the content of work is not much different from those of Guan Peisheng and salesmen who have just entered.

The reason why UNIQLO is recruiting workers on a large scale is to meet the needs of its rapidly expanding storefront. On the other hand, it is to prevent the loss of personnel from the company, and the more it is recruited, the more it can stay in the end. Xiong Xiaokun said.

China's low salary has become a special case.

The compression of employees' remuneration may be one of the effective ways for UNIQLO to pursue "low price and high quality" in the world, especially in China. "Fast fashion takes the middle and low end route, and human cost will be more strictly controlled." Xiong Xiaokun said.

Meanwhile, due to the continuous loss of "high and low wages" and the large number of new recruits, UNIQLO is constantly upgrading the number of stores in China with the strategy of "high quality and low price".

According to public information, UNIQLO has about 1300 stores in the world, of which about 260 are in China. 4 years ago, UNIQLO had only 64 outlets in China. In 2013 alone, UNIQLO opened 82 new stores in China. Liu Chi Jing, chairman of UNIQLO, has publicly stated that by 2020, the number of stores in UNIQLO will reach 1000 in China. Obviously, China has become the main nuggets of UNIQLO. According to public information, 75% of UNIQLO suppliers in mainland China produce 600 million pieces of goods each year. Even in China, the annual sales of two or three line shops can exceed 20 million, while its flagship stores in the first tier cities are hundreds of millions of yuan in annual sales.

stay Online retailers In the field, UNIQLO frantically sucked gold. In April 2009, UNIQLO entered Taobao mall and was the first international brand to enter. On the day of double eleven last year, UNIQLO's flagship store's single day sales exceeded 120 million yuan, totaling more than one million items, up 500% over the same period last year, ranking sixth in Tmall's sales rankings.

According to XXX group's 2013 earnings report, UNIQLO's total annual revenue was 69 billion 100 million yuan, and its sales in China amounted to about 7 billion 500 million yuan. Ryui Masa is bold enough to say that he will become the world's largest apparel retailer. China will be an important weight for UNIQLO bets.

In March 5th, XXX group listed on the Hongkong stock exchange in the form of HDR. For this listing, UNIQLO has made no secret of its ambition in China. Its company said that the listing in Hongkong will not issue shares or raise funds. The aim is to "enhance the visibility of investors and customers in China and in the Asian region".

Or because of its expansion, XXX group put the salary unification on the agenda. In 2013, the group said publicly that it would implement a unified global wage standard for leading cadres and cadres candidates who work in UNIQLO offices all over the world. According to regulations, hired overseas. staff It will also be evaluated according to the domestic staff standards, and its salary will be adjusted to the same level as that in Japan according to its actual performance. But up to now, the official website of UNIQLO shows that its earnings are still unchanged from the previous two years.