MUJI Muji Is Playing The Role In China.

Liu Kai, founder of Rui Ji design, likes to recommend MUJI (Muji) store design to customers and visitors.

His reason is: "there is nothing in the shelf and decoration of MUJI," the shop image is the display of goods.

For faster consumer goods, "no competition" is a good solution.

The MUJI flagship store, which was newly opened on Huaihai Road in December last year, is rare.

Japanese designer Sugimoto Takashi and his team "super potato" were hired to design, this is their second cooperation with MUJI stores in China. The Taigu Li flagship store opened a year ago, everywhere, "super potatoes" can be seen from the local second-hand market and the outskirts of the countryside looking for decorative materials.

Wood was selected as the main material for flagship store in Shanghai world.

They hang at the entrance of the store and the aisle on the two floor, which are so low that you can see it almost without looking up.

In the past, Muji's color tone was "wood sense", but the texture and temperament of these wood were softened and hidden in clothes and furniture, and never appeared like this.

The MUJI team in China said to the "super potatoes" during the design period that if the wood was too prominent and too sharp, it could be dangerous.

If there is danger, then there is no doubt that it is physical.

In the cabin on the corner and the two floor, Muji needs to ensure that customers will not be knocked by wood.

But these chunky and styled wood also means that MUJI is launching a revolution: the Japanese retail brand that used to attract consumers in a minimalist style to try to reconnect with consumers.

Today, you can find nearly 150 MUJI in nearly 40 cities in China, which account for nearly half of all MUJI overseas stores. Starting from the 2017 year, there will be 50 MUJI open each year.

In the future, the flagship stores of 3000 square meters in these stores will form a radiant radius, with about 600 square meters of shops spread around.

But the current MUJI is far from achieving this expansion plan.

It needs to be recognized by more people.

There are always people who complain all the time that they have never seen the real store of MUJI.

Even in Shanghai, the flagship store in Huaihailu Road, where MUJI China headquarters is located, has opened up an idea to customers: I may not really understand MUJI.

The customer team outside the store eventually lasted for two or three weeks.

The large flagship store is regarded as "intelligence distribution" by MUJI.

The Japanese word here is similar to a brand display window.

MUJI obviously has not only displayed products here, but even their products are showing more special ways.

Wallpaper in the "2015 Design Award" selection, MUJI's new toaster is listed as the best candidate for local design.

A toaster designed by Fukazawa Naohito appeared in MUJI flagship store in Shanghai. A book was pretended to be sliced bread.

The old customer recalled the past refreshing MUJI stores, and felt a little strange.

But they also realize that a new thing is happening in MUJI.

More books were placed on the side of clothes and groceries in flagship store in Shanghai, which is the second time that MUJI has sold books in stores after its flagship store in Tokyo.

Linghu Lei is the creative director of Fang Shu bookstore and Heng Mountain He Ji. He believes that because of the entry of books, MUJI has stepped out of the closed manufacturing and retail system that he built in the past.

"It's about opening up the system."

With the opening of the system, books will attract more customers to MUJI stores. They may be "mixed up" people. They used to have heard about the style of MUJI, but never wanted to be their customers.

Like open systems, MUJI is more generous in the face of Chinese urban consumers.

MUJI Yamamoto Naomiyuki, general manager of China, may surprise you. "We want to create a very close and natural environment."

He said.

In Shanghai flagship store, MUJI also set up a lively public rest space called open MUJI.

But stepping into the new MUJI on Fifth Avenue in New York, the feeling of New Yorkers is similar to our past feeling, which is "quiet IKEA".

MUJI's mission in China is obviously different.

The team that contributed more than 10% of its sales headquarters plans to put away the quiet and cool style that was tagged in the past.

Books are highly regarded.

Yamamoto Naomiyuki explained that "the addition of books can make people see the expansion of MUJI, which in turn is centered on books and shows that commodities are becoming more integrated."

They are still regretting the display design of MUJI shop in Taigu, Chengdu, because the area of commodities is too clear, resulting in no "continuous performance" of all goods.

The fusion display method used to be common in Japanese stores, and now it shows that MUJI has changed in China.

Although MUJI said that it is not convenient to provide the proportion of all kinds of products in the flagship store in Shanghai, clothing, which has contributed more than half of the sales volume to the MUJI market in China, has not won the best stand as ever.

Travel series MUJI to go and beauty care products occupy the closest location to the entrance, and the number of these products is also improving.

The latter has 160 single products.

10 years ago, a MUJI China survey showed that MUJI was the 25 main customer at that time. But Yamamoto Naomiyuki said the latest survey showed that the demand for major customers has changed from 27 to 28 years old.

Yamamoto Naomiyuki said that the demand of Chinese consumers is becoming more and more like the past Japanese market.

Sales in the Japanese market still account for about 2/3 of MUJI's total sales.

MUJI furniture has been selling well in the Japanese market.

In the past two fiscal years, sales of MUJI furniture category increased by 28.1%.

A considerable part of the two floor of the Shanghai flagship store was given to the furniture, and MUJI's Interior Advisor consultant sat at the entrance, and the cotton and linen beds behind them were displayed on more Japanese wood beds.

Yamamoto Naomiyuki believes that MUJI can sell furniture well in China - as long as it gives enough display opportunities, "the flagship store in Shanghai is a proof."

On the day of opening, furniture sales in flagship stores in Shanghai accounted for 13% of total sales, while in other stores, the figure was only 3%.

"The focus of China's development in 2016 is furniture and food."

Added.

Restricted by import policy, food products accounted for no more than 2.4% of all products in the Chinese market.

But in Shanghai's flagship store, the proportion of foodstuffs increased to 4.7%, and there were 150 species. MUJI also introduced a new chicken lemon curries for this purpose.

These foods do not carry a strong MUJI aesthetic and belong to a more popular market. Not to mention, 1/3 products do not belong to MUJI's own brand.

MUJI has a more modest name for price cuts, "new pricing".

This is probably done to avoid hurting the relatively advanced brand image of the past.

Matsuzaki Kyo, the new president of MUJI, who took office last year, said in an interview that not only the mainland market, but also the prices in the US, Europe and Hongkong were higher than those in Japan.

It's hard to get even, but he intends to adjust the price ratio of overseas countries.

"Starting from strategic commodities, such as selling 100 yuan in Japan, we sell 110 yuan overseas.

In this way, we can achieve our overall price advantage.

Yamamoto Naomiyuki believes that customers' consumption habits may play a role in price decision making of MUJI.

MUJI found that customers often buy four pairs of socks at a time, so they reduce the price of socks.

People are still not satisfied with the price issue, but this at least indicates that MUJI is considering expanding the target audience.

These new customers may have thought that MUJI was a near luxury consumption, while others thought that MUJI only sold clothes with distinctive style but hard to control.

To Yamamoto Naomiyuki's delight, these ideas can be reversed through the display of the store.

When attending the activities of 10th anniversary MUJI shop in Hangzhou Star Plaza, Yamamoto Naomiyuki heard that the host of the event finally realized that "MUJI is also a consumer product."

But the root of all this is that the first thing to do is to let consumers come to stores, even if they rush to read the library in MUJI.

MUJI's e-commerce has not developed rapidly.

At present, China's online sales account for only 2.5% of total sales in MUJI.

MUJI's e-commerce team is indeed adjusting enrollment to contribute more sales, but Yamamoto Naomiyuki insists that mature consumer market needs more face-to-face exchanges.

"We devote a lot of energy to the MUJI store's world outlook and values in the store."

Yamamoto Naomiyuki said.

This is what MUJI is best at.

"Many people will buy it because of the idea of MUJI, but of course, some people buy it because they can meet basic needs, but this does not prevent it."

Gong Yingqi, co-founder of consumer decision making media "list", said.

So, New York Times Molly Young Young wrote, "the way of selling things is always effective by putting aside useless things."

"When you are hungry, don't go to the supermarket. When you are bored, don't go to MUJI."

Molly added.

But now, because the past MUJI's ideas in the Chinese market are also being iterated, the demand for display in stores has become even more urgent.

To this end, MUJI's flagship store is also getting bigger and bigger.

In the past 16 months, 4 flagship stores have already appeared, and their area exceeds 3000 square meters.

From the flagship store of Taigu Li in Chengdu in 2014 to the flagship store in Tokyo in 2015, the flagship store in New York Fifth Avenue, and the flagship store in Shanghai 4 months ago.

If it were not for Lok Cho to expand its area when it was refitted, Yamamoto Naomiyuki said that the flagship store in Shanghai would have surpassed MUJI in Tokyo, and became the largest in the world.