What Makes The Seal Of Muji Better Than Before?

"I always wondered.

When do you want to put your "favored and reliable" business strategy in China?

This is the answer to the question of "how do you see the global First House Hotel in Shenzhen?" by Bacon, France's "inJapan MUJI". This is also the answer to the most frequent praise.

(photo: Sohu)

Since entering 2018, Muji has two big moves in China. First, a new round of price adjustment has been carried out. Many commodities are cheaper. Two, the first MUJI HOTEL hotel in Shenzhen has been opened, but the high housing price has been criticized by netizens.

This is a very interesting phenomenon.

For a long time, the MUJI products, labeled as "cool" labels, have been regarded as representatives of quality and style. Even though the price is not cheap, they are sitting on numerous fans.

Ever since the news of the opening of the hotel, various media reports have also seen the words "MUJI Gospel powder" and "experience of a full set of MUJI homes" and so on. It is probably that customers who like the wave of consumer upgrades will just like the products of their hotels, like the products that have no impression on them.

However, it seems that Muji's appeal seems to be much worse than before. What happened during that time?

Sell goods in Japan

MUJI has always been criticized for its low cost performance, but you may not know that the first selling point in Japan is cheap, which always advertised the natural and high quality Muji.

According to the world clothing and shoe net, 1980 Muji Muji was originally owned by Xiyou supermarket.

In the wake of the oil crisis, Japan was in the middle of the great depression.

Koike Ichiko's slogan, "cheap reason", cleverly grasped the psychology of consumers who began to pay attention to practicality at that time.

(photo: ryohin-keikaku.jp)

In the bestseller "Muji" reform, Watanabe Mineying mentioned that by reducing the waste from production to circulation, including improving processes and adopting simple packaging, Muji can achieve "providing goods that are not less than national brands but 30% cheaper."

Cheap and fine goods, which is the main reason for the development of MUJI products, at least until the end of 20.

Of course, the development of a Muji from a supermarket brand to an independent listed company is not only because of its low cost, but from the beginning of its parity, Muji is consciously guiding consumers to pursue a new way of life.

Do not rely on brand and packaging to choose products.

This is not only a combination of enthusiastic lifestyle, but also an important attitude.

The existence of famous designers such as Tanaka, Koike Ichiko, Amano Katsu, Sugimoto Nukishi and so on, also made the merchandise get rid of the "rustic" of daily necessities and become rich in design sense.

In fact, since the beginning of the 21 century, Muji has not taken the low price as a selling point. For example, in 2003, the theme of advertising was "Muji" on the scale of the earth. In 2004, it was "Muji family". The 2006 year was "natural". In 2008, it was "more intimate existence". This year is "natural, natural and imprint", emphasizing a simple and natural way of life.

However, whether it is "Life Aesthetics" or "simple wind", Muji has always been a more popular brand in Japan, for example, on the convenience store shelves, it can readily buy the common products of his family.

(family's Muji shelf, photo: Kilala)

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Selling faith in China

In the introduction of the brand history of Muji's Chinese official website, the concept of "cheap and reasonable" is also mentioned.

If it's food, it must be delicious.

If it is commodity, we must adhere to the principle of improving life.

Then, thoroughly seek out what to do and what extent to achieve the cheapest way.

According to the concept of "No Brand" (no brand) emphasized by Muji, this "cheap" should be a better price after the brand premium is removed.

However, this is obviously not in line with the actual impression it gives to Chinese consumers.

Now in China, Muji has become a representative of lifestyle brand with Starbucks, representing the consumption concept of Wen Qing or the new middle class.

Of course, this sense of high-level has an inseparable connection with its high price. As far as tens of hundreds of boxes are stored, one thousand to a hundred stools are far beyond the value of our daily necessities.

Apart from the cost performance, the huge differences between Muji's pricing in China and Japan also make people question the reasonableness of its price.

(photo: DIGITALING)

The most serious criticism about the price difference of MUJI products between China and Japan is that its simple and crude "Japanese yen price divided by ten is the renminbi". After several rounds of price adjustment, the price difference between the price of the Muji and the Japanese market has not been so large, but it is not difficult to understand why Muji has always given the impression of high-end brand in China.

Taking 2016 as an example, China's per capita national income is 8260 U.S. dollars (National Bureau of statistics data), about 54000 yuan, Japan is 42870 yuan (World Bank data), equivalent to RMB 27 yuan, which is about 5 times that of China.

"We have thought that the pricing of MUJI products in China will be exactly the same as that in Japan," admitted Cheng Chuan Zhuo in an interview with the media. "But even if the price is the same, it may still be expensive for the current consumption level of Chinese consumers."

Apart from the influence of exchange rate, tariff, logistics and other factors, the price difference between China and Japan is also related to its positioning.

If Muji is one of the most popular consumer brands in Japan, which is commonly used by the public, then the scarcity will become the capital of high premium in China, where the number of stores is only about half that of Japan, and most of them are concentrated in the first and second tier cities.

But things are changing quietly.

MUJI, a simple but not simple style, has been verified by the market, and imitators soon appeared on the market.

If at first Taobao's various "MUJI shares" were not enough threats to MUJI products, then the big players such as NetEase's Yan Xuan and Mi Jia had entered in succession, and the diversion effect of Muji consumers could not be ignored.

MUJI products in Japan took the route of "offering quality less than national brand, but the price is 30% cheaper" route. NetEase's strict selections can now provide goods that are not less than MUJI but cheaper.

As a result, Muji has also been put on the wrong side of the table under the contrast of various kinds of money.

This competitor's MUJI trend in design and the trend of millet price fixing will be discussed in detail in the second articles of this series.

In fact, if there is no comparison between Japanese prices and no cheaper domestic products, we may feel that the price of Muji is not too high in China. After all, there is a feeling of support. Objectively speaking, the quality and design of the goods are also higher than the average level in the country. It is a convenient and not easy to make mistake for consumers who want to buy a daily necessities.

On the other hand, with the output of values such as "Life Aesthetics" and "breaking away from home", a large number of consumers are willing to pay for it and are proud of it. Muji is undoubtedly successful in brand building. It can definitely be regarded as an enlightening teacher for leading people to upgrade their consumption.

The commodity is cheap, the hotel is still very expensive.

Despite the low cost performance of Tucao, the price of Muji is not static for nearly 13 years.

Unlike the common brand discount, insist on being a lifestyle brand of Muji, there are very few discount activities, even if there is a small discount, its more commonly used promotional means is the direct use of the "new pricing."

For example, just entering 2018, Muji has implemented the eighth "new pricing" since entering China.

This change can be said to be very difficult. To know that in the first ten years of entering the mainland market, the price of Muji has hardly changed. But since the first price cut in October 2014, less than 4 years, Muji has already lowered the price of goods 8 times.

In the past, "new pricing" mostly focused on high priced products such as clothing, home and so on. The price cut finally came to the lowest price stationery series. The price range was between 5-10 yuan and yuan. Taking the most popular aluminum pencil case as an example, the original price was 72 yuan, and the new price reduced to 62 yuan.

At the same time, there are some snacks, kitchenware utensils, storage supplies and so on.

In the official website, WeChat public number and offline stores, we can see the publicity about the new pricing. It seems that consumers are not aware that the price of Muji has become cheaper.

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At the time of the fifth implementation of the new pricing strategy in 2016, Indo - free products had said it was "through its own efforts, such as reducing import tariffs, efficient inventory management, expanding order scale and other measures" to achieve cost compression, thus providing high quality goods for consumers at a more affordable price.

And if you look at the financial situation, the reason for the price adjustment may be clear: get more new customers.

Starting from the 2015 earnings report, Muji has introduced an indicator of "like-for-like sales" (LFL), that is, the growth of year-on-year sales after excluding comparable factors.

According to the time points of the previous price cuts, it is basically related to the slowdown in LFL growth in China, and its performance often rebounded after the implementation of the new pricing.

On the other hand, the price reduction means the expansion of the audience, which may also be seen as the preparation of Muji in order to enter the three or four tier city.

In recent years, Muji has also appeared in cities such as Xuzhou, Jiaxing and Nanchang.

"It doesn't stick to a few cities, it's just a place with fans."

Shortly before the opening ceremony of the Muji hotel in Shenzhen, President Matsuzaki Kyo replied when asked about his future store opening plan in Greater China.

We stayed in the MUJI hotel for the night and found 100 hidden details.

However, if you want to lower the price of MUJI products, when you enter the hotel industry, you will not be able to put it too far.

In the newly opened world's first MUJI HOTEL in Shenzhen, the lowest price is 950 yuan, the single breakfast and the minimum room area of 28 square meters. This hardware condition, even with the aura of Muji, also makes most consumers exclaim "can't afford to live".

If we have fresh ideas and unique designs in the Chinese market as a selling point in the aspect of life, Muji will have no advantage in the maturing and fiercely competitive hotel industry as Muji.

At the same price, there are many high-end hotels with better location, better service and better service in Shenzhen. As for the similar style, the price of All Seasons in Hanting is less than half, so it is no wonder that some netizens are chased "the whole season or become the biggest winner".

If you want to start a mass line of Muji in China, you may not have identified the location of the hotel, or you still have a more tangled mentality in pricing.

Sum up

From past prices to strong prices in recent years, Muji changes have been seen as a reflection of their return to their original position. It seems that when KFC entered China, they were regarded as representatives of high-end Western restaurants, and now they are really not sure what to eat.

International brands such as apple and Starbucks are not the same as KFC. Apple's technology and Starbucks's "third space" concept are enough to support its brand premium.

In the final analysis, it is not that these big players are not enough to see, but that the level of consumption is high.

It is also a gratifying thing to think.

More interesting reports, please pay attention to the world clothing shoes and hats net.