UNIQLO Is Using High-Tech To Fight Zara Fast Selling Group To Push "Secret Weapon".

The global apparel industry is speeding up shuffling. In the period of bottlenecks in the development of Zara, H&M and other fast fashion giants, high technology is becoming a "secret weapon" for UNIQLO to break through.

After opening up the barriers between online and offline to achieve full channel retail, UNIQLO will open the core second step of digitalization, according to the latest news of Nikkei Chinese, in view of the fact that the weather has become a fashion retailer.

One of the key factors in the trend is the fast marketing group of UNIQLO parent company, which will initiate the pformation of production and retail based on AI AI.

According to the data, artificial intelligence, namely Artificial Intelligence, is a new technology for research, development, simulation, extension and extension of human intelligence theory, method, technology and application system. Especially in fashion retailing, apart from products, the future competition will depend on the contention of user data card.

XXX will formally introduce a mechanism in the year 2018 to forecast the required quantity of goods by analyzing the large numbers of data such as weather and fashion trends by AI.

This will help to avoid producing redundant products and deliver goods that consumers need as soon as possible.

The company will also shift from the traditional private brand professional retailer to the new form of information management.

The demand forecasting mechanism will involve a wide range of objects, including functional underwear, "AIRism", which is sold in UNIQLO.

In addition, XXX has worked with Accenture and other consulting firms to develop a new system that can predict its future buying behavior based on customer purchase records.

For products that are difficult to predict with other brands and designers such as Disney and other brands and designers, fast marketing group plans to improve accuracy through trial and error.

In order to better collect consumers' body data as the basis for personalized recommendation and customer management relationship, UNIQLO started offering personalized semi customized services in stores last September. Consumers can choose semi finished products, and then choose clothing sizes and colors according to their preferences, including adjusting the styles and sizes of collars and cuffs. The service was officially launched on official website in March this year.

The electricity supplier has also become one of the key areas of UNIQLO's focus. The group will continue to increase investment in the business of electronic commerce and gradually realize O2O, that is, the new retail mode that integrates online and offline will increase the electricity supplier's proportion from 10% now to 30%.

In addition to the three party e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Alibaba, UNIQLO introduced high-tech unmanned machines and LED digital screen "smart buyers" to physical stores to enhance the consumer's shopping experience.

It is noteworthy that UNIQLO did not blindly bet all its bets on technology, and began collaborating with hi-tech fabric manufacturer Dongli in 1999.

In 2015, after launching the HEATTECH heating material in Dongli, UNIQLO launched the five major innovative technology products in 15 years in November last year in New York's "life and life art and science" fair, HEATTECH warm underwear series, ULD high light down garment series, AIRism comfortable underwear series, touching pants, and Dry-EX high performance dry sweaty fabric.

According to the analysis of people in the industry, the two may also produce products that use solar energy to heat up, collect electrocardiogram and other body information, and change the color of products with light. This will mean that consumers can buy clothes made of first-class technology at the price of fast fashion products, which will undoubtedly cause heavy losses to competitors such as H&M and Zara.

There are indications that the fast selling group is a comprehensive technological innovation for UNIQLO, which is shifting from a traditional clothing retailer to an information technology technology group.

It is noteworthy that, in order to achieve the goal of catching up with the parent company Inditex of Zara as soon as possible, the fast marketing group reissued corporate bonds two years later in May, and the total amount of financing was up to 250 billion yen, or about 14 billion 500 million yuan.

In addition to expanding overseas markets, the funds will also be used for investment in digital systems.

In fact, the great investment in digitalization is inseparable from UNIQLO's persistent emphasis on practicality.

At the end of last year, the chairman of the fast marketing group and CEO willow, stressed that the future clothing function is more important than fashion. He believes that the fashion trend will change over time, but it is possible to provide functional products from actual needs regardless of the trend.

However, UNIQLO has greater ambitions.

From NIGO, KAWS, Murakami Takashi to earlier Futura and Pharrell Williams, UNIQLO specializes in high-tech new retail, and speeds up the invasion of the market by grabbing a series of people who have the right to speak.

According to industry sources, the correlation between UNIQLO and the trend market was 30% before NIGO became the creative director of UT series, and the index increased to 70% after NIGO took office.

In May 1st, UNIQLO announced the appointment of Takahiro Kinoshita Kinoshita Hyoho, editor in chief of fashion and culture magazine POPEYE, to manage the overall creative dissemination of UNIQLO.

Kinoshita Hyoho will work closely with UNIQLO's global marketing team and creative President John Jay at his headquarters in Tokyo to supervise and manage UNIQLO's brand promotion and product design creativity.

It has been described as "more understanding of young people than young people". When uniformed by Xiao Hao Hao, UNIQLO will usher in a new turning point.

Kinoshita Hyoho joined Magazine House in 1997 as editor of POPEYE. He also worked in an an and BRUTUS, then promoted to deputy editor in chief, and became editor in chief of POPEYE in 2012.

Under his takeover, POPEYE, which has been established for more than 30 years, has been pformed from a male fashion magazine into a comprehensive guide to men's life style and urban culture. Young Japanese are regarded as the trend vane.

Ryui Masanori said that when Kinoshita Hyoho joined, he would add fresh breath to the increasingly globalized UNIQLO.

According to earlier reports of fashion headlines, Ryui Masami realized that young talent is the key driver to ensure the sustainable development of brands. He decided to leave office at the age of 70 next year. He will focus solely on the position of chairman in the future and continue to participate in the affairs of the company in the capacity of "supervision".

Ryui Masa stressed that he did not love his career or was afraid of challenges.

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With rapid changes, the young people must be responsible for the actual operation so that the group can see the preferences of the young people.

The successor selection needs not only the ability but also the rich digital experience, and can make new business judgement quickly according to the market changes.

Young consumers are fond of novelty. Once they were ridiculed, UNIQLO, the "basic" brand, was becoming fashionable and moving towards the throne of Zara's fast fashion king.

Coincidentally, like the fast selling group, Inditex group, the parent company of Zara, whose profitability is declining, is also eyeing high technology as a breakthrough point.

At the beginning of this year, Zara opened a "mysterious shop" in the Westfield Stratford store store in London. The products displayed in the shop include men's wear and women's wear, but the site is not for sale, it can only be purchased online, and it also provides services delivered on the same day.

In April 12th, Zara introduced a two week AR augmented reality technology in 120 flagship stores around the world, and formally launched the Zara AR application.

It is reported that after downloading the app, consumers can find specific augmented reality icons on the next door shop window, booth, online shopping box or brand official website and scan to experience the related models deducting from model L e a Julian and Fran Summers.

In order to enhance the communication benefits of the project, Zara specially set up video and photo taking functions in the AR application, so that consumers can record their own experiences more conveniently and share them in social media to attract more consumers who are curious about new functions.

For brands such as Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and Uterq e, the group will continue to be the main global player.

The flagship store will be set up and renovated with existing retail technology.

At the same time, Inditex group is also adjusting its operation mode.

In the face of the increasingly fast changing consumer demand, the group will centrally manage the distribution of brand products by central inventory and other modes, and distribute two new products to all stores worldwide every week. The online official website will be synchronized on the same day or the next day.

Pablo Isla stressed that technological innovation is of great importance to the group. With a total investment of 150 million euros, the group headquarters of A Coru a in Spain completed its expansion last month, placing Zara, Zara Home's design, products, technology and sustainable development team together to further enhance operational efficiency. A giant distribution center near the headquarters of the group will start operation this summer.

Some analysts pointed out that as the leader of fast fashion, the Inditex group's drastic reform is behind its own competitiveness decline.

Since the second half of last year, the growth rate of Inditex group has been slowing down, both revenue and profits have slipped to low single digit growth. In the three months ended April 30th this year, Inditex Group sales increased by 2% to 5 billion 654 million euros, the growth rate slowed down sharply compared with the same period 14% in the previous fiscal year, the gross profit margin was 58.9%, and net profit increased 2.23% to 669 million euros over the same period.

By contrast, the fast selling group that has reversed the direction in time seems to be better.

In the first half of the fiscal year ending February, revenues and operating profits reached the highest level in the same period, of which total revenue grew 16.6% to 1 trillion and 190 billion yen (69 billion 900 million yuan), operating profit rose 30.5% to 170 billion 400 million yen (10 billion yuan), and revenues and profits were all high.

Thanks to this, XXX decided to raise its performance forecast for the fiscal year ending August. It is estimated that the annual sales volume as of August this year will exceed the target of 2 trillion yen (116 billion 100 million yuan) for the first time.

Over the past year, 9983.TYO's stock price has risen by nearly 34%, with a market value of 5 trillion and 320 billion yen and about 40 billion 960 million euros, while Inditex group (ITX.BME) shares have fallen 15%, with a market capitalization of about 90 billion 130 million euros.

Ryui Masa once said that UNIQLO is essentially a technology company whose rival is apple rather than Gap.

When consumers' vision becomes more and more critical, the advantages of fast fashion are also being overturned.

Under the dual action of tide and technology, UNIQLO, which relies on real wear, is becoming the most adversaries of Zara.