Shop Target Increased By 1000 Stores! UNIQLO Boss Wants To Replicate China's Successful Experience

The Chinese market is becoming an increasingly important driving force for Japan's fast fashion UNIQLO.

According to fashion business news, sales of UNIQLO in Japan dropped 10.3% in July, and sales of digital channels such as electricity suppliers also declined.

Fast retailing group says sales in UNIQLO Japan are suffering from abnormal weather. Frequent rainy days have reduced consumer demand for brand summer products.

According to the data of the Japan Meteorological Agency, the sunshine duration in Tokyo in July is only about 44 hours so far, and it is the least that the meteorological office has recorded since 1890.

To add insult to injury, UNIQLO is also affected by the boycott of Japanese goods in the Korean market. Two stores in Seoul are closing soon. One is a store in Seoul, Jongno3-ga. The lease expires in October. Last week, the company has said it will not renew the contract with the owner. Another store in Seoul AKPlaza will also be closed by the end of this month.

Xun group currently has 6.6% of its business from the Korean market and operates about 190 stores in the Korean market, with an annual sales of 140 billion yen or about 9 billion 400 million yuan.

In contrast, UNIQLO's performance in the Chinese market is still strong. In the first 9 months ended May 31st, UNIQLO's sales in the international market increased by 14.6% to 820 billion 500 million yen or 52 billion 100 million yuan. China is still the main driving force for the growth of international business, and the sales growth of the brand in the Chinese market during the period is double digits.

Up to now, UNIQLO has a total of about 700 stores in mainland China, and plans to increase to 1000 in 2020. The number of fans in Tmall flagship store is as high as 18 million 610 thousand. It is also the first fast fashion brand in WeChat's official flagship store.

Analysis shows that the rapid growth of UNIQLO's performance in China is inseparable from the brand's active expansion strategy. In addition to opening nearly 100 stores a year, the business and digital businesses combined with offline shops are also advancing smoothly.

UNIQLO is trying to learn from its successful experience in the Chinese market to stimulate its growth in the local market. Group Chairman and CEO Liu Jing Zheng recently revealed that in order to revive the already touting Japanese business, it is strengthening its learning mode in China.

Different from UNIQLO's services in China, such as the day service, the online ordering store and the store's mail delivery to the home, UNIQLO's electricity distribution in Japan is basically responsible for the warehouse in the eastern part of Tokyo. But store and network inventory has not yet been unified and can not operate efficiently.

In addition, the shortage of manpower in Japan is very serious. It is very difficult to deliver the goods in accordance with the scheduled time in the busy stage with concentrated orders. To this end, Japan UNIQLO launched a "no urgent" delivery service at the beginning of this year. Consumers who receive 10 days' delay in delivery can get 300 yen or 20 yuan coupons.

There are people in the industry who believe that UNIQLO is in a critical bottleneck period. It is urgent to make efficient distribution system and use social media to attract young consumers.

In June, UNIQLO launched #UTPlayYourWorld activities in China, and will invite users to share their favorite UNIQLO UT costumes to share their creative, real and inspiring moments. UT is the UNIQLO special T-shirt project, which has been keeping up with the trend culture.

The event will last until July 11th. The American, French and Japanese vibrators will have the chance to win the Grand Prix. The winning video will be broadcast in the UNIQLO store, and the winners will be announced from July 12th to July 19th.

It is noteworthy that in June of this year, Akai Tamaki, senior vice president of Japan's appointed group, became chief executive of UNIQLO Japan, the third CEO of UNIQLO Japan after Ryui Masa, and the first female CEO in brand history.

Akada Maki, 40, joined UNIQLO in 2001. He worked in UNIQLO store in Tokyo Ginza block, Shanghai, Japan and Niigata Prefecture, Japan. By the end of fiscal year 2018, the proportion of management women in fast selling group was 36%, which exceeded the 30% target set by the Japanese government in 2030.

The 70 year old Ryui Masanori plans to retire to the second tier, will focus on the position of chairman and continue to take part in the company's affairs as a "supervisory" business.

In an interview with Japanese media earlier, he stressed that in a rapidly changing fashion retail environment, the actual operation must be undertaken by young people and insight into the preferences of young people. Their successors need not only the ability but also the rich digital experience to make new business judgement quickly according to market changes.

UNIQLO can not relax for a moment in the face of increasingly complex global markets. As of press release, Xun group shares fell 1.95% to 62 thousand and 440 yen today, with a market value of 6 trillion and 620 billion yen or about 438 billion yuan.