UNIQLO Ryui Masa: Not Just To Open Another 300 In China, But Also To Raise 20%.

UNIQLO has about 700 stores in mainland China, and plans to increase to 1000 in 2020. 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. The two stores in Seoul are closing down. The fast retailing 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.

Meanwhile, according to the Japanese economic news, the parent company of UNIQLO will launch a new personnel system in the spring of 2020:

Starting salaries for new employees, including fresh graduates, rose by about 20%.

To provide more promotions and salaries for young employees who have been employed for 3-5 years:

To provide employees with global job opportunities, Japan's annual revenue will exceed 10 million yen (about 640 thousand yuan), and the annual income of employees in the US and Europe will reach about 30 million yen (about 1 million 920 thousand yuan).

Ryui Masa, founder and CEO, said: "we should give talented people the opportunity to provide education and treatment that is compatible with their abilities."

UNIQLO and his founder, Liu Jing, are somewhat "deviant" compared with other conservative Japanese companies. In the early 13 years, the globalization of UNIQLO was greatly promoted by the way of global salary synchronization. By adjusting the human resources system, including remuneration, changing the status quo of enterprises' conservatism and youthful vigor is not enough.

Obviously, the adjustment of UNIQLO was successful.

When international brands such as Zara, H&M and GAP were losing ground in China, UNIQLO went against the trend.

According to the results released by Japan's fast selling group (UNIQLO parent company) in early July, its revenue in the past 9 months was 1 trillion and 800 billion yen, or 115 billion 600 million yuan. Compared with an increase of 7% over the same period, its net profit in China in 2018 was as high as 4 billion 700 million yuan.