In Depth Attention: The Secret Of UNIQLO'S Global Flagship Store'S Success

Since the beginning of this year, UNIQLO's global flagship stores have made frequent moves.

UNIQLO's third global flagship store in mainland China, Sanlitun's compound tomorrow's life Museum, opened on November 6. Prior to this, the global flagship store in Ginza, Tokyo, and the global flagship store of Mingyao department store in Taipei were re opened on September 17 and October 8, respectively.

Global flagship store, the largest billboard of UNIQLO's global tour. The first global flagship store was opened in 2006 in Soho District, New York, USA. In the next 15 years, UNIQLO dropped 15 global flagship stores, and only 17 at its peak; During this period, the number of global stores increased from about 700 to 2339.

Comparison shows that UNIQLO's global flagship stores "cherish bullets like gold". Positioning, opening, renovation, all match the dance steps of the global layout of the brand. With time as the axis, the secret of UNIQLO's global flagship store strategy is unfolding slowly.

Why does UNIQLO open a global flagship store?

UNIQLO's global flagship store is one of the important measures to promote the global development strategy.

UNIQLO began to prepare for overseas development as early as June 2000. Before and after that, the trumpets of victory, one by one, landed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange smoothly, the polar fleece explosive products were successful, and the Japanese market completed the sales target of 30 million yen ahead of schedule.

"Due to the zero interest rate and the long-term downturn of the stock market, consumers are uneasy about their future expectations, so they are not willing to spend, and the market will stagnate. The investment in equipment of enterprises will also be suppressed, and the business opportunities will be less and less."

Under this background, Japanese enterprises must participate in international competition. UNIQLO has made an early determination to become the world's largest clothing company, laying an important foundation.

From the positioning of global flagship stores, UNIQLO's internationalization strategy is to choose Europe and the United States first, develop China and South Korea, and consolidate Japan.

Try Europe and America for the first time

According to Liu Jingzheng's self-report in "one win nine losses", UNIQLO entered London in 2001, and four years later, it encountered "21 stores opened and 16 closed". In 2005, UNIQLO entered the United States and opened three stores. However, according to the New York Post, UNIQLO temporarily withdrew from the United States after three stores were closed.

However, UNIQLO is determined to open up the European and American markets. As a result, it regained its momentum and adopted a brand new strategy -- the global flagship store. In 2006, UNIQLO's first global flagship store was established in Soho District, New York. In 2011, the second global flagship store in the United States fell on 53rd Street, Fifth Avenue, New York.

At the same time, UNIQLO continues to expand into Europe, opening its second and third global flagship stores in London and Paris in 2007 and 2009 respectively. On October 31, 2014, another global flagship store landed in Berlin, Germany.

With global flagship stores as anchor points, UNIQLO has gradually opened up the European and American markets, and is loved by more and more customers.

However, UNIQLO faces the reality of low popularity and acceptance in European and American suburban cities. Taking the United States as an example, Liujing still said in 2016, "fast retailing group regards reversing the US market deficit as the most important business topic at present, and will take effective measures to gradually get rid of the deficit and realize profitability."

Since then, UNIQLO has continued to actively explore the European and American markets. In August, Masahiko NAKASUJI, UNIQLO's global marketing director, told WWD, "there are plans to expand the U.S. market.".
As of October 31, UNIQLO had only 43 stores in the United States. In September and October, it opened two stores in Canada, which are located in Eaton center and Yorkdale shopping center.

Consolidate Japan and expand Asia

The European and American markets have gradually broken down. UNIQLO has also strengthened the Japanese base with its global flagship stores as its fulcrum, drawing the world's attention back to the brand's original country and strengthening its original culture and core.

On October 1, 2010, UNIQLO opened Japan's first global flagship store in shinzhai bridge, Central District of Osaka. Two years later, it opened its global flagship store in Ginza, Tokyo. On October 1, 2014, Osaka added another global flagship store "UNIQLO Osaka".

At the same time, UNIQLO has also set up Asian markets including China, South Korea and Southeast Asia. Facts have proved that it is easier to succeed in areas with cultural ties, aesthetic preferences and similar consumption habits.
In 2010, UNIQLO set Asia's first global flagship store in Nanjing West Road, Shanghai. So far, it has 5 global flagship stores in Greater China, which are located in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Shanghai (2) and Beijing.

Thanks to the help of global flagship stores, Greater China has gradually become UNIQLO's most important growth engine, even surpassing the Japanese market.

According to the official website of Fast Retailing, as of October 31 this year, the total number of stores in Greater China has reached 953, compared with 812 in Japan. In an interview with BusinessWeek / Chinese, Liujing said the goal is to have 3000 physical stores in China.

The South Korean market also performed well. In 2005, UNIQLO entered Korea as a joint venture company, and soon became popular there, with sales of more than 1 trillion won for five consecutive years.

On November 11, 2011, UNIQLO opened its global flagship store in Seoul Mingdong. The day's sales volume reached 2 billion won (about 12.05 million yuan), the highest daily sales record of a single clothing store in South Korea. In the 2016 fiscal year of fast sell, the South Korean market accounted for nearly 18%.

Soon, UNIQLO built a "Golden Triangle" in Asia, with Japan as its base camp, China as its main battlefield and South Korea as its subsidiary battlefield. However, since the outbreak of the epidemic, the markets in South Korea and Japan have changed successively. On January 31, this year, the central global flagship store in Seoul's Mingdong was closed. On August 1, the global flagship store of shinzhai bridge in Osaka, Japan, closed.

After some strategic trade-offs, the number of UNIQLO's global flag stores decreased from 17 at the peak to 15.

2. Operation: creating world-class billboards

UNIQLO's global flagship store, as a world-class billboard, has become a pathfinder and weathervane for international strategy.

On the other hand, the global Flagship Store aims at brand concept level, deeply interact with consumers, and create and promote innovative consumption lifestyle. Through the unique store environment, comprehensively improve the consumer experience, so that consumers can enjoy both fashion, quality, comfort, and reasonable price of basic clothing.

Therefore, the global flagship stores are different from conventional stores in terms of location, store form and selection.

Site selection: core location, with first-line brand stores

The location of UNIQLO's global flagship store is to anchor the national capital or important cities, settle in the core business district with profound historical and cultural accumulation, and settle in important commercial facilities.
The SOHO District of New York, where the first global flagship store is located, was a gathering place for artists in the 1960s and 1970s, and then evolved into a business district. Today, there are not only art galleries and boutiques, but also Hermes

Chanel, LV and other high luxury brands gather together, and there are also some young people's pursuit of guess.

Different levels and styles of retail stores make the business atmosphere full of vitality and rich customers, which is in line with the concept of "made for all" of UNIQLO.

The location logic of SOHO flagship store in New York has been used since. Fifth Avenue in New York, Oxford Street in London, West Nanjing Road in Shanghai, Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, Ginza in Tokyo, etc. all the places where UNIQLO's global flagship stores go are places where first-line brands gather.

Form: multi storey Qianping store

Stores carry multi-dimensional contents such as brand tonality, selection display and format combination. In order to interpret these contents in a unique way, UNIQLO's global flagship store is usually a multi story shop with thousands of square meters, which runs through 3-5 floors and covers an area of 3000-4000 square meters. Of course, there are also special cases. For example, the flagship store on Huaihai Road in Shanghai opened in 2013 with an area of over 8000 square meters.

The Ginza flagship store in Tokyo (reopened on September 17 this year) is stunning in the form of a single 12 story building.

Tokyo Ginza 870000 square meters, an inch of land, gold, horizontal area is limited, upward space is easier. The block property planning here is mainly composed of multi-storey single buildings. From top luxury Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, Dior, to the daily necessities paradise loft, boutique coffee blue bottle, each has its own small world. This form can not only maintain the independence of the brand, but also coordinate with the business atmosphere of the whole region.

The multi floor Qianping store can show the brand strength in an all-round way, lengthen the stay time of customers and improve the bag rate; To the outside, it can drain the commercial facilities or commercial areas in depth.

Core: design first, content is king

But how can we let consumers visit every floor, even every corner? The answer is, make sure the space is rich and attractive.

UNIQLO's common magic weapon is famous designer design, innovative display and exclusive selection. This has to mention the "imperial" Space Designer - masayuto Katayama.

His work with UNIQLO was SOHO global flagship store in New York in 2006, and then successively designed flagship stores such as Fifth Avenue in New York, Oxford Street in London, Ginza in Tokyo, Huaihai Road in Shanghai and Berlin in Germany; And other stores, such as Jixiang store in Tokyo and Marais store in Paris.

Pianshan Zhengtong believes that UNIQLO is a brand that wins by the abundance of commodity quantity, color series and model classification. The commodity itself is the best decoration.

Based on this, although the property conditions vary greatly, Katayama Zhengtong can always present a main vein: cutting open and layered space with minimalist lines, infinitely magnifying the visual impact of commodity display.

For example, in the flagship store on Fifth Avenue, he designed an elevator from the first floor to the third floor. When customers take the elevator, the whole shop can have a panoramic view. The products are displayed directly to the ceiling and create a sense of visual hierarchy with the color transition.

In September this year, the redevelopment of Ginza 12 storey single family store, facing the street, is all made of transparent glass, which is used for model display and display, producing a strong sense of visual shock, which is unforgettable and even become a tourist clock in point.

Shanghai Huaihai Road flagship store, in addition to the above features, also deeply integrates Disney elements, highlighting UNIQLO's "Disneyland clothing concept". On the eve of the opening of Shanghai Disneyland in September 2015, "magic for all" concept store was built on the fifth floor of the store, and a variety of cooperative products were launched.

In addition, the selection of "there is nothing else" also ensures the exclusive, benchmarking and topical nature of the global flagship stores, so as to achieve the purpose of drainage.

3. Renovation and upgrading: continue brand power

Retailers renovate flagship stores with benchmarking significance, aiming to rethink and build the relationship between brands and consumers.

UNIQLO has gradually renovated its flagship stores based on its flexible corporate strategy, the replacement of fashion concepts and the innovation of consumer demand. This will inject new impetus into its local development, further present brand-new concept, and deepen and enhance the consumption experience.

In 2013, UNIQLO changed its brand slogan from "made for all" to "lifewear", from emphasizing product functionality to highlighting the relationship between clothes and life, and changing to lifestyle brand.

In line with the change of brand strategy, UNIQLO's global flagship stores have been gradually re installed and upgraded since 2015 to promote and reshape the concept of "lifewear" to the world and continue the brand power.
The first global flagship store in Nanjing West Road, Shanghai, was reopened. With this as a starting point, five global flagship stores have experienced re installation. Under the brand-new image, UNIQLO continues to break through the boundaries of traditional clothing retail stores.

Distinct theme, deepening brand connection

Nanjing West Road store in Shanghai is the first "suit life" theme store. On the first floor, a special area of "wear out yourself" is set up to publicize self personality; 2、 On the third floor, a "generation generation generation evolution" area is set up to emphasize the generation connection between brands and consumers.

Another theme is to bind City cards to brands. This can increase the brand's sense of belonging in the minds of urban and local consumers. This move, which has been tested earlier, is usually used in more mature markets. For example, UNIQLO Shanghai UNIQLO opened in 2013, and UNIQLO Osaka UNIQLO opened in 2014.

Following the above strategy, the theme of the New York SOHO store changed from "from Tokyo to SOHO" to "New Tokyo in Soho", and the words "Tokyo" could be seen everywhere in the store.

This is intended to answer a series of questions: who is UNIQLO, which country it comes from and what kind of aesthetic taste UNIQLO has. The flagship store of Mingyao department store in Taiwan was upgraded to "UNIQLO Taipei".

Compound format, lifestyle

Another prominent feature of the global flagship store is that it creates a compound space with multiple formats and evolves into a lifestyle.
As part of the plan to strengthen "Tokyo gene", New York's Soho flagship store has been redeveloped with a Tokyo newsstand to display and sell more than 150 trendy magazines and books from Tokyo.

The Ginza flagship store in Tokyo was reopened on September 17 this year. In order to fully interpret the concept of "new life, new wear, new Ginza", the retail space has been greatly reduced, giving way to rich experience and innovative formats.

For example, on the 12th floor of the top floor, UNIQLO coffee, the world's first coffee shop, was opened; There are other "shops in the shop": the flower shop "UNIQLO flow" is on the first floor; Custom tailor shop, located on the 6th floor and women's underwear area and men's wear area on the 10th floor, providing customized services; There are "Museum zones" on several floors to show the concept of the brand "lifewear", so that consumers can have a more real experience and feel the brand value conveyed by UNIQLO while shopping.

These renovated and reopened stores are also the inspiration for its latest global flagship store. Beijing Sanlitun global flagship store, called "compound tomorrow life Museum", contains uniqloflower vitality flower shop, ut Museum, utme! There are many kinds of "shop in store" such as customized workshop, science and technology art immersion exhibition.

From that perspective, China's consumer brands are now rising in an all-round way. In terms of brand building, no one can get around the corner of the flagship store.

From new consumer brands such as Xicha, Naixue, Huamei harmay and perfect diary, to old Chinese brands such as Li Ning, Anta and bosden, all of them are fans of flagship stores. However, it is still a question mark whether it can open a fire one like UNIQLO's global flagship store and continue the classic.

The way of UNIQLO's global flagship stores can provide some reference for the upgrading of Chinese consumer brands.

Based on the macro trend, focus on the long-term strategic pattern of the enterprise. UNIQLO's global flagship store was born under the background of Japan's market growth bottleneck and the need to increase from the world. The number of stores, store form and renovation strategy are closely related to the strategic changes of enterprises. Therefore, from the top-level design, we should avoid "opening a flagship store for the sake of opening a flagship store".

The top-level design is transformed into perceptible details, and the purpose is always to meet the needs and experience of consumers. UNIQLO anchor "space design + content is king" to create full consumption reasons, and even become a tourist destination.

Continue to iterate and focus on reality. UNIQLO is a "realistic" player. The new highlights of global flagship stores come out of nothing, but are verified, incubated and extracted in the previous stage.

Born in 2006, UNIQLO's global flagship store has witnessed the rise and fall of Liujing's global campaign. It has won the glory of the world's most valuable clothing enterprises, and has the perseverance of the European and American markets.
Led by 15 giant billboards, UNIQLO will continue its "global tour". When will the global billboard of Chinese consumer brands be born?