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UNIQLO Founder: He Is A Technology Company

2022/3/4 22:03:00 0

As a new generation of "God of management" in Japan after Matsushita, Akio Mori and Kazuo Inamori, Yanai has his own unique business philosophy. He has said for a long time that UNIQLO is good at using innovative technology, combining design and quality, to make every piece of clothing durable and fashionable compared with those brands that are on the cutting edge of fashion. "UNIQLO is not a clothing company, it's a technology company," he declared more than once. "Our opponent is apple, not gap."

Liu Jingzheng, founder, chairman, President and CEO of UNIQLO group

Liu Jing, 72, has completed his vacation abroad and two weeks of isolation. "I'm very distressed to have nothing to do at home. Even if I want to buy some noodles and rice balls to eat at home, I have to ask someone to go to the convenience store nearby. This is how I came during the isolation period." Liu is talking about the "price" of short-term freedom, which may be becoming a normal in the post epidemic era. People who want to go overseas still want to go overseas, and people who love life are still pursuing the best way of life. What can UNIQLO do for consumers? It seems that Liu Jing, as the founder of UNIQLO, chairman, President and CEO of fast retailing group, has been thinking about this problem since the beginning of the epidemic.

What kind of life do we need in the post epidemic era?

"In the post epidemic era, through the continuous evolution of clothing products and services, UNIQLO is looking forward to creating a kind of clothing that leads the global quality life and dynamic life, enabling consumers to create more ideal life and lifestyle in the future." Liujing explains the brand concept of integrating technology, art, cultural innovation and sustainable development.

This concept is better reflected in UNIQLO's first global flagship store in Beijing. As UNIQLO's first "compound tomorrow's life hall", Sanlitun's new store brings "immersion science and technology art exhibition" for China's special planning commodities, UNIQLO's black technology trump brand goods and clothing design. It has set up the first vitality flower shop in mainland China and launched the first utme in Beijing! At the same time, ut world cultural and creative "Museum" landed in Beijing for the first time, and held the first exhibition of "endless" hand-made Miao embroidery store jointly created with Tsinghua students.

The opening of the global flagship store is UNIQLO's latest report card in response to the challenges of digital and post epidemic era. In mid October, UNIQLO's parent company, FMCG, announced that for the fiscal year 2021 as of August 31, its comprehensive income increased by 6.2% to 2.13 trillion yen, its operating profit increased by 66.7% to 249 billion yen, and its net profit to its parent rose 88% to 169.8 billion yen. Among them, UNIQLO Greater China has achieved its best performance over the years.

"Although the epidemic seems to separate countries from each other, I think we can communicate with each other through clothing." "I hope you can understand that UNIQLO is such an enterprise, which is not only a simple technological innovation, because clothing is not only an industrial product, but also has emotion, which can show emotion and green environmental protection. It can not rely on technology alone, but also need art and culture. Our 'Art & science' and 'made for all' are our products ’Is to provide new value for all the best clothing. This is our philosophy and goal, and we have been working in this direction. "

Online and offline should be strengthened at the same time

Liujing is very optimistic about the development of the Chinese market. He revealed that UNIQLO's goal in China is to open 3000 stores from about 850 stores.

In the rapid development of e-commerce today, this is obviously a surprising number. With the popularity of smart phones, some people think that physical stores will no longer be needed in the future. According to Henderson research, a consulting firm, the number of offline physical store closures in the United States continued to increase before the outbreak, reaching a record 10000 store closures by 2019. The arrival of the new epidemic accelerated the process. In this regard, Liu Jing said: "for us, the flagship store is essential. The store is not only for everyone to shop, but also for everyone to experience the brand. Without the flagship store, our e-commerce can not develop very well." He believes that the reason and value of the existence of stores are whether they operate stores with customers as the center, and whether the clerks sell goods with this mentality, which is the core of future competitiveness.

UNIQLO Beijing Sanlitun global flagship store covers an area of 2400 square meters. It is a three story shop. Besides hardware, software is equally attentive. "We absolutely need flagship stores. The proportion of e-commerce will definitely increase in the future, but it is impossible to be 100% e-commerce." "The quality, color and style of clothes still need to be seen in person in order to feel better, and even give out the praise of 'Wow, how good'," Liu said

Offline stores can provide experience that target customers can't provide online, such as satisfying the five senses of vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch. This new store, which is different from the traditional store, is called "super experience store". The rise of super experience stores is also due to the fact that the proportion of global online sales is still small compared with that of offline sales. According to the prediction of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on 58 global markets, even by 2025, the proportion of global online retail sales will only reach 20%.
Moreover, in the era of experience economy, good brands must rely on offline stores to convey the stories and visions behind them. Wu pinhui, global executive director of fast retailing group and chief marketing officer of UNIQLO in Greater China, said that offline experience store is a channel for brands to display corporate culture to consumers. "The store is a good showcase. We provide UNIQLO's fashion design and technology display in many stores. We want to convey UNIQLO's clothing design concept, technology and technology to consumers through physical stores, so that they can understand the science and art behind quality. I think this is an irreplaceable function of physical stores."

In Liujing's view, the best state of the future retail environment is to establish an online environment where consumers can buy anytime, anywhere, "The best way is to strengthen e-commerce and stores at the same time, and it is the same in China. Live delivery with goods is very popular in recent years. You can take your living room as a shop, and use live broadcast to explain the goods, so that customers can have a more specific understanding. In other words, our shop assistants, goods and customers seem to be in the same space." "If there is no shop nearby, you can buy it online, or if there is a store near your home, you can order first, then go to the store to confirm, if you don't like it, you can exchange or return it. I think the future is such a shopping form, and both E-commerce and stores are needed," he said

UNIQLO China has taken the lead in large-scale practice of online ordering and physical store delivery. After online shopping, users don't have to wait for express delivery to their door, but they can also choose the way to pick up goods from the nearest store. The advantage of this is that it not only enables anxious customers to avoid the hardship of waiting for express delivery, but also creates an opportunity for the brand to guide online users to offline physical stores for "loyalty recharge". Customers in the physical store can also be dissatisfied with the goods returned to the scene. This seamless integration of online and offline also greatly saves customer time and energy. UNIQLO has also set up an autonomous checkout machine for customers who shop in the store, which is another way to shorten the shopping process and save customers' time by combining online and offline shopping. It can be said that Beijing Sanlitun global flagship store is an important step for UNIQLO to realize its vision of "digital consumer retail enterprise".
Win in competition with differentiation

Of course, brand is not a super experience shop can be once and for all. In the future, when brands launch experience stores one after another, how to reflect the differences and win from the competition is an important topic.

Although the Chinese market has become an important engine for the growth of fast retailing group's performance, it is the second largest market after Japan. However, with the upgrading of Chinese consumption, the market influence of local brands is gradually released. Coupled with the mature and huge local supply chain, domestic fast fashion brands are gradually favored by more and more consumers, This makes UNIQLO face more fierce competition in China. According to the report on the development of Chinese consumer brands in 2020 by Ali Research Institute, the market share of online Chinese brands will reach 72% in 2019; In the past two years, Chinese brands have occupied more than 4 / 5 of foreign brands in FMCG.

In this regard, Liujing is maintaining an open and common development mentality, "Global brands and domestic brands compete in the Chinese market together, which is a good thing for consumers, because competition is the basis of progress. I think it is a good thing for Chinese domestic brands to rise. We are produced and sold in China, and we can grow up to today with the help of Chinese manufacturing partners. These manufacturers are in the process of reform and opening up Since then, township enterprises have gradually developed and expanded. They really want to make the best clothes. So I will send the technical representatives from Japan to join hands with you. From the mode of production in the factory, to the usage of fabrics and textiles, we will study together. We really want to create good products, so that we can have development. " "Of course, we can't monopolize this market, nor can other brands monopolize the market. We can learn from each other and expand our fan base respectively," he said

Of course, the premise of common development is to maintain the personality and positioning of the brand and achieve differentiation. Yanai is revisiting UNIQLO's unique winning formula: "The advantage of UNIQLO is that we have both the current mainstream styles and the basic, traditional and classic versions. However, other brands are mainly focused on fashion trends, which is different from us. We do make products for all consumers' made for ail, which can be worn by all people. Our consumers are our main production pairs Image and audience. Other brands have their own positioning, so it is impossible to say in general who is stronger and who is weaker. " With high cost-effective products, attaching importance to technology empowerment, and seizing young consumer groups through cooperation with big brand owners, this is the reason why Youyi stores keep growing in the competitive Chinese market.

Compared with Chinese local brands, UNIQLO's global competitive advantage is that it can cooperate with first-class designers and artists, such as British, German and French designers. UNIQLO also cooperates with world-famous art galleries and museums, such as the Museum of modern art in New York, the Louvre in France, Tate Modern in London, etc, At the same time, UT is designed as a representative product. "We will carry the global information on our products, so that we can differentiate." UNIQLO also uses the Internet to listen to customers' needs from around the world to improve product details, he said.

Although the new crown epidemic has brought about many changes in the world, Liujing is really 70 years old and does what he wants. He never allows himself to be affected by the performance of the company. "The company's performance must be good or bad, and the key is whether the overall trend is showing the trend of growth. You have to become a respected enterprise and brand."

Interview with Liu Jingzheng, founder, chairman, President and CEO of UNIQLO

Q: What new understanding do you expect consumers to have about UNIQLO through entering the Expo?

A: I think for UNIQLO, we all know that we are from Japan, but we are also an enterprise to achieve innovation with Chinese manufacturers. I hope you can understand this. UNIQLO uses the technology of Japan and China, as well as the global culture, that is, art & Science in the concept of lifewear, to achieve innovation through art and science, and to produce the products needed. I hope you can understand that UNIQLO is such an enterprise, which is not only a simple technological innovation, because although clothing is an industrial product, it has emotions, can show emotions and green environmental protection. It can not rely on technology alone, it needs art and culture. Our "Art & Science" and "made for all" are the best clothing to offer new value to all. This is our philosophy and goal, and we have been working in this direction.

Q: How do you see the role of offline physical stores?

A: I think we are affected by the Internet a lot. There is no sense of existence of the shop will disappear, the real existence of the store for customers can survive, this is a very simple truth. However, it is impossible for all physical stores to turn into e-commerce 100%, because people can see the color and size of clothes on the Internet, and there is no intuitive feeling. They need to take them to feel the texture of clothes. These are the functions provided by physical stores. It is impossible to say that only e-commerce or physical stores are left. Both are very important. The best thing is that you can buy it anytime, anywhere, and create such an online environment. At the same time, UNIQLO has physical stores all over China. My goal is to have 3000 physical stores in China.

Q: Many brands will focus on the development of e-commerce. 25% of the sales of some brands come from e-commerce, but the overall average of UNIQLO is 18%. What do you think of this problem?

A: For us, the flagship store is essential. The store is not only for shopping, but also for experiencing the brand. If there is no flagship store, our e-commerce will not develop very well. The best way is to strengthen e-commerce and stores at the same time, so is China. Live delivery with goods is very popular in recent years. You can take your living room as a shop, and use live broadcast to explain the goods, so that customers can have a more specific understanding. In other words, our shop assistants, goods and customers seem to be in the same space. If there is no shop nearby, you can buy online, or if there is a shop near your home, you can order first, and then go to the store to confirm. If you don't like it, you can also exchange or return it. I think the future is such a shopping form, e-commerce and shops are needed.

Q: In the second year of the global epidemic, what changes do you think this will bring to the global consumer market?

A: Because of the new epidemic, everyone is mainly at home, and the connection between countries is gradually losing. Although there is separation and division between countries, digitization and intellectualization are irreversible. All information is available to everyone. Global information is digitalized. Only enterprises that can truly apply digital technology to retail industry can win. We need to connect the world. In the past, it was a state to state era. In the future, individuals and individuals could be connected together, enterprises and enterprises would be linked together, and private enterprises and individuals would be linked together, and everyone would coexist and coexist.