Depth | Why can Uniqlo keep consumers paying?

In the fierce market competition, excellent technology and high quality are the core reasons for Uniqlo to conquer mass consumers and the affluent class at the same time

Uniqlo may be an exception in the sinking fast-fashion track.

According to Fashion Business News, within a short period of one month, Uniqlo launched a number of global flagship stores around the world, arousing widespread attention. The latest one is the "Uniqlo Ginza" flagship store in Ginza, Tokyo. "New GINZA" is the concept, incarnate as a "brand museum", displaying the brand's representative products, black technology, and advocating life concepts.

In addition, Uniqlo has opened its first UNIQLO COFFEE on the 12th floor, offering options such as 200 yen for a cup of blended bean coffee and 450 yen for a cup of hand-made coffee, as well as Ginza. Butter cookies and other small snacks from the established dessert shop "Ginza West".

In just one month, Uniqlo launched new flagship stores around the world, which attracted widespread attention

At the end of August, Uniqlo also reopened its flagship store at 546 Broadway, SOHO District, New York. The brand has been in the United States for 15 years. This is the first store opened by Uniqlo in the United States. This refurbished global flagship store combines local American characteristics. What enters the door to greet consumers is a huge glass sink that extends down the center to display the brand’s core LifeWear series. In addition to selling branded products, Uniqlo will also Provide consumers with customized services.

Prior to this, Uniqlo and the Fast Retailing Group's high-end brand Theory won the store where Superdry is located on Regent Street in London. The new flagship store will open next year, covering an area of ​​about 1,900 square meters and an annual rent of 4.3 million pounds. Coincidentally, Regent Street also has a special significance for Uniqlo, and it was one of the destinations of the brand when it first expanded overseas in 2001.

In the most important Chinese market at the moment, Uniqlo will also open Beijing’s first global flagship store in Sanlitun, Beijing. At the 2021 China International Import Expo to be held in November, the brand will also build a 1,000-square-meter “Tomorrow’s Wonder”. "Environment", showcasing LifeWear's continuous evolution of science and technology, design, cultural creation and quality innovative clothing that adapt to the art and science of life, and better empower Chinese consumers in their new lives and lifestyles in the future.

Wu Pinhui, Chief Marketing Officer of Uniqlo Greater China, also revealed that the Chinese market has recovered rapidly after the epidemic. In 2020, Uniqlo opened 66 new stores in China. In the future, it plans to open 80 to 100 new stores in China each year, and continue to expand to third- and fourth-tier cities. Sinking market penetration. As of the end of November last year, the number of Uniqlo stores in China has reached 800, which is the same size as Uniqlo's Japanese stores.

Some analysts pointed out that Uniqlo dared to expand against the trend because of its strong product strength in the market, which mainly started with a fabric called "polar fleece".

The hero who popularized the fleece

Different from competitors obtaining new growth momentum through the development of new businesses, Uniqlo’s strategic focus has always been very clearly focused on core products, mainly based on basic casual clothing, designed based on life needs, and simple and practical. Aesthetics, high-quality clothing fabrics, to enhance the quality of life of consumers.

The most typical of them is the polar fleece series of Uniqlo. ?

As winter approaches, Uniqlo stores hang up the most familiar polar fleece products, in addition to various classic jackets and sweater styles, as well as lapel pullovers and single-breasted sweaters that combine HEATTECH and polar fleece fabrics. Profile jackets, lamb-like all-match vests, pullovers and check windproof jackets, etc.

As winter approaches, Uniqlo stores hang up the most familiar polar fleece products

At the same time, the fabric has also been applied to the brand's cooperation series with White Mountaineering. The fleece loose pullover with a price of only 199 yuan will be officially sold on October 15. Some insiders speculate that there will be a panic buying. upsurge.

Polar fleece elements also appeared in the collaboration series between Uniqlo and White Mountaineering

In fact, the signs of this trend appeared last year. The topic of #别再问什么爱穿反粒绒了# suddenly appeared on Weibo's hot search last winter, with 220 million views and over 10,000 discussions. The protagonist is Uniqlo's polar fleece jacket.

Invisibly, polar fleece is forming a new climate, and “when you talk about Uniqlo, you will think of fleece. If you want to buy polar fleece, go to Uniqlo” has quietly become a consensus among consumers.

Significantly, Uniqlo is not the creator of polar fleece, but it is the biggest contributor to polar fleece to the world.

According to data, polar fleece was launched by a company called Malden Mills in 1981. Under the same conditions, polar fleece has twice the cold resistance of merino wool and four times that of cotton, and is light, fast-drying and easy to maintain. It was once rated as one of the 100 greatest inventions and creations of the 20th century by Time Magazine and Forbes.

Under the same conditions, polar fleece has twice the cold resistance of merino wool and four times that of cotton, and is gentle, quick-drying and easy to maintain.

Since the textile fabric of polar fleece was monopolized by the United States as soon as it was launched, the import cost continued to rise. Initially, only high-end clothing brands would choose this fabric, and it was mainly used for mountaineering clothes and ski shirts, and it was not easily accessible by mass consumers. . For a time, cheap, lightweight and warm clothing became a big gap in the market.

UNIQLO, which sensed business opportunities, immediately began to develop its own polar fleece fabrics. In 1994, it introduced the fleece production process, and cooperated with Japanese Toray Company to improve the technology, and completed the textile, dyeing and sewing process in China as much as possible. Control costs without affecting the quality of fabrics.

In 1998, Uniqlo successfully launched its first self-developed polar fleece jacket, priced at 2,900 yen, which is half the price of the imported Polartec® fleece jacket. This lightweight and warm jacket was a big success as soon as it hit the shelves, selling 8.5 million pieces in the first year.

Uniqlo is the hero who promotes the fleece fabric to the world

After feeling the enthusiastic response of the market, Uniqlo immediately launched 15 color-matching self-developed fleece jackets in 1999, and lowered the price to 1,900 yen. Together with overwhelming publicity and promotion, it directly stimulated sales that year. Soared more than three times to 26 million.

After bringing cost-effective polar fleece products to the public, Uniqlo did not stop, but continued to invest, with only one purpose, which is to change the consumer’s stereotype that “cheap is not good” and open up public consumers’ contact The window of polar fleece, so that polar fleece clothing forms a cultural phenomenon in the world. In 2000, Uniqlo's polar fleece jacket has increased to 51 colors, and then four product systems of short fleece, long fleece, windproof fleece, and lamb-like fleece have been derived.

Facts have proved that in the cruel apparel industry, only those who have become a trend will be remembered by consumers. In just three years, Uniqlo sold nearly 40 million polar fleece products, and sales far exceeded expectations, making Uniqlo the largest clothing manufacturer in Japan at the time. In the same year, Uniqlo successfully listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Japan. Journey to become the world's largest apparel retailer.

Behind the red fleece

However, polar fleece clothing has really been pushed to the wind in the past two years. Prior to this, it has always existed in the minds of consumers as functional clothing such as home or warm clothing.

According to the Baidu Index, the popularity of polar fleece in recent years will have a small peak with the arrival of winter, and at the end of 2020, there will be the highest peak over the years. The keyword search index has increased by 30 compared to the peak last year. %.

In this regard, some analysts believe that it is related to Uniqlo's persistent promotion of the fabric worldwide and the "halo effect" of the brand and designer's joint collaboration series.

As the promotion ambassador of polar fleece, Uniqlo has spared no effort to develop and produce various styles and colors of polar fleece clothing for decades, which has gradually aroused the curiosity of consumers. For a time, "Why does Uniqlo love polar fleece so much?" "Search terms. In 2013, Uniqlo opened a polar fleece concept store in Shanghai, aiming to better allow consumers to experience the polar fleece that has just entered the Chinese market.

In the autumn and winter of 2019, Uniqlo and Loewe creative director JW Anderson, and tooling trendy brand Engineered Garments' joint series officially linked the functional product to fashion, and then cooperated with fashion bloggers’ evaluation and recommendation and planting grass, so that the mass consumers were aware of it. The fashionable side of polar fleece items.

The popularity of polar fleece also makes more and more luxury fashion brands take a fancy to this material. Not only Nike, Supreme and The NorthFace have successively launched related products, but a fleece jacket by Louis Vuitton has been fired in the secondary market. A premium of more than 60%.

With the endorsement of trendy and luxury brands and Uniqlo’s long-term past "education", polar fleece apparel finally ushered in an outbreak last year, as long as you can see people wearing polar fleece items on the streets in winter.

Taobao data reflects the overwhelming advantage of the preconceived Uniqlo in the polar fleece apparel track. According to the monitoring of DT Finance, among the top 1000 fleece items sold on Taobao last year, UNIQLO has an exclusive ownership of 31 models, especially in the range of 0 to 299 yuan. Cardigan basically implements Uniqlo's concept of "everything can be polar fleece".

With the continuous improvement of the hard-core strength of brands and products, Uniqlo's ambition to make polar fleece "the most common people's technological fashion" has surfaced.

In order to make the classics sustainable through technological innovation and environmental protection, Uniqlo has co-created the "Economy of Life", "Positive Energy Society" and "Altruism" in the newly launched 2021 autumn and winter polar fleece series. Based on the value proposition, some models use recycled polyester raw materials derived from recycled plastic bottles to promote the effective use of resources.

Continue to conquer consumers with new classics

Careful observation is not difficult to find that the magic of Uniqlo seems to be that it can not only show a rare inclusiveness, so that mature consumers and young consumers can find suitable clothes in Uniqlo, but also enable all products to finally reflect "Uniqlo products." .

"New York Magazine" described Uniqlo as a "made out of nothing" brand in its report, and believed that it was Uniqlo's pure pursuit of product quality that allowed its consumers to spread across all major circles.

In the eyes of the upper class, compared to luxury brands with complicated patterns, new styles every season, and tens of thousands of luxury brands, Uniqlo's basic models are the best solution for daily wear and can better highlight personal charm. For the migrant workers, Uniqlo T-shirts that sell for no more than 100 yuan are unburdened, and there is no worry of out-of-season.

The logic is very simple, that is, turning the basic model into an explosive model.

For example, when consumers are tired of the proliferation and boredom of polar fleece, Uniqlo will continue to upgrade the process and take the lead with its unique fleece production system and appearance. On the classic hooded sweaters and round neck sweaters, Uniqlo also added a large drop-shoulder version this year to enhance the sense of fashion. In terms of colors, soft Morandi tones and berry colors are adopted, and the combination of the Louvre and Treasure Can dream and other IP joint names to increase the fun.

The high-grade light down series is the trump card product of Uniqlo every winter. The lightness, warmth and portability are the first choice for mass consumers to buy down jackets. In the new classic series, Uniqlo especially added corrugated quilted models to the fluffy, portable and classic models. The divided down-filled form not only looks fashionable but also solves the problem of traditional down jackets "run down".

Uniqlo's merino wool is another standing warm item in the winter wardrobe of consumers. Compared with other brands, the price of tens of thousands of tens of thousands of tens of thousands of dollars, UNIQLO's merino wool sweaters are not only affordable and affordable Washing is easy to take care of, and its variety of styles and colors allow consumers to have a variety of warm and stylish matching options in winter.

The HEATTECH series with moisture-absorbing and heat-generating function ushered in a new black technology fabric this year. On the basis of the previous classic, multi-soothing, and high-soothing 3 levels of warmth, Uniqlo especially uses cotton fabrics on the inner layer, which makes the overall texture more soft. . According to estimates by market analysts, its representative HEATTECH series products have sold more than 1 billion pieces so far.

In recent years, Uniqlo has also focused on creating trousers series. Its latest "sweet pants" series are all high-waisted. Special attention will be paid to the modification of the leg shape in the tailoring. The fabric is more comfortable than ordinary jeans and casual pants, which completely defeats girls. Anxiety in body shape.

At the same time, Uniqlo, as a leader in the domestic market for rimless underwear, has in-depth insights into the consumption needs and user experience of Chinese women, and continues to iteratively upgrade its products. The new trump card "Light Oxygen Bra" will be launched. It is comfortable to be naked all day long. It uses Uniqlo's unique AIRism black technology fabric. It uses petal cups and decompression technology. The beautiful breast shape solves the problem of poor shaping of underwire underwear and machine wash. Deformation and other pain points. It is reported that the product will make its global debut in China on October 25.

After becoming a resident of consumer wardrobes, Uniqlo is also committed to becoming a leader in rimless underwear, and will make the world's first ace light oxygen Bra

In addition, Uniqlo also has special series for different groups of people, such as UT and Uniqlo U, which basically cover all the scenes that consumers will encounter in their daily lives. " concept.

Although Uniqlo’s success is closely related to the creation of “basic models”, in the fierce market competition, basic models alone are not enough to support the brand’s leap forward. Uniqlo’s excellent technology and high quality are the only ones that conquer the masses and the wealthy at the same time. The core reason for the class.

In other words, making the simplest thing the ultimate is the largest and most insurmountable moat formed between Uniqlo and its competitors over the years.

The chairman and CEO of Fast Retailing Group, who is well versed in the importance of raw materials to basic product apparel, has repeatedly emphasized that Uniqlo’s competitors are technology giants such as Apple, not traditional apparel retailers such as Gap. He hopes With the power of clothing, the lives of all people, not just some of them, will be better.

Therefore, when Zara and H&M were still satisfied with the heyday of traditional fast fashion, Uniqlo realized that it had to upgrade from the inside. It opened a research and development center in Paris in 2016 and held it in Paris, New York and London since 2017. The purpose of the LifeWear Expo is to subvert the brand's original single "fast fashion" image in the minds of consumers.

In order to better reduce the negative impact of weather factors on product sales, Fast Retailing Group launched an artificial intelligence AI-based production and retail reform in early 2018, that is, through AI analysis of large amounts of data such as weather and fashion trends, and predict the number of products needed , To avoid the production of redundant products, and to deliver the goods that consumers need as soon as possible. The group also cooperates with consulting companies such as Accenture to jointly develop a new system that can predict customers' future purchase behavior based on their purchase records.

In September 2018, Google announced at the Cloud Next 2018 event held in Tokyo that it had formally reached a cooperation with Fast Retailing Group to help it accelerate its growth. Some people in the industry said that the cooperation with Google is a milestone for the Fast Retailing Group.

A series of advanced layouts made Uniqlo the fastest-running apparel retail group last year. At the beginning of the year, its market value once surpassed Zara's parent company Inditex. For the future, Fast Retailing Group is also full of optimism. In the latest sustainability report, UNIQLO will create a new world after the epidemic for the next generation.

As Yukhiro Katsuta, head of Uniqlo’s research and design department, once pointed out, “Consumers are becoming more and more picky, so instead of doing a lot of things scattered, it’s better to focus on doing something. In different categories, UNIQLO provides the best The value and design of goods".

At the moment when everything is "unbounded", whether it is selling or marketing, Uniqlo is using personal actions to prove that the most important thing the brand should not lose is the word "sincerity".

Author: Zhou Huining