london concept store marketing plan project

UNIQLO is a Japanese fashion retail brand that focus on “Comfortable Everyday Clothing, Made for all” Fast Retailing AR, 2014.. This six months marketing plan to launch London concept st

London Concept Store Marketing Plan Project

Yi Cheng Huang Fashion Business Year 2

Group 3 Student Number: 017736 Istituto Marangoni London

Aims and Objectives

Target Markets and Customers and Positioning

Marketing Mix

Plan Calendar and Budgets

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

UNIQLO is a Japanese fashion retail brand that focus on

“Comfortable Everyday Clothing, Made for all”

(Fast Retailing AR, 2014)

This six months marketing plan to launch London

concept store in order to engage with its customer by developing new concept store and providing unique

in-store experience merging with E-commerce through order consumer preference products online and

deliver to their home at the time when they arrive,

which allows UNIQLO to gives customers

special experience and feeling interests with

the brand.

INTRODUCTION

In 1894 UNIQLO Co., Ltd opened it first store in Japan as a Specialty store retailer of Private label Apparel (SPA) model owned by Fast Retailing CO., LTD (FR) (Fast Retailing-About FR, 20151), as it opened in the UK in the year

2001 (Fast Retailing-Company Instruction, 20152) and now it operates globally with about 1485 stores in 16 different countries (Fast Retailing-Overview of Business segments, 20153) UNIQLO is a Japanese clothing brand for casual wear with high-quality texture but with reasonable price (Fast Retailing-About

FR, 20151) But not only raising in the number of stores, as stated by Fast Retailing AR (2014) there is a strong increases in net sales 21% (£1319.48) However, Fast Retailing also owned other brand such as GU, Theory, PLST, J BRAND, PRINCESSE tam-tam and COMPTOIR DES CONTONNIERS, these brands stores were opened either in USA, Japan, France and China (Fast Retailing-Global Brands, 20154)

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STRATEGIC AUDIT

According to Easey, M (2009, p.240) in order to accomplish marketing objectives, there will be needed of marketing goals, operations and performance that is known as marketing audit of the company The marketing audit is usually divided into two main categories, which are micro and macro marketing environment

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Figure 1: Marketing Environment (Sorensen, C2009, p.26)

Micro-Marketing Environment

• Competitors:

The competitors are identified by strategic group suggested by Aaker (2007,

p.59), to be more detailed about the competitor and easier to be compared that

is by looking at this two tables following- SWOT and price point analysis

Brands Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

Gap

• Baby, Kids,

Men’s, Women’s and Maternity product ranges

• Helping charities

such as ‘Product RED’

• Collaboration

with Vespa

• Don’t have UK website

• Is not a fashion led complete

• Don’t have interesting technologies

• More into fashion trends, such as skinny jeans

• Pop-up stores sell limited edition products

• Strong in commerce

e-• Changes in production costs and currencies

• Emergence of discounters

• Economic crisis

• Competitors

• Changes in fashion trends

American

Apparel

• Baby, kids, Men’s and Women’s product ranges

• Successful internationally

• Very fashion led and popular with youth

• Doesn’t appeal too much for the older generation

• Expanding organic products

• Develop interesting campaign

• Collaboration with some designers to make products

• Economic crisis

• Competitors STRATEGIC AUDIT

Brands Leggings T-Shirt Blazer Cashmere

The table shows the competitors for UNIQLO in the UK fashion brand market,

I took those competitors due to the products’ availability and similarity to UNIQLO’s On the other hand, as you can see the price for each company is slightly different, but UNIQLO has much lower price in cashmere sweater because UNIQLO can negotiate to lower cost with the global manufacturers directly when ordering a bulk buying However, I would say that GAP is the main competitor for UNIQLO, not only because it operates globally but also they are using SPA business model too, also you can see the SWOT analysis for each competitors and compared to UNIQLO’s later on ( Fast Retailing

AR, 2014)

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Table 2: Competitors Price Analysis

• Suppliers:

The main two suppliers described by Gallagher, C (2015) for UNIQLO, to make clothes which are Dongguan Tomwell Garment Co Ltd and Pacific (Pan Yu) Textiles Ltd in China Also Kaihara Corporation in Japan for specific spinning and dyeing process and Toray Industries for special materials such as HEATTECH products in UNIQLO (Fast Retailing-UNIQLO Business Model, 20155) Despite having suppliers in China have advantage with lower cost of production, but there were issues on working environment for the employees reported by SACOM group in Hong Kong, due to high temperatures, poor ventilation and working for too many hours with low wages However, Fast Retailing stated that they would improve the monitor system on their manufacture partners and tracking on employees accidents and overtime hours (Gallagher, C, 2015)

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• Manufacturers:

UNIQLO has factories through out the global in China, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Indonesia, also production offices in Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City, Dhaka, Jakarta and Istanbul (Fast Retailing AR, 2014)

• Intermediaries:

From manufacturers to warehouse then to each individual stores in different countries and cities globally, according to Fast Retailing-Group Outlets (20157) there are 842 stores only in Japan and 716 stores globally However in the UK, there are only 10 stores that are mostly either flagship stores or inside the department store such as Westfield in London and Bluwater shopping centre in Kent (UNIQLO’s UK Store Locations no date)

STRATEGIC AUDIT

• Consumer

The understanding of consumer’s needs in their lives so, we can satisfy them in

the future Also to increase customer acquisition by attracting and drives them

to buy their first purchase in UNIQLO On the other words, identifying unmet

needs of customer it can help the company to increase market share or creating

a new market (Aaker, D 2007, p 50) Moreover, UNIQLO has a customer

centre where they can receives massive of comments and requests on

improving products, stores and service, according to Fast Retailing’s Annual

Report (2014) they receives more than 100,000 comments per year, which is a

big amount of recommendations that allows UNIQLO understanding consumer’s wants and needs

• Public

Sorensen, C (2009, p34) said that the public could be either an impact or

favour for the company’s successes, such as financial, media, government

publics and pressure group Financial publics is important as it affects on

funding for the company, if we need a bank loan then we need to provide

favourable payments option in return, or whether or not any Publics wants to

invest in UNIQLO, it all depends on the financial statement such as Income

Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow and you can see in Appendix 1-3.⤀관

STRATEGIC AUDIT

Macro-Marketing Environment

Political

The globalisation bring UK and Japan closer and lots of companies are starting

to target same market and customers which as a result causing an increase in mutual interests and concerns as each apparels will wants to survive in the market

Economical

The issues for having a business in the UK after the recession is that many local customers’ buying decisions are becoming more price conscious and will prefer to purchase a good quality with good value

Legal

The integrated tariff, duties, Intrastat and intellectual property (IP) in the UK, also need to consider the children regulation such as the nightwear (Safety) regulations and the children’s clothing (Hood Cords) regulations when

importing in (Government UK, 2013)

Environmental

In 2012 Ashulia fire and in 2013 Savar building collapse in Bangladesh, now the sewing factories and fabric manufacturing plants are monitored by external institutions specialised (Fast Retailing AR, 2014)

Customer perception towards the brand

UNIQLO have a system for their customer to complain any issues or what they would like to suggest for the company to improve

in the future, moreover the company has good

time manner management that is to

response back to their customers by the end

of the next business working day As you can see from the pie chart in figure 11 the numbers of compliments are about 248% (67175) way

more than complaints number (29389), which we can conclude that the overall

of UNIQLO’s customer are satisfied with their company mostly is their store

customer service On the other hand, in figure 12 is the result of survey for

AIRism product about feeling unlimited comfort, almost 99% of the consumers

agreed, which means UNIQLO succeed on what they want the customer to

experience on the unique of the products Also there review link for UNIQLO

for customer to comment and rate on their products

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STRATEGIC AUDIT

Figure 2: Customer Satisfaction

Figure 3: UNIQLO Survey

Figure 4: UNIQLO review website

UNIQLO’s SWOT Analysis

• UNIQLO has strong international reputation as it operates globally and internationally (16 markets worldwide)

• Cost saving of manufacturing in China

• SPA business model that is producing good quality products with reasonable price

• UNIQLO developing innovative products, such as HEATTECH fabric

• Competitive advantage as UNIQLO provides various price points for casual wear apparel

• Despite being a popular brand it has a limited brand recall

• Higher cost due to import tax

• UNIQLO mostly produced in China, there could be political, economical and legal problems

• Not all of the products are available online

• Doesn’t advertise all collaborations, such as with LEMAIRE, which I found in UK webpage (UNIQLO WEB NEWS 2015)

• Too much layers in distribution channel

• UNIQLO uses E&M-commerce

• UNIQLO opening more stores in European Zone

• New stores in the UK big city such as London

• UNIQLO could introduce maternity product ranges

Strategic Option

After analysing the strategic audits that includes micro and macro-marketing

environment, customer perception towards the brand and SWOT that helps to

develop strategic option, which is opening a new concept store in London, as in

Fast Retailing annual report also stated that they are expanding the market into

U.S Market also new UNIQLO stores in Europe and global centres

MARKETING PLAN

MARKETING PLAN

Marketing Strategy

The strategy will be formulated based on the Ansoff matrix (1957, cited by Kotler et al, 2010) My marketing plan for UNIQLO is to meet ‘Market Penetration’, as the company already entered UK’s market with the products

that mostly has been selling in every country, however, the plan is to open a

new concept store in London to increase revenues for the company and to delivered UNIQLO ‘s customers’ needs and wants

Aims & Objectives

1 Increase market share 5% in 6 months

1.1 Increase brand awareness by using social media such as Facebook

and Instagram followers by 3% each month

1.2 Research & Development new products to demonstrate unique and

quality features to differentiate with others fashion brands

1.3 Opening first new concept store in London by the end of year 2015

2 Improve UNIQLO’s customer service in-store and online

2.1 Train employees to be the customer satisfaction store management

2.2 Local stores will be manage by local employees which increase their

community focus and more understanding of their customers

2.3 The opening events for London concept store in 6 months there will

be a wide range of fun activities run by local staff

3 Increase UNIQLO customer numbers and loyalty

3.1 Advertisement on social media and transportation (Tubes, Buses)

3.2 The next-generation worldwide distribution system that consumer

order from a virtual store then it deliver into theirs home by the time

when customer back home

3.3 Expand online store market and increase the speed of delivering

times

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Target Markets & Customers

Segmentation:

• Demographics

o Age: 18 – 38 years old

o Gender: Female and Male

o Occupation: Undergraduate & above, Working adults

o Disposable Income: £500 and above

o Location: Urban area

• Psychographics

o Perception: UNIQLO as upper class casual wear brand and

consider that clothing is important for appearance

o Learned: Advertisement (catalogues, emails, London underground advertising), Internet, family and friends

o Needs: High quality with reasonable price

o Personality: Fashion conscious

o Lifestyle: Casual, healthy and daring

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MARKETING PLAN

Positioning:

‘Casual wears with high quality at affordable prices’

As I mentioned in the competitor’s price point table before, UNIQLO has position itself at lower prices on their products compare to the others companies, however according to porter prize (2009) UNIQLO’s has their value propositions are firstly, each products are treats as components, to be mix match with other pieces, secondly,

to be high quality with lower prices also the brand keep introducing new features, for example the AIRism and HEATTECH clothes

The table shows the ranking of each fashion industry and the sales they earned

also the percentage changes, as you can see UNIQLO has earned about £7.4

Billions at the end of August 2014 and it increase about 21% on a local base, which means UNIQLO is doing really well comparing to GAP its main competitor

UNIQLO offers various collections first is the UT collection is the UNIQLO’s T- shirt that first launched in the year 2003, afterward UT were designed through pop culture, art, music, movies and anime to produced these wide ranges of T-shirt for expressing the consumer itself

surprisingly lightness with unexpected level of warmth, also produce for water proves products that is called-Ultra Light Down

The collaboration with Ines

de la Fressange-“ A new

unconventional luxury, for

tomorrow”, for every single

piece of clothes has its

totally different appeals and

personality.⤀관

The AIRism with stretchable, light and breathable fabric that takes away⤀관moisture to keep cool and comfortable feeling all over the day

UNIQLO came up with HEATTECH collection with allows the fabric takes body’s heat and keep it inside air pockets deep within fibre to feel the warm go warmer when consumer wears it.⤀관

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• Place Strategy

The place strategy is decided through consideration of customer demands form their responses in customer satisfaction system, as in the table below shows UNIQLO has expand more deeply into globally by opening new stores in Europe countries as such Germany and France started in the middle of year

2014 But not only focused on European market also there is a large increase of opening more stores in U.S and China market within a year time, which to satisfy UNIQLO customers and also to increase revenues for the company However, for the new concept store it would be place in Covent Garden, London, due to is very commonplace for tourist to visit and lots of local people like to shop there and hang out with their friends

⤀관 • Promotion Strategy

Advertising can help the company to boost the awareness of every activity that

is going on Firstly the direct mail for loyal customer who had sign up for newsletters and catalogues either by post or email, so that customer gets inform immediate and they won’t lost the information or misread of the news Secondly is through advertising on transportation such as underground and bus MARKETING PLAN

Figure 7: UNIQLO stores number