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HANOI UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT AND TOURISM

MARKETING PLAN - UNIQLO

Tutorial: 9
Tutor: Lê Minh Hằng
Group: 5
Members:
- Đỗ Nguyễn Thu Hương - 1906090048
- Phạm Ngọc Linh - 1904000067
- Phan Thị Hoài - 1906090041
- Trần Tuấn Hải - 1906090030
Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

Table of Contents
I. Summary executive 3
II. Company introduction 4
III. Current marketing situation 5
1. Internal environment 5
a) Current company situation in Vietnam 5
b) 4Ps review 6
2. Microenvironment 6
a) Consumer analysis 6
b) Suppliers 7
c) Marketing intermediaries 8
d) Competitors 8
e) Publics 9
3. Macro Environment 9
a) Demographic 9
b) Economic 11
c) Natural 12
d) Technological 12
e) Cultural 13
IV. SWOT analysis 13
1. Strengths 13
2. Weaknesses 13
3. Opportunities 14
4. Threats 17
V. Main issues 18
VI. Marketing objectives 19
1. Existing objectives of Uniqlo 19
2. Our suggested marketing objectives 22
VII. Marketing strategies (4Ps) 23

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

1. Existing marketing strategies of Uniqlo 23


a) Product 23
b) Price 25
c) Place 25
d) Promotion 27
2. Our suggested marketing strategies 29
a) Product 30
b) Promotion 33
c) Price 33
d) Place 34
VIII. References 35

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

I. Summary executive
Uniqlo is a subsidiary owned and
operated by Fast Retailing
Company Limited Uniqlo has a
reputation for affordable price
but high-quality clothing.
Moreover, it has its own
positions which are different
from other competitors, and
focuses on building strong
customer relationships. Recently,
Uniqlo has had a lot of enormous
success in both local and international markets and Southeast Asia is the next target with the aim
of quadrupling its store in this market in 10 years. Since 2019, Uniqlo has planned to expand its
chains and brand image in Vietnam due to the immense potential of this market.

We write this report to supply more information


and a close look at the marketing plan of Uniqlo
in Vietnam. First, a brief introduction delivers the
essential knowledge about the company’s profile
to readers. Then, in the current marketing
situation, Uniqlo’s operation is reflected through
microenvironment and macroenvironment
analysis. In addition, the paper uses SWOT
analysis to assess the current position by defining
the internal facts (strengths and weaknesses) and
external ones (opportunities and threats). From
SWOT analysis, there are some existing problems and marketing objectives are set to overcome
these issues. After that, a detailed marketing plan comes up with the solutions and
recommendations and an action program helps the company step by step to achieve the goals

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

II. Company introduction


UNIQLO is a clothing apparel company, which was originally founded in Yamaguchi, Japan in
1949 by Tadashi Yanai. In the present, it is a
worldwide brand with approximately 1000 stores
and branches globally. UNIQLO is the
combination of UNIQue and cLOthing.

Established in the 1990s, when the economic


recession was happening, but with the smart way
of leading by Yanai, Uniqlo has been developing
as one of the fastest growing fashion brands in the
world.
From a small store, UNIQLO has grown and
developed on a par with competing popular
fashion brands like ZARA and H&M.

Currently, UNIQLO has a lot of stores


throughout Asia such as Vietnam, Thailand,
China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong
Kong. Moreover, Uniqlo's products also reach
Europe and the US market and are loved by
many international sports superstars.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

III. Current marketing situation

1. Internal environment

a) Current company situation in Vietnam


UNIQLO considers Vietnam to be one of the primary developing markets in Asia
because of its potential customers, who are mostly the youth focusing on functional and
fashionable clothes and outfits, in this country. Moreover, the local people here
extremely highly evaluate clothes made of high-ranked materials in terms of
functionality and quality. UNIQLO brand has a popular range of products named
LifeWear with UV-cut, HEATTECH,... which meet Vietnamese taste. Therefore,
UNIQLO opened its first store in Vietnam on 6th December 2019, which is located in
Dong Khoi, Ho Chi Minh City. In the following year, 2020, UNIQLO boasted its two
stores in Ho Chi Minh City and three stores in Hanoi, and this year UNIQLO had two
more stores in HCMC. One of the reasons for the company to expand its branches in two
biggest cities in Vietnam is that the UNIQLO brand has attracted a greatly higher
volume of customers’ support than it had expected before entering Vietnamese market.
The revenue and profit of UNIQLO company from Vietnam and UNIQLO South,
Southeast Asia & Oceania as a whole was seen to be large though it had declined in
2020 due to COVID-19.

UNIQLO has specific strategic planning for it when operating in Vietnam. First of all, to
satisfy Vietnamese customers’ preference, UNIQLO plans to change its clothes’ design
to suit Vietnamese nature and culture. With the aim to expand its stores in Vietnam,
UNIQLO invests on training employees and workers as Vietnam is seen as UNIQLO’s
production base. In addition, those hired people would be Vietnamese people so that
UNIQLO could provide more employment opportunities for talented, hard-working
Vietnamese local people.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

b) 4Ps review

Products - Are mid-range products


- Show causality and high quality
- Have unique modern look
- Offer for different occasions
- Cater all groups and genders: “Made for all”

Price - Range from $25 to $100


- Be competitive and differentiated from competitors
- Build a strong presence
- Provide free shipping for all orders

Place - Headquarter located in Japan


- Have speciality stores all majors cities and countries
- Operate 1920 stores all over the world
- Have its own websites for online selling

Promotion - Use celebrities to advertise


- Women from different regions are invited as advertising
actresses
- Show flexibility, creative and innovative designs

2. Microenvironment

a) Consumer analysis
- Segmentation

Segment Demography Geography Psychology Behavioral

Young adults & Age: 18-40 Southern, - Young adults: need trendy, User status:
Adults Income: Middle Northern fashionable clothes frequent users
& high income cities, and - Adults: need casual, User rate:
urban areas elegant, sophisticated, heavy users
in Vietnam professional,...clothes - Both offline
and online
Kids Age: 3+ - need comfortable, shopping
no income colourful, suitable-gender
clothes
- chose by their parents

Baby Age: 0-4 - comfortable, well-fitting


no income clothes

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

- be multifunctional, easy to
wear off
- chose by their parents

- Targeting
UNIQLO targets mainly the market of male and female adults who are aged from 18 to
40 and interested in apparels with high quality but affordability, which bring expected
value to customers. Those targeting customers are not only limited to high income people
but also middle income ones. UNIQLO’s clothes do not follow up-to-date trends, but it is
casual and laid back, showing individualistic styles and being sustainable to the
environment.

- Positioning

“Modern Japanese company” has been identified as UNIQLO’s position. This company
has its inspiration for customers to prefer casual outfits with its brand “made for all”,
which is its positioning strategy.

According to the Market Positioning map


of UNIQLO, it can be seen that UNIQLO
with other brands as its competitors all
offer affordable prices for products.
However, UNIQLO is the leader of all
brands in the world in terms of casual,
high-quality and functional clothes.

b) Suppliers
UNIQLO does not produce any products itself but outsources all of this system for
partner factories. This company cooperates mainly with China but also other Asian
countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and India in terms of manufacturing.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

There is one-fifth UNIQLO’s cooperated factories coming from Vietnam, which are
named: Viet Tien Garment Corporation, Regina Miracle International, Sakurai Vietnam
Co., Ltd, etc.
The win-win relationship is maintained among UNIQLO and different international
manufacturing companies. It is an annually organized convention among those companies
to promote their dialogue and to ensure the production system and output’s effectiveness.
UNIQLO also helps its partners in improvement and managing working conditions for
workers and employees.

c) Marketing intermediaries
UNIQLO has accelerated its expansion all over the world with 813 stores of UNIQLO
Japan, 1,439 stores of UNIQLO international (Greater China, South Korea, Southeast
Asia & Oceania, Europe and North America). In Vietnam, till this year (2021), there are 8
resellers (stores) of UNIQLO in Southern and Northern cities and regions:
➔ In Hanoi:
- Large store:
+ UNIQLO AEON Mall Long Bien
+ UNIQLO Vincom Metropolis
- Super large store:
+ UNIQLO Vincom Pham Ngoc Thach
➔ In Ho Chi Minh City:
- Large Store:
+ UNIQLO SC VivoCity
+ UNIQLO Vincom Landmark 81
+ UNIQLO Van Hanh
- Standard store:
+ UNIQLO Vincom Phan Van Tri
- Super large store:
+ UNIQLO Đong Khoi

d) Competitors
UNIQLO is considered to be the 11th international high-fashion brand entering
Vietnamese market. However, it has been facing a variety of challenges from its local and

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international competitors. For example, Canifa and Viettien are its two local rivals. These
two companies both provide targeting customers with more diversified products, ranging
from formal to casual clothes with competitive prices, than UNIQLO. Moreover,
international competitors can be listed as H&M and Zara, which highly focus on
consciousness of current year’s trends of style so as to design the significantly
fashionable clothes meeting customers’ preference, especially the youth’s while UNIQLO
just concentrate on high-quality and laid back outfits. In other words, UNIQLO invests to
long-term quality and shows little care for its short-term revenue.

e) Publics
UNIQLO with its high expansion of stores worldwide is one of the most expected brands
in Vietnam. However, Vietnamese people only consider UNIQLO as a brand providing
“good quality” rather than “fashionable” clothes. Moreover, they are aware that the
targeting customers of UNIQLO are high-income people because the prices for its
products are not considered to be “affordable” or as a low-cost alternative. In addition,
UNIQLO also has not raised Vietnam customers’ awareness of its innovative clothing
technologies used in production, which indicates that though UNIQLO brands are highly
already known, especially by female customers who usually go shopping abroad, its
features are not recognized yet.

3. Macro Environment

a) Demographic
Vietnam is considered as one of the fastest urban transitions in the world. The population
of Vietnam in 2019 was approximately 96,46 million, while 37% of people chose to live
in urban areas.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

Retrieved from
https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/vietnam-demographics/

As we can see from the above bar chart, in Vietnam, the number of urbanized people has
outweighed that of ruralized people from 1955 to 2020. The volume of people leaving
jobs as farmers with a view to transition to employment as workers in service industries
or factories is significantly high while the aggregate population growth is still small.

More importantly, the next major growing generation of Vietnam is generation Z, which
is the first generation born in digital industries. They are considered to be the next wave
of shoppers in Vietnam, causing a significant change in the consumer market. Due to the
variety of developing forms of media like television and internet, online shopping is more
preferred by the youth. They habitually find their goods and services online via links or
websites which are direct to their wanted purchases. Therefore, many companies are
suggested to invest more on brand development, advertising and online marketing so as
to stimulate most of Vietnamese consumers’ interests and consumption.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

b) Economic

Retrieved from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1021888/vietnam-average-monthly-income-per-capita/
#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20the%20average%20monthly,decrease%20from%20the%20
previous%20year.
The above bar chart showed a significant increase in the average monthly income of
Vietnamese people (Vietnamese dong) during 9 years from 2010 to 2019, while it
experienced a slight decline in the following year after 2019 due to Covid-19 outbreak.
This led to a serious effect on the consumers’ spending patterns in 2020, which is shown
by the following graph.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

Retrieved from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1102839/vietnam-consumer-spending-after-covid-19-b
y-sector/

Overall, there are losing and winning sectors in this situation in terms of consumer
expenditure. A positive percentage of spending patterns of consumers in necessities was
recorded like transportation or household utilities, which were supported for their daily
life. Due to Covid -19 or coronavirus, Vietnamese people tend to stay at home more, go
out less so that online shopping and delivery are more preferred. On the other hand, other
components in the graph saw a negative proportion in change in spending patterns.

c) Natural
Vietnam's climate is tropical monsoon with enormous climatic changes, so this country
faces a variety of disasters like floods, droughts, and tornadoes. Vietnam also causes
pollutants leading to climate change and global warming. Considering that situation in
Vietnam, UNIQLO maintains an action of caring for the environment. It received a score
of “It’s a start”, had some reuse and repair programs and used eco-friendly materials to
produce clothes.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

d) Technological
UNIQLO applies many advanced innovative technologies in production namely
HeatTech (a fabric developed in conjunction with a material science firm that turns
moisture into heat and has air pockets in the fabric to retain that heat), AIRism (a stretchy
fabric) and LifeWear (a blend between casual and sportswear) technologies and more. All
are operated to the aim of sustainability.

e) Cultural
Vietnamese people are known to keep a diversity of traditions and customs, and have a
unique lifestyle or norms about the ways people dress. Overally, they are simple people,
wearing clothes showing their touch of elegance and smartness. Because of their hectic
jobs, middle class and hot weather, people prefer casual, polite and relaxed clothes and
are usually considered to be offensive if wearing shorts, dresses bearing too much skin.
Simply, Vietnamese people are interested in high quality but affordable clothes like that
of UNIQLO offers.

IV. SWOT analysis

1. Strengths
First of all, Uniqlo has a strong distribution network. Over the years UNIQLO has built a
reliable distribution network that can reach the majority of its potential market (VN,
USA). Moreover, UNIQLO has invested in building a strong brand portfolio that can be
really helpful if the organization wants to focus on new product categories. They also
have superb performance in new markets – they have built expertise at joining new
markets and making them successful. The expansion has helped the organization to build
a new revenue stream and diversify the economic cycle risk in the markets it operates in.
Of course, they always intend sustainability and variety. Example, basic items with
long-term use and not old-fashioned, many sizes for all kinds of people - interesting
points of the brand. Last but not least, good materials is the key of clothes– It must be
comfortable, soft and smooth (high quality, and high functionality).

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

2. Weaknesses
Initially, higher price is one of the weaknesses of Uniqlo compared with other
competitors due to financial indexes, freight, and operational cost. They also have to fight
for brand power, social attention and public awareness, given the aggressive competition
from other popular clothing brands like ZARA or H&M (which already have a
presence). One more obstacle is that Uniqlo is a foreign brand. It means that fighting with
the local brand must happen. Furthermore, their brand awareness is a bit strange with
rural areas, and also not having the priority policies from the government.

3. Opportunities
Vietnam has a crowded population with 98.032.501 people (February, 5th, 2021) and high
speed of urbanisation transition in the world. The number of city dwellers is 36.346.227
people (2019), accounting for 37.34%. In addition, there are more than 23 million
children under 15 year-old and the percentage of youth dependency is comparatively high
(33%). Therefore, Vietnam is considered as an ideal and potential market to expand its
brand image, especially the kid segment.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

In 2018, Uniqlo has been opening flagship stores in Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore,
and Thailand. At that time, Uniqlo didn’t have any official outlet in Vietnam. However, it
is the 4th highest recognition on the level of brand identity, after ZARA, H&M and
Mango. It is mainly known through social networks (Facebook), word of mouth and
sports ambassadors (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Kei Nishikori). Additionally,
consumers have purchased the products from direct-import (hand-carry) stores. That
means Uniqlo has had a lot of prospects in dominating Vietnamese apparel market.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

This brand is recognized by 55% respondents and the majority of recognition is from
females rather than males. Therefore, Uniqlo has more opportunities to expand the
segment for kids because the children’s clothes are usually bought by their mother. A
woman from Hanoi shared that she was a really big fan of Uniqlo, she liked the simple
design and she wanted to buy clothes for her husband and child. In order to purchase
Uniqlo products, she previously had to come to China.

According to the graph, Uniqlo has built better good quality image than 2 competitors,
Zara and H&M.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

4. Threats

In Vietnam, Uniqlo has to deal with a fierce competition with international brands such as
H&M and Zara. Zara approached and launched the first stores in 2016 and H&M did that
in 2017. When Uniqlo entered the market, they built brand image as well as attracted
more customer attention.
Moreover, these “fast fashion”
brands also offer a lot of trendy
garments, so they can be more
dominant competitors, especially
in the short-term period.

In addition, another threat which


should be mentioned is the local brand (Canifa, Viettien). Canifa has developed since
2000 with over 70 outlets. Apart from big cities such as Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh, Da Nang,
it has also opened stores in some provinces like Vinh Phuc, Lang Son, Hoa Binh, Ninh
Thuan, …. to attract local residents. That is a wise strategy to expand brand image and
facilitates customers to purchase the products because they do not need to travel a long
distance to buy good-quality products. Recently, the wave "Vietnamese people give

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priority to using Vietnamese goods" has become more and more popular. A survey
conducted by the Central Propaganda Department in 2019 showed the ratio of people
who are “super interested” in this campaign is 53% and the ones not caring about it only
occupied 12%.

V. Main issues
Although Uniqlo has got many significant achievements, it faces some challenges and
issues.
First and foremost, Uniqlo gets involved in fierce competition with the intensity of other

brands. International corporations like H&M, ZARA chose Vietnam as the next target
when they entered Southeast Asia because of its potential and promising features.
Additionally, local brands are more and more developed and receive welcome and
positive views from local residents. In order to be dominant in the market, Uniqlo needs
to develop the brand awareness and build a strong relationship with customers.

Besides, another problem is Uniqlo’s high cost of production, which is nearly the root

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

cause of the issues. Uniqlo’s concern is protecting the environment and it has shown a lot
of effective innovation in the products. For example, Uniqlo has applied a new method
to create jeans without wasting water and labor. Jeans are washed with stone instead of
water so the amount of water needed is only a cup of tea. Nonetheless, this method is
only applied in Los Angeles (United States), not in Vietnam. Therefore, Uniqlo must
import the “waterless” materials from the US, which leads to higher cost. Moreover, it
desires to raise customers’ awareness about saving the environment but it is impossible to
change one’s habit and behavior in a short time. It takes a long time to get the target and
Uniqlo should make long-term strategies.

VI. Marketing objectives

1. Existing objectives of Uniqlo

Vision “To become


the number
one clothes
retailer in the
world”

Business Aim/ ● “Unlocking the power of clothing”


Mission ● “With a focus on products, supply chain, employees, stores
and communities, we will change the world for the better
through our business.”

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

Business - Personalization
Objectives

( UT Collection for Viet Nam market )

- Honor the indigenous culture and sustainable development

( To be created a special area for sustainable development, with


a unique installation called "Garden". )
- Customer-centric

Marketing - Bring the LifeWear philosophy to Vietnamese customers


Objectives
- Practical activities towards the community

Marketing - Collaborates with businessman Helly Tong and architect Vo


Activities
Trong Nghia to bring bamboo into the shopping space.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

- Uniqlo donates 500,000 face masks and AIRism products


and UTme t-shirts with the message "Vietnam, Together we
will win" to encourage the spirit of the doctors and frontline
medical staff.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

- In September 2020, Uniqlo and the Ho Chi Minh City


Youth Union gave 2,000 costumes to people in villages of
the area, bringing joy to the poor.

2. Our suggested marketing objectives


Vietnam is considered to have the main source of growing shopping customers is
generation Z, so when Uniqlo wants to develop more in this market, it must spread their
brand identity more closely and familiar to those targeting consumers. According to the
Product - the P has issues, Uniqlo could improve its situation in Vietnam by
manufacturing a new product line exclusively for generation Z, which meets their
interests, lifestyle and the country’s culture. Moreover, as being born in the peak of
technology innovation, generation Z spend most of their time on the Internet. Therefore,
to familiarize the Uniqlo brand with this type of customers, Uniqlo could promote more
on virtual marketing plans and action rather than physical ones. This marketing strategy
for Uniqlo is planned for taking action during one month, in June 2021.

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VII. Marketing strategies (4Ps)

1. Existing marketing strategies of Uniqlo

a) Product

▪ Core customer value


Uniqlo’s products are oriented toward basic casual clothes which have high quality,
sustainability and fashion.

▪ Actual products:
- Brand name: Uniqlo stands for “Unique Clothing Warehouse''. In English, the
name is pronounced "YOU-nee-klo".
- Quality level: Uniqlo focuses on quality rather than quantity as other brands. It
owns many innovative technologies such as HeatTech, AIRism, Lifewear, etc. For
example, HeatTech Clothes can generate heat and keep the body warm. The fibers
absorb the moist emitted from the body and convert it into heat. Therefore,
customers do not need to wear too many layers or thick fabric clothing. Moreover,
the process of making Uniqlo clothing consists of four steps: Fabric, Sewing,
Finishing and Inspection, and Shipping. Every step is carefully controlled so as to
avoid the smallest inconvenience and mistakes.
- Feature: Uniqlo offers a wide range of sizes from XXS to XXL, which means the
product can fit almost every one. Compared to two rivals, customers can have
more choices.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

Moreover, customers also have more color options for a particular item.

▪ Augmented products:
- Customer service: The top priority of Uniqlo is in-store experience. Newcomers
will be trained in Japan in six months. They will be equipped with knowledge
about Uniqlo’s core value, politeness, service style, and efficiency. Besides, every
store has a customer service manager who is in charge of service quality
standards.
- After-sale service: Customers can access the link customerservices@uniqlo.vn if
there is any question, problem, complaint or mistakes from the producer, or post
at the following address: Company Limited UNIQLO Vietnam, 26th floor, Viettel

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

Tower, 285 Cach Mang Thang Tam, Ward 12, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City,
Customer care department is the recipient, answering the questions and deal with
problems.
- Recently, Uniqlo only has free shipping if products are bought in bulk with more
than 20,000,000 VNĐ bill. Customers cannot order clothes on the website
because the website only provides the information of product name and price.

b) Price
When it comes to price, Uniqlo is offering a nearly reasonable price level. Apart
from the high quality, the pricing is so competitive, which appeals most of the
Vietnanmese customers because they have middle income. However, Uniqlo’s
price is also concerned by the people who have lower-middle income such as
students and new graduates.

c) Place
In Vietnam, Uniqlo has 8 branches: 5 large stores, 1 standard store, 2 super large stores

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City. Uniqlo sells their products in stores and they do not
have an online sale channel in our country.

( Price level on the website just for reference )

Uniqlo focuses on expanding its stores widely in big cities. Consumers can go to
their stores, feel the quality of goods or try them on directly. While some competitors
consider e-commerce as competition to the physical stores. They even see that the online
sale channels have more potential than traditional channels. However, UNIQLO has their
own business way.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

Yanai said that the more e-commerce services expand, the more often customers tend to
purchase items from physical stores. For instance, Chinese customers tend to select items
they think sound most attractive based on information they found in the website.
Whenever they launch a new UNIQLO product, customers actively share information
about the product and write reviews on social media, spurring sales both online and in
our stores.”

UNIQLO brand believes to be a successful clothing company, retail brands should learn
to run e-commerce and physical stores in synergy.

d) Promotion

▪ Outdoor advertising campaign in conjunction with Next Marketing

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Recently, UNIQLO brand announced a special program of Gratitude to celebrate the


one-year establishment of UNIQLO Vietnam, sending sincere thanks to numerous
customers, lasting from December 4 to 17, 2020. One of the ways to promote this
Anniversary event, UNIQLO cooperated with Next Marketing to launch an advertising
campaign on cars in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City. With 100 cars decorated in 2 big
cities, UNIQLO made an impressive effect on customers and increased sales for the
brand during December.

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With the advertising campaign on the car, the image of the fashion brand UNIQLO could
appear on every street and reach the potential customers.

▪ Special campaign in each festivals/ seasons in a year

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UNIQLO invited famous artists to be the model of special collections with the purpose of
attracting more types of clients. With the Tet collection collaborated with Oc Thanh Van
actress, Uniqlo built an image of a fashionable family. They have their own styles with
different outfits and mix ways but still harmony and fashion.

▪ Exhibition for the public


On September 12, 2020, Uniqlo opened The LifeWear
Introduction and Collection (BST) event, Fall Winter
2020, aimed to bring the unique LifeWear Fashion
Philosophy closer to the people of the capital.

LifeWear provides simple, beautiful designs, made from high-quality materials with
exquisite attention to detail, helping to bring comfort. Moreover, an essential element of
LifeWear is contributing to a better future by minimizing the environmental impact of the
manufacturing process, while ensuring service to everyday needs of consumers. This Fall,
UNIQLO had updated three important elements. UNIQLO has created more refined
designs, more comfortable construction and even higher quality. Through LifeWear,
UNIQLO will contribute to a better, more sustainable future.

2. Our suggested marketing strategies


As previously mentioned, Uniqlo faces two major challenges in Vietnam. The price of
Uniqlo’s products is thought to be expensive, and they are also facing threats of
competitors. How can we address these two issues? We list the Ps by their importance

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and rank it from top to bottom.

a) Product
To begin, recall the grid of product/market expansion.

In fact, Uniqlo is working in an existing market, which means that consumers have
already spent money on the product provided by the company. Secondly, despite the fact
that clothing is a popular commodity in Vietnam, Uniqlo's high prices, innovative design,
and sustainable supply keep it being labeled a new product. Therefore, we will use the
Product Development model to direct the whole marketing plan, on the basis of 4P’s
Product.
Product Development Model is defined as a strategy for company growth by offering
modified or new products to current market segments (Philip Kotler (2017), Principles of
Marketing: An Asian Perspective). Therefore, we will let Uniqlo manufacture and offer a
new product line, and enter the niche. Afterward, this "miracle" niche market will spread
Uniqlo's brand identity even further. So which niche are we going to hit? We have
mentioned that the generation Z is our next generation. In our generation, it is not the
internet that covers the world but the Z gene that covers the internet. The trends and news
are fastest acquired by this generation. If a significant amount of Gen Z were regularly
picking up something and walking down the street, that item would soon become a trend.
Therefore, most of the existing brands, and specifically, fast-fashion firms, need to fall
under generation Z initially in case the firms want to spread their brands. This is the
purpose that will be proved in more detail below.
Again, Product is our most important P in this research. We will create a thorough
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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

strategy coming from this P.


First thing first, we will cover the plan as a fictional Marketing Director. In order to target
the Z gene market with the most concentration and appeal to them, we will create a
product line specifically for the Z gene, which is "ZenUniq" with the slogan "Be unique,
think simply". "ZenUniq" is composed of the letter Z, the word Gen, and the word
Unique as well as Uniqlo. This product line is intended to convey the following message:
"Don't think too much about what to wear every day, just wear Uniqlo, be unique, and
enjoy life.". This slogan conveys exactly what fast-fashion as well as Uniqlo towards
"made for all". Fast-fashion is the quick way of mixing clothes, thinking less, and easy
styling. Fast-fashion consumers would feel confident in their clothes, reduce the time
they spend thinking about their outfit, and spend more time enjoying their life. Besides,
the young generation Z is a busy and active generation, and when it comes to
fast-fashion, they look for simple, flexible clothes that can be worn in many cases.
However, the key point here is, the clothing should be youthful and affordable, to show
that even if they choose fast-fashion, they are still unique when “enjoying life”. Their
clothes should be mixed with many items, and most importantly, cheap. In terms of price,
and sometimes in style, Uniqlo has not met the Z gene. We will show through the
following data that we ourselves conducted.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

The above data was collected from a survey of 140 participants conducted among Hanoi
University students. It can be seen clearly that young customers consider a reasonable price
which is placed from 300,000 VND to 400,000 VND, and they also prefer shirts with small logos
and are oversized . However, in clothing lines using advanced manufacturing technology such as
UT or HeatTech, Uniqlo’s clothes are usually priced much higher (from 600,000 VND to
900,000 VND). Their shirts usually have a body-fit form and are suitable for “tucking-shirt-in”
style, while young consumers are into oversized and free-style clothing. It pauses young
consumers before they buy an item from this brand. Therefore, in the new clothing line for the Z
gene, Uniqlo does not need to apply high-tech to clothing. They only need to meet the
flexibility and more youthful design. We will make plain free size T-shirts or T-shirts with small
embroidery on the chest. In addition, we offer cool and simple fabric pants in a variety of colors
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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

for young consumers to choose from. Furthermore, the girls will be able to choose from trendy
and youthful crop top shirts while still adhering to Uniqlo's "simple" criterion. Thin, cool, and
wrinkle-resistant shirts will also be available to meet the needs of young users going to school
and working.

b) Promotion
In terms of promotion, we recommend that Uniqlo concentrate on improving the user experience
on its online store. Competitors such as Zara and H&M are doing an excellent job of creating a
smooth and aesthetically pleasing website. The UNIQLO website in Vietnam, on the other hand,
is still quite fuzzy when the display is still low-resolution and occasionally laggy. Most
importantly, they have not yet focused on pushing products online on the website, owing to the
small number of clothes for sale on the website. Customers may be discouraged from looking for
the clothes they want to buy, and they may turn to other competitors as a result.
Uniqlo also needs to promote its brand more on TV, as the more it publishes on TV, the more
Vietnamese consumers pay attention to the brand and view the brand as something they "must
buy.".
In reality, it involves a long-term strategy for convincing consumers to purchase the product and
the clothing strategy for the Z gene also needs to be followed, as we have said. When the scope
of the brand from Gen Z is wide enough, Uniqlo's brand awareness for other customers is also
higher. Gen Z always likes to update the moment, anytime, anywhere, just through the phone, so
spreading the brand for the Z gene with good strategies is also spreading the brand across the
country.

c) Price
Price is one of the most vital elements when it comes to purchasing a product. Especially gen Z,
they usually have low income but pay a lot of attention to fashion and clothing. Therefore,
pricing strategy is one of the most effective ways to catch their attention. Having a membership
card, besides discounts and coupons, customers can receive the latest information about the sales
programs, new arrivals and limited offers. In addition, promotion programs should be launched
such as check-in for discount programs, if customers take a picture with their family in Uniqlo’s
clothes and post it on the social network, they will receive a 10% discount. Moreover, the
company should set the competitive price of the products in this segment. The price should range
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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

from 290,000 to 500,000 VND, and in order to reduce the risks of substitutions from local
brands. it should not be higher than the price of local brands.

d) Place
First, to attract more potential customers, the company should construct intermediary stores to
raise awareness of people. In Vietnam, UNIQLO can sell their products under popular
e-commerce sites such as Shoppee, Lazada, Sendo to reach online shoppers. Second, UNIQLO
should build some stores at crowding spots like famous streets or near schools, parks, and malls
that can be easily recognized. Advertising by decorated bicycles parade in the street is also an
interesting idea for UNIQLO. Because it looks so unique and it can raise the curiosity of Gen Z
about the brand. Then, they will spend their time going to the store and experiencing it. In this
project, UNIQLO can cooperate with Next Marketing which has a collaboration with UNIQLO
in the Car Parade Campaign in 2020. Next Marketing will take responsibility for editing graphic
pictures , connecting with bicycle companies, printing decals and implementing the project on
schedule.

We include part VIII and part IX in the attachment.

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

VIII. References
Uniqlo Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy. Retrieved from
https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/products/17655-uniqlo.html
FAST RETAILING CO., LTD. UNIQLO Business Strategy. Retrieved from
https://www.fastretailing.com/eng/group/strategy/tactics.html
Why the mid-market segment of fashion retail in Vietnam is ripe for digital transformation.
Retrieved from
https://www.palexy.com/post/why-the-mid-market-segment-of-fashion-retail-in-vietnam-is-
ripe-for-digital-transformation
Deloitte. Sea-cb-vietnam-consumer-survey-2020. Retrieved from
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/sg/Documents/consumer-business/sea-cb-vi
etnam-consumer-survey-2020.pdf
HOW IS UNIQLO POPULAR IN VIETNAM? Retrieved from
http://vinatexvsc.com/news/news-from-the-vtc/how-is-uniqlo-popular-in-vietnam-561.html
Population of Vietnam (2020). Retrieved from
https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/vietnam-demographics/
Population of Vietnam (2020). Retrieved from
https://www.vietnam-briefing.com/news/vietnams-new-age-consumers-generation-z.html/
Vietnamese fashion recognition and uniqlo popularity. Retrieved from
https://www.slideshare.net/asiaplus_inc/fast-fashion-and-uniqlo-recognition-converted
1st Uniqlo Store in Vietnam Opens. Retrieved from
https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2019120601155/1st-uniqlo-store-in-vietnam-opens.html
Fast Retailing Sustainability Report 2021. Retrieved from
https://www.fastretailing.com/eng/sustainability/report/pdf/sustainability2021_en_interacti
ve.pdf#page=1&pagemode=thumbs&zoom=80
The Power of Clothing. Retrieved from
https://www.uniqlo.com/power_of_clothing/en/pdf/POC_11.pdf
Uniqlo Lab HeatTech. Retrieved from
https://www.uniqlo.com/lab/heattech/us/
Uniqlo Strategy – The Differences with Competitors H&M and Zara. Retrieved from
https://retviews.com/blog/focus/uniqlo-competitors/
Cách Uniqlo tạo dấu ấn sau 1 năm có mặt ở Việt Nam. Retrieved from
https://vietnamnet.vn/vn/thi-truong-tieu-dung/cach-uniqlo-tao-dau-an-sau-1-nam-co-mat-o
-viet-nam-694841.html
Hé lộ 6 bài học từ chiến lược Marketing của Uniqlo mà Marketer nên biết. Retrieved from
https://marketingai.admicro.vn/he-lo-6-bai-hoc-tu-chien-luoc-marketing-cua-uniqlo-ma-m
arketer-nen-biet/
UNIQLO toan tính gì ở Việt Nam? Retrieved from
https://www.brandsvietnam.com/20009-UNIQLO-toan-tinh-gi-o-Viet-Nam
UNIQLO marketing strategy. Retrieved from

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Principle of Marketing - Uniqlo

https://www.talkwalker.com/blog/uniqlo-marketing-strategy
UNIQLO mở Triển lãm cho công chúng trong 2 ngày 12 & 13/09. Retrieved from
https://dantri.com.vn/doi-song/uniqlo-mo-trien-lam-cho-cong-chung-trong-2-ngay-12-1309-
20200911205427641.htm
Uniqlo Next Marketing. Retrieved from
https://nextmarketing.vn/project/uniqlo2/
Uniqlo Clothing Analysis. Retrieved from
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/fashion/japanese-clothing-brand.php

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