Marketing Mix Of Uniqlo with Updated Company Overview and Explanations

Uniqlo, the clothing line is formed from the simplest designs that are the perfect blend of Japanese values of quality and ease. The clothing line has maintained a desirable and fashionable brand position that provides innovative and classy products while maintaining a perfect balance between price and quality.

 In this case study, we’ll be analyzing the 4Ps marketing mix of Uniqlo. Let’s get started with the basic understanding of the Uniqlo company.

About Uniqlo

 

UNIQLO, a Japaneses retial holding company,  is one of the fastest clothing companies that was established in 1949. Initially, to company offered only men’s clothing products with these shops named, ” Men’s Shop Ogori Shoji”.

In 1984, UNIQLO decided to offer unique clothing which led to the introduction of the Fukuromachi Store in Hiroshima.

The designs vary throughout time, and the company strives to modernize to suit the demands of a youthful, demanding populace. It has also contributed to society and seeks a long-term business plan.

The brand was founded by Grameen Uniqlo in Bangladesh in 2011 to assist local communities, promote economic development in the region, and raise people’s living standards by giving job opportunities. Uniqlo produces and sells garments in its community benefiting local businesses.

Now that we had a basic overview of the company. Let’s start discussing the 4Ps marketing mix of Uniqlo. 

What’s new with Uniqlo?

• Uniqlo is planning to set up a major manufacturing presence in India through 20 production partners.
• The company noticed a 2% dip in operating profits during the first quarter because of the effects of COVID-19 imposed in China. China scrapped most of the curbs last year and permitted the opening the of tourism industry at the end of the last year. Now they are expecting the profits to increase by 30%.
• Uniqlo opens 4 new stores in the U.S. and 2 new stores in Canada which is a part of the plan to reach more than 200 new locations in North America by 2027. The company hopes to achieve 20-30 stores each year to achieve this goal.
• The brand has noticed a 15% increase in total sales through online channels and also plans to scale up its offline presence by opening 2 new stores in Mumbai.
• Uniqlo has been coming up with long-term partnership deals by including the top athletes under its unique, value-oriented branding strategy.

 

Buyers Persona of Uniqlo

Marketing Mix of Uniqlo

A marketing mix is a tool used by marketers to develop profitable marketing strategies with their products and services. It has 4 components known as 4Ps: Product, Place, Price, and Promotion. 

Uniqlo has established itself as a popular and stylish brand that offers innovative and fashionable items at an affordable price. Let’s have a look at each one of them concerning Uniqlo in the coming sections. 

 

1. Product Strategy of Uniqlo

Uniqlo is an international clothing company that manufactures, designs and sells stylish and casual clothing. It has a large selection of designer fabrics as well as basic items. Uniqlo aspires to be the best in terms of fit, durability, and fabric quality. 

It offers a variety of products to capture the attention of a wider audience. So let’s read how Uniqlo distributes its products in the coming sections.

In 2003, UNIQLO released its flagship HEATTECH clothing line which focused on its uniqueness to absorb the body’s moisture and generate heat.

They collaborated with Toray Industries, a renowned Japanese chemical company so that they could help in developing the HEATTECH clothing line. More than 10,000 prototypes were created to ensure that the final product met the targeted results.

Over a period of time, the company has continuously worked towards refining and enhancing its HEATTECH line to provide warmer products, better designs, constant innovation, and higher quality to appeal to everyone. It caters to men, women, and youngsters, with a wide range of clothing designed with the firm in mind. 

Uniqlo’s variety of products have grasped a wide range of audience. So let’s see how Uniqlo distributes its products in the coming section. 

 

2. Place & Distribution Strategy of Uniqlo

Uniqlo place strategy involves selling through its stores in almost all major metropolitan cities throughout the world. Aside from that, it sells online via its website.

There 15 to 30 per cent of the entire revenue comes from online sales. The company currently operates 1920 stores all across the world. Uniqlo primarily caters to the urban and suburban populations.

UNIQLO took e-commerce as an opportunity to increase its in-store sales, rather than viewing it as a competition to physical stores.

In addition to it, whenever  the company launches a new product, the customers share this information on social media, resulting an increase in organic sales in both online and physical stores.

UNIQLO, firmly believes that a company must be able to effectively manage its online and physical stores to cater to all types of audiences.

 

3. Pricing Strategy of Uniqlo

The Uniqlo pricing strategy incorporates mid-range products with prices ranging from 2000 to 8000. The pricing is competitive and the firm distinguishes itself from the competition by using unique simple designs and bright colours.

The brand always wishes to offer high-quality at an affordable price which makes its model pretty unique. Ownership of the entire production line and purchasing in bulk helps reduce costs and therefore prices and standards of quality are respected.

The corporation gives lower rates on its items to promote brand visibility. This has resulted in an increase in sales, which has resulted in higher revenues and profit margins.

By its reasonable and affordable price, the products are promoted to the target market. Now that we had an understanding of the pricing strategy of Uniqlo, let’s have a look at the promotion strategy of Uniqlo. 

 

4. Promotion & Advertising Strategy of Uniqlo

Uniqlo has a kind AI system and a customer creation team that analyzes the customer purchasing style, which helps to gauge customer preference and style promotional content accordingly.

The company’s growing online sales provide the team with necessary big data on the customer purchases and preferences which the brand uses in its research. 

The brand offers regular customers weekly promotions that are divided by gender to make them more appealing, such as Boys promotions coupons, Men’s promotions coupons, Girl’s promotions coupons, and Women’s promotions coupons. To raise brand awareness, it has its website as well as accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Thus, this concludes the marketing mix of Uniqlo. To create better and better products, we follow the principles of continuous evolution. Uniqlo has increased its presence throughout the world by its unique way of establishing new products with exciting prices in a stupendous way. Now, it’s time to analyze some marketing strategies adopted by Uniqlo.

How does Uniqlo use digital marketing strategies in its strategy?

Uniqlo has been incorporating various digital marketing strategies by leveraging the power of online platforms and technologies to reach a wider audience and increase engagement with customers: Below are some of the examples of how Uniqlo uses digital marketing:

1. Engagement through social media:

Uniqlo shares updates about its products, creates engaging content, and run interactive campaigns on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X (former Twitter), and YouTube to connect with its audience.

For instance, the brand combines social media with its in-store promotions to boost awareness of its Ultra Stretch Jeans in Indonesia.

Challenge:

Uniqlo aimed to persuade people that anyone could look like a model irrespective of their figure if they wore their Ultra Stretch Jeans. It was difficult to persuade people before they would actually see how the jeans would look on different marketing types.

Solution:

Uniqlo came into a partnership with Dentsu to create a special in-store event where people could try the Ultra Strech Jeans and see how they would look. This event was promoted on popular social media platforms such as Facebook and X(formerly known as Twitter) where the younger audience is most active.

The message was used to invite people to come to the Lotte Shopping Avenues store to come and enjoy the event. In this event, the customers were given a choice to select a color, stand in a pose of their choice, select their favorite photo, and share it on social media making that makes them look and feel like a social media model for a fashion brand.

Results

Within 12 days the company was able to achieve a target of 1000 people who shared their poses online, and as a result, generated thousands of impressions on social media.

 

2. Personalized and Data-driven Marketing

Uniqlo efficiently tracks their customer behavior and data on their website and mobile app to offer product recommendations that are based on their preferences and past purchases. This approach resulted in an increase in customer satisfaction, which helped to increase the chances of repeat purchases.

 

3. Mobile App and Online Shopping

Uniqlo has created a mobile app in such a way that makes it convenient for customers to easily browse through the products, grab exclusive deals, and make instant purchases. This app aslo offers some amazing features such as inventory updates and in-store navigation to improve the overall shopping experience.

 

By adopting the above three strategies effectively Uniqlo has been able to increase its engagement rate with its customers which has driven up online sales.

 

Top 5 Competitors of Uniqlo

Businesses need to constantly improve their products and services as well as keep an eye on their competitors to stay competitive. Here is a list of the top 5 competitors of Uniqlo:

• Zara: This fast fashion powerhouse is known for offering stylish and affordable clothing. It caters to the customer’s diverse tastes and so is one of the competitors of Uniqlo.

• H&M: Known for offering budget-friendly products, the company provides a variety of clothing and accessories which helps to attract a wider customer base.

• Gap: Known for offering comfy casual products, the brand caters to customers who are hunting for simple yet stylish clothes. 

• Forever 21: This brand offers stylish and fashionable products to customers at affordable prices making it popular among its target audience.

• Primark: This brand caters to value-conscious customers who seek latest trends at affordable prices.

 

 

Conclusion

Uniqlo was established on the principle of Japanese simplicity and essentiality. The company understands that its product is one of the most effective marketing weapons. The business places a premium on providing excellent customer service and communicating about issues that are important to customers.

This is a brand that has a clear and strong brand story and ensures that its content interacts and expresses with the audience better, from the stories behind the goods to the influencers with whom the brand works, all thanks to localized social media content.

Thank you for taking the time to read this case study, and I hope you found it useful. Please share your innovative ideas in the comments section below. You might also take Karan Shah’s Free Digital Marketing Masterclass if you’re interested in digital marketing.