Question:
Discuss about the International Marketing Plan Of Uniqlo Co. Ltd.
Uniqlo Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer and designer of casual wear. Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. has been the parent organisation of Uniqlo since 2005. The products of Uniqlo are available in Japan and many other Asian countries like Indonesia, Bangladesh and Australia. Uniqlo was established in the year 1949 at Yamaguchi in Japan (Uniqlo.com, 2017). Headquarter of the organisation is in Minato, Tokyo. The CEO of the organisation is Tadashi Yanai. The number of employees of the organisation is right now 30,000. In the year 1997, Uniqlo took the strategy of private-label apparel as it meant that the organisation started to produce own clothing. Uniqlo engaged the retail consultancy brand as market strategy. Japan at that time went through a recession and low-cost clothes became popular. Uniqlo took the advantage and they started outsourcing from China as labour was cheap in China. The organisation has been expanding its business since the beginning and in 2017 February, it reached 1800 stores in worldwide.
This report aims to describe the marketing plan of Uniqlo in expanding its business in UAE and analyse the potentiality of UAE as the host country. This report contains three main parts; situational analysis, marketing plan and control plan. In order to get the idea of situational analysis, PESTLE, SWOT and competitor analysis will be done. In the marketing plan, this report will set the marketing objectives and marketing entry strategies for Uniqlo. In the following part, STP analysis will be conducted and marketing mix will help Uniqlo to have the better marketing strategy. In UAE, Uniqlo needs to understand the customers’ preferences and behaviour in order to market the products. In the final part of the report, marketing control will be done through giving contingency plan as any risk might come.
Global Islamic Economy report stated that spending on Islamic fashion was approx 243 billion US dollars in the year 2015. UAE is going to be the best environment in order to support the condition, whereas, only in Dubai, the fashion clothing market value estimated as $4.2 billion (Thenational.ae, 2017). In modest fashion, Dubai has taken the place in design and production of retail shopping of fashion clothes. UAE has almost all international fashion brands, Zara, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and H&M. In UAE, it has been observed that modest fashion clothing that suits the taste of Islamic sense is growing high on demand basis. In case of Muslim women, Dolce and Gabbana just released the women Hijab and Abaya collection in Dubai like another fashion brand (Thenational.ae, 2017). The concept of modest fashion is getting popular in UAE as the women want the international fashion brands should design the dresses that must support their faith still express the fashion sense and their preferences. The fashion industry is expected to thrive as UAE is observing new shopping complex, malls; these nurture the clothing market and look for potential. In case of apparel and footwear, it valued $15 billion in the year 2016 and apparel industry took 73% of market share in UAE (Huang, Kobayashi & Isomura, 2014).
In UAE, the fashion clothing industry has been flourishing and it is evolving and adapting the latest design, style and trends that cater international and native clientele (Cific, Ekinci & Whyatt, 2014). Apart from international players, fashion brand leaders in the UAE are Vogue Arabia, UAE Uniforms and Louzan Garments Factory. The numbers of Emirati designers who are women are trying to tap into innovative fashion clothing industry through creative designs. These women know about the taste and preferences of clothes of Arabian women. In the previous time, fashion clothing industry lacked the variety and this concept is supported by online e-commerce providers such as Noon.com, Namshi.com and Asos.com. By the end of 2020, the fashion sector for Islamic clothing only will touch $900 billion (Tarlo, 2016). However, the new trend is observed in the fashion market as fashion clothing industry is diversified to grab the niche section of the market as a number of rich people in UAE are getting high. Moreover, the demand for innovative and creative clothes is observing acceleration. Most importantly, Arab Fashion Week is taken as on one of the five most significant fashion weeks in the world (Masarrat, Jha & Dash, 2014).
Market implementation helps to execute the marketing strategy of the organisation that it is going to take in expanding into UAE. The marketing implementation strategy must follow the marketing objectives of the organisation. Uniqlo is Japan based fashion retailing organisation and it is taking low-price strategy in Dubai in entering the market. In Korea, Uniqlo’s high-pricing strategy was a failure. However, in Dubai, the fashion clothing price is moderate and numbers of competitors are high also. The next table demonstrates tactical implementation of Uniqlo’s marketing strategy.
|
Specific Tactical activities |
Person/Department responsible |
Proposed completion date |
|
Product activities 1. Products quality is the main characteristics with taking the modest fashion trend in UAE 2. The organisation is going to add extra features in clothes according to culture. Uniqlo is going to arrange local designers to add the ‘local touch’ |
Uniqlo Japan manufacturing department |
All the manufacturing activities and final designing must be done before it starts its sale in UAE market |
|
Price activities 1.Uniqlo is going to take low-pricing strategy, however, Dubai customers can afford high-priced as well 2. Uniqlo will set a fixed price with discounts before it showcases to customers |
Headquarter of Uniqlo in Japan |
All the pricing activities should be done before Uniqlo enters the market of UAE (Expected date March 2018) |
|
Place activities 1. Uniqlo is going to sell their products through retailing and supermarkets 2. They will import the manufacturing products from Istanbul and logistic issues need to solve |
Uniqlo Japan headquarter and Uniqlo Istanbul offices |
Selling of the products in UAE will start by April of 2018; the decoration of stores needs to be done by March 2018. In case of taking rent of malls, they need to do this by 2018 |
|
Promotional activities 1. Digital media (Social media, You Tube videos, mobile advertisements) 2. Advertising (Billboards, Newspaper, flyers and Television) 3. Public relations (organising events and fashion shows 4. Discounts sales (membership and redeeming of points) |
Uniqlo UAE and Japan |
These activities must be done before Uniqlo enters the Dubai market as a promotional buzz is needed. The promotional activities need to continue even after the entering the market to remain competitive |
Table: Implementation of marketing strategies
(Source: Self-developed)
References
Çifci, S., Ekinci, Y., & Whyatt, G. (2014). A cross validation of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) scales in fashion retail industry. In 2014 Global Marketing Conference at Singapore, 2(1), 1459-1468.
Huang, P. Y., Kobayashi, S., & Isomura, K. (2014). How UNIQLO evolves its value proposition and brand image: imitation, trial and error and innovation. Strategic Direction, 30(7), 42-45.
Lavergne, M. (2015). Fixing Fashion: Rethinking the Way We Make, Market and Buy Our Clothes. New Society Publishers.
Masarrat, G., Jha, S., & Dash, S. (2014). College-goers Psychographic Behaviour toward College-goers Psychographic Behaviour towards Luxury Fashion in UAE fashion in UAE. Listening to consumers of emerging markets, 2(2), 89-94.
Tarlo, E. (2016). Landscapes of Attraction and Rejection: South Asian Aesthetics in Islamic Fashion in London. Islamic Fashion and Anti-Fashion: New Perspectives from Europe and North America, 73-92.
Why UAE is a perfect fit for $243 billion modest fashion industry – video. (2017). The National. Retrieved 14 September 2017, from https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/why-uae-is-perfect-fit-for-243-billion-modest-fashion-industry-video-1.163159
Women’s, Men’s and Kids’ Clothing and Accessories | UNIQLO US. (2017). Uniqlo.com. Retrieved 14 September 2017, from https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/home/
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