Will Chinese Enterprises Break The "Tripartite Confrontation"?

"Welcome". On the "Huaihai Middle Road", a bustling commercial street in Shanghai, Uniqlo Shanghai, the world's largest Uniqlo store with a total area of 8000 square meters, officially opened on September 30. On that day, the shops were crowded with Shanghai citizens with expectations, and the Chinese shop assistants also greeted customers with smiles, which was very interesting.

The customer has been rummaged clothes It is common for Uniqlo in Japan to fold them neatly and put them back on the display shelf, and bow with a smiling face after seeing customers enter the store. However, the performance of Chinese shop assistants here is the same.

According to Japanese clothing People from the enterprise said that in China's clothing stores, "smiling employees are not common when receiving customers". In addition, local consumers often take off their clothes to try them on in stores, so it is not uncommon that many clothes after trying on are scattered on the display shelves of clothing stores.

In Uniqlo Shanghai, where tens of thousands of consumers visit every day, if the shop staff want to keep the clothes that customers try on neatly stacked, it will be more labor-intensive than in Japan. However, Uniqlo has officially implemented this Japanese model and won praise from consumers. A 21-year-old college student said: "Compared with European and American brands such as ZARA and GAP, (Uniqlo) has a better attitude towards customers. It is my favorite clothing brand."

Uniqlo entered China for the first time in 2002, and now has about 230 stores. This Japanese hospitality model is helping Uniqlo build its brand image in China.

According to the survey in the clothing field of the "Asian Brand Survey", Uniqlo's "popularity", "recognition" and "willingness to buy" in China are more than H&M and other competitive brands, ranking first. Uniqlo's business in China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) also showed a strong momentum, and in FY2013 (as of August 2013), Uniqlo achieved both revenue and profit growth. The sales volume of the Chinese business is considered to be about 100 billion yen (about 6.237 billion yuan), accounting for about half of Uniqlo's overseas sales.

Pan Ning, senior executive director of the group leading Uniqlo's business in China, said that the high-quality goods and hospitality services Uniqlo fostered in Japan have won the support of Chinese consumers. Pan Ning believes that, in addition to high function products such as heat insulating underwear "HEATTECH" and lightweight down jacket "ULTRA LIGHT DOWN", Uniqlo, like Japan, has gradually penetrated its brand image closely related to life into the hearts of Chinese consumers through the thorough implementation of Japanese services.

On the other hand, Uniqlo also takes into account the Chinese people's feelings towards Japan. Since three years ago, the Japanese katakana logo in the trademark has been deliberately cancelled. On the contrary, "HEATTECH" is specifically marked with "Japan technology" to highlight Japan's scientific and technological strength.

In terms of the appearance and layout of the store, while downplaying the image of "Japan", Uniqlo hopes to capture the hearts of Chinese consumers through Japanese style high-quality goods and hospitality. In China, the store network will be expanded to all parts of China at the rate of employing about 1000 people and opening 80-100 stores every year. Liu Jing, president and president of Japan Fast Retailing Group, which operates Uniqlo, proposed the goal of "opening 1000 stores in China by 2020". In order to achieve this goal, Uniqlo is striving to further expand its business.

Will Chinese enterprises break the "tripartite confrontation"?

"Mori style is cute Clothes & Accessories I will buy at the Jiuguang Department Store in Shanghai, but usually I will look for clothes with moderate prices on Taobao, "said Xiao Liu, a 21-year-old college girl. She lives a single life in a student dormitory in Shanghai, spending about 800 yuan a month on clothes, accounting for about 30% of her living expenses from home.

According to her, on campus, she will consciously refer to the Japanese Harajuku style and dress in a fashionable street style. When shopping with friends, she will choose European and American brands to create a calm image.

According to Euromonitor, China's clothing market is expected to reach 23 trillion yen (about 1436.8 billion yuan) in 2013. This scale will exceed Japan's about 9 trillion yen, and second only to the United States (29 trillion yen), ranking second in the world. Especially in Shanghai, where large commercial facilities are lined up, young people are more sensitive to fashion and have a strong willingness to consume. Xiao Lin, a 21-year-old college student, said, "I spend 1000 yuan a month on clothes. Now there are nearly 50 clothes in my room.".

However, college student Guangyun and others said that they would "go to the store to confirm the feel and workmanship of the clothes they have liked, and then look for cheaper stores online to buy". In China, the habit of "shopping first and then online shopping" is not uncommon, which means that online shopping can be carried out after the physical goods are confirmed in the store. According to the prediction of Bain&Company, an American consulting company, China's online shopping market has reached the largest scale in the world and will expand to 3.3 trillion yuan by 2015.

So, which brands can survive in the Chinese clothing market? Cheng Jindan, a female employee of the company who is responsible for making popular fashion related blogs, explained that "the three categories of brands designed by cute Japanese brands, European and American brands such as ZARA and H&M that introduced popular elements at the first time, and Korean brands with moderate prices are deeply loved by Chinese women aged 20-40". The growing Chinese clothing market is showing a trend of "tripartite confrontation" among Japanese, Korean, European and American enterprises.

Eland, a Korean clothing company, has opened about 6200 stores in China, and even entered 5~6 brands in the same commercial facilities. In addition, Japan Fast Retailing, which has opened about 230 UNIQLO stores in China, also opened the first store in China of its low-end brand "GU" in UNIQLO's Shanghai store to further expand the market.

The president of GU company, Teokuchi, pointed out that "it is not only a fast fashion enterprise in Europe and the United States, but also a clothing chain brand of Chinese capital is gradually growing into a competitor in the future". Costume chain brands built by local capital in China are rising rapidly. In the field of casual clothing, China's "Metersbonway" is popular with college students and other groups, while the women's clothing brand "Ochirly" has also opened about 1000 stores.

Japanese clothing consultant Kensuke Kojima pointed out that "China designer The level of. Shanghai Donghua University has also set up a designer training course in cooperation with the Japanese Institute of Culture and Fashion. Ge Yingfei, 21, took part in the course, which will cover the whole process from garment sewing to design. She has a dream that she will have her own brand in the future.

According to Cheng Jindan, in China, in addition to Japanese brands such as Uniqlo and Muji, Mash style lab's "SNIDEL" and Cross Company's "earth music&ecology" are also popular as Japanese brands with lovely design styles.

In the commercial facilities in Shanghai, the sales competition is becoming increasingly fierce, and it is not uncommon for merchants to be forced to close their stores after opening for half a year or one year. To catch the heart of Chinese consumers, enterprises need to highlight the differences with other brands.