The Secret of Uniqlo's Rapid Global Popularity

by wgyuvs8a on 2012-03-06 11:44:59

[Shangtai Information] For 13 days, Tao Shengye has been sitting in front of the computer. He repeatedly right-clicked the mouse and selected "refresh" from the drop-down menu, watching the numbers continuously rise - 100,000, 200,000, 1 million, until the computer crashed due to constant refreshing. How persistent. Of course, it's not just Tao Shengye who is persistent. From Beijing to Hangzhou, from Guangzhou to Shenzhen, almost all first-tier cities in China, 1.33 million people are caught up in this collective madness. What attracted them was the Lucky Line online queuing event co-hosted by Uniqlo and Renren Network four months ago. According to the event rules, netizens just need to virtually queue up on the Uniqlo website store for shopping to have a chance to win an iPhone 4, iPad, travel vouchers, special edition commemorative T-shirts, 90% discount coupons, etc. This isn't the first time that fashion enthusiasts have been captivated by Uniqlo. If you step away from your desk and visit Xidan Joy City, Sanlitun in Beijing, or Nanjing Road in Shanghai, you'll find similar crazy scenes every day. Cutting through the crowded crowds, their shopping routes often go like this: after browsing ZARA on the first floor, they take a lap around H&M on the opposite second floor, then directly head to the third floor to buy Uniqlo. What's the secret? Behind the windows, even an ordinary T-shirt comes in 300 different colors and patterns, most of which are designed by modern art master Keith Haring. Usually, such a T-shirt costs only 29 yuan. More importantly, Uniqlo clothing can be versatile; many basic styles are heavily recommended by numerous high-end fashion magazines. These items priced at several hundred yuan are even paired inside LV and Chanel coats. Jil Sander, the "Queen of Minimalism" who once worked for PRADA, didn't hesitate to leave her beloved "puppy" (Jil Sander affectionately called her favorite brand Vukmirovic "puppy") to join his team of designers. "Her clothes are the best; a piece of Jil Sander clothing can last you ten years, and then you can pass it down to your daughter." The fashion design world once evaluated Jil Sander like this. Now, she is Uniqlo's creative director, hoping that the clothes she designs will receive the same praise. All of this is because of a 61-year-old "fashion enthusiast" from a small town in Japan. This person is not tall, calling himself a "tailor." He wears black-rimmed glasses, dons suits made by his own company, with the entire outfit costing less than 400 yuan, and he walks fast, requiring his accompanying staff to jog to keep up. Media that interviewed him said that this man is well-versed in the latest fashion trends in Paris, London, and New York, able to predict the next season's trends. He can spark fashion trends with a simple jacket or underwear, creating a global Uniqlo craze; even the most ordinary T-shirt can be transformed into an eagerly anticipated, affordable art collectible each season. In the past 20 years, he has opened clothing supermarkets opposite Hermès and Chanel; he has achieved equality in dressing. This person is Tadashi Yanai, the founder of the Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo, ranked as Japan's richest person for two consecutive years by Forbes magazine, with a net worth of $9.2 billion, and also someone whom Jack Ma sees as embodying "innovation," "wisdom," and "courage." "The two entrepreneurs I admire most are Starbucks founder Schultz and Tadashi Yanai," Jack Ma said. A straight flight of 1,000 kilometers from Shanghai, his story begins there. The Beginning One morning in Tokyo, passing through arched glass walls, you can see the green grass from any floor, and through the glass ceiling, the room is bathed in sunlight. Here, you can enjoy cherry blossoms in spring and red leaves in autumn. This is the Tokyo Midtown, a 68,900 square meter urban complex, a landmark of Tokyo that every architect wants to visit. The former richest man in Japan, Masayoshi Son, and his company SoftBank have offices in this building, where they dress formally in suits. However, Tadashi Yanai and Uniqlo employees are from a different world, wearing crew neck shirts or casual shirts, paired with corduroy pants, working in open-plan spaces without partitions. Every day, Tadashi Yanai looks out over the world from here. It took him exactly 21 years to get here. Let's start from the morning of June 2, 1984. That day, in a small alley on the main commercial street in the central district of Hiroshima, in a place called Bag Town, a casual clothing retail store named "UNICLO CLOTHING WAREHOUSE" (literally meaning "unique clothing warehouse") opened. This store was unique. It targeted teenagers and sold only reasonably priced casual wear. More importantly, it borrowed from the American campus warehouse CD sales model, selling clothes in a warehouse-style store with self-service shopping. Due to its low prices and wide selection, "customers could shop for clothes like browsing a magazine stand," undisturbed, easily and conveniently purchasing clothes. During the rainy season, coming here to shop became a novelty in the Japanese town, even drawing out the long-absent sunshine. The unique positioning and exciting advertising slogans caused long queues to form outside the store early in the morning. As time passed, the surging crowd became somewhat frightening. To prevent chaos inside the store, staff had to restrict the number of customers entering several times. This frenzied state continued until the next day. Many years later, Tadashi Yanai recalled saying, "Local radio reported on the crowded conditions on the first day of opening. Perhaps too nervous, I said something unexpected during the interview: 'I'm really sorry, but those currently in line may not be able to enter the store. Please don't come anymore.' I think my statement must have been unprecedented." This was the starting point of the "Uniqlo" business. Tadashi Yanai said that what made this starting point possible was his father. "I always thought I wasn't suited for such a life. But somehow, I inherited my father's suit store and later expanded it into today's Uniqlo. Looking back, there seems to be some inexplicable connection between my life path and my father's." Tadashi Yanai wrote in his autobiography "Nine Failures, One Success." Born in 1949 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Tadashi Yanai came from a "clothing family." His father was an old-fashioned businessman, kind-hearted and valuing righteousness. With a sister and two younger sisters in the family, it meant that as the only son, he would have to take over his father's business early on. In Tadashi Yanai's memory, all his father seemed to leave him were reprimands. This led to Tadashi Yanai's rebellious character. From 1967 to 1984, for 17 years, Tadashi Yanai was known as a "bad kid," swept up in Western HIP-HOP, the Beatles, and other rock-and-roll pop cultures, indulging in movies, pinball parlors, and mahjong shops. When nearing university graduation, what he thought about most was "not having to work if possible." Of course, during this period, under his father's "coercion," he tried various jobs, such as reluctantly joining the supermarket recommended by his father, being transferred to the clothing mall as a clerk, etc., merely going through the motions. Since his father was busy with his construction company, he decided to hand over the men's clothing store to Tadashi Yanai. At that time, "Kojun Shoji" had developed from an individual store in 1963 into a company with two stores, one specializing in men's clothing and another selling leisurewear VAN, registered as "Kojun Shoji Co., Ltd." with a capital of 6 million yen, reaching an annual sales volume of 100 million yen. This trustful decision made Tadashi Yanai begin to rethink his life. He started learning how to display goods, manage inventory, and calculate accounts, just like other clerks. Like all newcomers, he encountered various problems. As he learned more about the company, he discovered operational issues - inefficiency and slow capital turnover. When Tadashi Yanai decided to reform these chronic problems, a problem arose - five out of six employees left.