Snapshot of Uniqlo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Snapshot of Uniqlo - Essay Example The company has four major brands – Theory, Comptoir Des Cotonniers and Princesse Tam.Tam and g.u. Theory, which is the mainstay brand, has been experiencing growth in the United States and Japan, and is opening markets in China and Hong Kong. As for August 2011, it was operating 371 brands throughout the world. Comptoir Des Cotonniers is a French label for women, and operates 386 stores across Europe, Japan and the United States. Princesse Tam.Tam is a brand which focuses upon lingerie, home wear and swimwear. This brand operates out of well-known department stores and boutiques, and there are 159 outlets in the United States, led by France, and is available in 40 countries in Europe. g.u. is a brand that specializes in low priced jeans, and has net sales of 30 billion yen annually, and the brand operates 148 stores in total as of August, 2011, with two new flagship stores in Osaka and Tokyo. Uniqlo is looking to expand its Asian market, as they opened their first store in Ta iwan in October of 2010, which generated high sales. Next, they want to focus on other Asian stores, with a focus on China, South Korea and Taiwan, and opening a flagship store in Seoul, Korea, in the fall of 2011, as well as two new stores in New York: one on Fifth Avenue and a megastore on 34th Street. They presently operate stores in the United States, China, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the UK. The history of Uniqlo is that they opened their first store in 1984 in Japan, and demand for their products surged with their fleece apparel campaign in 1998. Uniqlo, after experiencing an ebb and flow in their sales from 1998, reworked the strategy to focus on an expansion of women’s wear. Their expansion into international markets began in 1991, starting with the UK. After a successful launch in the UK, they ventured into the markets of China, Hong Kong, South Korea, the United States and France, Singapore and Russia. The bulk of their stores are still in Japan, with 843 in that country, and 181 overseas markets. In 2005, they expanded their domain by purchasing a range of companies worldwide, and these companies are the Comptoir Des Cotonniers, Princesse Tam.Tam and Link Theory Holdings Co., Ltd, who developed the Theory brand. These brands are explained above. At present, their worldwide industry ranking in the apparel specialty stores is exceptional, as they rank fourth overall, in terms of sales, in the world, just behind The Gap. They have more sales then the Limited, NEXT, Polo Ralph Lauren, Esprit, Abercrombie & Fitch and Liz Claiborne. As noted above, they are currently the leading Japanese Domestic Clothing Retail chain. The Uniqlo business model is that they have established a SPA, which is a Specialty Store retailer of Private label apparel, and this business model encompasses all stages of the business, from design and production to final sales. This model has helped them make adjustment to p roduction that reflect the latest sales environment and minimizes store-operation costs, such as personnel costs and rent. It is through this SPA that Uniqlo is able to provide high quality clothing at low prices. They have an Research and Development team which looks at the latest fashions