Why UNIQLO Is Hard To Survive In The U.S. Market

There was a saying in the industry: "XX brand can't make a good living long river ” It means that it is very difficult for a northern brand to survive when it is opened in the south.

Today we will Widen the field of vision A new statement is given 「 UNIQLO can't make peace ocean 」， intend Uniqlo Open the store to U.S.A Just It's hard to survive 。

　　 September 2005 , UNIQLO U.S.A The first store is in Opening in New Jersey, 17 years In the past, the number of stores in the United States was only 43 As shown in the figure:

Let's talk about three questions today one Does UNIQLO make money in the US market? two What happened to UNIQLO America? three Why can't we do a good job in American market?

　　 1、 Does the U.S. market make money?

　　 The core standard of clothing brand survival is profit What about UNIQLO's profitability in the United States? There are descriptions in the financial report:

2005: forecast for next year deficit 300 million yen, selling 1 billion yen;

2006: forecast for next year deficit 700 million yen and sold for 3.4 billion yen;

2008: UNIQLO's profit and loss improved.

2012: UNIQLO deficit 2-3 years.

2014: American deficit The same as last year

2015: the most important issue is to eliminate UNIQLO deficit

2017: UNIQLO is on track, deficit Half the range.

2018: UNIQLO's deficit The range is halved as planned

2020: the United States takes into account the impairment loss, so deficit It's big.

2021: North America deficit By half, Europe has been blackened.

　　 Uniqlo On the other side of the Pacific U.S.A For 17 years in a row China's market has made a lot of profits, and the Southeast Asian market has made a big profit. Even Europe has been able to break even in most years. As the world's largest consumer market with a population of 329 million, what's wrong with the United States?

China Hong Kong shop 1 Tsim Sha Tsui store opened in the same year and the same month as No. 1 store in the United States, with an area of about 1000 ㎡ ， That year sale 1 billion yen（ About 60 million yuan), I made money in the first year Later, more and more shops were opened, as shown in the following figure:

One market The shorter the profit time, the faster the store will be opened Hong Kong, China, has a population of 7 million, less than a small fraction of the population of 329 million in the United States, with 31 stores, which is no less than 43 in the United States.

The same goes well with South Korea, where Yanai is worried about the Anti Japanese sentiment of South Koreans Korean people can't escape the "true fragrance law" If it had not been for the sudden brake of the epidemic, there would have been 200 stores in South Korea, with only 52 million people in South Korea.

　　 50 million People's Korea, work fast two hundred home Shop, this makes 300 million How can the United States be so friendly? 50 The store can't afford it? Besides, I'm still losing money.

Let alone South Korea, it is our population 20 million Taiwan, a small place, can be opened 69 UNIQLO, the US market with more than 300 million people:

You've been working in the U.S. market for 17 years. You must be curious? How did he do it? Let's make a repeat.

　　 2、 What happened in the US market?

　　 UNIQLO, November 2004 US subsidiary established, first term controller Xuanfu in front of the hall , responsible for the preparation of the store.

　　 September to October 2005 UNIQLO opened in New Jersey 3 Shopping Mall Shop, respectively Monroe Park Mall 716㎡ , Rockwell mall 498㎡ And freehold mall 736 square meters, with few visitors, It's not selling well The inventory needs to be processed.

In order to process the inventory, UNIQLO New York We rented 264 SOAs ㎡ The blank shop, result The stock is selling very well 。 Inspired by this, Add " *** Store 1 performance About 5 million yuan / month 」 ， Yanai is deciding to open a flagship store in the big city of New York.

November 2006, SOHO District, New York, USA three thousand and three hundred ㎡ We have done a lot of advertising and publicity work

1. T-shirt project participated by 34 Japanese artists

2. Release UNIQLO original CD "Tanaka Zhizhi song"

3. Carry out SOHO store marketing activities on various occasions in Manhattan

4. Send UNIQLO newspaper edited by representatives of New York

5. Establish a website to release the preparation of SOHO store.

Three stores in New Jersey failed to make a profit and closed one by one. Liu Jingzheng The book says“ New York's flagship store was profitable ”From 2007 to 2011, there was no "profit" description in the four-year financial report of this store This 3000 plus Ping shop is probably a small loss.

In the first stage, the role of yoiwai's store commander (before 2015) and the second stage (the third stage) are still used for propaganda.

　　 2011 , UNIQLO has appointed a new CEO of U.S. market xiaozhushen, who is the following guy:

On October 14, 2011, the 4600 square meter Fifth Street store in New York opened, and a week later, the 4300 square meter New York 34 dimer store opened. With the 3300 square meter SOHO store opened in 2006, UNIQLO already has three super large stores in New York.

October 2012, USA San Francisco Shop and New Jersey 3300㎡ Shopping center stores opened, the month began the network e-commerce sales, received unexpected results.

　　 Xiao Zhushen's thoughts are as follows:

1. Change the commodity structure of each store (break Standardized goods Structure) , carry out publicity and focus on repeat customers;

　　2、 Recruit fresh graduates from the United States and send them back to Japan for half a year, Train American employees to become future store managers and CEOs;

　　3、 The key is personnel training and store development , training talents with UNIQLO DNA, just like Japan Low cost store development 。

Xiaozhushen is more like a long-term believer. If the store area is less than 1000 square meters, he It might be appropriate. However, Liujing didn't pay attention to it at all. All the shops he opened were full of them High cost stores 。

　　 The above is UNIQLO's second phase of the U.S. market (2011-2013) , using still Liu Jingzheng's three board axe is just to make the Scale " and "Big store" Two in one, enhanced version of the three board axe in New York Concentrated blasting The commander is still Yanai, who has ideas and is unwilling to do so The puppet's bamboo Shin was quickly replaced.

Due to the huge loss in 2012 brought by super large stores, Liu Jingzheng Believe in scale effect ， There is an urgent need for speed Open a shop ， 2013 With 20 years Store opening experience Of American Larry Meyer Larry Meyer As the U.S. market The third CEO The next one, he once 100 stores to 500.

　　
This guy superficially identified with the UNIQLO DNA team, but in fact Americanization of business core The new store owners are all Americans. He will Number of stores in the first place It plans to open 20-30 stores a year and 100 stores as soon as possible, which is what Liujing wants.

　　 Larry Meyer The ability to open a shop is not a boast. I took office in 2013 7 Shop, August 2014 25 , August 2015 42 Give him another two or three years to open 100 stores. The problem is The more stores, the greater the loss , Liu Jingzheng Faithful Again, the scale effect fails, He couldn't bear the loss, so he was replaced in advance.

It would be unfair to say that Liu Jingzheng only knows three axes (multi store, advertisement and big store). He was worried about the Americans long before he opened his shop in the United States Size, color, fashion preference Unlike the Japanese, it has set up a product R & D center in the United States.

In 2013, American CEO Larry Meyer recruited some experienced personnel to solve this problem American designer , UNIQLO's America localization However, it still lost money.

2014 American deficit range It was the same as last year. From 7 stores to 25 stores, the range was flat, indicating that the loss amount was expanding.

Financial report in 2015: 17 new stores were opened in the United States in a year, the number of stores increased rapidly, UNIQLO brand has not been recognized in the U.S. market, the sales plan continued to fall short of the standard, and the deficit of the business was enlarged compared with the previous year.

25 + 17, number of stores 42 , UNIQLO stores Impairment loss of 3.3 billion yen (about 200 million yuan) basically reached the critical point that Liujing could bear, so it appeared in the 2015 financial report "The most important issue is to eliminate the U.S. UNIQLO deficit" So the CEO of the United States changed.

　　 The above is UNIQLO's third phase of the U.S. market (2013-2016) , using still Mr. Yanai's three board axe just gives the task of "multiple stores" Native American In essence, Larry is a substitute for the examinee. He works very fast and has a low score.

After the scale effect of multiple stores failed, Liujing switched to the big store model, October 2015 , Midwest 4000㎡ Of UNIQLO flagship store Chicago Michigan Avenue store opens.

In 2016, the fourth CEO of UNIQLO Takoguanzhi In terms of products, such as thermal underwear, super light down jacket, cashmere sweater and other popular products, the brand has called out the slogan that lifewear is suitable for life. The sales of e-commerce in the United States accounted for 20%

Under such a background, long kuanzhi proposed to improve the performance of each store and carried out a series of reform measures for store operation

1. Improve service level and strengthen shopowner The ability of management;

2. Improve the store staff Daily work efficiency;

3 stock Control;

4. Improve the role（ post Adjustment)

5. Reassessment of commodity composition（ Commodity structure Assessment)

Taki kuanzhi Store operation The reform has been completed successfully, and Fy17 Starting at Canada Opening a shop, everything is changing in a good direction, and he is Store opening strategy There are some new ideas on:

1. Suburban export with low sales Shopping mall in big city Transfer;

2. Consider going The birthplace of American leisure San Francisco and Los Angeles;

3. Optimization Mobile e-commerce Distribution time and sales volume.

　　 August 2017, UNIQLO in the United States is on the right track, Loss halved ， After hard work, we finally saw the dawn. August 2018, UNIQLO The loss was halved again ， It is expected to turn to profit in August 2019 。

　　 The above is UNIQLO's fourth phase of the U.S. market (2016-2018) Liu Jing was racing the American car into the ditch. After the three axes failed, he handed the car key to one Old driver Hands, Takoguanzhi It took two years to get the car back on track.

According to Liu Jingzheng's previous experience, after driving back to the right track, he had to drive the driver out of the car. I don't know why. This time he didn't, but he was given a co CEO, the co pilot;

Co CEOs are co executives, that is Double CEO Mechanism, in essence, is Liu Jingzheng take back American market power The emperor's puppet goes out like a puppet.

August 2019, Takoguanzhi Leading Canadian market, the number of shops reached 11 Plus the U.S. market's 51 In the North American market, sales of 105 billion yen (about 6 billion Among them, e-commerce is the key, accounting for about 25%. Large size and semi customization are new e-commerce services.

Although the North American market will return in 2019 No profit Long kuanzhi mentioned that in the United States, rents are high and shopping malls are changing greatly. Therefore, we should carefully select stores and do a good job Rent negotiation. In this year, UNIQLO's total sales reached 2290.5 billion yen (about 140 billion yuan)

Under the management of long kuanze for many years, the North American market The new coronavirus broke out in the United States just before it was profitable, 2020 UNIQLO Taking into account the impairment loss, The amount of loss is very large 。

In August 2021, the sales revenue is 2132.9 billion yen for the whole year in North America Halve the deficit Stores in New York accounted for 5% of the total sales of the stores in New York, which accounted for 5% of the total sales of the stores in New York and the sales of the stores in New York accounted for 40% of the total sales.

Liu Jing thinks: "future career Expansion system It has been improved, and will greatly accelerate the opening of stores in the world after August 2023, so as to accelerate the growth of the world's first brand. "

　　 The above is UNIQLO's fifth phase of the U.S. market (2018-2021) Liu Jing The devolved power will be recovered How to play games between the two CEOs and whether the old drivers still hold the steering wheel of American cars? I don't know.

Can the U.S. market break out after the outbreak?

3. Why can't we do a good job in the US market?

UNIQLO is in Asia There is basically no market cultivation period, First year Just profit , and U.S.A The market is in turmoil 17 years , or Unprofitable Why is that?

A friend said yes national power If you don't, you can do better business in Asia than in the United States

I don't think it's so simple. I decided to see UNIQLO's teachers GAP In the case of the United States, gap has two leisure brands: gap gap gap and old navy. In the past decade, there are two brands

The number of stores in the North American market is as follows:

(North America: USA + Canada)

　　 GAP As a local brand in the United States, a teacher of UNIQLO and a benchmark of leisure brand, decade Time, mainland The number of stores dropped from 2059 to 1772, Down 14% That means American Leisure wear consumption demand is decreasing year by year 。

　　 The United States Leisure brand overlord GAP The size of the stores in the last ten years has been atrophy How can UNIQLO, a foreign leisure brand, go smoothly?

It's impossible for a Cantonese to open a Sichuan restaurant in Sichuan. Besides, the first brother of the local Sichuan restaurant is shrinking.

　　 So why does gap shrink in the United States?

There are two kinds of clothing culture in the world GAP and Uniqlo On behalf of American clothing culture (leisure) The second is that ZARA Represented by European clothing culture (Fashion)

　　 American leisure The core categories of T-shirt 、 Sweater 、 Jeans 、 Casual pants 、 sweater 、 Down Jackets And so on, European fashion The core categories of shirt 、 Dress 、 Sweater 、 suit 、 Windbreaker 、 overcoat etc.

　　 In the past, European style And American style yes Two sets Totally different Clothing culture system They are very different from each other In recent years fuse and Division of labor 。

First Division of clothing culture There is a Japanese buzzword called "UNIQLO see light die" 。 UNIQLO doesn't print logo on clothes. How do you know it's UNIQLO? The answer is: casual clothes

UNIQLO has done too well in Japan, with a market share of 10%, Japanese equate casual wear with UNIQLO ， What the Japanese say "UNIQLO see light die" Approximately equal to "Leisure clothing is beautiful" 。

This shows that, in the Japanese understanding, UNIQLO = non social clothing Of Clothes to wear when not in sight If you go out and meet people, you will die of light.

Consumers will American style casual clothes Positioning as Non social clothing This is the first division of clothing culture. Today, we talk about three kinds of clothing culture

　　 Type 1 Division of clothing culture—— American style Leisure = non social,

　　 Type 2 Division of clothing culture —— Logo brand social contact

　　 Type 3 Division of clothing culture —— European style Fashion = social

　　 Uniqlo = leisure = gap = non social

besides Clothing culture fusion ：

1. American brands are transferred to Europe and the United States American market Go ahead, Zara is expanding, gap is shrinking 。

2. With the development of American brands in Europe and the integration of Europe and the United States, after the Europeans have absorbed American leisure, they have abandoned them like my shoes European market Go ahead, Zara is expanding, gap is shrinking It's shrinking to the point of leaving Europe.

　　 Consumers determine the trend of clothing culture In the last decade, Gap the decline of the United States + Zara the expansion of the United States It means that American customers are transferring their consumption from American style to European style Transfer.

A typical example is sheen, American style Uniqlo Yes 37 years To do it 16 billion US dollar (more than 200 billion yen), European style SHEIN Yes 13 years Just do it 16 billion US dollar, sheen North America may exceed 10 billion US dollar, UNIQLO only in North America 600 million US dollar, which shows the tip of the iceberg of American consumption transfer.

American market Leisure wear shrinking , leisure brand Uniqlo stateside Go against the trend The bigger the action, the more losses, Even if musk came out to the gap platform, It will not change the fate of American leisure.

　　 Uniqlo Die hard U.S.A Market, the good result is in Break even online dancing The most likely scenario is Between blood loss and loss reduction 。

　　 It's not that butterflies can't fly through the sea, but there's no waiting on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.