Ch. 12-Services and Nonprofit Organization Marketing

UNIQLO is a fast retailer and customer service is key to the business. As an employee to company I noticed that there is a use of internal marketing consistently. Internal marketing is the benefits and perks that the employees get from the employer in order to promote better result for customer service. UNIQLO obviously gives their employees a discount on their products. As well as Paid Time Off for their full time employees. But there are a lot of other events and perks that they give.

My store in particular have staff appreciation days. It’s a day given back to the employees for all their hard work. Those days consist of having free pizza and free frozen yogurt during the summer for the employees. Also since our uniform is black we have days where we can wear colorful jeans and other items that differ from our usual uniform. The uniform is all black with our red and white name tag. This is to help the customers know who works in the store. Wearing all black can be a bit boring so the managers ask the employees to submit ideas so that all the employees could dress down a little more. So far we have had colorful sneaker/shoes day, as well as flannel day and most recently UNIQLO 2015 bottoms day. These days are good for sales as well because we would wear UNIQLO products i.e. the UNIQLO flannels, the bottoms, and the Ultra-Light down Jackets (a lot of the employees at UNIQLO own at least 1 of the Ultra-Light Down Jackets/parkas/vest) Once the customer sees us wearing it they would want to as well.

I personally enjoy these days because it feels like a reward after working hard. I noticed that the days that we have staff appreciation events our sales go up and everyone is more likely to smile. Since our store is very detailed as to how their employees dress, greet, and help the customers, it can become a bit overwhelming but having days like these really make us all feel more at ease and of course more appreciated.And that makes me want to work even harder for UNIQLO and move up in the company.

Ch. 11- Developing and Managing Products

Like any business UNIQLO has developed many products that are new to that target market that they are targeting. That in mind leads to the test marketing concept. Since UNIQLO is an overseas company it takes a lot of adjustments to be able to market their products in the USA. Test marketing is very important for UNIQLO because since it is a sample/prototype of the product being shown it helps them get feedback by how many people buy that item. That feedback helps them find out if this certain would work in the USA and what needs to be adjusted.

The UNIQLO started off as a store for the basic items like a tee shirt and things like that. It was also one of the only companies in Japan to open at around 5 am every day. The reason for that is that the company wanted to be open for customers at the hours they might need something which made them super convenient and made there sale rocket. That was the beginning so everything they developed after the beginning, was put through test marketing.

The Ultra-Light down jackets were one of those items that were put in the test marketing. Since they were new to the market and there weren’t many or any light compactable until the UNIQLO brand came out with one. Another item put through test marketing was they Heat Tech and the AIRism. These are both new to their target market. Heat Tech is supposed to keep you warm during the winter. You layer it under a sweater and your body heat gets contained. Whereas the AIRism products does the opposite. These products are used during the summer or during working out because they help to keep your body cool. Both these items are new to their target market and through advertisement people were able to find out what exactly these products do.

Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

Multi-segment targeting is one of the approaches that UNIQLO uses in their market strategies. This being that they target to two or more well-defined markets and develop a certain marketing approach for each. Since UNIQLO is considered a family store, there would be distinct ways that the marketers of UNIQLO would market to the Women target that differs from the way they market to the Men target.

In UNIQLO one other market that gets targeted is the Art Enthusiast. The SPRZ NY collection is consist of UNIQLO famous Ultra-Light down jackets but with prints and designs from famous artist like Andy Warhol. There are also tee-shirts and other clothing items that are similar to the regular UNIQLO items but just designed differently.

A way to tell that Women, Men, and Art Enthusiast are marketed differently is by going to the store itself. For example, if you were to step into the 5^th avenue store in New York, you can see that the SPRZ items are placed different and have a different floor format that the rest of the store. They also have different hangers and displays. When you step into the Women’s department you would see tons of items and tons of mannequins everywhere. The Women’s department takes up most of the third floor. Once you step into the Men’s department you would see barely any mannequins and everything is put together and more convenient floor plan.

The reason for that is when a man usually goes shopping they know what they want and go straight to that item first then they looks around to see what else is there. So if the Men’s department is condensed and everything is in reach it is a easier trip for said man. Women on the other hand come shopping to just see what there is and that’s why there is so many mannequins, women want to see what types of outfits they could get.

Ch. 15- Marketing Communications

Like any retail store Advertising is a key concept to the business because if people don’t know it exist then they won’t buy. But when considering the AIDA concept that is just one of the aspect to the business. AIDA stands for Attention. Interest. Desire. Action. When considering UNIQLO, when the store is having a sale, particularly for an Ultra-Light down Jacket, the process for the purchase is the following:

1.      Attention: First, UNIQLO uses the email to let all the customers about the special sale. As well as other social media.

2.      Interest: The visual team makes sure to put an Ultra-Light down Jacket on almost all mannequins to draw the customers attention. Even if those aren’t the ones that are one sale it makes the customer want to see the product.

3.      Desire: Since UNIQLO has Ultra-Light down Jackets all year long there are a lot of customers that would rather get the old season Jackets instead of the new season since it would be cheaper. Which is why they developed the water defenders with a different variation of colors, in order to convince the customer that this Jacket would be better the old season Jackets.

4.      Action: Lastly after being attracted to the new season Jackets the customer decides whether they would want the old season one which is on sale or the new season one. Which a lot of times they take both.

This concept is very much needed when there are promotions and sales because UNIQLO usually has business because of the tourist that hear of the brand from others so a lot of the UNIQLO customers are new to the brand which makes AIDA important. The store has to be able to have the customer buy something as well as have them want to come back even if it’s not that store but the overall goal is to get the customer to shop at UNIQLO.

Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

UNIQLO most definitely does branding and has a lot of benefits from doing so. Since UNIQLO known slogan is Changing Clothes Changing Conventional Wisdom, Change the World. This really is what they follow in corporate UNIQLO because they try to make their clothes as innovative as possible. Which, if you were to put that information in a chart of the power of brand equity. Light Compactable Jackets would be the product category and the dominant brand name would be UNIQLO. I have seen many light Jackets from other brands but the UNIQLO Ultra- Light Down jacket is the most recognizable.

Global Branding is a definite benefit for UNIQLO since the store originated in Japan and since then the Stores have spread to Europe and All over the USA. The Japan stores are everywhere in Japan as well as in Korea, China and other Asian countries. Just from there, the company make good amount of profit. Especially since they make your clothes to fit better for the Asian body than for that of a westerner. But the clothes in Europe and the USA are a bit bigger but the profit is from those stores are very significant. The sales goal for some stores, like the 5^th avenue store, which is a flagship store, can average to 100,000 dollars for the day. Sometimes more or less but always in the high end of the thousands.

Brand loyalty is a definite in UNIQLO. I have personally had customer come up to me to say how much they love the store the products they have to offer. There are customers who got recommended to go to UNIQLO and since then they only shop there when they want either work clothes, or comfy clothes for the winter, or even just the Ultra-Light Down jackets. Those same customers, come up to me and say how they went to our others and loved it as well. Some went to the Japan store and they never knew about the store in the states so since then the started shopping more frequently at UNIQLO.

Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

When reading through this chapter I noticed that the concepts and points made are really what drives retail. Having worked in other retails I know that capturing customer data and leveraging customer information is super important for the company for many reasons. But when it comes to UNIQLO, those two concepts are important and play a big role in our company but identifying customer relationships is what helps drive business in our stores.

For anyone that has ever visited a UNIQLO the employees that help will most likely ask you to fill out a comment card. That card asks you to rate your experience in the store from very satisfactory to unsatisfactory. Then on the bottom it asks you to write a comment on how you feel about the store or any commentary in general. This is also where if you have a problem or think an item can be improved you can write about it there. This helps a lot with identifying customer relationships. All those cards get read by the store managers and then get sent to the corporate office in Japan. It then gets read by the employees there and it helps the company change. For example, a lot of our customers come into our store to buy the Ultra- Light down jackets. Those Jackets would get wet and become a bit heavy for customers. And as we all know the whole point of that particular jacket is to be light. So when customers complained and wrote about how they felt about the Jacket, UNIQLO came through and created the Water Defenders. Which is the same Jacket with the same style and colors that everyone loves but is now water repellent.

The CEO of UNIQLO personally visit all of his stores at least once or twice a year to make sure the stores are properly displaying the clothes and that the employees are being as helpful as possible. Although the company has the self-help system they still make sure that the employees help and greet all customers. The reason why I mention this is because one of the ways the employees ask customers to fill out a comment card is through customer servicing. So for that moment if you do well with the customer then the comment will be good and will look good when it reaches Japan. And at the very end of the card it says to put in your email if you want to receive coupons. Which when you help a customer they will mostly likely put that in. Which helps with the whole capturing customer data.

Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

When advertising for a retail store, there needs to be something that shows the customers that your store and product are better and different from that of other stores. UNIQLO tends to show that in their ads. The product of my focus is the popular Ultra- Light down Jackets. In the picture right here, it shows an ad of the jacket. And this picture I took myself, the ad was on the side of a bus stop. I think they did this to show the attributes and benefits in such a simple way. If compared to other retail store ads you can tell the difference in style and the angle that they go towards.

Since UNIQLO is known for being basic and simple with their designs and products you can tell they show that through their ads whereas if you compare their ads to the ads of Old Navy you can tell there is a major difference. Old navy doesn’t talk about their benefits nor attributes really but mostly their prices. And Old navy uses a lot of graphics and color while UNIQLO is really monotone most of the time.

UNIQLO also does a lot of advertising appealing ads but they are very subtle. They usually show the Ultra- Light down Jacket in the mobile state and they show how it looks inside and on a person. Since a lot customer thinks the UNI from UNIQLO means unisex, I feel that the advertisers for UNIQLO use that to an advantage to promote to both woman and men. A lot of stores consider the customers a HER but in UNIQLO our customers are both and so the ads a meant to appeal to both women and men. 

Ch. 14 - Marketing Channels and Retailing

Retail is a forever going to be a popular business because women love shopping. As long as women exist in this world the retail will thrive. There are many types of way that retail stores sell their product but it usually consist of the following. For starters there needs to be a product, which for UNIQLO we have the Ultra-Light Down jackets. Then there is the place, since UNIQLO is an international company that’s expanding all the time, we usually sell the Ultra-Light Down Jackets in all our stores but some stores like the ones in Japan are really basic in style but the ones like the stores in New York have a lot more style and are more trendy. The other things are promotion and price. These two I feel fit hand in hand because the promotions are made so the customers don’t feel bad for buying something as they would if they bought it at regular price. The ULD Jackets go on promotion where instead of 79.90 it would be 69.90 or maybe 59.90. When looking at it, it doesn’t seem like such a big difference but a lot of customers won’t buy it unless it is on sale. The next thing is the presentation. UNIQLO is known for their great displays and when there is a collaboration the visual team does a great job to make the store look even more amazing. And lastly the most important thing to have in mind in my opinion is the personnel. The sales associate really do make the business. If a customer doesn’t get help to find something they won’t buy it whereas if there are sales associates to help the sales then go up. I have notice firsthand how important sale associates are to a retail company. A lot of people get overwhelmed when going into UNIQLO since the stores has a lot to show and they really need direction with what they should get or the size.

Another aspect of being a retail store is the fitting rooms. The fitting room is really where you sell an item. It is also where you can convince the customer to sign up for any of the store reward cards or credit cards. Since UNIQLO doesn’t use either of those, when in the fitting room we try to make sure each customer leaves satisfied. That means getting them every size they need and making sure they leave with at least one item that they would like to buy. This also ties in with the aspect in retail mix, about the personnel position. Being there to assist a customer and cleaning up after them really is the most important thing.

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

When talking about consumers and what makes them buy I like to think of myself and what makes me want to buy something. One of the things I do the most to make sure I want to buy something is to research. I for one am a super make-up fan so before I buy a product from a certain brand I research it and see what other people think about the product. Another thing I do is really stick to what I am already use to because if it works well then why change. These are both an example of internal information search and external information search. I think that in this day and age since social media is the #1 way to market to consumer, a good amount of people research the product that they want before buying.

UNIQLO uses this to their advantage because most of the customer that shop at UNIQLO are returning customers. They use the internal information search, the customers like what they got at UNIQLO and comeback for more. This is particularly true with my product, Ultra- Light down Jacket. The customers would come to the store just for those jackets and they would buy more in different colors and styles. It got to the point where UNIQLO decided to sell Ultra-Light down Jackets all year round, which before was only sold during the fall and winter.

UNIQLO also uses the external information search to their advantage. They use the marketing- controlled information source, to continue getting new customers and make them returning customers. If you live in big cities like New York City, Chicago, or Santa Monica you can see a lot of the UNIQLO ads all over public transportation.

 Also when UNIQLO has a collaboration with another designer you can see ads on the New York Times, which helps bring in a lot of the older crowd to UNIQLO to shop. Also when the collaborations with Novak Djokovic, who is a famous tennis player, this collection brought a lot of the sports fans to shop and again become returning customers.

 

Ch. 5 - Developing a Global Vision

The global marketing is forever expanding because most businesses dream is to expand just like UNIQLO did. UNIQLO is a Japanese company but was expanded all over Asia then to Europe and the United States where the CEO goal is to have more than 200,000 stores opened by 2020. Since UNIQLO is known all over the world their trade mark items are the same all over, the Ultra-Light down jackets and parkas, as well as the heat tech/ airism items.

UNIQLO contributes and falls under the global marketing standardization concept. The reason I say this because all of UNIQLO’s merchandise is shipped directly from Japan to a warehouse that distributes those items to the stores in that nation. The exact same items are sent to all stores. I once asked a manager at one of the UNIQLO stores (this manager worked in a lot of UNIQLO stores around the world) if the same items that we get here in America are sent to other stores and he said yes. These items are made in mass production and since we want all our customers to be satisfied we send all the same products to all the stores. This also fits into the special collaboration items that UNIQLO has with INES de la fressange, Lemaire, and MoMA. These items are sent mostly to our higher end stores such as Manhattan stores and some stores in Europe. Though the Ultra- Light down jackets gets the customers in the door the jackets that have different designs such as the ones from the MoMA and INES really keeps people shopping more.

I also think that culture ties in well with global marketing standardization for this company. Almost all the UNIQLO’s have the same format and put certain items next to each other. In all stores the Ultra- Light down jackets get displayed the most and it is usually in the center of the floor. The reason why I think this ties in with culture is because in Japan the common office worker wears the same thing and color as their co-workers because in an office environment it is not nicely looked upon if you dress up too “gaudy”. They all have the same work space as well except for the higher ups in the companies who have their own office. This plays into place with their designs and their choices of colors used for the clothing. As well as how they corporate managers want to have their things display and what items they want to be displayed. 

Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

Thank goodness for the improvement of the social media aspect of marketing. There are plenty of ways to get your product across that before wasn’t an option. We have the big bosses of social media, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, which through them you can promote you product. But that’s only half of the process because you also have to know what audience you are trying to appeal too. My company, UNIQLO, tries to appeal to the Generation Y (years 1979-1994). With that age group in mind they made the Ultra-Light down Jacket. A jacket that is compatible, comes in a variety of colors, and is super light. 

Now how does this attract the Generation Y group, well the older members from the 1979 groups are in an age group that is in their thirties. At that age you don’t really have time for a hassling because your job is super time consuming and anything that’s convenient and saves you time is what attracts you the most. The compatible and light features are what attracts them to the item. Now the younger members are in their early twenties and are probably in college. Now the features that attracts them is the color variety and the compatible feature. These features appeal to this age because the colors are trendy and when going to class or out with friends hold a jacket in your hand can be annoying so the compact bag come in handy.

                

   Now another thing that UNIQLO strives to achieve is the business from the Asian market. In a lot of Asian countries short and form fitting clothes can be considered a bit gaudy so UNIQLO, which was made in Japan, makes their clothes loose and basic. They try to make their clothes very straight not giving a lot of form. The Ultra-Light down jackets are still bought by the Asian consumers because the bright colors are appealing and trendy. 

Ch. 18- Social Media and Marketing

Social media has become one of the largest form of marketing ever. From sponsored ads on Facebook and Instagram to the emails sent from your favorite companies about their latest release and updates, these are the ways that companies get there products to be viewed by customers. Now social media is not only used for advertisements but also for feedback. Companies like to hear what the consumers have to say and with that feedback they can adapt it to their future products. This is all through what is called the “Listening System”. 

UNIQLO, like any other retail store, have a lot of competition since it is in a big market. There are many methods that UNIQLO uses to get their product out there and get feedback. They ask customers to sign up for their email updates, once they are signed up they get a discount for doing so and they get all the promotions right away. Another social network used is advertisements in which they have their HEAT Tech ads all over the place from trains to buses.

UNIQLO also adapts the feedback they get to their products, for example there were a lot of complaints that the Ultra-Light Down jackets weren’t good against water, and so the designers came up with the Water Defenders. Then there were customers that loved the designs that the collaboration collection with MoMA has and they commented that they wanted to get those designs for the Ultra-Light Down jackets, and their wish was UNIQLO’s command because that’s exactly what they got. The designs from famous artist such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

The common social media such as Facebook and Instagram is a very good way to get consumer feedback, being so, UNIQLO has both. On their Facebook they have about 829,794 likes on their page. They also posted about their newest release on their French line called INES DE LA FRESSANGE. Also about the new feature available online, which is the ability to order online and pick up in store with free shipping and it takes about 2 day.

On Instagram UNIQLO USA has about 72.4k followers and tons of photos but it’s different from their Facebook because their Instagram photos are more artsy and show different variations of outfits whereas their Facebook is more of a newsletter.

Even though these types of networking are popular and used often, UNIQLO also like to do more of an old style approach and have their customers to fill out comment cards where they can say how the service was and make any comments and suggestions they would like. These cards are actually sent to Japan to get reviewed and take in to consideration by the Japanese Headquarters. 

Ch. 2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

 Strategic planning is one of the most important parts of selling you products in a very competitive market. That being said Uniqlo uses a couples of strategic planning tactics to make the customer chose their store over the other major retail companies.

 One of the strategic planning tactics that Uniqlo uses is Product Development. They use this towards many of their products, when its summer they develop their Airism products to be even more effect or to have more benefits. When its winter time they develop their Heat tech product as well and now they have the Extra Warm Heat tech which is said to be even warmer. But the product that they developed the most would be the Ultra Light Down Jacket.This Jacket is known for being super light and easy to carry because its compactable and comes with its own little bag. Now Uniqlo designers and developer decided to make the Ultra Light Down Jackets “Water Defenders”. These jackets are not water proof but the do defend against the rain.

  Another tactic used would be the Market Penetration Tactic. Uniqlo offers free alterations for bottoms such as jeans and dress pants. This is a service for our existing customer as well as future ones. The alterations are free if the item price is over 19.99. The customers love this because not everyone is the same length and some people have problems looking for petite in stores, so it is very helpful.

 The use of Portfolio Matrix is used in Uniqlo as well. They have the Stars in the company which would the Ultra Light Down Jackets. These Jackets are what brings in the most amount of profit and traffic. The Uniqlo stores are known internationally so there would be customers that would travel to different countries and buy the Ultra Light Down Jackets in those countries as well.

Ch. 1 - Overview of Marketing (Brief History and Mission Statement)

The company I chose to write about is UNIQLO which stands for Unique Clothing Warehouse, which later on got shortened to UNI-CLO but while doing administration work in Hong Kong the staff in charge of the registration mistook the “C” for a “Q” so then the company was called UNIQLO.

The owner of the company, Tadashi Yanai founded UNIQLO on May 1984. The company was first originated in Japan, in Hiroshima to be exact. The company was known for being opened way earlier than other stores because they believe the convenience for the customer is Key.

The mission statement for the company is ambitious and shows how much UNIQLO actually cares for their customers. The mission statement starts off with a corporate statement which is “Changing Clothes, Changing Conventional Wisdom, Change the World.” The company goal is create clothes that different from other stores, such as their famous Ultra-Light Down Jacket. These jackets are warm enough for the winter but also can be put into a small bag for your convenience.

 The mission statements is “ To create truly great clothing with new and unique values, and to enable people all over the world to experience the joy, happiness and satisfaction of wearing such great clothes…and to enrich people’s lives through our unique corporate activities, and to seek to grow and develop our company in unity with society.” I believe this company follow through with their statements specially the part of developing and growing the company. The company goal for 2020 is to become the #1 retail store in the USA. Which seems to be probable since they have so far nationwide since 2005, East Coast they have 28 stores so far and in the West Coast they have 16. They are still growing, they are now heading to the Inner states with a new store opening in Chicago this year.