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.