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.