Principles of Marketing, Uniqlo

They opened a casual unisex wear store in Fukuro-machi, Naka-ku, Uniqlo

1. Introduction

The trends in casual wear have always been changing. But there is one trend that will never change much, a T-Shirt and Jeans combination.

In March 1949, a Yamaguchi-based company, Ogori Shoji, existed in Ube, Yamaguchi. Before then, it had been operating men's clothing shops called, "Men's Shop OS".

Hiroshima, using the name "Unique Clothing Warehouse". It was at that time that the name "Uniqlo" came into being, as a contraction of "unique clothing". The name of the company was changed from "Ogori Shoji" to "Fast Retailing" in May 1985 and by April 1994, they had over 100 Uniqlo stores operating throughout Japan.

Uniqlo has been selling casual to smart casual wear, often tailoring their designs to suit their targeted market's demands and trend in casual wear.

2. Discussion

Consumers in any marketplace differ in their wants, resources, location and purchasing attitude. Through market segmentation, companies can identify and develop a different approach to reach the prospective market more efficiently and effectively with products and services that fits a person's unique needs. This is the foundation of any marketing strategy. The purpose of this essay is to adjust the different marketing strategies to best cater to the demands of its customers.

The 3 Possible Segements to Target

2.1.1 Behavioral Segmentation

Behavioral Segmentation divides buyers into segments based on their knowledge, attitudes, uses or responses concerning a product (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014).

During the holiday seasons and periods where people often travel to other countries, be it during winter or spring, Uniqlo offers many different varieties of winter wear as well clothes made from fabrics that cater to hot weather. On such seasons, Uniqlo staff will rearrange clothing racks and display such clothes in a more obvious way and also have promotions such as a 3 for 1 price on a certain singlet being sold during the dry and hot seasons.

Uniqlo seeks to reinforce and retain regular customers, renew relationships with its ex-customers, as well as to attract targeted non-existing customers. To do this, Uniqlo has maintained a standard in service by having its staff to shout a greeting in Japanese whenever a customer walks in-store, and also free alteration services when a customer spends more than $30.

2.1.2 Demographic Segmentation

Demographic segmentation refers to dividing the market based on variables such as gender, income, ethnicity, age or race (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014).

Uniqlo offers a wide range of clothes for customers aged from 15 to 40 (based on the sizes as well) they have casual T-Shirts, smart casual to formal wear for formal occasions.

With such variables, Uniqlo is able to approach various target markets easily. Like other clothing brands that deals with casual wear, their marketing is focused towards the younger individuals who tend to be more inclined towards trends. At a point in a young person's life, they would most probably be looking for alternate solutions to dress well and keep in trend while not spending too much.

Uniqlo gender segmentation is also evenly marketed with how they run their stores, clothes and accessories for different genders are separated on different floors and sections.

2.1.3 Psychographic Segmentation

Psychographic segmentation divides a market based on our personalities, buying psychology, social class and lifestyles (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014).

In segmenting of social class, Uniqlo targets its consumers ranging from the lower middle income earners to the middle income earners, and prices its products to suit the spending power of its targeted consumers. An example would be the T-shirts with various good designs that change every once in a while, those T-Shirts are priced below $12, which is a good bargain for anyone looking to buy a T-Shirt for casual occasions and not willing to spend a huge sum on a branded T-Shirt.

2.2 Selected Target Segment (Psychographic Segmentation, Social Class)

Market segmentation reveals the firm's market segment opportunities, the firm now have to evaluate the various segments and decide how many and which segments it can serve best (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014).

Uniqlo targets the young generation ranging from 15-35 years of age, mainly from the lower income to middle income group earners. For casual wear, there are many clothing lines available such as Forever 21, Cotton On and Abercombre & Fitch. However, the first 2 brands are mostly catered for the female gender whereas Abercombre & Fitch clothing products are priced slightly above the middle income range. In approaching this, Uniqlo has managed to locate its stores in town areas while keeping the price of its products at a comfortable range.

Most clothing brands would have their logo printed on its designs, as a way to present its brand value. Uniqlo, however, does not have any of the clothes it sells, bearing the company's name, other than the size tag, which can only be see inside the collar of the clothes it sells. Uniqlo understands that while some of its consumers would like to dress well, its brand value however, does not reflect very well on a consumer's pride and ego, should the clothes be bearing any logo other than branded logos. Uniqlo maintains and follows the trends in today's fashion, while omitting the trademark on its products. This is Uniqlo's way of targeting its consumers, where people want to dress well, but do not want to spend too much while still appearing to be in trend.

3. Recommendation

3.1 Differentiation

In the view of Graham Mclnnes on Marketing Differentiation Strategies, every brand faces the dual challenge of positively influencing growth (by capturing new customers) and doing it in a way that promotes loyalty to the brand (Mclnnes, 2011).