Fast Retailing: Raising the Profile of the Uniqlo Brand

摘要

Fast Retailing is one of Japan's leading clothing retailers. Its Uniqlo brand of good quality clothing sold at very competitive prices has made a big impact during the last 20 years. In the 1990s the company enjoyed several years of strong growth and record profits. But these reached a peak in its 2000/01 financial year,after which it suffered a dramatic slump in sales over the next two years. Since then,there has been an improvement. But sales and profits are still some way below their peak levels. The company has a strong international outlook. Most of its products are made outside Japan-particularly in China-and it is expanding by opening new outlets overseas. It already has established stores in the UK and China,and has recently set up retail outlets in Hong Kong,South Korea,and the USA. It also has plans for expansion in France by means of acquisitions. However,the UK venture was badly planned,and contributed to the profits slump after 2000/01. Most of the stores were eventually closed. Fast Retailing aims to roughly triple its current sales to YUAN 1,000 bn (USus9 bn) by 2010. Although this target is ambitious,the company's superior cost competitiveness and strong merchandising skills should help towards achieving this aim.