Global Marketing Strategies for UNIQLO

This assignment delves into the global marketing strategies employed by UNIQLO, a Japanese apparel retailer. It explores UNIQLO's approach to international expansion, examining their successes and challenges in different markets. The assignment incorporates a comprehensive literature review on global marketing concepts and utilizes a case study of UNIQLO to illustrate these principles in practice. It also considers relevant factors such as cultural nuances, competitive landscapes, and consumer behavior in shaping UNIQLO's marketing strategies.

GLOBAL MARKETING

Table of Contents
Executive summary................................................................................................................1
Country selected.....................................................................................................................1
Entry mode selection..............................................................................................................2
Target market..........................................................................................................................5
Marketing objectives..............................................................................................................8
Marketing strategies to reach marketing objectives...............................................................9
Recommendations................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

Executive summary
Global marketing is the process of promoting and selling the products at international
level. The current document has remained successful in explaining different aspects of global
marketing. Uniqlo is going to enter into Mexican market for which different decisions required
have been discussed in the report. Apart form this, the said firm needs to focus on it pricing
strategy in order to attract large customers. Additionally, the venture also needs to attain its
marketing objectives with the use of different tactics and strategies.
Country selected
In this present report, Uniqlo is selected for analysing the business environment and
competitors in Mexico. Whereas, Uniqlo is the designer, manufacturer and retailer of the
Japanese casual wear. The said organization has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Fast
retaining Co. Ltd. In order to entre in Mexican market the firm needs to analyse the business
environment of Mexico. The aforesaid country is one of the easiest countries for doing
businesses in America. Additionally, the government of Mexico is trying to maximise
investments but the policies related to tax are not business friendly. The consumer market in
Mexico provides good opportunities for the marketers in order to consume goods. In terms of
GDP, the economic environment is stable and 3.8% of hike is seen in GDP of the country. If the
management of Uniqlo aims to enter the Mexican economy then it is required by the
organization to analyse the market. However, the cited economy has different kinds of small,
medium and large firms who manufactures several types of products and services (Armstrong
and et.al.,.2012)
In addition to above, the investment regulations in Mexico has been encouraged by the
government to enhance the foreign investment. There are certain industries for which foreign
direct investment are restricted in Mexico such as airlines, telecoms and energy industry. If the
said firm wants to enter in this market then it will require to study the Mexican market. Mexico
is the 6th easiest place to do business because it has improved its overall ranking by giving
permits for constructions, credit and trading across the borders. However, the said firm belongs
to Japan where it can enter in the Mexican market. Apart from this, there is huge level of
competition which will be faced by Uniqlo in Mexico. The competitors are Lorena Saravia,
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Oxxo, Superama etc. It has been witnessed that the said economy is well versed with different
brands. As a result, the management of Uniqlo is going to face intense competition in Mexico.
The reason is strict investment policy framed by the government. It can become a threat for the
said firm. Apart from this, the aforesaid firm has direct competition in apparel market with
Giordano. It is one of the fast fashion organization which sells clothes at appropriate rates
(Athaide and Klink, 2012).
In this context, the firm also have some indirect competitors due to which the
organization is also facing strong competition. If the management of Uniqlo is deciding to enter
into Mexican market then the venture is required to focus on attaining customer attention. The
cited organization needs to focus on market share of clothing industry in US. As per the
researches, there is increase of 117.21% over 1996. The stated economy has improved its
manufacturing in clothing industry. This has resulted in increasing intense competition between
domestic companies. Therefore, the said firm needs to study market and competitors to enter in
the market (Berthon and et.al., 2012).
Entry mode selection
Uniqlo aims at entering in the Mexican market for which the cited organization needs
take certain decisions. Before entering in the new market, it is essential for the stated
organization to consider certain factors. These factors are ownership advantages, location
advantages and internationalization advantages. On the other hand, ownership advantages are
those benefits which a firm may have due to holding the resources. In these terms, the said
organization has clear vision of its brand as it provides quality clothes to the customers.
Additionally, they are also focused on price factor which helps in attracting large number of
customers. Apart from this, the organization makes innovation in the products. They use quality
fabrics at the time of designing products. Apart from this, with relation to location advantages
the organization needs to decide where it can get cheap labour, logistics and raw material at
lower cost. This will assist organization to manufacture its products at the best possible lower
cost (Sullivan Mort, Weerawardena and Liesch, 2012).
Additionally, the organization has various modes to enter in the Mexican market.
However, the firm have different modes of entry such as exporting, licensing, franchising and
special modes. On the other hand, exporting consist of direct, indirect exports and intra-corporate
transfers. In addition to this, licensing consist of international licensing. As a result, the firm
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should adopt exporting as their entry mode. The stated venture can also adopt direct or indirect
exporting of products to enter the market. Whereas, direct exporting is the process where the
products are directly sold to the customers in another country. Here, there is no intermediary
between the organization and customers. This will be useful for the organization to directly
communicate to the customers by carrying out the effective sales. In this method, the
organization itself will be responsible for conducting the market research, distribution of goods
and shipment of logistics. The major advantages of this method are explained below (Terpstra,
Foley and Sarathy, 2012).
 The management of Uniqlo will be able to generate potential profits because the
interruption of intermediaries will be zero. It will help the company to keep all the
amount of profit without distributing among the suppliers, distributors and other parties.
 The company operations will have greater degree of control because each and every task
is being supervised and managed by the firm itself.
 The said firm will be able to know its customers as in case of indirect exporting they
wont be able to know the choices and preferences of the service users.
 Effective attainments of needs and demands of the customers and clients. The
organization is directly selling the products to the customers which leads to take their
feedback and implement the changes (Varey and Pirson, 2013).
 The major advantage which can be gained by the firm is to develop good level of
understanding of market place. Apart from this, the products of this company will also
be protected from copyrights, patents and trademark.
In opposition to above, there are certain disadvantages of direct exporting which is
necessarily be analysed for the said firm. Following disadvantage are explained below.
 The management of uniqlo will be required to invest more time and money to set up
business and operations at the international level.
 In order to cultivate customer base, the organization is required to have qualified and
powerful people for managing the operations at Mexico (Terpstra, Foley and Sarathy,
2012).
 Apart from this, the major disadvantage of direct exporting is that the said firm may not
able to communicate with the customers as it would be done by local agents. Uniqlo is
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Japanese based company where management belongs to different culture. This has huge
impact on the sales of the organization.
In context to above, the management of Uniqlo can also adopt indirect exporting methods
in which the major role is played by the intermediaries. Here, the products are sold with the help
of intermediaries which results in easily entering into the market. The aforesaid organization can
also use this mode of entry. The defined procedure has certain pros and cons which are essential
to be centred for the management of Uniqlo. Following advantages and disadvantages are
explained below.
Advantages
 Indirect exporting can be done with the help of intermediaries where a bridge is formed
between the customers and the said organization. However, it is less risky because
communication gap and other issues are being sorted out with the help of intermediaries.
 Apart from this, the organization also need to invest less in this mode of entry because
arrangement of resources will be effectively done by the intermediaries. It will assist in
saving times and money of the organization (Terpstra, Foley and Sarathy, 2012).
 This process will remain helpful for the said organization in terms of technical assistance
and guidance. Here, the firm can import components, raw material and other required
things for the production of final goods with the help of intermediaries. It will have an
end impact on saving time and money.
Disadvantages
The said process has some disadvantages which is crucial for the firm to analyse before
using this process in consideration. Following cons are explained below.
 Lack of control: The major disadvantage of the process is that the organization will not
have high level of control over the company operation. As the things will be done and
managed by the intermediaries which can affect the direct control of the Uniqlo.
 Decrease in profits: This is another disadvantage of indirect exporting because the
profits generated by the company will be shared with intermediaries. It will result in
lowering down the profits of the stated firm. In addition to this, the prices charged will
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also be lower due to presence of several intermediaries which leads to distribution of
profits and revenues by the firm (Armstrong and et.al.,.2012)
 Excessive dependence: Here, the management of Uniqlo needs to depend on the
intermediaries because the process of selling goods and services will be managed by the
mediators. They will have the clear picture related with the operations of the firm. It will
result in excessive dependence of the company over the intermediaries. Apart form this,
there may have the chances of frauds and clashes between the firm and the intermediaries
because of lack of supervision. This can have implications on the company operations
and its sales. Therefore, the organization will be need to have proper supervision and
monitoring of the operations.
By analysing both the methods of exporting the said firm should adapt direct exporting in
order to enter into the Mexican market.
Target market
Target market is a group of people or consumers for which the business concern has
selected to use its marketing efforts. It can also be said that, an organization targets some
customers in order to sell out their products on certain basis. For the management of Uniqlo it is
essential to develop a market plan so that the customers can be effectively targeted. However, the
said organization needs to analyse the market of Mexico for targeting the customers. It will assist
the organization to target customers in an effective manner. With the help of market analysis, the
management will be able to trace the actual position of the defined market. They will be able to
know customer preference and purchasing of products. In order to analyse the Mexican market
the said firm needs to focus on different dimensions which are explained below (Griffith and
Hoppner, 2013).
 Market size: On the basis of research, it is seen that Mexico is 3rd largest partner in terms
of trading in United states. Although, the economy has more than 50,000 US small and
medium sized enterprises. Whereas, the fashion industry of Mexico is accounted for 4.7%
in gross domestic product of economy in terms of manufacturing. However, the
management of uniqlo can enter into the market by forming effective marketing strategies
as the firm has great chances of development in Mexican market.
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 Market growth rate: As per the current situation of the Mexican fashion industry, the
revenues are increasing up to US$2,255m in 2017.Apart form this, annual growth rate
can be up to 16.5% which tends to enhance the market volume. On the basis of graph, it
can be interpreted that Uniqlo can have good number of opportunities of development in
this market (Armstrong and et.al.,.2012).

 Market profitability: In terms of market profitability, the firm can analyse five factors
such as buyer power, supplier power,barriers to entry, threats and rivals. The organization
need to analyse all these factors so that it can assist the company to attain entry motives.
Apart form this, the said firm needs to evaluate the competitors so that strategies can be
formed effectively.
 Distribution channels: The said firm can consider different distribution channels
through which the products can be exported. As the organization is adopting direct
exporting for which the firm will be required to consider these distribution channels
(Armstrong and et.al.,.2012).
In context to above, the Mexican fashion market is well versed with great opportunities in
order to expand the Uniqlo. After analysing the market, the organization needs to target its
customers. It is seen that, the Mexican economy has large number of imports form other
economies. Whereas, the governmental policies are formed in a way that exporters can sell out
their products in their firm. However, the major challenge in this economy is with large number
of small manufactures. Although, the market trends can have huge impacts on the performance
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of these organization because they may not have financial resources. This can result in affecting
the production capacity of the organizations in Mexico. In turns, the management of Uniqlo is
expanding the women's line of apparel for all the ages. In order to enter in this market the said
firm can target women customers in Mexico. The said firm can introduce Japanese swings with
western mix with the use of double gauze fabrics. Manufacturing with the use of this fabric will
result in offering comfortable clothes to the women customers (Griffith and Hoppner, 2013).
In order to attract the women customer, the said firm needs to focus adapting appropriate
marketing strategy. However, the stated firm can use different strategies of marketing in order to
catch the attention of women customer in Mexican market. Following strategies are explained
below.
 Paid advertisement: The marketing department of Uniqlo can use this strategy in order
to attract its targeted market. In this strategy, the company will advertise its product over
television, print media and other sources. With the help of this strategy, the organization
will be able to attract large number of women customers in Mexican market.
 Internet marketing: This is another effective strategy which can be adapted by the
management of Uniqlo. As per this strategy, the organization can formulate its home
page over internet and social media which will help the organization to get attention of its
users. By adaption Facebook and Instagram the said firm can update its product details
and crucial information. It will help the women customers to make a analysis of the
product as per their requirements. Apart form this, the major advantage of the same will
be on effective communication. The management will be able to effectively communicate
with the customers with the social platform (Griffith and Hoppner, 2013).
 Diversity marketing: This is one of the useful strategy in order to attract the targeted
audience by the aforesaid firm. In this strategy, the major focus is on the culture, beliefs
and attitudes of an individual. This will assist the cited venture to gain the attention of
women customers of different religions and cultures. In addition to this, using this
strategy will result in creating good relations with the customers. As the said strategy
focuses on the religion and culture which results in creating a positive attitude in the
minds of customers towards the stated organization.
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Marketing objectives
Uniqlo operates with a motive to render quality products and services against the prices
charged by them. They aim at raising the satisfaction level of the customers by providing
demanded products. As per the scenario, the said firm is entering into the Mexican market with
certain objectives. The following objectives are elucidate below.
Objectives Proposed marketing strategies & tactics
 In the initial 12 months the
organization aims at reaching its sales
by £1m.
The firm will target its market by getting the
customers details. This can be done with the
use of social media and other sources.
 The management aims at attracting
around 2m visitors to its stores in the
first year of the opening of store.
In order to attract the customers, the said
organization will adapt different marketing and
promotional tools like advertisement, media
and sales promotion.
 The management focuses on earning
10% of return on investment in the
second year of operations.
In order to get return on investment, the said
firm can lower down the cost of its clothing
after the formation of good customers base.
Here, the organization can use penetration
pricing strategy.
 Hike in market share form 14% to 16%
by the end of 2018
In order to increase market share, the said firm
can bring innovation. Apart form this,
calculation of risk and planning will assist the
organization to gain market share in an
effective manner (Griffith and Hoppner,
2013).
 To establish and promote online
shopping within the Mexican market.
This can be done by creating company website
so that online promotion can be effectively
done. By establishing online shopping,
customers will be able to shop without visiting
to the stores.
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 Creation of brand awareness and brand
recognition up to 10% of market can
recognize Uniqlo.
For creating brand awareness the organization
can communicate with the audience by way of
promotions.
Marketing strategies to reach marketing objectives
In order to reach and attain the marketing objectives of the said organization, the
management needs to focus on four factors such as product strategies, pricing strategies,
promotion strategies and distribution strategies. The following strategies are explained below.
Product strategies:
Generally, the manufacturing of clothes by uniqlo is done with denim fabrics with good
quality. However, the said firm has come up with Japanese swings with western mix with the
use of double gauze fabrics. This is one of the innovative product introduced for the Mexican
ladies. This product is manufactured with the use of most quality fabric i.e. with the use double
gauze. The said firm is using Japanese swings with the use of defined fabric. Use of this fabric
will result in enhancing the quality and value of this product. In Mexico, there are some local
brands and international brands as well. The competitors like Zara and H&M uses polyester for
the manufacturing of women clothing. However, user of this fabric can may have drawback like
wearing clothes with polyester cab result in sticky in humid weather. In order to overcome this
issues, the said firm have used double gauze fabric which is of 2 layers and soft as well. It is
made up of light weight linen which can be worn in both summers and winters. Using this
product will assist the organization to compete its competitors and enhance its sales effectively
(Griffith and Hoppner, 2013).
In context to this, the said firm has used the old Japanese swing with western print and
design. It will assist the organization to attract large number of women audience. The firm has
provided wide range of products in different sizes and colours. It is seen that women are so
catchy towards different colours. Although, the company has introduced in different variety
which will help the firm to attract customers.
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Pricing strategies
Pricing strategy is one of the most crucial decision made by an organization in which the
organization needs to evaluate the effective pricing strategy. However, the said organization can
use premium pricing in order to attract the women customers. Adaption of this strategy will
assist the firm to attract customers. It is a psychology of people if a product is of high cost then
certainly it will be good quality. However, the firm has used one of the expensive and quality
fabric which leads to produce quality end product. It is seen that double gauze fabric is costly but
it can be recyclable. However, if it carry high cost then it will not affect the production. At initial
level, the organization needs to win the trust factor by providing quality products. Once the faith
of the customers are gained then it will enhance the sales of the organization (Kolk, 2014).
In terms of competitors, the products offered by Zara and H&M starts with 16£ to 20£.
However, the organization can initiate its products with 20£ to 30£. At initial level, it may
happen the customers may not purchase the products due to high prices. However, the
organization can offer discounts at initial level like first come first get. Additionally, the
organization can also provide 30% discount for it first 500 customers and 20% next 500
customers. It will help the organization to call customers for the first time in stores. Apart form
this, the organization can also provide sales discount for the customers (Hollensen, 2015).
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Promotion strategies
In order to send goods to the customers, promotion is one of the effective strategy for
raising the value of products. The said firm can use different promotional tools which are
explained below.
 Social Media: In current senior, social media is one of the most visited internet tools.
However, it can not only use for the purpose of chatting and surfing but can also be used
for the promotion purpose. There are different social media sites like Facebook, twitter,
Instagram etc. Use of these tools can assist the organization to communicate with the
customers effectively (Griffith and Hoppner, 2013).
 Personal selling: This is another promotional technique which can be adapted by the
said firm. Here, the organization can hire sales man by whom they will go door to door
providing pamphlets to the customers. Apart form this, they can also give discount
coupons to the customers. It will help the users to get information about the company
products and services with the help of personal selling.
 Sales promotion: The cited venture can use sales promotion where they can offer
discounts to the customers like 20% off. It is seen that, women are crazy for sale so it
can be used by the organization.
In context top above, the competitors of Uniqlo has adapted online shopping and
promotion techniques for selling goods and products. In order to increase sales of the firm, it is
essential to use these tools (Czinkota and Ronkainen, 2013).
Distribution strategies
The management of Uniqlo need to focus on distribution techniques so that the goods can
be delivered to its end customers. The said firm can use following strategies that are explained
below.
 Mode of transportation: The organization need to the most effective mode of
transportation. The firm can use shipping for sending the goods from ship and airways.
For the same, the organization will be required to attain certain documentation. For
instance, if goods are send by ship then bill of ladding will be filled.
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 Retail outlets: The organization can also distribute its goods and products with the help
of retail outlets. The firm can have its own outlet or it can deliver its products on other
outlets (Boone and Kurtz, 2013).
Recommendations
On the basis of above report, it can be recommended that Uniqlo can focus on two areas
which will help the organization to enhance its sales in new market. First, the organization has
targeted women of all the ages where it can be specific up to the age of 20 to 40 years. It will
assist the organization to effectively target its market. Apart form this, women with this age are
trendy and fashion oriented. Although, it will assist the venture to provide better products as per
the specific needs.
Secondly, the organization can also adapt price skimming strategy because it is entering
into new market. It can be difficult for the venture to attract customers with premium pricing of
the products. It leads to attract the customer either who are price oriented or quality oriented.
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Online
Global marketing of UNIQLO, 2017. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.coursehero.com/file/p5fc86n/UNIQLO-aims-to-have-a-few-
shops-placed-in-Mexico-because-this-will-fasten/>. [Accessed on: 24th February 2017].
UNIQLO Business, 2014. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/group/strategy/>. [Accessed on: 24th February
2017].
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