Uniqlo's Marketing Strategy Analysis

The assignment examines Uniqlo's marketing strategy, evaluating its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). It delves into their target market, the competitive landscape dominated by brands like Zara and H&M, and explores potential for growth and sustainability. The analysis draws on information from Uniqlo's annual reports and external sources to provide a comprehensive understanding of their marketing approach.

Running head: MARKETING PLAN FOR UNIQLO
Marketing Plan for Uniqlo
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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MARKETING PLAN FOR UNIQLO
Executive summary
The aim of the paper is to provide a new growth strategy for Uniqlo that already has an
expanded market in the world in more than ten countries. The company will be able to grow
more by offering a new collection of sustainable designer clothing to its customers. For the
purpose, it will use cotton, bamboo and other environmental fabrics. Moreover, it will offer
the product to the young generation at a reasonable price.

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MARKETING PLAN FOR UNIQLO
Table of Contents
Situation analysis.......................................................................................................................3
Macro Environmental Factors................................................................................................3
Marketing goal...........................................................................................................................4
Marketing strategy.....................................................................................................................5
Marketing tactics........................................................................................................................6
Product...................................................................................................................................6
Price........................................................................................................................................7
Place (distribution).................................................................................................................7
Promotion...............................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................9
Appendices...............................................................................................................................11
Appendix 1...........................................................................................................................11

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MARKETING PLAN FOR UNIQLO
SITUATION ANALYSIS
Uniqlo as the name suggests is one of the well-known retailing, manufacturing and
designer clothing brand operating in Japan. The company is a subsidiary of a company named
Fast Retailing Co. Ltd. since 2005. The company operates in other countries as well such as
Australia, Bangladesh, China, Germany, United Kingdom, United States and others. The
company has 500 stores in Japan itself and has earned a lot of profit since then. The company
has been best in manufacturing cloths with best possible time and dedication (Fastretailing,
2017). However, the company also has various opportunity in the world market by further
product development and expansion. Due to the decreasing sale of the company it might face
huge threat from its competitors like H&M and Zara. For a detail analysis of company’s
threat and weakness refer to appendix one.
MacroEnvironmental Factors
Macro environmental factors determine the factors prevailing in the country that
might affect the production, operation and sale of products manufactured by Uniqlo
(Zalengera, et al., 2014).
Economic: the economic factors determine the income, GDP and purchasing power of the
customers in the economy. Accordingly, the company will set its price for the products so
that it can attract maximum market share.
Technological: Technological growth and initiative taken by the country in research and
development will help the company in using the type of technique in their manufacturing and
operation department.
Social and Cutlture: Social and cultural aspect of the country is essential for them to decide
the acceptance of the type of designer clothes they manufacture. If the society of the country

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Immediate environment
Company
Customers
Competitions Corporate Partners
Social and culture
Economic
Technological
Environmental
MARKETING PLAN FOR UNIQLO
is modern and advanced then it will be easy of the brand to sell designer clothes in that
region.
Environmental: the company also needs to focus on the environmental needs of the country.
Country having strict environmental rules will require any company to operate sustainably.
Figure 1: CDSTEP Analysis
Source: Author’s Creation
MARKETING GOAL
The marketing goal of Uniqlo is to penetrate in the market sustainably through online
sources. The company plans to introduce a new sustainable fashion clothing collection for its
customer by the end of this year.

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MARKETING PLAN FOR UNIQLO
MARKETING STRATEGY
Target customers
Targeting the market is an essential task of the company in order to make its
marketing goal a successful one. Targeting the market can be based on various grounds such
as demographic, sex, income group and others. The company has already presented itself in
the market as a premium brand. This has been done by the brand for customers that buy pays
high price for the product in order to maintain their status in the market. However, the
company can try for a new target customer segment and strategy for their sustainable
designer product such as the middle-income group and a wider range of market. This will
help the company to hold both types of products such as premium class as well as normal
class. However, age wise the company will target the young youths as they are the maximum
buyers of fashionable and designer clothes and are fond of having huge collection of it
(Wirtz& Lovelock, 2017). Moreover, the company can use this strategy to expand in any
country it wants as almost all the country in the world is facing some problem or the other in
their environment (Liedtke et al., 2015). Carrying out a sustainable operation in the
manufacturing sector will help give a company a sense of environmental benefit.
Segmentation Basic Market Segment
Geographic Australia, Bangladesh, China, Germany, United Kingdom, United States
Age Above 12 years and below 30 years of age
Gender Male, Female
Income $19,000- $50,000
Lifestyle Stylish, bold, western
Table 1: Positioning and targeting

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MARKETING PLAN FOR UNIQLO
Source: Author’s creation
Value proposition
Value proposition defines the value the company is giving to the market and its
customer by the innovative idea it is bringing in its organization. It is the promise the
company make to the customer segment it is planning to offer its product (Osterwalder et al.,
2014). Uniqlo is offering a highly value proposition to its customer as well as to the
environment in which it will expand its plan by introducing new sustainable fashionable
clothing in the market. The clothes will be manufactured by environmental friendly
technology and using environmental friendly raw materials. This will keep a check on the
growing need of globalization in the economy. This is the message the company is planning
to put forward so that every customer can contribute some part in the environmental need by
buying the clothes (Ceschin, 2013). The company aims to earn ¥ 5 trillion by 2020 and his
strategy will help the company to earn high revenue. Moreover, the strategy will attract a lot
of customers and help the company to expand its market share compared t future. Further, an
increase in market share will help the brand to fight tough competition coming from other top
clothing brands such as Zara and H&M.
Non-comparative Sustainable fashionable clothing is the best
and unique western clothing for young
customers because they are the maximum
purchaser of western and fashionable clothing.
Comparative Sustainable western clothing is a better western
and unique product offering than the western
clothing offered by Zara for the young target
customers because they love unique designs

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MARKETING PLAN FOR UNIQLO
which is different from others.
Table 2: Comparative value proportion
Source: Author’s creation
MARKETING TACTICS
The marketing tactics that the company can use for its new product development are
broadly classified into product. Price, place and promotion. It is the called the marketing mix
tool that every company use in order to analyse its success path and the cost it will incur to be
successful in this path.
Product
The product that the company will offer in its new marketing goal will be newly
designed sustainable clothing to young youth customers. The products will be all types of
western clothing suiting the need of customers from various countries. The company for
further usage will also recycle the products once it has been worn and given back to them by
the customers. The products will be made by using environmental friendly raw materials such
as cotton, jute mixed, organic cotton, soy, bamboo and others (Khan, 2014). Thus, sustainable
methods of manufacturing are the best way a company can grow. It is a unique idea that a
company can use for further expansion as it has already achieved a lot from its existing
market and strategies.
Price
The company will charge medium pricing for the clothes it is manufacturing so that
maximum number of customers buys their products and benefit the environment at large. The
company already has customers that are ready to pay high prices due to its brand name.
However, it wants to target mass market and thus will charge comparatively lower price.
Moreover, it will also offer several discounts, offers to the customers initially after the

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MARKETING PLAN FOR UNIQLO
introduction of the clothes so that it can attract large number of customers, and increase the
brand value. Prices will be kept at minimum to make it affordable to the young college-going
children that are not earning something and can buy their clothes. Moreover, the company
can use direct selling without using any middlemen for distribution. This will help the
company to charge lower price due to lower cost. However, while setting the price it should
also analyse the trends of the market and its competitors to get the best out of it.
Place(distribution)
Place is the distribution channels the company choose to bring their product in the
market and offer it to the customers. Uniqlo already owns as a subsidiary company in the
name of Fast Retailing Co. Ltd. The company also has its own online website to sell its
product. However, it can try other channels of distributing its new product in the market such
as offering franchisee or launching its own stores. This will give the company the chance to
interact directly with the customers. The online portal is another important place through
which it can distribute its products, as it is the commonly used channel by the customers after
the invention of internet. It should make its online website strong and user friendly for its
customers.
Promotion
Promotion is yet aspect of the company to present its products in front of the
customers and in the market. Carrying out a sustainable operation in the manufacturing sector
will help give a company a sense of environmental benefit. The promotional method that will
be most effective for the company is the social media as it is one of the less expensive and
easy channel to carry out promotion activity. Moreover, the young customers that the
company is targeting will be mostly available in these social media sites only. Thus, social
media will be most effective and can help generate them maximum sale (Tuten, & Solomon,

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MARKETING PLAN FOR UNIQLO
2014).The company has decided to invest $50,000 in the promotional activity to help the
product capture market effectively.
Promotional Activity Cost
Instagram Advertisement $10,000
Facebook Advertisement $10,000
Google Advertisement $20,000
Twitter Advertisement $10,000
Total Cost $50,000
Figure 2: Cost estimation for promotional activities
Source: Author’s Creation
The above table shows the division of cost the company will invest while promoting
its product in the social media. The various social media tool that it will use are Facebook,
Instagram and Twitter. It will also invest some amount in Google advertisement as it is the
most commonly used search engine in the world. Thus, the company will use some integrated
marketing communication tools to interact with the customers and increase its product value.
The integrated communication tools used by Uniqlo are online marketing and Google
advertisement channels. This will help them capture wider audience for their product.

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MARKETING PLAN FOR UNIQLO
References
Bailay, R. (2017). Big malls roll out the red carpet for Uniqlo. The Economic Times.
Retrieved 14 October 2017, from http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-
products/fashion-/-cosmetics-/-jewellery/big-malls-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-uniqlo/
articleshow/60739625.cms
Bull, J. W., Jobstvogt, N., Böhnke-Henrichs, A., Mascarenhas, A., Sitas, N., Baulcomb, C., ...
& Carter-Silk, E. (2016). Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats: A SWOT analysis
of the ecosystem services framework. Ecosystem services, 17, 99-111.
Ceschin, F. (2013). Critical factors for implementing and diffusing sustainable product-
Service systems: insights from innovation studies and companies' experiences. Journal of
Cleaner Production, 45, 74-88.
Fastretailing.com. (2017). Annual Reports | FAST RETAILING CO., LTD. Retrieved 14
October 2017, from http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/ir/library/annual.html
Khan, M. T. (2014). The concept of'marketing mix'and its elements (a conceptual review
paper). International journal of information, business and management, 6(2), 95.
Liedtke, C., Baedeker, C., Hasselkuß, M., Rohn, H., & Grinewitschus, V. (2015). User-
integrated innovation in Sustainable LivingLabs: an experimental infrastructure for
researching and developing sustainable product service systems. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 97, 106-116.
Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Bernarda, G., & Smith, A. (2014). Value proposition design:
How to create products and services customers want. John Wiley & Sons.
Tuten, T. L., & Solomon, M. R. (2014). Social media marketing. Sage.

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MARKETING PLAN FOR UNIQLO
Wirtz, J., & Lovelock, C. (2017). Positioning Services in Competitive Markets. World
Scientific.
Zalengera, C., Blanchard, R. E., Eames, P. C., Juma, A. M., Chitawo, M. L., & Gondwe, K.
T. (2014). Overview of the Malawi energy situation and A PESTLE analysis for sustainable
development of renewable energy. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 38, 335-347.

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Appendices
Appendix 1
Strengths
 Unmatched craftsmanship and
designing
 On time and best delivery of
clothing
 Operates in more than ten
countries
 Increase in revenue by 6 percent
per year (Bull, et al., 2016)
 Current financial holding of ¥ 1.78
trillion including international as
well as domestic business
(Fastretailing, 2017)
 Operating profit of $1233,576 till
2016
Weaknesses
 Profits are declining over the years
 Violations in the labor rights since
2015
 Works as a subsidiary business
with one other company
 The new launch “Art for All” was
limited to only 65 products
 Sells high and premium priced
goods not affordable for mass
customers (Fastretailing, 2017)
Opportunity
 Can expand itself as a
contemporary fashion brand
 Aims to increase the market share
with bets positioning and supply
chain channels (Bailay, 2017)
 Have the potential to be a 5 trillion
yen company till 2020
Threat
 Threat from competitors such as
huge brands like Zara, H&M and
others
 Loss of market share due to lack of
innovation
 Environmental damage from
unrecognized operations