Analysis of Uniqlo's Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategies Report

This report examines the consumer behavior and marketing strategies of Uniqlo Co Ltd, focusing on their Heat Tech Window campaign in Korea. The analysis identifies the target audience as brand advocates and explores the use of demographic data like location. The report details Uniqlo's activation strategies, including sampling campaigns and in-store brand activation, and discusses the benefits such as ease of purchase, educational opportunities, and sales tracking. It also highlights the drawbacks like the high cost of rewarding customers and limitations in in-store activities. The report concludes that Uniqlo's approach successfully increased brand awareness and sales, as evidenced by the positive brand image and increased customer purchases. The report also includes references to supporting research and data to validate the findings.

Consumer Behaviour 1
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
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Consumer Behaviour 2
Consumer Behaviour
Uniqlo Co Ltd is a Japanese company founded in 1949. It is in the fashion and retail industry,
dealing with designing and manufacturing casual wear. Uniqlo operates in Japan with its
headquarter in Minato, Tokyo. It has opened stores worldwide with operations in Canada,
Bangladesh, Australia, China, France, India, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, United
Kingdom, United States and the Philippines, etc. With Korea experiencing cold winters, and the
high heating costs would make citizens colder, the company capitalized on this. They came up
with a heat tech window which, when applied to a window, it raises the room temperature to 2 -
30 C. The heat tech window has increased their sales, and at the same time it's an ad on their
customer's window. The following is a link to the video of Uniqlo’s Heat Tech Window
https://youtu.be/XMjxwiPXR1w .
When advertising, it is vital for businesses to be aware of their target audience and how they will
get to them since finding the right customers is critical to the business success. A target audience
is a group of individuals who have similar characteristics and are most interested in your
products, services or promotions. Demographic information is used to describe target audience.
The target audience for Uniqlo Co Ltd in the advert is brand advocates. Fulgoni (2018) denote
that thirty-three percent of internet users reiterate that they discover brands via recommendations
through word of mouth and twenty-four percent through comments via social networks. It is
evident that brand advocates are a strategy used by Uniqlo as an integral part of their broader
marketing approach and if done appropriately, it spread awareness throughout audiences that are
relevant.

Consumer Behaviour 3
Brand advocates convey communication about a product or service by word of mouth and
through this, they deliver positive information (Hunt, Crenshaw, & D'Silva 2016). The
demographic facts used by Uniqlo to define this target audience are their location. To ensure that
the marketing is effective Uniqlo uses their customers who came to buy their products. These
customers are the ones who were awarded the Heat Tech Window. The company is aware that
the brand advocates are essential in word of mouth marketing hence put them to use. Several
consumers normally have faith in products or services they are recommended to by others. The
consumers who were awarded the Heat Tech Window would spread information of both Uniqlo
and its products.
Activation strategies are procedures that are applied by brands to motivate their actions and
interact with the brand (Koszewska 2013, p. 508). Brand activation allow company’s customers
to react through the company products, resulting in an experience that brings the brand and
products to life (Dootson et al. 2016). In the advertisement, the activation approach applied by
Uniqlo is sampling campaign. Brands usually give out free samples of their new product, as
pointed out by Fulgoni (2018), and this is a great way to introduce both customers and potential
customers to their new product and brand and afterward get them talking. The sampling allows
the consumers to have a test of the product and be able to give direct feedback. Uniqlo carried
out a sampling campaign in all of their Uniqlo Korea stores. A Heat Tech Window was gifted to
each of their customers who purchased a heat tech product. 500, 000 people were given the Heat
Tech Window through the campaign. In-store brand activation is another activation strategy used
by the company as their activation strategy. Wells (2014) asserts that it creates an experiential
element since the customers can touch the product, experience the service and, relate to the
brand. Uniqlo brought their brand life for the in-store shoppers who were gifted.

Consumer Behaviour 4
Figure1. Showing the social media posts by brand advocates
Uniqlo chose to use the two activation strategies to their target audience due to the
appropriateness of the approaches in numerous ways. It offers ease of purchasing to the
company in that it was convenient for the customers to make the more immediate purchase
(Sharma & Sharma 2017, p. 90). The gifting also gave Uniqlo an education opportunity. The
sampling provides the brand a chance to educate their brand advocates about the product so that
they have better information about the product which they continue spreading to others (Mejía-
Trejo 2017). The rewarding generated excitement and builds goodwill. Uniqlo was able to boost
sales which increase by 203% and the consumers saved 20% on heating that winter. The
activation was carried out inside the company’s stores meaning there was less distraction and
competition for other consumer’s attention as compared to open air. Sales are tracked easily
through the approaches chosen by Uniqlo. According to Dootson et al. (2016), sales tracking is
stress-free because transactions connected to the program give a report that is precise about the
strategy's success.

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Figure 2. Uniqlo’s sales growth
Problem recognition comes into effect when customers recognize the dissimilarity of what they
are aware of the product, and come into contact with the real product (Koszewska 2013, p. 509).
Consumers get encouraged by processing information and understanding their need (Wells
2014 ). Purchasing choice results after problem recognition, through activation, and arousal.
Some of Uniqlo customers were not aware of the Heat Tech Window, but through the activation
whereby they were gifted, they recognized that indeed the window comes in handy during cold
winters. Individuals in Korea who didn’t make it to the stores later learn about the Heat Tech
Window through the brand advocates via word of mouth or the social media.
With the several benefits of the approaches chosen by the company, some drawbacks are
attached to it. The strategy of rewarding the customers is a costly affair Uniqlo had to involve a
lot of cash to hand the gifts to the 500, 000 customers. Brands recognize that in-store sampling is
of great value. However, the products rewarded may not consider a repeat behavior among the
consumers. Another limitation is that activities are limited when carrying out in-store brand

Consumer Behaviour 6
activation, e.g., it was not appropriate to have a loud sound system or other activities like
dancing for customers to engage.
It was appropriate that Uniqlo Co Ltd ensured their brand received awareness through the
conveyance of their product and customer satisfaction. When the brand appears to be positive,
then its brand image gets positive feedback. When the product activation strategy is successful, it
encourages more customers to purchase the products as evident in the advertisement.
Figure 3. Uniqlo’s gain of free 500,000 advertisements

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List of references
Dootson, P, Johnston, KA, Beatson, A, & Lings, I 2016, 'Where do consumers draw the line?
Factors informing perceptions and justifications of deviant consumer behaviour', Journal of
Marketing Management, vol. 32, no. 7-8, pp. 750-776. Available from:
10.1080/0267257X.2015.1131734. [24 March 2018].
Fulgoni, Gm 2018, 'Are You Targeting Too Much? Effective Marketing Strategies for
Brands', Journal of Advertising, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 8-11. Available from: 10.2501/JAR-2018-008.
[17 March 2018].
Hunt, C, Crenshaw, C, & D'Silva, M 2016, 'The Road to Change through the Lens of
Advertising: A Comparative Analysis of Outdoor Media in Hungary, Cuba, and the
U.S', Kentucky Journal of Communication, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 9-25.
Koszewska, M 2013, 'A typology of Polish consumers and their behaviours in the market for
sustainable textiles and clothing', International Journal of Consumer Studies, vol. 37, no. 5, pp.
507-521. Available from: 10.1111/ijcs.12031. [24 March 2018].
Mejía-Trejo, J 2017, 'The Relationship between Competitiveness and Digital Marketing
Innovation for a Digital Campaign Design: First Insights Based on a Panel Study in
Mexico', Competition Forum, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 27-37.
Sharma, S, & Sharma, P 2017, 'Marketing Mix Strategies for FMCG Companies in
India', Journal of Commerce & Management Thought, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 760-771. Available
from: 10.5958/0976-478X.2017.00046.5. [17 March 2018].

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Wells, VK 2014, 'Behavioural psychology, marketing and consumer behaviour: a literature
review and future research agenda', Journal of Marketing Management, vol. 30, no. 11-12, pp.
1119-1158. Available from: 10.1080/0267257X.2014.929161. [24 March 2018].