Uniqlo Fever

I am very sure that by now, everyone living in Singapore would have already heard of Uniqlo and judging from the queue formed everyday since the day Tampines 1 opened, most of you should have already stepped into the shop (realising that there is no mobile reception there, but that's not the point here) and many of you left with a Uniqlo plastic bag in the hand.

Uniqlo is just like any other normal retail shop selling cheap clothes like our Giordano, U2 (read: failure), even though it is compared to international brands like GAP. This Japanese brand, in my opinion, is a storming success all thanks to its marketing efforts and quality control. You would know what I mean if you take public transport, read newspapers and fashion magazines (their target group are exactly these people). I liked the way they created brand awareness and make people look cool wearing their merchandise with thousands of items in their catalog, updated frequently.

Founder of Uniqlo and CEO of Fast Retailing, Mr Tadashi Yanai, currently Japan's richest man, is a powerful character in the setup of this brand. He created a revolution to Uniqlo when they weren't so successful back then, by offering 1 million yen to the public on how Uniqlo can be done better. Yes, he has the resources to do that and you don't. Come on, if a retail line can rake in net sales of 500 billion yen (S$7.73 billion) when financial markets went south, there must be more than that.

I do not think any rational manager would throw 1 million yen to a stranger. Would you do that?
Probably keep it in your own pocket. Other than its marketing, the quality of its fabric is in the class where its price couldn't match. Not only that, they have their own patent fabric that enable users to keep warm in winter. Having patents create value for the firm. And no, we don't need these to be sold in Singapore.

The next one is opening at Orchard ION. As for now, make a trip down the eastern end of the line to satisfy your curiosity.

N.B. Information is extracted from my readings and a chunk of it from August magazine. To see a detailed and more professional article, please refer to the mag. I was also wrong to assume that the magazine is a yearly publication as suggested by the title.