UNIQLO in China - Essay Example

?UNIQLO in China DEFINING MARKETING PROBLEMS IN THE CONTEXT OF COMPANY, INDUSTRY AND COUNTRY PERSPECTIVES The concept of marketing problem can be termed as a constraint or issue due to which organizations face significant hurdles in launching or promoting any product or service. In order to clearly identify the marketing problems of a particular organization, it is highly required to critically analyze the marketing strategy along with different situational dimensions. In this regard, an in-depth analysis of internal along with external environmental factors has long been witnessed to enable the organizations in critically identifying their respective marketing problems (Wiid and Diggine, 2009). 1.1 In a Company Perspective. The marketing problems of an organization can be identified through analyzing its internal influencing factors. With respect to the company perspective, the internal factors involve few major dimensions that influence the marketing activities of an organization. In this context, these dimensions can be associated with 4Ps of marketing mix including product, price, place/distribution and promotional attributes of the organizations (The Chartered Institute of Management, 2009). These dimensions have been discussed hereunder. Product Development Factors With respect to the business strategy of UNIQLO, the organization tends to possess two major strengths including the usage of quality based materials along with unique functional materials in manufacturing its range of fashionable garments and apparels. Specially mentioning, the use of high quality materials such as Merino wool, cashmere and Supima cotton in producing Women's Winter Style products enabled the organization to comply with the requirements of the customers. Moreover, the unique functional material in designing Women's Winter Style products tends to create increasing demand in the markets during the cold/winter season across different geographical locations (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). Promotional Variables Across every season, the promotional campaigns of UNIQLO incorporate endorsing its core products including HEATTECH, ultra-light down jackets, fleece and polo shirts among others throughout its different overseas retail locations. The promotional campaigns of the company focus on developing advertising activities encompassing different tele-media (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). Pricing Variables The pricing strategy of Women's Winter Style products is also a major attribute of UNIQLO to successfully achieve its business objectives across the markets where it operates. The company provides quality based Women's Winter Style products in a more reasonable price as compared to other fashion retailers. In this regard, the adequate control of inventory along with the marketing department and merchandisers of the company facilitate to reduce the cost up to 30% in comparison with the regular price of the products (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). Place/Distribution Variables In relation to the place/distribution variable, the continuous expansion in the global destinations significantly provides adequate support to UNIQLO in order to avoid different sorts of marketing problems. Currently, the organization operates more than 11,000 retail stores across different nations including the UK, the US, France, Russia along with Japan and other major Asian countries (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). 1.2 In an Industry Perspective. According to marketing concepts, the industry influencing factors have also major bearing upon the organizations to face different marketing problems. In order to critically assess the major influencing factors of the fashion garments business industry, the analysis of Porter’s five forces would enable to critically identify the current marketing strategy of UNIQLO. These have been discussed hereunder. Power of Buyer According to the recent phenomenon, the power of buyer is relatively high for UNIQLO due to increasing number of fashion retailers. The rising number of global competitors enables in lowering the switching cost of the buyers, which can create significant problems in marketing activities of UNIQLO (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). Power of Supplier The suppliers’ power relating to UNIQLO can be apparently observed as quite low due to the presence of numerous global suppliers along with reasonable labor cost (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). Threats of Substitute This particular factor is relatively high for the Women's Winter Style products of UNIQLO due to the reason of cheaper cosmetic products and accessories that provide by the organization to the customers. Therefore, it can impact on the organization to market Women's Winter Style products in different locations (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). Threats of New Entrants The possible threats from the new entrants are quite low as the business strategy of UNIQLO tends to operate small stores in different global markets. Therefore, the factors associated with newly entrants have little impact on creating problems in marketing activities of the organization (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). Industry Rivalry The presence of dominant competitors belonging to different global nations and greater maturity of fashionable product industry can be duly considered as major constraints for UNIQLO. The intense competition in the global fashionable product industry can severely impact on UNIQLO in marketing its Women's Winter Style products (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). 1.3 Country Perspective. In this context, the aspects including political condition, economic stability, social and technological factors are regarded as the major influencing factors that act as major constraints for an organization. These aspects have been discussed in the following section. Political Influence The political influence in China is a major effective and a feasible factor for UNIQLO, facilitating the organization to extend its retail store in different locations of the country. According to the present day context, the company operates more than 145 retail outlets due to minimum level of political disturbances, effective governmental regulations along with strong political guidelines. Economic Influence The robust growth of economic condition in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), exchange rates, annual inflation rate and increasing annual household income have significantly enabled the business operations of UNIQLO to achieve its desired financial goals. Therefore, emerging economic growth can also be regarded as one of the major opportunities for UNIQLO to increase its number of business units in the respective region. Social Influence Social factors incorporate communal and cultural dimensions that play an imperative role for UNIQLO to successfully market its Women's Winter Style products. Additionally, the rapidly changing trends of customers’ preferences along with their desires have made UNIQLO to offer quality based products for sustaining its business in this competitive landscape (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). 2. IMPLICATIONS THAT CULTURE HAS FOR BUYERS AND USAGE BEHAVIOR In relation to the buying behavior of the Chinese consumers, it can be identified that a range of influencing factors motivated the populaces in terms of making their buying decisions. In this context, sound culture is one of the foremost factors that significantly influence the buying decision of the customers in a particular business market (Giele, 2009). In relation to the continuous growth in the Chinese market, the consumer buying behavior has long been witnessed to support UNIQLO in successfully marketing its broad range of fashionable garments. A few of the major cultural factors that influence the buying behavior of Chinese consumers have been briefly demonstrated in the following discussion. 2.1 Cultural Factors. In relation to the Chinese culture, the customers are often identified to highly incline with basic values, individual perceptions along with social influences in terms of making their buying decisions. The basic cultural dimensions in the Chinese consumers can be recognized to make stereotype judgments during the process of making their respective purchasing decisions. In this context, the Chinese consumers generally prefer domestic brands than international brands (Giele, 2009). With regard to the business strategy of UNIQLO, the organization tends to maintain the cultural aspects in terms of offering its wide range of fashionable merchandise to the consumers. The company offers range of fashionable products with respect to the basic values, perceptions and changing trends of the customers (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). 2.2 Subcultures. In relation to the influence of subcultures in the Chinese market, the factors such as race, age groups, consumers’ knowledge along with ambition and work motivation are the major dimensions in the context of making buying decisions (Giele, 2009). With regard to the business strategy of UNIQLO, the organization tends to focus on the youths in order to market its range of fashionable products. Moreover, the use of quality materials in Women's Winter Style products has also enabled the company to attract huge figure of loyal customers in different Chinese markets. Therefore, the influence of customers’ knowledge and motivation in decision making can be an effective tool for the organization to increase its business performance in the Chinese market (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). 2.3 Trends. According to the preceding few decades, a rapid change in the consumer buying decisions can be apparently observed in the Chinese business market. In relation to the business performance of UNIQLO, the continuous development of fashionable products especially the women cloths and apparels facilitated the company to enhance its overall financial performance in the Chinese market (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). 4A. IMPLICATIONS OF CULTURE FOR MARKETING PLAN The term culture can be termed as a major pervasive and most complex concern that includes multi-dimensional aspects, which can significantly impact on developing marketing plan. In relation to the recent phenomenon of organizations, the cultural dimensions have major impact on the organizations that are likely to operate in diversified business locations. The implications of the cultural aspects can be characterized into numerous facets that influence the organizations especially the multinationals while extending business units into overseas countries (Giele, 2009). With reference to the business strategy of UNIQLO, the organization tends to conduct adequate market research in order to offer its range of fashionable cloths and apparels. The major implications of culture that have been identified by UNIQLO in marketing its Women's Winter Style products can be characterized into three major dimensions. These dimensions have been depicted hereunder. Changing Trends of the Buying Decisions. According to the present trend in the consumer buying process, most of the Chinese consumers are highly inclined with the products/services that are offered by the multinationals. The marketing plan of UNIQLO for Women's Winter Style products has been focused on targeting the Chinese women who are highly focused on purchasing global brands rather than highly motivated with the products offered by the domestic organizations (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). Changes in Consumer Attitude. The marketing strategy of UNIQLO has also been identified to bring significant changes in the values and the attitudes of the Chinese consumers with respect to their quality of life along with lifestyle preferences. In this regard, the marketing plan of the company can be viewed to highly focus on providing luxury and quality-based clothing products for the growing number of independent Chinese women. Moreover, the traditional values of the customers especially the Chinese women have also been developed and highly inclined with purchasing high-street fashion garments in accordance with their traditional interests. Therefore, it can be affirmed that the marketing plan of the company emphasized promoting the desires of the customers’ along with their preferences, which helped in promoting Women's Winter Style products in the respective market (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). Changing Demographic Trends. The rapid changes in the demographic conditions of the Chinese population can also be duly considered as a major implication, which eventually motivated the marketing strategy of UNIQLO. The alterations in the demographic conditions with respect to age group and income level factors are few of the major dimensions that influence the marketing plan of UNIQLO towards promoting its wide range of Women's Winter Style products. In this regard, it has been apparently observed that the company has identified a growing number of customers within the age group of teens and early twenties who are highly inclined with highly fashionable and quality-based products. Additionally, the marketing plan of the company also focused on targeting the increasing number of professionals and working women in the Chinese business market. This particular aspect brought adequate opportunities for UNIQLO to successfully market its wide range of Women's Winter Style products (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). 4B. EXPLANATION OF THE IMPLICATIONS BY APPLYING KNOWLEDGE OF CULTURE Changing Trends in Consumer Buying Decisions. In relation to the recent phenomenon of global trends, the women customers in the Chinese market can be recognized to comply with the changing lifestyle in terms of purchasing cloths and apparels. The customers in the Chinese market have widely observed to prefer highly fashionable products according to their traditional norms and beliefs. The teenagers and the age group of early twenties are generally inclined with the products offered by the western and other countries into the Chinese market. Moreover, the higher amount of attentiveness towards high-street fashion products can also be regarded as a central motivational factor for the global marketers (Lawan & Zanna, 2013; Giele, 2009). Changes in Customer Attitudes and Beliefs. The unconventional trends in women can be witnessed in developing the attitude and traditional beliefs of the Chinese consumers. The customers from different age groups ranging from teenager to old-age population in China have been identified to prefer modern clothing items in accordance with their traditional interests. According to the recent observation of UNIQLO, the Chinese women are increasingly motivated with the foreign products in order to uphold the recent changing trends in the global environment. Therefore, the rapid pace of changing traditional beliefs along with customers’ attitudes can also be considered offering major opportunities for the global marketers to extent their business units in the Chinese markets (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). Demographic Trends. The continuous development of demographic conditions of the Chinese population is one of the major and key motivational aspects for the modern entrepreneurs. The rapid augmentation of fiercely developing annual household income along with rising population of working women in China ensure to offer major scope for the overseas marketers to build their long-term sustainability in the Chinese markets. With reference to the marketing plan of UNIQLO, it can be viewed that the country has been experiencing continuous development of its economic position through increasing number of high-income group populaces. Therefore, the continuous change in the demographic conditions can be a key motivational factor for the global marketers in order to obtain greater value along with sustainable growth through marketing their respective products in the changing Chinese business market (Fast Retailing Co., Ltd, 2013). Works Cited Giele, Frans. Chinese Consumer Behaviour an Introduction. 2009. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. Lawan, Lawan A., and Ramat Zanna. “Evaluation of Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing Consumer Buying Behaviour of Clothes in Borno State, Nigeria International.” Journal of Basic and Applied Science,1.3 (2013): 519-529. Print. “Marketing and the 7Ps.” The Chartered Institute of Management. 2009. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. “UNIQLO Business Strategy.” Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. “UNIQLO Business Model.” Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. Wiid, Jan, and Colin Diggines. Marketing Research. Cape Town: Juta and Company Ltd, 2009. Print. Read More