UNIQLO Business Strategy (Essay Sample)

UNIQLO MARKETING PLAN
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Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Executive summary PAGEREF _Toc384136237 \h 3Introduction PAGEREF _Toc384136238 \h 3Background information PAGEREF _Toc384136239 \h 4Marketing approach PAGEREF _Toc384136240 \h 5SWOT Analysis PAGEREF _Toc384136241 \h 6Market Penetration and strategic recommendations PAGEREF _Toc384136242 \h 7Export merchant PAGEREF _Toc384136243 \h 7Advertising PAGEREF _Toc384136244 \h 8Low Prices PAGEREF _Toc384136245 \h 8Licensing and Franchising PAGEREF _Toc384136246 \h 9Product Differentiation and Value Creation PAGEREF _Toc384136247 \h 9Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc384136248 \h 10Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc384136249 \h 11References PAGEREF _Toc384136250 \h 12
UNIQLO Marketing Plan
Executive summary
For UNIQLO, this research paper provides a market analysis and recommends the most effective approach and strategies to adopt while penetrating a new market. The success of a business relies on understanding the different stakeholders, players and forces in the market. This influences the performance of the firm. Analyzing the customers in terms of their expectations and shopping behavior enables the business strategize on the best approach to adopt to conquer the market and have a considerable share. The study focuses attention on UNIQLO and provides recommendations on the different approach to adopt to enter the Brazilian market.
Introduction
The success of a firm solely relies on the relations it creates with the customers. Marketing on a global scale is not entirely different from operating a sizeable, well defined local environment. However, there are some factors and aspects that need to be regulated and managed to realize success on the global arena. International marketing refers to the ability of the firm to utilize different marketing mix decisions on a global scale with an aim of increasing revenue, returns and profits across national boundaries. Other than this, the firm also aims at increasing service delivery and satisfaction of the needs of its esteemed customers. The firm is involved in a complex process that revolves around processing, manufacture, distribution and sales of a product. This is not a new scenario or encounter for the company under analysis in this report. However, the market penetration strategies to be adopted in a new country play a vital role in determining the future and performance of the firm. The aim of preparing an effective market entry strategy is to curb the occurrence of failure such as was witnessed in the London market entry process. This report reviews an entry into Brazilian market by UNIQLO.
Background information
According to the Japanese tradition, business is an inheritance and a cycle to be maintained in the family. However, after the current chairman took hold of UNIQLO, this has not been the case. The business success can be attributed to the need of the chairman to micro manage and retain the ruling power in the company. This has worked for the company for a long period and in the markets penetrated the company has been surpassing it competitors. However, if this trend continues, the business cannot be guaranteed to succeed; especially not in the Brazilian market structure. Financial reports indicate that the economic activity worsened in Brazil in 2013. This is not good news for a firm with an eye of expanding to this region. Despite its ability to offer products at a subsidized and low cost as opposed to its competitors, the move to the Brazilian market by UNIQLO has to be analyzed and evaluated before action can be taken. This will be done through a market analysis to understand the needs and shopping behavior of customers. There is a low macro-economic growth in the country and as such, unpredictable fluctuations in this economy may spell doom for the company if expansion is done in this market without prior knowledge and a deeper understanding of the market. The environment of Brazil as of late last year was characterized by high rates of inflation, political unease as well as low GDP. Therefore, many companies are unwilling to invest in the country and this lowers customer confidence. However, UNIQLO may turn this situation in favor of the firm by carrying out a risk analysis of the situation in Brazil and ensure that they invest wisely. The reason behind the choice of Brazil as an investment opportunity for the company is based on its weaknesses and not strengths. The market is scaring investors away; however, from a positive perspective, this means that any firm willing to invest in the country will face low levels of competition, promote customer loyalty in its brand as well as enjoy long term benefits once the market stabilizes and it’s on its peak. The following section evaluates feasible market evaluation practices that can be adopted to provide a feasible market entry strategy that will guarantee the firm success on investing in the country. Unlike local investment, international investment has to be evaluated based on a variety factors. These factors constitute and contribute to the internal an external working of the firm.
Marketing approach
Customers are the backbone that dictates the success or failure of a business. The point of contact between a firm and the customer is the market. As a result, effective marketing must be carried out to ensure that the business acquires and retains customers for its products. Data collection and analysis are the preliminary steps towards marketing research. This should not be overlooked for the case of UNIQLO. During market analysis phase, the business should prioritize on two functions; understanding the needs of customers and respecting them. This will enable the production of goods and services that are tailored to meet the needs of the customer and as a result, increase the market share of the business. The environment is another aspect that any business should evaluate. Both internal and external environments dictate the performance of the business. In the internal environment, the business must respect, remunerate employees fairly as well as provide a conducive working environment (Conklin, 2010). On the other hand, the external environment involves maintaining good relationship with the customers, suppliers’ distributors as well as the society. The business also has a corporate social responsibility towards the society in which it operates. When the business accomplishes these two tasks in a free, fair and open atmosphere, it will be considered as having the interests of the stakeholders at heart. In the case of UNIQLO, the image of the firm will be elevated and this will augur well in a new market as it will increase the reputation of the firm thereby attracting customers and creating loyalty.
According to Ereaut (2002), a perfect marketing approach is characterized by an understanding of the customer. How fluctuations in product price affect their consumption behavior and the effects of brand names. Gathering market information can be done in a variety of ways. These ways constitute market research. Market information is essential to a business in decision making as it enables the firm to determine the opportune moment to enter a market (Conklin, 2010). This is usually the peak moments when the products’ demand is high and the customer has high purchasing power. The information will also be essential in understanding the trends in the market. To properly evaluate the information gathered concerning a market, the following model of evaluation should be used.
SWOT Analysis
The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats model of evaluation revolves around analyzing market information and comparing it with the current state and performance of the business (Fine, 2009). When planning on entering a new market, this model comes in handy to gurantee the success of the business. If a business does not evaluate its strengths and abilities, it may be overwhelmed and fail to meet the demands, needs and customer expectation. Proper market evaluation must be done to understand the threats and challenges likely to face the company in the market. If the threats are high and the business is characterized by weaknesses, this means that the market is not viable. However, if the risks are low and the opportunities for expansion and getting established are high, the business has a high probability of succeeding in the market. In the case of UNIQLO, understanding the challenges of the Brazilian market is a requirement in order to be prepared on the best model of market penetration to adopt. Other than just understanding the effective approach to enter the new market, the firm will also understand the competitors, best channel of distribution and the business laws that apply in the region.
Market Penetration and strategic recommendations
The mode of entry adopted by a business in a new market dictates the performance of that product in the market. As such, the business must have prior knowledge of the market and the forces therein before entry. This has been accomplished in the previous step of SWOT analysis. According to statistics, the market influences the performance of a business up to 80% (Hdkeys.com, 2014). Attracting new customers is not entirely enough. An effective market entry technique should focus on attracting the loyal customers from the competitors. For the case of UNIQLO, the firm should prioritize on adding value to the product since this will attract more customers. To cement its performance in the market, the firm should be focused on attracting the non-users of the commodity (Kotler, 2013). Among the most favorable approaches that can be adopted by the firm to penetrate the international market are presented below.
Export merchant