Marketing Audit for Uniqlo

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in Japan and China, with only 12 stores in Australia and 44 in the US. In this case, there are still much efforts to do in order to stabilize its position in other countries.

5.0 5 steps market research process

Research provides new insights that can increase company’s ability to respond to customer needs as well as improve company’s ability to make profitable decisions and marketer’s ability to make informed decisions (Pride et. al. 2015).

According to Uniqlo’s current market environment, a 5-step research process can be designed as followed.

STEP 1: Determining Research Scope

Firstly, assume the decision problem is that, whether Uniqlo need to break its consistent Japanese style and meet different preferences of the customers who are from a multitude of countries, rather than unify all clothing styles around the world.

The research question should clarify participants’ age, gender, salary class and district in the first place, after which design a series of questions which reflect consumers’ demand and preference about the clothing style, texture and other factors, as well as their comment and suggestion compared to other similar brands, for instance, ‘which feature of clothing is your first priority?’

The research objective should be described as to identify different demand and preference of customers in many countries, and to identify whether mixing together Japanese style with other countries cultural elements is a positive signal of Uniqlo’s development.

STEP 2: Selecting the Research Method

Speaking of the research method, mail survey and online survey are more available because customers’ mail address can be noted through register of APP or office website. Besides, customers can be attracted by some discount granted after finishing the survey.

A variety of question types can be used such as multiple choice, rating scales and open-ended questions. So, this research can be a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods.

STEP 3: Collecting and Preparing Data

From the survey, Uniqlo can get primary data which offers new information, while secondary data can also be collected including sales data and new sources.

After data is prepared, the next two steps are analyzing the data, after which transform the results into information, using technology such as data base to improve marketing information gathering and analysis.

6.0 Conclusion & recommendations

In conclusion, Uniqlo is still a very promising brand to become the world’s biggest apparel maker. In the process of maintaining high quality and reasonable price, facing all customers in different age groups and genders, Uniqlo provides a variety of themes of Japanese casual style clothing which processed by delicate texture. The 1,300 stores in over 15 countries also show the success that Uniqlo has achieved so far and more space for development in the future.

Nevertheless, with globally expanding and more similar type of low-end brand being established, Uniqlo is also facing some problems which include lacking fashion and diversity and difficult to be accepted by all customers in countries across the world, as well as beating its competitors. In this case, Uniqlo can do more research to know deeply about customers’ different needs and preference. furthermore, more stylish and fashion clothing can be designed on the basis of simple and casual style, at the same time, Uniqlo can also develop more cost-effective fabrics in order to continue providing high-quality clothing with lower price.