Uniqlo's Competitors

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- GAP

GAP is an American clothing retailer company founded in 1969 in San Francisco, California. It is the largest retailer in the United States, and is third in international locations, behind Index and H&M. GAP has a very similar style with UNIQLO, but it tries to be trendier while UNIQLO is known for its basics. And it embraces a youthful American spirit as it targets the younger generation.

- UNIQLO and its problems in branding in the US and Europe market.

“We are not a fashion company. We are a technology company” UNIQLO CEO Tadashi Yanai says. As he says, UNIQLO sells clothes with technology, but not style, so it is not emphasizing the brand. Customers’ purchase is for its quality and technology, not for the sake of the brand, unlike GAP, H&M and ZARA. This is what differentiates UNIQLO with other competitors, and rational customers who care of function and price are attracted.

However, UNIQLO seems to be perceived as a fashion brand by customers, especially in the US and Europe. Western customers tend to be individualized than Asians, so they are more sensitive to unique styles that can appeal own identities. Since the consumers in the US and Europe consider this brand as “a boring fashion with low prices” or “not well-known brand”, it has low number of store locations in the US and Europe with low profit, but only concentrated in its country of origin.

References

1. Amanda Kellner, “Brand Project : ZARA” Consumption, culture & identity, Dec 16, 2013

https://cci13.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/brand-project-zara/

2.Wikipedia “Zara”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zara_(retailer)

3. Amit Bagaria, “Uniqlo vs Zara vs the world of fashion retailing, ETRetail.com, Feb 10 2014

http://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/re-tales/uniqlo-vs-zara-vs-h-m-vs-the-world-of-fashion-retailing/91

4. Théophile de Penanster, “Zara vs Uniqlo comarison”, Fast Fashion Trend, Dec 2 2012

https://fastfashiontrend.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/zara-uniqlo-comparison/

5. Théophile de Penanster “Competition”, Fast Fashion trend, Dec 7 2012

https://fastfashiontrend.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/competition/

6. Melissa Parietti, “H&M Vs. Zara Vs. Uniqlo: Comparing Business Models”, Investopedia, Dec 2 2015

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/120215/hm-vs-zara-vs-uniqlo-comparing-business-models.asp