优衣库：金羊毛<介绍日本服装品牌优衣库的一些营销思路>

zhixun

Moose于2012-03-24 23:10:00翻译

Zara’s Japanese rival gears itself to conquer China
Zara 的日本竞争对手已做好准备征服中国
Mar 24th 2012 | TOKYO | from the print edition
2012 年 3 月 24 日|东京|来自印刷版

FASHIONABLE Japanese are sniffy about Uniqlo’s cheap clothes. There’s even a slang word for “you’ve been caught [wearing] Uniqlo”. Students shout “unibare!” when they see an offender.
时尚的日本人对优衣库的廉价衣服嗤之以鼻。甚至有一句粗话“你深陷（穿）优衣库”。学生们看到犯规者会大喊“光着身子的优衣！”
Tadashi Yanai, Uniqlo’s founder, admits that his brand has a better image abroad than in Japan. So on March 16th he opened his biggest-ever store in Ginza, Tokyo’s smartest street. He has done the same thing in New York, opening a big posh shop to give his clothes more allure. Now he wants to impress not only Japanese shoppers but Chinese ones, too.
优衣库的创始人柳井正承认，他创建的牌子在国外比在日本国内声誉更好。所以在 3 月 16 日他在东京最时髦的街银座开了有史以来最大的一家店。他在纽约也做了同样的事情，在那里他开了一家很大很时髦的店，令他的衣服更有魅力。现在，他不仅想给日本的购物者留下深刻印象，同时也想打动中国消费者。
Like Inditex, the Spanish firm that owns the Zara brand (see article), Mr Yanai is betting big on Asia. He plans to open 100 stores in Asia (outside Japan) this year, rising to 200-300 annually in a few years’ time. His target is for Uniqlo to generate most of its revenues abroad within four years. Last year Uniqlo’s Japanese sales were &yen;600 billion ($7 billion); foreign sales were less than a sixth as much.
像拥有 Zara 品牌 （见文章）的西班牙公司 Inditex 一样，正先生将巨大的赌注押在亚洲。今年他计划在亚洲开 100 家店面 （在日本以外），在几年的时间里将上升到每年新开 200 到 300 家店面。他的目标是在四年间，优衣库收入的大部分在海外获得。去年优衣库在日本的销售额是 6000 亿日元（70亿美元）；国外销售额小于国内的六分之一。
Uniqlo’s approach is quite different from Zara’s. Whereas the Spanish firm chases every fleeting fashion, Uniqlo relies on large volumes of high-quality, cheap items, such as fleeces and jeans, that last all season. But it is far less global. According to Yukimi Oda of Morgan Stanley MUFG in Tokyo, sales of Fast Retailing, Uniqlo’s parent, are about 60% of those of its two biggest rivals, Inditex and H&M of Sweden, but operating profits are only a third the size. Ms Oda reckons more scale in Asia will bolster margins. Next year she expects Uniqlo’s number of stores in China to surge ahead of Zara’s and H&M’s, as they have done already in South Korea.
优衣库的方法和 Zara 非常不同。尽管这个西班牙公司（译者注：指 Zara 所属公司）追求的是每一个飞逝的时尚，优衣库在很大程度上依靠的是高质量、廉价的货品，比如一年四季都耐穿的羊毛衫和牛仔裤。但是它还远远没有达到全球化。根据东京摩根斯坦利 MUFG 的濑间奥达 (Yukimi Oda) 提供的信息，优衣库的母公司迅销 (Fast Retailing) 的销售额大约是其两个最大竞争对手 Inditex 和 瑞典的 H&M 销售额的 60%，但是运营利润仅仅是同样大小公司的运营利润的三分之一。奥达女士估计在亚洲的更多销售将有助于提高利润。明年，她希望优衣库店面在中国的数量遥遥领先于 Zara 和 H&M 店面在中国的数量，在南韩，他们已经达到这一水平。
Uniqlo has three advantages. Japan is physically much closer to China than Spain is. It is closer culturally, too. Japanese shapes and styles are similar to Chinese ones. Even the weather is similar. Uniqlo’s high-tech clothing makes wearers sweat less during sweltering summers, which is handy. And being Japanese has cachet, among Asia’s fashionistas if not its nationalists.
优衣库有三个优势。日本在地理位置上比西班牙更加邻近中国。在文化上也和中国更接近。日本货的款式和风格和中国货非常相似。甚至连天气都很相似。优衣库由高科技制成的衣服使得穿着者在闷热的夏季出汗更少，这是非常便利的。日本人有着标志性的特征，在亚洲他们不是民族主义者就是非常时髦的人。
But Roy Larke of JapanConsuming, a market-research firm, says the “Japan-is-cool” image Uniqlo brings to the rest of Asia will not last forever. He believes it will eventually have to emulate some of the fast-fashion expertise of Zara. Meanwhile, the Ginza store may add a bit of badly needed glamour.
但是一家市场研究公司“日本消费”的罗伊•拉克 (Roy Larke) 说优衣库带给亚洲其他地区的“日本真酷”的形象不会永远持续下去。他相信优衣库最终不得不效仿 Zara 的一些快时尚的专长。同时，银座的店面可能要添加一点非常必要的诱惑力。