The Fast Fashion Brand GU Strategy Is Different From UNIQLO.

GU sales increased by 8% to 105 billion 800 million yen over the first half of fiscal year 2018, but sales in the same store declined slightly in the first half of February 28th.

It is also a key brand of Fast Retailing. Whether it is brand positioning or pricing strategy, GU seems to have been living under the shadow of Uniqlo.

GU brand CEO teak (Osamu Yunoki) once again stressed that "lower pricing" is the key to distinguish GU from "UNIQLO", while the relative clothing brand positioning of UNIQLO is GU fast fashion.

"Although there are some exceptions, the ideal price is half of UNIQLO, or at least 30% cheaper."

In the 2018 half year of fiscal year ending February 28th, GU sales increased by 8% to 105 billion 800 million yen, but sales in the same store declined slightly.

The cold weather in Japan this winter is the perfect time to sell coats and cotton clothes. However, due to the limited number of two brands, GU has missed growth opportunities.

Meanwhile, sales of UNIQLO's local market increased by 8.5% to 493 billion 600 million yen, thanks to strong sales in autumn and winter.

Through practical functional foundation clothing, UNIQLO has built up a large customer base, and GU is paying close attention to the trend of fashion.

The latter's 7 point broad-leaved jeans are popular among young consumers, and the brand's current average price is "below 1000 yen" (about 60 yuan).

Yuzuki Ji said: "in our era, consumers can not follow only one trend."

In order to distinguish from UNIQLO, GU will further lower its price in the future.

"Setting a price that is obviously different from UNIQLO is our lifeblood."

The brand plan will depend mainly on Southeast Asian production in the future to ensure low price goods.

However, since the end of 2017, GU has decided to pfer the subsequent production of hot commodities from Southeast Asia to China. This measure can shorten the time from ordering products to stores to 30 days, 1~2 weeks faster than the original ones.

Although the pfer of processing to China has increased the cost, the brand believes that the demand for goods in the peak period is enough to offset the cost.

Labor costs in China are two times that of Vietnam and four times that of Bangladesh.

GU products will still buy products from Bangladesh and Southeast Asia as far as the pre season products are concerned.

With the initial production in Southeast Asia and China's follow up production combination, GU can maintain the cost competitiveness while ensuring the fast delivery of urgent orders.

According to the data of Japan Textiles Importers Association, Japan made 65% of the total Chinese made garments in 2016, but in 2011~2016 years, the proportion dropped by 16 percentage points, while the proportion of manufactured goods in Southeast Asia increased by more than 10 percentage points to 23% over the past five years.

At the same time, GU also tries to ensure the quality of clothing through the fabric development of the internal team.

Of course, the trend will be integrated into fashion design.

Yuzuki Ji said that GU can not rely on the "pure Japanese trend" to boost sales growth. In the future, it will incorporate "local style" into commodities, such as shorts and other products suitable for Asian tropical climates.

GU also aims to expand the practical clothing product line, but this strategy still has the shadow of UNIQLO.

How to balance practicality and brand differentiation is a big challenge for teak.

"For the time being, we have not yet decided on the respective proportion of the practical goods and the trend commodities in the total commodities."

In March of this year, GU and Louis Vuitton former men's wear art director Kim Jones she launched the first designer in the history of the brand.

This series is available on the brand line channel, the designated stores in Japan and Taiwan, and all the Hongkong stores, including the denim jacket, the sweater and so on.

The series of advertisements is shot by Kim Jones palm mirror, and the stylist is Melanie Ward.

Meanwhile, the brand also held a guerrilla activity in the flagship store of GU Ginza.

And before announces the joint series with Kim Jones, GU and Japanese famous anime Neon Genesis Evangelion (referred to as EVA) launch authorized joint series, sell several peripheral.

The series is on sale at GU's official website and two Hongkong stores.

It is believed that UNIQLO's powerful joint products will benefit from the joint venture of GU.

Expand overseas

This is another important task of GU.

Since its establishment in 2006, the GU brand has 14 stores in the overseas market, but by August 2019, the number of overseas stores is expected to grow to 50, most of which will be located in Asia.

With the support of XXX group, GU brand also has unique technical advantages, such as the introduction of self checkout equipment and digital bills.

Yuzuki Ji expressed the hope that the company could "continue to be".

Forerunner. "

Note: the current 100 yen is about 6 yuan.