H&M and Uniqlo

H&M and Uniqlo are two globally trending companies that deals with fashion in clothing (Kennedy, Stoehre, Calderin, 2013). Each of these companies aim to reach the same market as the other but do not use the same strategy as the other in marketing their product. The Uniqlo Company is Japanese and was begun in 1949. In the year 2005, it was however bought by another company (Karan, 2010). On the other hand, H&M is a Swedish company that founded in 1947. This company makes and trades its products under a variety of brand names. For instance, it is the owner of the Monki and weekday brands, among others.

The two companies have different business models and approached to which they do their business. H&M’s model is founded on the gap’s model. The companies also vary in how they own materials, how they source them, how they manufacture them into a finished product and how they treat the auxiliary trade names.

According to the Robecos

SAM sustainability industry mover ranking, H&M qualified to be ranked at the top and was thus awarded for this. Its awarding was done based on its achievement of high improvement as far as sustainability was concerned. H&M has also been included in other records owing to its global performance. These include the Dow Jones sustainability, global compact 100 stock and the FTSE 4 Good indices. The company has also won various awards, such as the 2016 world’s most ethical company and the PETA Libby awards. Uniqlo has won various awards too. One of these is the business impact of the year award in 2016. This was meant to recognize the company for contributing to enhancing the Chicago magnificent mile.

According to the Japanese times, Uniqlo was also awarded for having the best communication strategy within the organization.Between the two companies, H&M has the highest number of warehouses (Granger, 2012). Globally, the company has three thousand four hundred and fifty warehouses. In comparison, Uniqlo has only one thousand and four hundred stores. Their venture into the United States is also varied with Uniqlo having the least warehouses in the country. H&M uses the designer clothes approach to attract its customers to buy their product. This company, to market its products, has used such brand names as Versace.

Another strategy that the company uses is the collaboration with well trending companies in the world of fashion (Baines, & Fill, 2014).В Uniqlo on the other hand highly localizes its distribution centers in Japan. This company uses the principle of timely presence of product in their stores as a distribution strategy. Production in this company is based on market demand for the product. Dickens (2015) posits that changes in the Japanese fashion is the main determinant of change in the company-customer interaction. For this reason, Uniqlo has not had great influence in the western market.

With respect to their choices in branding, the companies also have experienced varied responses in the market. H&M has purchased and developed brands that are characterized by style and uniqueness (West, Ford, & Ibrahim, 2016). These attributes have played a major role for its acceptance in the market. The company also varies its price tag based on the brand. Highly fashionable products are tagged at high prices as compared to the products that are not highly fashionable. For instance, collection of style products are sold at high costs than does the Monki products. The Gap strategy used by Uniqlo is meant to privatize the company’s brands. After production, the company sells its products in highly regulated stores and on online markets.

According to Manzenreiter (2013), branding is influenced by the sports trends and this is used by Uniqlo to influence the buyers. The company’s design is however, simple and practical as compared to that of H&M. This attribute makes Uniqlo’s products more appealing to varied populations.According to Vecchi (2016), Production in the H&M Company is not internally done but rather the company affiliates with other organizations to meet its objective. The company depends on outsourcing as a strategy to lower its cost of production owing to affordable labor.

The company outsources from Asian countries especially those with large populations and high poverty levels (West, Ford, & Ibrahim, 2016). For instance, Bangladesh and Cambodia. H&M do not own production units but instead collaborates with companies to produce for them. The company has formed partnerships with nine hundred organizations around globe. Most of these organizations who are suppliers are located in the European and Asian countries. The company uses waterways and railways to move its products from the factories to warehouses around the globe. Unlike H&M production for Uniqlo is done in its home country. Uniqlo also outsources its laborers from china.

The company affiliates with seventy other companies to produce its products. The major partner of Uniqlo in its business is a Japanese firm known as Kaihara Denim (Russell, &В Taylor, 2013). Eziegenfuss (2013) states various attributes of the corporate culture in H&M. some of these attributes include believing in people, teamwork, honesty and open- mindedness, being entrepreneurial as well as being cost conscious. According to Davis (2014), the corporate culture at Uniqlo is so specific.

The staff have several things to put in their mind while working there. One of these is the need for extensive training. They must be the best. Another strategy that constitutes the culture is teamwork. The staff do not work individually but in teams which lead to specialization. Smiling is what keeps customers to visit the stores again. For this reason, the company does everything in its ability to keep the staff comfortable.

Reference:

Baines, P., & Fill, C. (2014). Marketing. Oxford : Oxford University Press.

Davis J., (2014). Racked Philadelphia: The 6 Phrases You Need to Memorize to Work at Uniqlo. Vox Media, Inc.

Dicken Peter, (2015). Global Shift, Seventh Edition: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy. Guilford Publications. Eziegenfuss, (December 13, 2013).

Granger, M. (2012). Fashion: The industry and its careers. New York: Fairchild BooksJapanese times, (July, 2009). Uniqlo operator wins PR awards.

Karan Pradyumna P., (2010). Japan in the 21st Century: Environment, Economy, and Society. Kentucky, University Press of Kentucky.

Kennedy Alicia , Stoehre Emily Banis, Calderin Jay, (2013). Fashion Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the History, Language, and Practice of Fashion. Rockport Publishers.

Manzenreiter W., (2013). Sports and Body politics in Japan. Routledge.

Russell &. Wiley, (2013). Operations and Supply Chain Management, 8th Edition. Global Education.

Vecchi, Alessandra, (2016). Handbook of Research on Global Fashion Management and Merchandising: Advances in Logistics, Operations, and Management Science. IGI Global.

West, D. C., Ford, J. B., & Ibrahim, E. (2015). Strategic marketing: Creating competitive advantage. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

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