Chapter 2 Article

Article: Basic Chic From Japan. But Will It Sell?

"Uniqlo will be the largest single-brand fashion store in the retail-saturated Manhattan neighborhood, putting its competitors on notice that the company has aggressive plans for the United States."


A new line of clothing from Japan called Uniqlo has moved its way into America with 720 new stores. It’s approach in the market is to keep the products inexpensive and in large amounts. The owner of Uniqlo quoted: “If I opened a very small store, no one would ever pay attention…We want to sell basics to everyone, so to make people notice us we have to open in a big way, to make people recognize who we are.” Since its advertising started in the US, Uniqlo has been known to many as ‘The Gap of Japan”. Although this is a different approach to most other retail stops in selling clothes, there have already been clothing shops selling their stock at thrifty prices such as Zara, H&M, and Old Navy. This breakthrough into the American Market could be a risky one. The owner who started the Uniqlo chain in Hiroshima, Tadashi Yanai, predicts that sales in the United States would reach $30,000,000. That sum of money might be difficult to achieve considering the powerful advertisements from competing retailers, especially Wal-Mart.

Relation to Chapter 2: Demand

Several things mentioned in Chapter 2 in the text book maybe determine how well this Japanese clothing company does in America. The Demands factors we learned were: Price, Change in the price of substitute products, Change in the price of complementary products, Incomes, Tastes and Preferences, Expectations of Future prices, Number and Characteristics of buyers, and Expectations of future incomes. I think the two factors that would effect Uniqlo the most are price, change in the price of substitute products, and tastes and preferences since we’re talking about a clothing store. The clothes from Uniqlo might be inexpensive compared to other clothing retail shops, but people’s tastes and preferences could still drive them to buy something more expensive. Since the U.S. is a very developed country, people have the money to pay for more expensive clothing as long as they like the style. Because of these factors of demand, Uniqlo may or may not succeed in America. There are too many factors involved to make an accurate enough prediction, and that’s an aspect of economics…there is no sure way to predict what might happen over time.