
Japan’s retail brand Uniqlo on Thursday launched its first store in Mumbai at Phoenix Marketcity in Kurla. The company said that it aims to become the No. 1 brand in India. “This is not about sales or profit. It means being a brand that’s trusted by people all over India, being a brand that makes people feel that shopping at Uniqlo is the natural choice and being a brand that is a part of the Indian community,” Tomohiko Sei, CEO of Uniqlo India, said.
The parent company Fast Retailing, which owns Uniqlo, says it is the largest of the eight apparel brands run by the company. The company has launched 10 stores in India over the last four years. Uniqlo India launched its first store in India in 2019 in Delhi.
“If we wanted to,we could have expanded in Mumbai earlier but we were waiting for good partners. Mumbai happens to be our second-best performing market online. That’s why we’re coming to Mumbai to increase our brand awareness,” he said.
Uniqlo International reported a significant increase in both revenue and profit in the first nine months of financial year 2023 (Fast Retailing follows a September to August financial year), with revenue rising to 1.0976 trillion yen (up 30.5 per cent year-on-year) and operating profit expanding to 184.1 billion yen (up 38.6 per cent year-on-year).
In India, Uniqlo competes with the likes of H&M, Zara, and Mango. The company is looking to make its products more affordable in the long term to compete in the Indian market. “In India, price versus value is very important and our prices are not so low. I believe our value is more. Our production ratio is changing. We will look at affordable prices in the future. There’s strong competition in India from local brands as well as other brands. We need to learn from them,” he said.
The company aims to build LifeWear concept in India, which imbibes Japanese values of simplicity, quality and longevity. There are two technologies AIRism and HEATTECH that the company is known for globally and aims to expand it in other Indian markets as well.
“We are evaluating more locations in Mumbai and would like to tap into different geographies within the city,” he adds.
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