Will community engagement help Uniqlo nail its INR 1,000 crore sales ambition?

Uniqlo India opened its largest outlet in Mumbai's Phoenix Palladium last week, representing its third retail store in the metropolis and 14th in the country. The Japanese apparel major's sustained expansion in India, starting with its first outlet in Delhi in 2019, indicates its increasing faith in the local market.

The company’s domestic marketing strategy blends community engagement, celebrity partnerships, and digital innovation, besides the focus on functional apparel for day-to-day use under its LifeWear philosophy.

Uniqlo's India business has shown sustained growth, attaining profitability within three years. Uniqlo India marketing director Nidhi Rastogi told Campaign that the company has demonstrated a year-on-year growth of 59% in the recent past, despite being impacted by challenges such as COVID-19 lockdowns. As per media reports, Uniqlo’s India revenues stood at INR 624.6 crore in FY23, with profits tripling to INR 68.38 crore.

Nidhi Rastogi, marketing director, Uniqlo India

The brand's latest move, opening its largest retail outlet in Mumbai in the presence of actor Kareena Kapoor Khan, covering an area of 18,380 square feet, is part of its ongoing expansion in India. Spread across two floors, this store incorporates visual branding elements within and outside the store including cube-branding in Phoenix Palladium courtyard, a 49x15ft LED display to promote the retail brand and its collections including AiriSM, UTme!, PuffTech, and HeatTech.

Following this store's inauguration, the company plans to open another store in New Delhi’s Pacific Mall (Tagore Garden) on November 29, 2024. Taking the company’s total retail store count in India to 15, the upcoming outlet will cover a retail space of 12,930 sq ft across two floors. The company’s other stores are located in Chandigarh, Gurugram, Lucknow, and Noida. 

Personalised marketing

Rastogi informed that while 85% of Uniqlo’s India revenue comes from physical stores, the remaining 15% is generated through e-commerce, highlighting the brand’s omnichannel presence. The online revenues, which come from its own e-commerce website, however, she said, have been posting steady growth in the recent past.

The store opening in Mumbai is supported by a community-driven advertising campaign under the theme ‘Mumbai LifeWear’. Under this, Uniqlo is collaborating with six local personalities from Mumbai belonging to different walks of life. While meant to represent the diversity and undying spirit of the maximum city, these people were already the users of Uniqlo clothing, and were discovered through various feedback-gathering mechanisms including the online channel.

These personalities include an illustrator and architect Aashti Miller, a technology and lifestyle creator and host Aayush Ailawadi, the Toast Events founder and managing director Harshad Chavan, an actress and theatre director Lillete Dubey, a nutritionist, functional practitioner, and entrepreneur Pooja Makhija, and a comedian and writer Rohan Joshi.

“Our ‘Mumbai LifeWear’ campaign aims to capture the essence of Mumbai. We wanted to showcase how our simple, functional, and everyday clothing fits into the dynamic lives of Mumbaikars. Our campaign partnership with prominent personalities from different fields reflects the diverse and vibrant life of Mumbai. It, in turn, also helps us promote the versatility of our products, which offer something for everyone,” said Rastogi.

In addition to the release of ad films, Uniqlo, under its ‘UTme! India Art Project’ has partnered with Mumbai’s local artists to showcase its UTme! (unique to me) service to its potential customers. The drawings and designs made by the artists including Aashti Miller, Akshay Singh, Neha Sharma, and Pearl D'souza vividly capture the dynamic energy and vibrant hustle of Mumbai. These artworks are printed on Uniqlo's T-shirts and made available at the new store.

Part of its global project ‘Uniqlo UT’, wherein the brand collaborated with American artist Keith Haring for his unique pop designs, UTme! allows customers to design their own T-shirts or tote bags by using the tools available at the store or simply by uploading their designs, which are then printed instantly on their chosen items.

In-store promotion: UTme! India Art Project

According to Rastogi, community-oriented marketing has been the mainstay for Uniqlo India from the very beginning. “When we entered India with our first store in Delhi, we collaborated with local personalities who embodied the spirit of the city. We did similar campaigns in other cities like Gurugram, where we featured local people and their stories. We regularly collect feedback of customers through social media and surveys, which help us identify trends and understand what our community wants,” she informed.

Media mix and hyper-local marketing

While endeavouring to connect with Indian consumers through community-oriented initiatives, Uniqlo has also been partnering with Bollywood celebrities to boost its brand’s nationwide appeal. Starting with onboarding Katrina Kaif as its first Indian brand ambassador in 2023 to promote the spring-summer collection, it roped in Kareena Kapoor Khan and Sidharth Malhotra for its fall/winter campaign last month.

While Rastogi preferred not to reveal Uniqlo’s marketing and advertising budget, she said that Uniqlo would be spending about half of its budget on digital media this year. The remaining 50% will be distributed across traditional media like print, cinema, and out-of-home advertising. The high investment in digital channels, according to her, is aligned with the way content is consumed by its customers today. Uniqlo, she said, was also aggressive about programmatic and connected TV advertising as the brand’s target audience is predominantly digital-first.

In line with its philosophy of getting closer to the customer, Uniqlo will also undertake extensive geotargeting campaigns to reach its customers in the city. “Over the years, we have noticed that a major portion of our sales comes from the customers who reside in the vicinity of our stores. As a result, even for this new store, we will carry out targeted messaging based on PIN codes regularly,” Rastogi informed.

Its geo-targeted messaging helps it promote its clothing brands based on time and place coordinates, e.g. it can promote the winter collection under the HeatTech brand (made of 11-micron fibres that capture water from the human body and convert it into heat) in colder cities like Delhi and the comfort clothing brand AiriSM (made of ultra-thin fibres to absorb and emit water vapour from human body) in warm cities like Mumbai.

Geo-targeting will involve advertising through various modes including messaging platforms (SMS, WhatsApp, etc), in-cinema advertising—Phoenix Palladium houses PVR, and on-ground campaigns by partnering with ride-sharing players.

Reaching the magic figure?

Going forward, Uniqlo's strategy in India will continue to focus on digital. While currently focused on urban centres, the company has been monitoring the e-commerce data coming in from tier-2 and tier-3 towns in the country and will undertake an upcountry expansion push whenever the numbers indicate a critical mass suitable for its brand’s entry into those markets.

As AI technology and system integrations evolve, the company will introduce in-store innovations such as self-checkout systems to bring ease of buying for its customers in India.

Stating that the company works with various advertising and marketing agencies on a regular basis, Rastogi indicated that Uniqlo will be exploring new agency partnerships and new marketing ideas to further its brand expansion in India. If its current growth rate (59%) is maintained, the company may be looking at touching the INR 1,000 crore mark in the current year.