Casual Clothes Like Weekly Magazines

"This is how the first "UNICLO CLOTHING WAREHOUSE" casual wear store introduced in the preface of this book was born. The store's business philosophy is to "let customers buy casual clothes like they buy weekly magazines." The shops are located in densely populated urban areas, but they are located in alleys and the rent is cheap. We rented the first and second floors of an apartment building, which totaled about 330 square meters. The price of the product is set at 1,000 yen and 1,900 yen. The first day the store opened was an unprecedented event. From the time it opened at 6 a.m. to the next two days, there were so many people coming to the store that we had to limit the number of people entering the store."

"The volume of sales of men's suits largely depends on the salesman's skills and attitude towards the customer. The same piece of clothing, if recommended properly, might just be sold. If not properly recommended, business that should have been done may be lost. Therefore, selling suits, whether it's marketing or sizing, requires very high skills and experience. However, selling casual clothes is different: you do not have to measure and tailor the customer. Nevertheless, popular items often sell out and the less popular ones might not sell at all, creating a significant gap. Men's clothing, especially suits, is expensive and has a high margin but just like Japanese kimono, the turnover period is very long, usually only twice a year and at best three times. If the sales are good, it can make money, but if not, inventory could pile up. Sometimes, I feel like a taxi driver who only wants to pick up long-haul passengers, waiting for the opportunity takes a long time."

"Mr. Pu's VAN store, which is on the same commercial street, is a place where I often go to check the sales of casual clothes. If I were to say what kind of clothes suit me to sell, I think selling casual clothes that do not require to be measured for customers seems to be a better fit. Suits are only sold to men over the age of 20, while casual wear customers have no age restrictions, making it a very public market. Is casual wear a market with a promising future? At that time, I began to feel the potential of the casual wear market."

"There, students had everything they needed for life, and it was easy to take. They didn't need any assistance from the sales staff, it's completely self-service. There wasn't that commercial flavor of trying to sell things, and the store layout was completely designed from the customer's perspective. Students walked in the store as casually as they would browse a bookstore or a record store. If they like something, they buy it, if not, they just look around and go out. I suddenly realized that selling our casual clothes in this way would be very interesting. However, this simple "self-service" form could easily be misunderstood as us trying to save on labor costs, a misunderstanding we would not want. Therefore, we believe the best way of service is "self-service that customers want", which later became UNIQLO's operating principle of "HELP YOURSELF"."