(2). Uniqlo Golden fleeces
日本服装品牌神话——优衣库
(3). Zara’s Japanese rival gears itself to conquer China.
作为西班牙服装品牌Zara的竞争对手,日本本土服饰品牌Uniqlo优衣库正加速占领中国市场。
(4). FASHIONABLE Japanese are sniffy about Uniqlo’s cheap clothes. There’s even a slang word for "you’ve been caught [wearing] Uniqlo". Students shout "unibare!" when they see an offender.
时尚的日本人对Uniqlo品牌的便宜衣服嗤之以鼻。时尚的日本人对Uniqlo品牌的便宜衣服嗤之以鼻。对于"你居然穿过优衣库",他们甚至自己编出了一句俚语。当学生们在看到令他们厌恶的人时,就会管他叫"穿优衣库的!"
(5). 1:Tadashi Yanai, Uniqlo’s founder, admits that his brand has a better image abroad than in Japan.
2:So on March 16th he opened his biggest-ever store in Ginza, Tokyo’s smartest street.
3:He has done the same thing in New York, opening a big posh shop to give his clothes more allure.
4:Now he wants to impress not only Japanese shoppers but Chinese ones, too.
1:优衣库创始人柳井正先生坦言,优衣库的品牌形象在国外市场要好于日本国内。
2:由于这个原因,3月16日他在东京最时尚的繁华购物街——东京银座——开设了其史上最大的购物店。
3: 柳井正先生在纽约也如法炮制,开设了一家大型时髦的店面以添其品牌服饰更多的吸引力。
4:现在,他不仅想要给日本购物者们留下深刻印象,也想让中国消费者们给优衣库服饰在形象上加分。
(6). 1:Like Inditex, the Spanish firm that owns the Zara brand (see article), Mr Yanai is betting big on Asia.
2:He plans to open 100 stores in Asia (outside Japan) this year, rising to 200-300 annually in a few years’ time.
3:His target is for Uniqlo to generate most of its revenues abroad within four years.
4:Last year Uniqlo’s Japanese sales were ¥600 billion ($7 billion); foreign sales were less than a sixth as much.
1:和坐拥Zara服装品牌的西班牙公司Inditex(印第纺织)一样,柳井正先生在亚洲区下的赌注颇大。
2:今年,他计划在亚洲区开设100家品牌购物店(日本本土除外),在随后的年份里面以每年200-300家店铺递增。
3:他的目标是,四年内使优衣库品牌服饰在海外市场利润额得到大范围增加。
4:去年,优衣库服饰在日本的销售业绩是6000亿日元(约70亿美元);其海外销售业绩低于国内销售业绩的六分之一。
(7). 1: Uniqlo’s approach is quite different from Zara’s.
2: Whereas the Spanish firm chases every fleeting fashion, Uniqlo relies on large volumes of high-quality, cheap items, such as fleeces and jeans, that last all season.
3: But it is far less global.
4: According to Yukimi Oda of Morgan Stanley MUFG in Tokyo, sales of Fast Retailing, Uniqlo’s parent, are about 60% of those of its two biggest rivals, Inditex and H&M of Sweden, but operating profits are only a third the size.
5: Ms Oda reckons more scale in Asia will bolster margins.
6: Next year she expects Uniqlo’s number of stores in China to surge ahead of Zara’s and H&M’s, as they have done already in South Korea.
1:Uniqlo的营销策略与Zara差别非常大。
2:鉴于竞争对手西班牙公司对时尚的追求唯恐错失时机,优衣库公司凭借着高质量、低价位服装的大规模生产,比如羊毛衫和牛仔裤,一年四季里产品销路不断。
3:但是,优衣库还远没有实现品牌国际化。
4: 据摩根士丹利东京分析师Yukimi Oda分析,日本迅销公司(Fast Retailing)——优衣库品牌持有人——其销售额是两个最大竞争对手(印第纺织和瑞典H&M集团)的百分之六十,但营业利润仅是其规模的三分之一。
5: Yukimi Oda女士预测,优衣库服饰在亚洲区扩大规模将会促进盈利。
6:她预期明年优衣库在中国的零售店数量将超过Zara和H&M的零售店,一如其在韩国已落实的情况。
(8). 1:Uniqlo has three advantages.
2:Japan is physically much closer to China than Spain is.
3:It is closer culturally, too.
4:Japanese shapes and styles are similar to Chinese ones.
5:Even the weather is similar.
6:Uniqlo’s high-tech clothing makes wearers sweat less during sweltering summers, which is handy.
7:And being Japanese has cachet, among Asia’s fashionistas if not its nationalists.
1:优衣库有着三大优势。
2:日本在地理上比西班牙更加靠近中国。
3:在文化上两国亦是如此。
4:日本民众的身材和着衣风格也与中国人相似。
5:甚至连季节变化都差不多。
6:优衣库的高科技含量服饰使得穿衣人在酷暑时少出汗,这是很省心的。
7:在亚洲时尚人士而非民族主义者当中,穿时尚日系服饰(的日本人)气宇非凡。
(9). But Roy Larke of JapanConsuming, a market-research firm, says the "Japan-is-cool" image Uniqlo brings to the rest of Asia will not last forever. He believes it will eventually have to emulate some of the fast-fashion expertise of Zara. Meanwhile, the Ginza store may add a bit of badly needed glamour.
但来自日本的一家市场调查公司JapanConsuming的 Roy Larke指出,优衣库作为其"日本酷国"的形象给亚洲其他国家的影响不会永远持续。他认为优衣库最终会不得不模仿Zara服饰的快速时尚营销技巧。与此同时,其东京银座店可能为其增加了一点点急需的魅力。