UNIQLO has announced the launch of its 2024 spring and summer campaign, ‘Summers are for Linen’, featuring Bollywood actor and UNIQLO brand endorser, Katrina Kaif. Nidhi Rastogi, Marketing Director at UNIQLO India says Katrina is someone whose style aligns seamlessly with UNIQLO’s LifeWear philosophy of simplicity, functionality, and timelessness while addressing the rationale behind roping in Kaif. Rastogi also shares that alongside UNIQLO’s Linen collection, other summer collections such as AIRism, UT (UNIQLO Graphic T shirts), and Innerwear have been designed to help people make it through the summer in ultimate comfort, while remaining stylish.
“Our AIRism range was co-developed with engineers from Japanese fabric manufacturer Toray Industries and utilises fibers that are thinner than a human
hair to provide the ultimate comfort, whatever the temperature,” says Rastogi.
Edited excerpts:
Take us through the recent campaign. What was the rationale behind collaborating with Katrina Kaif?
Simply put, Katrina’s personality and authentic values are a perfect match for UNIQLO. She is someone whose style aligns seamlessly with UNIQLO’s LifeWear philosophy of simplicity, functionality, and timelessness, and she beautifully showcases the comfort and versatility of everyday wear that embodies the philosophy of LifeWear. For those reasons, in September last year, we were thrilled to bring her onboard as our first UNIQLO Brand Endorser in India.
Ahead of the peak summer season, Katrina will be seen in our latest campaign, “Summers are for Linen”. In the campaign, Katrina is seen enjoying a quintessential summer in comfort and style, wearing UNIQLO’s vibrant range of Linen. From walking along the beach, to tranquil moments spent at home, the campaign beautifully captures the essence of the season through our Linen collection, celebrated for being lightweight and breathable.
The Spring Summer Campaign features the Linen collection. Are there any other collections in the pipeline that we expect in the coming months?
The Linen collection is one of our key collections this season. During hot summers, breathable and lightweight fabrics provide utmost comfort, and are a necessity. UNIQLO’s Linen is an exceptional choice for individuals seeking comfort and coolness throughout the day. This collection boasts versatility, offering a timeless style suitable for any occasion – be it work or leisure at home.
Alongside our Linen collection, we are looking forward to introducing customers to our other summer collections such as AIRism, UT (UNIQLO Graphic T shirts), Innerwear, and many more – all of which are designed to help people make it through the summer in ultimate comfort, while remaining stylish.
What are some interesting customer insights and market trends you are observing at the moment? How is UNIQLO leveraging those?
Following the pandemic, there has been a noticeable shift in how people approach fashion consumption. Customers not only seek style, but also comfort and convenience. At UNIQLO, our LifeWear philosophy is rooted in this understanding. We offer products designed to enhance our customers’ everyday lives by prioritizing comfort. Our goal is to elevate the customer experience through high-quality apparel to make everyday living better.
From our range of comfortable workwear, including non-iron shirts and rayon blouses, to our top-selling T-shirts like U AIRism, Supima Cotton, and Dry Ex, and our latest Linen collection, every item reflects our commitment to making everyday life more comfortable for our customers.
Where are most of the sales coming from in the country? What is the online-offline sales split?
Currently, the majority of our 13 brick-and-mortar stores are located in Delhi NCR, making this region the highest in terms of sales volume. Having said that, we have also seen a fantastic response in Mumbai since launching our first two stores there in October last year.
In terms of our product range, our largest store is our website, UNIQLO.com. It has over 12,000+ items, delivers to 17,000+ pin codes, and caters to sizes ranging from XS to 3 XL. Approximately 15% of our business is through our e-commerce channel.
Walk us through the marketing and advertising strategies for UNIQLO India?
As UNIQLO is still relatively new in India, having launched our first store in 2019, we are at the stage of introducing ourselves and explaining our values to customers. As such, our marketing efforts focus on highlighting our LifeWear philosophy that is, simple, high-quality, innovative clothing designed to make everyday life better.
Our marketing strategy revolves around three key pillars:
Product marketing: We prioritize bringing the right products to our customers, with a strong focus on communicating the comfort and quality that sets our products apart.
Omni-channel marketing: As we expand business across physical stores and our e-commerce platform, omnichannel marketing has become imperative. Encouraging customers to utilize our UNIQLO app facilitates seamless connectivity, giving customers access to our entire lineup and services such as click and collect, along with the ability to check available inventory before visiting our stores.
Community building: To truly embody our LifeWear philosophy, we believe in fostering a community of individuals who share and resonate with our brand values. This involves collaborations with local artists, entrepreneurs, influencers, chefs, and customers who serve as genuine brand advocates, effectively demonstrating the value our products offer to our customers.
What is Uniqlo’s media mix? Please share marketing spends including digital.
We adopt an integrated marketing approach for our campaigns spanning across print, out-of-home (OOH), digital, and influencer marketing channels.
In consideration of the trends of our customer base, we invest the majority of our spending in Digital marketing, which accounts for nearly 60% of our efforts. Within the digital realm, we leverage various platforms and formats including OTT ads, programmatic advertising, video ads, geo-targeted ads, and search engine marketing (SEM) to effectively engage with our audience.
Our UNIQLO app is also a key focus area, enabling us to interact with customers and tailor our communications to their preferences and behaviors.
How is UNIQLO evolving and innovating?
UNIQLO distinguishes itself through a commitment to technological innovation in fabric development. We continuously strive to evolve and innovate to fulfill the ever-changing customer needs. For instance, our AIRism range was co-developed with engineers from Japanese fabric manufacturer Toray Industries and utilises fibers that are thinner than a human hair to provide the ultimate comfort, whatever the temperature. Since first debuting AIRism in 2012, each year we listen to customer feedback and continuously refine and evolve the material, always challenging ourselves to provide more comfort and versatility
Additionally, our Miracle Air fabric embodies lightweight, stretchy, and quick-drying properties, ensuring unparalleled comfort. Furthermore, our Bratops, featuring built-in cups, have been a resounding global success, enhancing the daily comfort of women worldwide.
Please elaborate on UNIQLO’s expansion plans.
Since our launch in India in 2019, UNIQLO now has 13 stores across Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, and Mumbai, in addition to our e-commerce platform. Last year marked a significant milestone for UNIQLO with the launch of our first two stores in Mumbai in October 2023, our debut in the western region of India.
Looking forward, we are committed to bringing our LifeWear clothing to even more people in India. By listening to customer feedback, as well as actively engaging via social media and our e-commerce platforms, we are always looking for the right locations and communities for future growth.