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Tadashi Yanai never misses nothing especially concerning the life of his group, not an opening ceremony of its new Parisian store. This week, the pattern of Fast Retailing, the giant Japanese casual clothing, therefore had the shift from Tokyo for the opening yesterday of the Uniqlo brand flagship Megastore the group. For this man of sixty years, Paris represents the must "for fashion as for the culture", explains to the "echoes". After New York in 2006 and London the following year, the Japanese thus closes the triangle of settlements deemed strategic in the West. One step closer to the ultimate of Tadashi Yanai dream: becoming the world number one, before the American Gap, Spanish Inditex, owner of Zara, or even Swedish H & m with 3,000 outlets for Gap against 2.179 (digits at end of August) for Fast Retailing, all brands combined, the objective is no longer out of reach. In 2005, however, "our chances of becoming world number one were less than 5," likes to recall the President. Since then, the group bought marks on "potential", as counter of cotton (2005) or Princess Tam Tam (2006). More internationalised, they do contribute yet that moderately to the turnover of the group compared to the Mastodon Uniqlo.

Acquisitions policy

In recent years, it is especially this locomotive Tadashi Yanai was preferred. UNIQLO now displays 866 stores, of which 775 to the Japan. Mark considers its turnover 2009 (exercise arrested August 31) 538 billion yen (4.04 billion euros), out of a total Group of 682 billion yen. And the success of Uniqlo allowed the mother House of surf on the crisis. Group sales increased by 16.3 in one year, its net income (52 billion yen) did, however, an increase of 19.5. Nice performance when most of the major signs of clothing are suffering.

The group set 2020 as horizon to become world number one. It has therefore a little more than ten years to multiply by 7 sales, to 5,000 billion yen. To achieve this, Tadashi Yanai was a credo: acquisitions. "We are ready." And I can tell you that we can invest up to 1 billion dollars in a case, he says. We have already identified a number of targets, including some in France.

A recent internationalization

Despite its determination, the tenacious businessman did not succeed every time. In 2006, he had to renounce buy Giordano, the Hong Kong brand, very present in China. The following year, he went to the onslaught of Barney's in New York, in vain, there still. Today, it seeks to rely on the international settlements of Uniqlo (91 end of August, against 54 a year earlier) to the mark, the first steps abroad are still recent. The movement began in 2001 in United Kingdom, then spread to Asia. China, including Hong Kong, now has 43 points of sale and prepares to welcome in the spring of 2010, in Shanghai, the largest global store of the sign. As the Korea, it is 30. Not to mention Singapore, where, time, the brand has opened 2 stores.

Tadashi Yanai step follows the evolution of an empire that he has completely shaped since the resumption of the paternal society, Hiroshima, in 1963. There nevertheless until 1984 that he embarked on the creation of the Uniqlo sign. The brand built its reputation on a double argument: an affordable price for an article claiming a real level of quality. The cut of the garment as the holding of the fabric are the absolute weapon for anyone who participate in the assault on the Japanese market. In the archipelago, the requirement of the consumer for a product without the almost naturally grows to the universe of luxury. Tadashi Yanai force was to show him that a product should not necessarily be expensive to be good and that it was possible to find good invoice items at very reasonable prices. The argument made fly at a moment where the Japan sank in what would be later called the "lost decade". Many Japanese went to purchase their basic in Uniqlo reserving the purchase of certain accessories to luxury brands.

But this well-oiled organization is not free from grains of sand. UNIQLO has been several times in recent years faced product recall campaigns, to the point that the analysts saw a weakness of the mark. Take a such speech before Tadashi Yanai, one is exposed to a rapid development. "Imagine that there are defects because we produce in China and Bangladesh, is to ignore that we are working with young generations of industrial facilities are global standards", said the boss. "Unlike our competitors, which deal with thousands of plants and their buy products finished, we reverse way." "We put our people and our products as a whole," he continued.

Cohorts of controllers home

The Japanese group is not owner of 70 plants with which it works, but has established partnerships with. How, together, they arrive to such efficiency and especially to such levels of price, this is the trade secret.

In doing so, Uniqlo does not simply to outsource its production. It has exported its know-how and form at the same time these plants in new generations of workers. The characteristic of the group, is to deploy on the places of manufacture of the cohorts of "takumis", these house specialists who control all since this matter first to the finish. Such an organization does not free of defects, but "they remain marginal," according to the CEO. "On the 500 million coins that we put on the market each year, reminders are only a few thousand of them." "And yet, these withdrawals are still held on our initiative," said. In addition, unlike its competitors Japan, Uniqlo is in direct contact with its production sites without going through a "shosha", these large multi-card trading companies, whose actions prolong the decision-making process and the final addition.

Innovative products

Though he seduced the consumer, the Japanese also pushed the clothing sector with a concept of distribution to him. Unlike luxury brands, Uniqlo does never settled in stores, always favouring its own surfaces of sale, localized preference in areas with heavy traffic, including train stations and airports. "That mark has always kept the total control of its network and decided, one of the places where she wanted to be", said a Japanese expert of the distribution. Indeed, Uniqlo never hesitates to close a store unprofitable or poorly located to move to a site generating more passage. The network is extremely mobile.

The mark is also the difference with little stock and a rapid turnover of collections, not to mention the technology products. Not only they contribute to building the image of an innovative company, but they also open new opportunities. Bestseller of the mark, it's HeatTech, clothing and fresh underwear summer and warm winter, which, in the last quarter of 2008, have sold 28 million copies, up 40 over the previous year. The other product is called BraTop, a line of women's clothing in the BRA integrated into the fabric. Tadashi Yanai neglects any details.

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