商业

　　Uniqlo Golden fleeces

　　日本服装品牌神话——优衣库

　　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。

　　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！"

　　Tadashi Yanai, Uniqlo's founder, admits that his brand has a better image abroad than in Japan. So on March 16th he opened his biggest-ever store in Ginza, Tokyo's smartest street. He has done the same thing in New York, opening a big posh shop to give his clothes more allure. Now he wants to impress not only Japanese shoppers but Chinese ones, too.

　　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。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。 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。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。

　　Like Inditex, the Spanish firm that owns the Zara brand (see article), Mr Yanai is betting big on Asia. He plans to open 100 stores in Asia (outside Japan) this year, rising to 200-300 annually in a few years' time. His target is for Uniqlo to generate most of its revenues abroad within four years. Last year Uniqlo's Japanese sales were ￥600 billion ($7 billion); foreign sales were less than a sixth as much.

　　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。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。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。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。

　　Uniqlo's approach is quite different from Zara's. 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. But it is far less global. 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. Ms Oda reckons more scale in Asia will bolster margins. 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.

　　Uniqlo的营销策略与Zara差别非常大。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。但是，优衣库还远没有实现品牌国际化。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。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。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。

　　Uniqlo has three advantages. Japan is physically much closer to China than Spain is. It is closer culturally, too. Japanese shapes and styles are similar to Chinese ones. Even the weather is similar. Uniqlo's high-tech clothing makes wearers sweat less during sweltering summers, which is handy. And being Japanese has cachet, among Asia's fashionistas if not its nationalists.

　　优衣库有着三大优势。日本在地理上比西班牙更加靠近中国。在文化上两国亦是如此。日本民众的身材和着衣风格也与中国人相似。甚至连季节变化都差不多。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。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。

　　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。