Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo logged 2 billion won ($1.7 million) in a single day’s sales on Nov. 11 when it opened Asia’s largest flagship store in central Seoul.
The sales figure was the highest-ever set by a fashion outlet in Korea, industry sources said Thursday.
The previous record was the 460 million won that French luxury brand Chanel earned last year at a new store in southern Seoul.
Uniqlo said special deals offered for the first three days of opening likely played a pivotal role in attracting local customers.
“Along with a 50 percent discount on selective items, some exclusive offers at the flagship store such as a pair of jeans priced at 14,900 won are believed to have appealed to customers,” said Koh Eun-young, a PR manager for Uniqlo.
“The head office in Japan is also surprised by the positive response in Korea.”
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Customers line up outside of the new flagship store of Uniqlo in Myeongdong, Seoul, on Nov. 11. Yonhap News |
According to the company, about 120,000 customers visited the store in Myeong-dong, the nation’s busiest shopping district during the first three days and the total sales amounted to 3.6 billion won.
Uniqlo, the so-called fast fashion chain of the Tokyo-based Fast Retailing, has set up a flagship store in major cities globally to strengthen its brand awareness.
The 3,966-square-meter Myeong-dong store is the company’s sixth flagship store worldwide and the second-largest one after the 4,268 square-meter store in New York.
Uniqlo, which currently operates 65 stores in Korea, has seen 360 billion won in yearly sales and 25 billion won in profits. By 2020, the company plans to achieve 3 trillion won in sales and 600 billion won in profits here.
Tadashi Yanai, the founder and chief executive of Fast Retailing, expressed expectations for the opening in Seoul through which the company aims to gain a foothold in the Asian market.
“In the next 10 years, about 1.5 billion people will come from middle-class households in China and India. Seoul, which is located near the regions, is a city integrating money, information, products and people,” he said during a news conference on Nov. 11.
He unveiled the company’s mid- to long-term plan to increase its global sales to 5 trillion yen by 2020 and sales in Asia to 3 trillion yen.
By Lee Ji-yoon (
jylee@heraldcorp.com)
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