Why I prefer to shop at enchanted Uniqlo- a shopping experience at UNIQLO gives me an insight to the success of the Japanese cultured vast fashion stores.

In a wonderful afternoon on yesterday, after hanging out with my friends to movies and at the ice-skating court at Festival Walk, a lower-high-end shopping mall, where features numerous fine stores to serve the middle class needs, form Chanel cosmetic stores, designers’ boutiques, to Levi’s store allocated. With five hundreds dollars left in my wallet, it is quite limited for me to seek any fun there. But, when I turn to a corner on the highest floor, and saw a red and white logo, I realized I finally had an alternative to end my beautiful day.

The store is illuminated in warm yellow light, decorated by red lining in the spacious areas, which I considered as the largest store in the mall. A Japanese sun-red square with white words-UNIQLO handed dominantly on the entrance captures my attention.

"Even though I was not inside the store, a fast glance from the entrance perspectives could tell me immediately what I would like to buy and what is affordable to me ."

Standing there outside the store, even though I did not consider getting in, I understood that it would have something I wanted. With a wall-wide and seemingly invisible entrance, it exposed the interior completely to me, with little intention to exclude customers outside, but to make the store as a public part of the floor, welcoming all shoppers to go inside and look around. Certainly, tidiness in this case is everything in order to make an impression. And it successfully did. Even though I was not inside the store, a fast glance from the entrance perspectives could tell me immediately what I would like to buy and what is affordable to me .With big price tag labeled at every single rack of the store with multifarious garments of all sizes tidily organized in terms of color, style, season, and even fabric type, I could choose when my eyes balls glance through all parts of the store according to my preferences without hesitating.

"The garments are cheap, honestly, but it looks chic at the meantime, and, most importantly, individual and modern. "

There are socks and t-shirts beautifully organized in rainbow colors, from bright red to dim blue, and jeans organized in various cutting, skinny jeans to straight cut and from high waist to low waist, with posters hanged from the ceiling on each type of garments featuring world-recognized Hollywood stars and fashion icons Orlando Bloom and Charlize Theron to present it in styles. The garments are cheap, honestly, but it looks chic at the meantime, and, most importantly, individual and modern. Besides the place with put on clothes, nothing is unessential. There are simply clothes, posters, sales persons and customers, but it usually keeps me half an hour to stay and shop. I decide to get inside.

This was not the first time for me to shop at UNIQLO. The first product I purchased at it was in 2009. After I had finished my news paper on Sunday, which features an article about the heat of UNIQLO DENIM jeans, claiming that the jean collection was made by fine denim with marvelous washing and bleaching techniques, and that it was unbelievably cheap and chic, I dashed to the nearby stores and purchased a skinny black one at once with about $299 spent. I have worn it for about four years. The more time I wore it, the more fit it gets. And after that, I started going in the store in search of economic and chic goods as a routine. Today, Uniqlo premium under-wears and shirts are my wardrobe regulars. Premium inner wears are wear as an outer T-shirt, as I love its fitting for Asian men’ torsos, and its plainness which can bring out my accessories and pants’ characters and even my personality. And it is efficient to impress others by its suppleness and lead others to focus on myself rather than my clothes. In boutiques that provide western designers’ casual clothing like Ralph Lauren Polo, Levis, etc, size-s are always in shortage in Hong Kong even thought it is still bigger than the right portion of Asians’ S-size bodies. But it doesn’t happen at Uniqlo. Asian guys always find right-sizes clothes at it. It is really considerate to my needs. And, as a result, UNIQLO is the store I spend most of my shopping time, when I only consume five to ten minutes at other stores even when I am looking for something I don’t know, as UNIQLO gives me a belief that I will find my needs at UNIQLO.

When I was getting in, I soon re-thought about what my wardrobe was lacked-a shirt, so I moved to the men department and stopped at the shirt part, followed the style labels and fabric labels, went on from casual wear to more-formal wear, I soon decided on a garment, which is a white shirt with long collar which gives strength to my short neck, skinny fitting, chic and timeless. And it is made by 85% cotton and 15% polyester, dry-easy, suitable to be worn on both working days and holiday. It can be mixed with pants and leather oxford shoes, or a pair of beige jeans and sandals with a brown Gucci belt to have a summer look. When a old style white shirt in G-2000, a Hong Kong Investment based men wear chain stores, cost between $200 and $450, , and those in lower high-end stores with same style cost more than $600, in Uniqlo, it cost $199. These mean the price is reasonable and that it haves quality. I did not come there expecting any extravagant garment sold at an economic price, but a piece with reasonable price and superb quality, duration, and individuality.

"When the information of products abounds at the store, form the well-organized setting of the stores to the detailed labels of clothing and price tags, customers are immediately informed at the moment they entered."

And I now remember, form the time I entered and went to the counter, no sales person interrupt me, I could totally served myself, and rarely seek help. Creepy, isn't it? And this experience is attributed to the enterprise’s strategy on customers - help yourself. When the information of products abounds at the store, form the well-organized setting of the stores to the detailed labels of clothing and price tags, customers are immediately informed at the moment they entered; however, customers choose and purchase automatically whatever they need, and that there are no need to gather a team of sales in readily to serve the customers. And it brings to the advantages that it helps the enterprise to save the cost of human resource and avoid transferring the cost to the price. Brava. Leading to an effect that there are no salespersons put pressure on customers by giving unnecessary consultations, making the experience of shopping at UNIQLO free and at ease.

"UNQILO tries to target people form all walks of lifes to maximize its sales, however, members of all groups are able to enjoy the products of UNIQLO."

Men are always compliant for the boredom and tiredness when shopping with their loved ones or their members of family. But this does not apply to the experience of shopping at UNIQLO. Contributing half of the spacious store as a part of men wears provides honorable male customers a chance to enjoy the happiness of shopping themselves. Although female expenditure on clothing still takes a large proportion of sales of the retails industry, UNIQLO obviously intends to expand its sales to a wider range of customers, and prevent itself form limited by the female customers oriented retails industry. Form men casual outwears, various jeans in multi-color ranges, sport wears, to inner clothing like those chic black tanks and sexy shorts, accessories to some lately designed formal suits, male members are now free to explore their new looks at a store with a relatively reasonable price and more choices. And it is not without its reasons. According to a book written by Mika K, entitled “the confidential reason for why UNIQLO gains global popularity- the economics of the wealthiest man in Japan”, UNQILO tries to target people form all walks of lifes to maximize its sales, however, members of all groups are able to enjoy the products of UNIQLO. This somehow explains why the men clothing lines are equally important to the women one at UNIQLO stores.

Finally, staying about half an hour, I purchased a $199 white striped shirt and two black tight tanks for $158 to enrich my wardrobe as a nice end of my beautiful day.