[MIUJI][Ch. 7 - Business Marketing]

Go Green MUJI
CH7 Business Marketing




           "Business Marketing is the marketing of goods and services to individuals and organizations for purposes other than personal consumption. "


           Recently, Muji cooperates with 
           Muji looks mainly providing personal consumption. Because of trying to establish the brand image as a lifestyle and make more and more people notice it, MUJI spreads out overseas. Sometimes, Muji tries to do some activities and collaborate with other company to advocate the brand philosophy and new products. On Muji's global website, if you have iPhone of iPad, then you can purchase the Muji apps. 













Also, the project "Global Inspiration: Japanese Rooms from Muji X Idee" for example, they build up an apartment with Muji and Idee furnitures, which is good packaging design for both brands.

            IDÉE Co., Ltd. is active in the home furnishing business, planning, manufacturing and selling original home furniture. Besides retailing products including its original furniture and sundries, antiques, curtains and rugs, IDÉE engages in space-related production, design and consultation. It also has various other lines of business including restaurants and a flower business. IDÉE proposes comprehensive lifestyles. In 2010, they succeeded in achieving cost reduction through application of the Ryohin Keikaku Group infrastructure, expanding store sales as well as online shopping and planning sales, and establishing a stable profit structure by reinforcing information transmission by actively holding design events.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/muji-meets-idee-rooms-150165


http://www.muji.net/mujilife/idee/




         


           Muji not only collaborates with home furnishing company but also the fashion designers such as Yoji Yamamoto. 

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/yohji-yamamoto?before=1319617297
Simplicity is the Key

Why I love MUJI…

I love Muji because it stands for simplicity, practicality and design.

Muji items looks at the staples of design and their basics hardly ever changes.

Did you know they have well known fashion designers working on their clothes?

MUJI= NO BRAND QUALITY GOODS.

2007 A/W was Yohji Yamamoto.

I remember a man coming into the store in Oxford Street and buying up 8 winter coats, saying he was going to sell them on at a higher price. He said if they were selling in Liberty they would be selling at 4 times the price…probably true.

It’s funny though, because MUJIs fashion doesn’t sell very well in the UK. But because of what the company name stands for, they were not allowed to publicise their designers.

MUJI T-shirts on a MUJI rail…

[MUJI] [CH7 Segmenting and Targeting Markets]

Go Green MUJI
CH7 Segmenting and targeting markets

no luxury: minimalism/ environmentalism/ simplicity

Muji actually is more focusing on psychographic segmentation because they try to advocate certain lifestyle. 

Traits of Muji Market intended audience:

- Demographic: Consumers are in age 20s and 30s 

- Psychographic: In general, Muji has 3 categories of customers based on their lifestyles.

1. People who are satisfied with the bare necessity rather than those who pursue brands for the sake of vanity and desires.
2. The other segment consists of people who support Muji’s environmental friendly stance .
3. Consumers who are thrifty and looking for "frill-less" products.

In today’s Experiential Economy, Muji is successful at targeting its first and second segment of customers; they are demanding authenticity.
Muji's products is practical, affordable yet stylish. 

Muji’s products are made from natural materials, possess originality in their designs, exceptional pursuit of its brand values for excellence, make referential to the Zen minimalist, and exerts influential authority to pursue environmental sustainability.

 Muji’s “no-brand” is accomplished because the customer pride themselves as being sophisticated to recognise quality choice which is encoded in the item.

In Japan, “Muji is staggering cheap as it achieves cost leadership through production efficiency and saves on  building efforts .” This allows them to be popular among the price sensitive customers – the thrifty target market. 

Muji is distinguished by emphasis on recycling, avoidance of waste in production and packaging, and conservation of natural resources.

Aside from this, simplicity in design is Muji’s forte. Muji cultivates a niche with its minimalism design using standard nutural colours and clean cut lines which embody creativity .

[MUJI for Holiday -- Christmas]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-xEPDK_-54&feature=related

http://www.muji.us/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/2011_holidays.pdf

[MUJI][CH11 Development and Managing Products]

GO GREEN MUJI

CH 11.  Developing and Managing Products

“No Label. Good Products”, which is at the core of what the business is about.

Delicate products for a simple lifestyle

The quality more than quantity

Product development and management is significant but difficult part for marketing strategy. Once the company has the objective, they have to find a good method to promote the product into the marketplace, and the products represent the image of the brand.  MUJI always wants the products to have good coordination with their philosophy because the all the products are the media to promote the abstract philosophy and improve the individual life and society. 

----Innovation Management Project Video-----

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpHwBHxtnVI

At beginning, Muji sold only 40 household and food products, and 3 years after they provided additional product line; now MUJI has various merchants in the retail store such as home products, fashion products, and foods. MUJI adds new products because they know what customers want. Simplicity is the point to start stretching out and provide what people want within affordable price. In idea generation, MUJI product developers would survey 1000s of customers to understand what they needed. And then they would try to meet these needs in the simplest, cheapest ways possible. The slogan for “R&D” was to “make what you want, as a customer”. As well as, they are not only get the idea from customers but also their own employees. MUJI has a systematic way to constantly harvest the best ideas and present them, ultimately to the design team, for he creation of new products. The process makes use of all touch points. In stores, employees are encouraged to make and collect notes. MUJI.net has almost 500,000 members and is used as another source of ideas. To get even more ideas, the Muji Award has been running for 3 years. The entries are solicited globally and have resulted in a number of products that have found their way into stores. After, for test marketing, MUJI takes advantage of many opportunities to figure out what people want. But it goes a step further. Even when MUJI has a design, it takes the final step of checking who will by it, before it is produced. It is an easy way to avoid a complete flop. Sometimes, they will cooperate with other company as an integrated marketing communication in product development because they want more people use their idea to create more meaningful products.

 For example, the products of the Muji manufactured by Thonet collection are available in Europe at selected Muji Stores from Spring 2009. Thonet, the oldest furniture brand in the world and the German manufacturer of high-quality furnishings, is producing a simplified form of bentwood and tubular steel furniture for the Japanese retail chain Muji. The products are manufactured completely at Thonet’s headquarters in Frankenberg, Germany to the company’s customary high quality standards.

Besides, MUJI company found out how technology affect the world which is an important element in this new age, so they try to cooperated with Apple's products. 

So, MUJI is observing the social phenomenon and get to know what the customers and the world want, and they develop their products according to that. 

[MUJI][Ch16 Integrated Marketing Communications]

Integrated Marketing Communication is the coordination of all the promotion methods which are planed carefully in order to enable to communicate with the consumers.  The right encoding message with the proper channels of promoting the product is important, and the customers are able to decoding the idea and aware it. After the customers have the knowledge of the product, and they are going to like it and purchase it.  IMC is planned with various media to establish promotional and advertising strategy which can be acceptable to the customers and the community.


MUJI is created by the team Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd. which is the sender encoding their philosophy of the brand to the receiver; the receiver is everyone. They are targeting the people who like simple life and protect the environment. Everything they do is basic on this brand image which shows people their idea of life and how to protect the whole society; the customers are the member of environmentalist when they can correctly decoding the message.
The MUJI philosophy are simplicity and "lower price for a reason".


So the messages are

Tasty and healthy foods. Comfortable clothing. Household goods that are, above all, easy to use. For Ryohin Keikaku, the materials we use to make such products are of the utmost importance; consequently, considerable attention is given to their selection.

The processes by which each product is manufactured are subjected to carefully scrutiny at Muji. When packaging products, Ryohin Keikaku seeks not to adorn them but rather to highlight their natural colors and shapes. For this reason, we use bulk packaging and place products in plain, uniform containers. http://ryohin-keikaku.jp/eng/ryohin/

For the advertisement, MUJI has its own website with different language, commercial and social network such as Facebook to communicate with the customers, they also have the activity such as the MUJI Award which is a creative idea competition which makes people think about and share the personal view of the environment and life. For the promotion, they have products on sale once a while, and also you can get the coupon by filling out the questionnaire online. Also, the world-of-mouth help MUJI to send out the message.
MUJI is quit competitive because the reasonable price and good quality. Sometimes MUJI will cooperate with famous fashion designer, industrial designer, and architects to create very good quality products. However, the price is still affordable because their idea is that they want to everyone can be the member to protect the environment.
For the noise, there still have lots of different competitors such as IKEA. Also, their don't do crazy sales and advertisement, which means they get other company opportunity to get their target market.

[MUJI] [Ch10 Product Concepts]

Go Green MUJI

Ch10 Product Concepts

When a marketer tries to promote a product, the most important thing is to find the selling point which is the core concept of the good. Before the product goes out to the market, the concept of the product makes the product more completed and understandable for the consumer; concept tells consumer that why, how and what to choose the product which is benefit in their life. In brief, Product concept is the understanding of the dynamics of the product in order to showcase the best qualities of the product. Marketers spend a lot of time and research in order to target their attended audience. Marketers will look into a product concept before marketing a product towards their customers. 

MUJI concept is most important core value for branding; every product is brainstorming from this central idea of MUJI. So, basically, MUJI is selling the concept when they sell the products. The philosophy of MUJI is minimalism and simplicity throughout individual lifestyle and protects the environment, but simplicity achieved through a complexity of thought and design. MUJI’s streamlining is the result of the careful elimination and subtraction of gratuitous features and design unrelated to function. The material and function of the products are eco-friendly. MUJI aspires to modesty and plainness, the better to adapt and shape itself to the styles, preferences, and practices of as wide a group of people as possible. This is the single most important reason people embrace MUJI.

The goal of offering products that excel in quality at lower prices has been achieved by avoiding the waste typical of much product-manufacturing and distribution - in the form of unnecessary functionality, an excess of decoration, and needless packaging. Responding to the perennial consumer demand for reasonable pricing, MUJI has accordingly designed and developed countless successful products. With unique development processes and ongoing exploitation of innovative ideas that always take the consumer’s perspective; they have in many cases re-defined “user-friendliness.”

 http://youtu.be/e6qnjO-3fdk

[Ch17] [MUJI] [Advertising and Public Relations]

Go Green MUJI

Advertising and public relations

Advertising is one of strategies in Marketing. Advertising presents the image of a brand and  core value of the brand. Advertising is the way to provide the awareness of products in the public and then convince the consumers to purchase them. So, advertising can be many different kind of media or channels establishing the connection between the consumers and the sellers, always crab consumers'  attention.

There are two major types of advertising – institutional advertising and product advertising. The institutional advertising for MUJI is trying to promote their philosophy or concept of lifestyle, and institutional advertising is MUJI’s main course because this is how this brand built up. Besides, the product advertising is for the products in the certain time and supports the idea of lifestyle. When there is new concept coming out, the new shape of products will come out along with. MUJI has environmental consciousness advertising appeal and focus on the simple lifestyle. The idea of MUJI is minimal, low price and environmentalist, so the products will be designed with this concept such as shrink-wrapped T-shirt cubes.

The media MUJI uses are divers. They have direct advertising from the retail store, also, they have print ad. Due to the progressive and technology blast age, MUJI develops the bran through the website and public communication tool like facebook in different countries with their own languages to establish the interaction between the brand and the consumers. By the public communication tool,  they can promote the goods and get the feedback which helps improve the idea of branding system. Also, nowadays, they combine their networking with ipad which provides the convenience for the customers.

       Indeed, we barely see lots of advertising, promotions, and bargain sale because Muji emphasizes more about the quality and the philosophy rather than the products, so they seldom do the persuasive advertising. 

[CH.15][MUJI][Retailing]

Go Green MUJI

[Retailing]

Retailing is really important part in marketing, and retail store is the space for exhibiting the products. Good interior arrangement in the retail store can help promote the products well through the 5 senses. Walking in the retail store, customers can perceive the goods and the brand more completely. MUJI is the Japanese brand not only sells the products but also the concept of lifestyle-simple, Zen and meditation. Actually, MUJI more focuses on the philosophy, so they design the products, the stores, and website as a whole. The material and color of the products are simple and essential; they want to create a minimal and comfortable interior where the customers will enjoy staying in that atmosphere.

Visually, the MUJI store gives a clean, subtle and minimal impression which provides different feeling from the outdoor area, so the customers will feel free and relaxing when they walk in the store.

Also, the MUJI products are made by cozy raw material which makes you feel healthy and pure when you touch them.

Beside, recently MUJI has its own fragrance steaming equipment, so the store uses this mild fragrance to attract the customer who may think it will be nice to have this environment at home.

The whole MUJI store provides a clean, contented and relaxing by the combination of the functionally interior arrangement, pleasing scent, and nice raw materials.

This is all about MUJI lifestyle.

[MUJI]-[consumer decision making]

Go Green MUJI

Consumer Decision Making

The most important thing after a company establish the brand is how to get your target. Consumer's point view is the target which a company tries to achieve, so a company must know what and how to attract the consumers to make the decision to choose them. Consumer decision making is concerning more about philosophy side - catch the consumer's purchase behavior.

Muji has strong concept and  image on their brand, so Muji basically sells their idea more than just goods. So, the Muji consumers purchase lifestyle.

The type of people that shop in Muji are making a conscious decision to be different, the customers are loyal they see shopping in Muji as a lifestyle choice. They admire that Muji are responsible in their material choices and manufacture and that Muji prides itself in being a green company. They enjoy minimalist design and want simple yet desirable products that will enhance their lives. Muji chooses to serve like minded people that value and believe in the same philosophy and ethics as them. Their advertising campaigns have been designed to appeal to this target market;”in love with no frills”, “from a different viewpoint”, “preferred simplicity”.

I feel Muji is really practical and  functional. When you go in the shop, you can find most every thing such as the thing you need for traveling or something for school or office.

Also, on Muji Facebook Website, Laboratory, there is description of the brand and the connection of the life style and products which make the consumers to understand the rand

[MUJI]-[Developing a Global Vision]

Go Green Globally MUJI

[Developing a Global Vision]

           

MUJI's "enough" and "simple" concept become a minimal lifestyle or trend. They try to extend the environmental idea throughout the world by introducing the company. 

After 2000, MUJI tend to build up their network globally with more international stores and websites. In Japan currently, there are more than 342 Muji stores, some of which are distributed through general licensed stores and Seiyu. Muji is also present in 98 international outlets spanning 16 countries including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Turkey, U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, China and Thailand. Aside from retail stores, Muji opened online stores since August 2000, for the UK, US, Europe and Japan markets. The wide distribution channels, through numerous retail outlets and the online platforms, make it accessible and convenient for customers to encounter the Muji experience. 

Due to the technology, Muji opens the online shops and there is Muji global website. Also, they establish the company on FaceBook which fosters larger community from different countries. They publish Muji book for different language versions. On the FaceBook, they provide people certain knowledge about Muji such as the laboratory which introducing their products and the sense of life. As well, they have update event and news post on FaceBook.

[Go green MUJI]-[Marketing Environment]

Go Green MUJI

-When “nothing” tends to become something, Muji evokes the minimal and eco-friendly fashion in the world.

[Marketing Environment]

When Muji proclaims its image, philosophy, and lifestyle, it is very acceptable to the society because they use mild quality essential products to maintain a simple but certain level lifestyle.  Muji seeks to attract people who are satisfied with the bare necessity rather than those who pursue brands for the sake of vanity and desires. The other segment consists of people who support Muji’s environmental friendly stance. Also, Muji targets the consumers who are thrifty and looking for frill-less products.

 

At the beginning, Muji provided merely 40 kinds of goods. Nowadays, Muji becomes a life trend, and costumers can find products from food to apparel to home equipment in the store. As well, they introduce the concept and develop the business throughout the world becoming a global trend.

On the surface, Muji’s fervent concentration on quality may be seen as embracing the product concept: whereby the business focuses on continuous improvement and refining on its product performance.

Delving deeper, Muji excels because it practices market orientation: the coordination of the whole organization to determine and satisfy what people need in their life and delivering it better than competitors.

Muji now exaggerates through the internet and technology such as ipad.

Advertising:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeHhAVRYYNw

[Go Green MUJI]-[Ethics+ Social Responsibility]

Go green MUJI

-“Nothing”: nothing is about the brand, nothing is flamboyant, and nothing is harmful

[Ethics+ Social Responsibility]

            To concern about people, society, and environment is Muji’s core aesthete. Muji considers what people want and how the environment should be. Muji is sensitive to the environment. It aspires to live in compatibility and sensitivity with the earth.

Muji goes to the extent of recycling or reselling the unsold products in the same condition, using natural fiber material, and including very minimal and informational manuals, with minimal packaging.

 Muji products are developed with functional, simple, of superior quality, and at reasonable prices – as reflected in their astute product designs and packaging. Through stringent selection of the materials, Muji emphasizes recycling and reusability of its products in the production process to minimize impact on the environment.

[Go Green MUJI]-[ Marketing planning + Strategy for Competitive Advantage]

Go Green MUJI

-“Mujirushi Ryōhin (無印良品)”, which means “no-label, quality goods”

-"Simple, Functional, and Affordable"

-philosophy instead of branding

[ Marketing planning + Strategy for Competitive Advantage]

The corporate mission of Muji is “Lower priced for a reason” – to introduce simple but high quality products at affordable prices and this is reflected throughout the company’s beliefs, operation, marketing and business model.

According to Mangum (2007), there are four key components to Muji’s philosophywhich are:

• Reasonable price;
• Simple, moderate, and functional design;
• Basic, understated colours;
• Essential parts for people to design their lifestyles at their discretion.

            Most brands products try to eliminate self-expressive benefits; however, Muji has totally opposite strategy. Muji tends to create simple lifestyle.

            Since the Muji have been created, the products are made by natural and inexpensive material providing to common family. Muji tends to establish the long-term relationship with customers; Muji tries to create the intimation with customers. For Muji, they understand what thoughts they have in mind will become their brand image. Muji creates a space which benefits customers, company itself, and the environment. This is Blue Ocean Strategy: by constructing a “no-brand” brand that defies conventional marketing, it serves to make the competition irrelevant.

This is the story of MUJI. The anti-brand that has achieved a level of branding
unachievable by established branding methods and systems. A brand
successfully collapsed the idea of branding and left nothing in its place.

MUJI is the brand that has made nothing into something by embracing nothingness--

making that nothingness its unique characteristic.

            Besides, Muji also has Differentiation Strategy: it is selling its uniquely designed products which are valued and perceived to be superior by customers at premium prices.

With a mission to popularize quality of goods without screaming of any designer tags, Muji has merchandise of good quality at affordable prices. They avoid fashioning trends for their products so that they are presented as “everyday” and “basic” and thus stay universally relevant to fit customers’ lifestyles.

It is ironic that MUJI, which connotes “no-brand”, becomes identifiable as an international brand of its own. Hence it is curious whether this was a “reverse psychology” form of strategic marketing, or it was authentic marketing, or was it simply the riding on the trend of sustainability/ environmental conservation. The purpose of this report is to uncover what makes Muji so successful worldwide despite its counterintuitive strategies.

[Green fashion-MUJI]-[History]

Go Green – Muji  

 -"lower priced for a reason"

[History/Phylosophy/Mission]

Fashion is not only catwalk or high end brands but also a lifestyle. By selling the goods, Muji mainly promotes and sells their brand philosophy. The philosophy of Muji leads out different kind of fashion-environmentalism and minimalism.

            Muji started in 1980, the lifestyle brand which has burgeoned from 40 products to about 7,000 today, was initially a house brand for food and household products sold in Japan's Seiyu department stores. Originally, Muji provided simple and affordable packages of food for the common household, and nowadays, it brings this concept into a bigger society even throughout internationally. Their theory of lifestyle is recognizable from the packaging of the products.

            Muji means “no brand quality goods.” The core principle is environmentally friendly, a streamlined manufacturing process, and simplicity of packaging; the products are made with natural and low-priced materials. The essence of Muji is more on their philosophy than the brand.  

            Gradually, Muji extends their eco-friendly idea into the society. They produce more and more diverse products to show the ambition of their mission; they want to merge this environmentalism idea into lifestyle and fashion in the world.