[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.