- Lifestyle Change -

I’m sitting here in my yukata typing this up.  Yukata’s are cool. 

There seems to be a phase where Asian companies are branching out from their birth countries and transplanting themselves into western markets.  Here are 2 examples.  Muji, a lifestyle brand that prides itself on inexpensive items ranging from clothes, to homewares/kitchenware, stationary and furniture, is opening its first store in NY.  Its main selling point is that it has no brand (the name means "no brand") and can suit all parts of life.  It's kind of like Ikea and Giordano mixed together.  The other example is Uniqlo which is opening stores in the UK and the US.  Uniqlo is Japan’s version of Giordano or The Gap but way better quality.  To me, this move is kind of interesting.  Maybe their growth was stagnating in asia and they needed to expand, or maybe it was just part of its growth plan to diversify it customer base and market itself as a global brand.  Will these companies be successful?  I see 2 very different outcomes…

Both companies operate in highly saturated markets but to me, as cool as Muji’s products are (they have some really cool stationery and cheapo bags), I just can’t see it happening.  In all honesty, I am surprised that it has been successful for so long.  To me, being a lifestyle company is ridiculously difficult.  You have so many different products which puts you in competition to not only other lifestyle companies, but also companies specialising in the products you hold.  I think if you want to be a lifestyle company, you cannot be targeting the mass market; you need to be highly specialised focussing on a niche market that looks for very special products (either different design, or something that sets it apart) with (ridiculously) high profit margins.  I don't think catering to this type of mass market can yield growing sales.  For this reason, I think the appeal of Muji will wear off very quickly.  Ask yourself this question.  Are you more likely to buy furniture from Ikea and clothes from a Uniqlo (see the next point) or from Muji?  You can't survive by only selling stationery...
On the flip side, I think Uniqlo will survive and thrive.  It isn’t being all things to all people, it is just good quality stuff that is affordable and for this reason will get return sales and thus growth.  From experience, Uniqlo has very good quality clothes at good prices.  For example, it’s not often you can find Japanese selvedge denim at the prices you can get at Uniqlo.  On top of that, Uniqlo has also got its fair share of limited edition and collaboration items that are always changing.  To me Uniqlo's model has a good mix of the base level of products with the cream on top to keep people interested and is dynamic enough to not get stagnant and compete in saturated markets.  I reckon collaborations are the way of the future to differentiate brands and facilitate cross pollination of ideas and creativity.

At the end of the day, it boils down to continued sales growth.  Once the novelty of a new brand has worn off, which is likely to get more people coming back?  Trying to replicate the popularity they had in Asia will be a tough ask and what I am particularly interested in is to see how Asian business practices will work in western society.  So stay tuned as we see how things go.

~ / ~

Speaking of business ventures, someone got to opening a Graniph store in Sydney before I did.  If I ever had faith in a niche label, I reckon this label would be it.  Ranks high up their on my list of favourite things.  Lauren will tell you I have had this idea for so long...  I would have seriously considered pumping equity into this business but oh well.  Now I gotta think of a new idea...

~ / ~

Also on the topic of east meeting west, here is an interesting anime artist's impression of The Simpsons I found on the net.

Click to see original size - It's really good!

Wishing the many May babies a very Happy Birthday.  Have a good week boys and girls.

- Food Snob? -

Did you know the term “perks” of a job is derived from the word “perquisites”?  On the topic of definitions, what does the title term mean?

Anyway, last week I finally got to experience the perks of my job.  After closing a transaction, we got invited to a dinner at Aria.  Supposedly being one of Sydney’s best restaurants (the view is pretty amazing – the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House from most tables), I was not wowed and I have certainly had better meals.  Don’t get me wrong, the food was very, very nice - the pork belly was probably one of the best pork dishes I ever had – tender pork with really crispy crackling and not overly fatty, with black pudding, apple and elderflower, and you can’t go wrong with a perfectly cooked/rested beef with mash that was like eating cream it was so creamy and buttery (that’s a good thing).  But it just didn’t blow me away like I had expected.  It was merely a normal meal cooked ridiculously well.  Jeanne warned me of this...I'm not a food snob, but is it so wrong to expect to be wowed from a restaurant of this calibre over an above ridiculously perfectly cooked food?  I guess I shouldn't complain considering I didn't have to pay, but it was somewhat talked up by colleagues...either way, I could get used to the perks of the job haha.

The other thing I always wondered was how much people value service and atmosphere (separate things).  I once thought that I didn’t place much value on service - I had an expectation of a minimum level of service (pretty much not rude) and after that threshold, any better didn’t add any extra value to me.  But then I see what happens at my family’s local Chinese restaurant where the added extras mean something…making me question my original thought, but then I rationalise it with the fact that the service received there is a byproduct of a relationship we have built from going so often rather than the minimum level of service, so my original thought holds.  On the atmosphere front…guess it’s the company that makes the atmosphere, not the place of food that makes the atmosphere.  So yea…at the end of the day, it’s all about the taste to me.  Hawker centre, squatting on the side of the street or 3 hatted restaurant, as long as it tastes good and the company’s good I’ll be happy.  Guess I’m easy one to please eh, boys and girls?