Chinese people have the habit of buying new clothes for the New Year. During this frenzy, major clothing retailers also enter their busy season. Recently, I went to the major department stores to go shopping, and I was taken aback by UNIQLO and Metersbonwe. UNIQLO is a Japanese brand which has a good reputation among customers. Every time I enter UNIQLO, the storefront will have very friendly greeters Welcome to UNIQLO, please feel free to choose, it makes me feel very comfortable. However, when I entered into Metersbonwe, I felt that the store was messy and the staff apathetic. I have to say this was not a pleasant shopping experience.

Comparing these two brands, UNIQLO quickly become the largest overseas flagship brand in Shanghai. How did UNIQLO become so successful? I think the reason is mainly because it created a new marketing approach which was completely different than the traditional clothing sales self-service shopping. Their approach created a pleasant shopping environment so that consumers can arbitrary select clothes, try them on, without feeling neglected nor resented about the excessive enthusiasm. In addition, at UNIQLO shops, customers are king, and the staff there always have smiles on their faces which make you feel very satisfied when shopping.

Metersbonwe is a big domestic brand. In recent years, it has undergone a huge transformation. It started to learn from UNIQLO after it failed to learn from ZARA. It also changed the traditional retail model and gradually pays more attention to user experience. In 2014, Metersbonwe southwest flagship store at Chengdu New Century Global Centre officially opened. The architecture combined modern and old fashion styles, undoubtedly it brought southwest consumers a shopping experience about new fashion, new culture". However, I think this will not bring about long-term growth. Metersbonwe should try to understand what consumers really want and enhance consumer shopping experience.