Lessons from UNIQLO: The Breakout Business That Grew 150-Fold During Japan’s Lost Two Decades

Lessons from UNIQLO UNIQLO was founded in 1984. Its period of rapid development ran from 1990 to 2010. After 2010, growth was driven more by internationalization: expansion from Japan into overseas markets. In other words, international expansion became a growth driver after 2010, whereas from 1990 to 2010, UNIQLO relied more heavily on development within Japan’s domestic market. Those twenty years, from 1990 to 2010, were precisely a period of very weak economic development in Japan. Yet during those lost years, UNIQLO achieved a growth miracle. Its revenue in the Japanese market rose from ¥5.2 billion in 1990 to ¥814.8 billion in 2010. UNIQLO grew more than 150-fold. Over those twenty years, Japan’s overall GDP barely grew and even declined slightly. Yet UNIQLO grew nearly 160-fold, giving investors considerable confidence. The macroeconomy certainly has problems of its own, but many individual companies’ development is not necessarily so tightly bound to it. And that is not even the most startling part. While UNIQLO’s revenue grew 150-fold, its profit grew even more: an astonishing 1,500-fold. Moreover, during those twenty years, not only did the broader economy fail to grow, Japan’s apparel industry actually contracted. By how much? It shrank 50% over that period—halving in size. #瘋投圈 (Fengtouquan) ---- Robin: “The macroeconomy certainly has problems of its own. But even during a downturn, individual breakout businesses still have opportunities. During twenty years of constrained consumption in Japan, UNIQLO seized the opportunities of its time and emerged as an exceptional performer, in turn making Tadashi Yanai Japan’s richest person.”