In the era of 80s when foreign-made luxury goods were dominated at the market and poor quality and low-priced products began prevalent and drew people’s eyes, MUJI was found and tried to bring a new mood and call on people to return to simplicity in the daily life. As a former name of Mujirushi Ryohin, MUJI is dedicated to adopt no brand strategy (Mujirushi) and produce quality goods at a lower price (Ryohin).
We can hardly see MUJI’s advertisements or any other marketing promotions, which refers to MUJI’s no brand strategy. Unlike other brands, MUJI is succeeded by word of mouth instead of spending huge amount of money on advertising or using other marketing tools, but it is because of this strategy makes MUJI an extremely unique brand and appeals to those customers who are pursuing a simple life and preferring unbranded products. The initial marketing concept of MUJI was to produce cheap yet quality products at “lower than usual” retail price. Products are wrapped in clear packing bags with plain brown paper and red writing, making products elegant design as well as saving producing costs.
Overtime MUJI has gradually become a strong and developed brand and occupies oversea markets. Till August 2013, there are 262 stores and 117 outlets in Japan and 205 international retail outlets which includes US, China, UK, Germany, Malaysia, South Korea and other 14 countries and areas. With 16 product categories, MUJI covers products range from men and women’s apparel, to foods and snacks, from furniture to kitchen appliance, and even beauty cosmetics.
The first time I visited a MUJI retail shop I remember was almost seven years ago. I was a stationary manic then, and I promptly fell in love with this minimalist style asI had my first glance at the notepad. Without flashy patterns, neither redundant decorations, all MUJI has is its indescribable quality. You cannot imagine how smooth and silky the paper is when your finger slips across through the paper. The other thing that surprises me is that MUJI offers plenties of refills to each products, which gives us diversity to design and assemble in different ways.
No brand strategy can sometimes differentiate MUJI from other normal brands, but it can be MUJI’s shortcoming as well. Take US market as an example, fewer advertisements will lead to a little traffic on websites and low brand awareness. For social media platforms, MUJI displays product details and also store information, but the result didn’t seem well. There are only 17,835 likes on Facebook, 8986 followers on Twitter, 32,922 watcher and only 117 likes on a random MUJI official video on YouTube. It is far behind those big brands that pay enough attention on upgrading social media platforms. Although MUJI is succeeded by word of mouth and seems that its current brand techniques has already gone well, to some extent I think engaging with customers on social media platforms, such as uploading pictures about MUJI style on Facebook for instance, can lessen the distance feelings with consumers as well as enhance brand awareness overseas.
Life should be simple and relaxed. My life has already become “MUJI style” from daily apparel to my work table. MUJI is not only a shop for me now, it also becomes the philosophy of my life.
Return to a simplicity in daily.
The Craze 