Japanese Clothes Retailer Uniqlo Commences E-Commerce in the U.S.

Uniqlo put this cat to work in promoting its SF store earlier in October

Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo has just made a significant step towards reaching more customers in the U.S. While the company already has five retail stores in the country, its new e-commerce service – which just recently launched – will help the extend its reach and mindshare among American consumers.

Eager shoppers nationwide can go to Uniqlo.com and buy men’s, women’s or kids’ fashions for the low prices that the company has become known for. The site supports Facebook login for registration, making the purchasing process a little bit easier.

The company’s U.S. general manager, Shin Odake, recently noted that one benefit of operating this e-commerce site will be that it will enable the company to see where potential customers for its brick-and-mortar stores are, and it can then be more strategic about where new locations are opened.

The company opened a store in San Francisco last month, and setting up shop near Silicon Valley was also about being close to the high tech industry there. Uniqlo’s CEO and president Tadashi Yanai explains:

At first, we’ll build an e-commerce model in the U.S. Then, we’re thinking of bringing that same model to other countries around the world. San Francisco is near Silicon Valley, so I want to make the [system] in the U.S.

The company is aiming to eventually bring in 20 percent of its U.S. revenue from online sales.

Uniqlo displayed its internet expertise earlier this month when promoting its San Francisco store. As part of its ‘People’ campaign, which included the likes of former NFL star Joe Montana, it leveraged the spectacular power of cat videos to push an online lucky cube game. [Via Style Bistro, Zee Report]