After entering Vietnam more than three years ago, UNIQLO now has expanded its retail network to 18 retail stores and an online store. What’s your assessment of the potential of the Vietnamese market?

Hideki Nishida, newly appointed general director of UNIQLO Vietnam

Vietnam is a young, dynamic economy with much potential. UNIQLO believes that this market is one of the markets that are critical to our growth strategy in the region. Like all other markets, UNIQLO’s goal is to grow in harmony with the region where we operate. In Vietnam, this means becoming a good corporate citizen, interacting and supporting the local community, and actively contributing to the economy through job creation and production.

We have had a strong start in Vietnam with great trust from our customers. We believe that Vietnamese customers love experience and service that meet our global standards at UNIQLO retail stores, along with the design and quality of LifeWear and its real values.

Online and omnichannel sales are increasingly being applied in Vietnam market. How has UNIQLO been developing these channels?

UNIQLO’s online and offline retail presence is always balanced. Nearly a year and a half after its launch, our UNIQLO.com online store has more than two million members with strong support from customers in both retail and online store. We see that Vietnam is a potential market thanks to the high rate of smartphone usage, especially as Generation Z has a very high preference for online shopping.

As a global fashion brand and proud of our LifeWear philosophy, we strive to bring the core values of our products to as many consumers as possible through all sales channels.

Customers can come to our retail stores to directly touch and experience the product, then can choose to buy online for their next shopping. We want to create a seamless shopping experience that connects online-to-offline channels for our customers, making shopping easier and faster.

For us, there is no difference and no conflict between online and offline. All platforms are now working together to promote each other and we have more customers who love both forms. Since opening our online store, the number of customers coming to our retail store has also increased thanks to increased awareness of UNIQLO nationwide.

UNIQLO’s strong commitment to bring core values to customers

What are your next locations after the Binh Duong store?

I cannot reveal the details of our upcoming plans, but our mission and vision remain unchanged. That is continuing the commitment since we established our business in Vietnam. We will continue to expand LifeWear’s reach by opening new stores so that LifeWear can reach a growing number of diverse customers in different regions.

Our goal is to become one of the leading fashion brands in the minds of all Vietnamese customers, with their highest satisfaction and becoming an indispensable part of their daily lives.

What activities has UNIQLO been carrying out to achieve its sustainability goals?

Besides the initial successes in business, UNIQLO aims to be a responsible, reliable and reputable brand through our contribution to the sustainable development of the local community and society. This direction has never changed and is in line with the goal of Fast Retailing group with the comprehensive application of the LifeWear philosophy, along with sustainability activities.

We strictly follow the guidance from Fast Retailing Group (our parent company) with LifeWear - being equal with sustainability, contributing to the achievement of the group’s sustainability goals and commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations to 90 per cent and increase the portion of recycled materials in the total product mix to about 50 per cent by 2030.