Why Muji’s global growth plan is all about product and store expansion

Ryohin Keikaku executive vice-president and director Satoshi Shimizu delivered a new management policy plan for Muji on November 15, underscoring the lifestyle brand’s ambition to pursue its “second founding” via global expansion, now that its foundations are firmly laid in Japan. 

Proclamations of global domination are not unusual for Japan’s global retailers – Uniqlo’s parent company, Fast Retailing, has been famous for it over the years – but Ryohin Keikaku’s leadership sees more to the growth strategy than simply plonking down new stores hither and thither, although that is part of the plan, too.

It has identified eight drivers of global growth. One of them, and perhaps the most convincing, is its plan to do an end-run around the major obstacles to getting Muji’s product offering outside of Japan up to speed with the lineup domestically. Shimizu notes that the product assortment in the Europe/North America geographic segment is only about 40 per cent that of Japan, and the percentage in Southeast Asia is also well below par. Muji wants to have that overseas rate hauled up to 80 per cent. Specifically, the company wants to increase the global offering of Japan-developed health and beauty products, daily necessities, and innerwear manufactured from natural materials. It isn’t clear to what extent the increase in assortment can be squeezed into existing stores, or whether it will be limited to new stores with larger footprints and the online channel. 

The rest of Muji’s Big 8

Aside from elevating the overseas product lineup to 80 per cent, there are the other seven growth drivers.

First, localisation of production. The company has had problems in the past addressing the various import/export regimes of its global markets, which remains one of the obstacles to upgrading its overseas product lineup to match that of Japan. Developing in-house overseas production bases will help overcome this problem. It should also help with the design and production of merchandise tailored to local markets.

Second, of course, there is an expansion of the store fleet. The company wants to continue to evolve its larger store formats and also open category-specific stores. Muji ended its fiscal year to August 31 with 1305 domestic and international stores, 117 more stores than it started with at the end of last year. In fiscal 2025, now under way, it plans to open another 128 stores, evenly split between Japan and overseas. The majority of the overseas openings will, in turn, be split evenly between China and Southeast Asia. The company sees Southeast Asia, in particular, as a growth engine that will partly hedge against a slowdown of growth in China. Personnel skilled at store operations are being assigned there from Japan. Thailand is another good case in point as a target country for growth. It has a strong cultural affinity for Japanese products, and it recently opened a larger, renovated unit in Siam Discovery in downtown Bangkok. It is also opening stores in provincial areas and attracting considerable excitement there, cohabiting in malls with other Japan retailers, like Uniqlo, Daiso and Miniso.

Next among the growth drivers is to strengthen some key product categories, particularly health and beauty, and apparel.

The remaining drivers look to be more pro forma, the kinds of things that every retailer is doing, or at least claims to be doing because it sounds good. One is strengthening ‘OMO’, or the integration of online and offline retail channels. Another is refining the marketing strategy, partly by differentiating between new customers and returning customers. Efficiency improvements in store operations and, with a technological tilt, the global introduction of product planning systems, comprise still another.

Last, and least convincing, making ESG the core of its business with what it calls “public interest and people-centred management”. It isn’t clear how this makes the list of global growth drivers, but it seems companies can’t come out with any strategic plan these days without some nod toward ESG. 

What’s driving the global growth drivers

The company’s weak same-store sales results outside Japan in recent times are part of the reason Muji’s growth plans revolve around existing stores, as opposed to pure store fleet expansion. It makes sense.

Muji’s fiscal 2024 is already done and full-year revenues were 661.6 billion yen, an increase of 13.8 per cent over last year. The gross profit margin moved up impressively, from 46.7 per cent to 50.8 per cent. Net income to the owners jumped sharply, by 88.5 per cent, to 41.5 billion yen. But much of the oomph came from the Japan business. 

In Japan, same-store sales increased by 6.8 per cent and experienced a pleasing acceleration up to 9.0 per cent in the fourth quarter. For all stores, sales jumped by 16.0 per cent for the year and a shade under 20 per cent in the fourth quarter, with customer counts and sales per customer both increasing. While apparel sales were softening toward the end of the fiscal year, household goods were booming, although this is a broadly defined segment that includes skincare and seasonal items. More recent sales results only underscore the same trend: in October, sales grew by 28.5 per cent, year-on-year (18.6 per cent like-for-like), with customer numbers and average ticket up by double digits. Apparel sales were still on the soft side at existing stores.

In East Asia, excluding Japan (primarily China), same-store sales declined, although the trend looks to be improving, with sales recovering in September and October. In Southeast Asia/Oceania same-store sales were flat over the whole 2024 fiscal year and in the latest reporting month, October, were down 2.7 per cent. However, with new store openings, operating revenue in the region surged past that of Europe/North America for the first time.

In East Asia and Southeast Asia/Oceania, top-line revenues are being driven primarily by new stores and it is easy to understand the company’s anxiety to flesh out the product lineups and improve store productivity. Meanwhile, in North America, revenues increased but in Europe the closure of unprofitable stores dented the top line.

Nearly 60 per cent of the company’s revenue in 2024 came from Japan, and another 30 per cent from elsewhere in East Asia, primarily China. With only 6 per cent coming from Southeast Asia/Oceania, there looks, on the surface at least, as though there is a big opportunity.

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