Everyone loves Uniqlo. That's a fucking fact. But while the racks of shirts, jeans, sweaters and puffer jackets aren't paid much mind by the regulars who stop in for their monthly boxers and socks supply, everything that goes into a day at the retail giant is exacted and calculating as Daily Life found out. Anyone who has worked retail or even shopped enough knows that each company has their own set of rituals and traditions. Uniqlo's borders on cult-like.
Georgina Safe spent time at Uniqlo's Fifth Avenue store (on Uniqlo's dime, we should add) getting the behind the scenes look at the daily routine: employees must use a minimum of four of the brand's "Six Standard" phrases in their interaction with customers, know the daily promotions, transactions at the register must take no more than a minute, jeans must be folded correctly and when customers use a credit card it must be returned with two hands and eye contact. Managers have their own set of Ten Commandments called "The Ten Accountabilities" to memorize and employee training period is three whole months. It's meant to be robotic. This kinda comes as a shock to me because the customer service at every Uniqlo I've been to has been pretty decisively mediocre. Maybe you've had different experiences.
Still, we're not going to Uniqlo for mind-blowing customer service and I don't think it's making money off of it either. Obviously, we're there for the basics and the DEALZ. Uniqlo's strategy to keep their items simple means it can turn huge fabric orders for a better price and stack everything to the ceiling and sell them for cheap. And it's working. Uniqlo plans to continue its expansion and eventually pass Inditex, which owns Zara, by 2020. Full speed ahead.
