ユニクロ、ザラを追い抜く Uniqlo dethrones Zara

2021年3月8日

今回の記事は「ユニクロ、ザラを追い抜く」という内容です。さていったいどのような内容なのでしょうか。

今回のポッドキャストです。お聴き下さい。

本日のSentence

Uniqlo is owned by Fast Retailing while Zara’s parent company is Inditex.

ユニクロはファーストリテイリングが所有し、ザラの親会社はインディテックスである。

ボキャブラリー

overtake	verb	追い抜く　上回る。より大きくなるか、より成功する
steadily	adv	安定した、着実に、。継続的に（改善するまたは成長する）
trail	verb	の後を追う、を追跡する。後を付ける
behavior	noun	動作、動き、振舞い。特定の状況で誰かまたは何かが振る舞う方法
shift	noun	変更、転換。なにかの変更。例えば、誰かのアイデアや意見など

日本語訳

Japanese company Uniqlo has overtaken Spanish apparel retailer Zara to become the most valuable clothing company in the world. Uniqlo is owned by Fast Retailing while Zara’s parent company is Inditex.

Since August 2020, share prices of Fast Retailing have been rising steadily, taking its market value to about $103 billion, past the share value of Inditex. However, Fast Retailing still trails both Inditex and H&M in terms of revenue.

One of the factors responsible for taking Uniqlo to the top is the stay-at-home behavior of consumers, which has resulted in higher sale of loungewear and activewear. Another aspect that worked in favor of the company was digitization. The company has been working with Google and other external partners to develop a production infrastructure powered by artificial intelligence.

Fast Retailing has generally focused on Uniqlo’s presence in Asia, more particularly in Japan and China. The company has almost 2300 stores worldwide, but most of them are in Japan (815 stores) and China (791 locations). In comparison, Swedish retailer H&M has 5000 stores worldwide while Zara has 2200.

Uniqlo’s 23% increase in profits recently has come from strong sales in Japan and Greater China. Uniqlo’s leading position, in terms of stock market value, shows the shift in global fashion from America and Europe to Asia since the pandemic broke out.