Uniqlo Taps Indonesia as Billionaire Yanai Seeks Overseas Growth
Fast Retailing Co., the apparel retailer headed by Japan’s richest man, will open its first Uniqlo branded store in Indonesia by June and plans to add 10 outlets in three years to tap an expanding middle class.
The new Jakarta store will be among Uniqlo’s five largest in Asia after South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, Naoki Otoma, Fast Retailing’s group executive vice president, said in an interview in Jakarta today.
The casual clothing maker, led by billionaire President Tadashi Yanai, has expanded outside Japan to reduce reliance on its home market. It joins other consumer brands including Apple Inc. in seeking growth in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, which has expanded more than 6 percent for nine quarters.
“We see there are a lot of new young families in this country,” Otoma said. “That’s a potential middle-class population explosion.”
Gross domestic product in the world’s fourth most-populous nation increased 6.11 percent in the three months through December from a year earlier, supported by strong domestic consumption and investment.
With Indonesia’s economy steadily expanding “we’re a bit late to enter this market,” Otoma said.
Investment climbed 18.7 percent to 83.3 trillion rupiah ($8.6 billion) in the last quarter from a year earlier, M. Chatib Basri, chairman of nation’s Investment Coordinating Board, said last month. Apple Inc. has been granted approval to open its first store in the country, Basri said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Novrida Manurung at nmanurung@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anjali Cordeiro at acordeiro2@bloomberg.net;
Uniqlo Taps Indonesia as Billionaire Yanai Seeks Overseas Growth
Kimimasa Mayama/Bloomberg
Mannequins stand inside Fast Retailing Co.'s Uniqlo store in the Ginza district of Tokyo.
Mannequins stand inside Fast Retailing Co.'s Uniqlo store in the Ginza district of Tokyo. Photographer: Kimimasa Mayama/Bloomberg
Fast Retailing President Tadashi Yanai
Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg
Tadashi Yanai, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Fast Retailing Co., speaks during a news conference at the company's Uniqlo Marche Printemps Ginza store in Tokyo on Nov. 1, 2012.
Tadashi Yanai, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Fast Retailing Co., speaks during a news conference at the company's Uniqlo Marche Printemps Ginza store in Tokyo on Nov. 1, 2012. Photographer: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg
Uniqlo Taps Indonesia as Billionaire Yanai Seeks Overseas Growth
Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg
Clothes are stacked on shelves at Fast Retailing Co.'s Uniqlo Marche Printemps Ginza store in Tokyo.
Clothes are stacked on shelves at Fast Retailing Co.'s Uniqlo Marche Printemps Ginza store in Tokyo. Photographer: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg
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