"The ASICS Strategy" – Creating Stores Chosen for Their Customer Experience

What I Want You to Learn from This Lesson

In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult for products to stand out based on quality alone. Even in the sports footwear market, consumers no longer choose products solely for their performance or design. Today, where they buy and what kind of experience they have are becoming just as important.
ASICS has recently opened its third global flagship store in Shinjuku, Tokyo. More than simply creating a luxurious retail space, the store offers personalized experiences such as a private lounge and custom embroidery services. Rather than simply selling products, ASICS is using these experiences as a marketing strategy to build long-term relationships with customers.
In the future of fashion business, value competition will become more important than price competition. Premium customer service, exclusive benefits, customization, and membership programs are all designed to make customers think, "I want to buy from this brand."
In this lesson, we will examine ASICS' new flagship store as a case study to understand how premium brands create experiential value. We will explore why ASICS introduced private lounges and embroidery services from a marketing perspective. Finally, we will discuss how these ideas can be applied to apparel retailing to increase operating profits.