Yanai Masaru, ambition made Japan's richest man
In 1972, Yanai Masaru took over the Western clothing store of Ogori Shoji Co., Ltd. from his father and opened the store. In his hometown of Yamaguchi Prefecture, he distributes famous foreign brands such as Adidas and Nike. Yanai is the only son in his family and graduated from Waseda University. His family has high expectations for him, and he is also full of confidence in running a small store well. However, things were far from what he imagined. During Japan's period of great economic development, his store was on the verge of bankruptcy several times, which made him very depressed.
More than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye. Yanai Masaru is already 35 years old. He is thinking hard to get out of the predicament and suddenly realizes that the store's downturn is a mistake in market choice. How far can clothing develop if it is limited to small cities with a population of hundreds of thousands? After thinking through this problem, Yanai Masaru was refreshed. His desires and ambitions broke through the barriers and grew vigorously like weeds after the rain.
In 1984, Yanai Tadashi decided to move the company's sales department to Hiroshima, the nearest big city, where the first Uniqlo was born on a main street.
Due to the advance publicity, there were people waiting in line at six o'clock in the morning on the opening day. There were so many people coming to the store that Yanai was being interviewed by a radio station and had to say: "I'm very sorry. If you come in line now, you may not be able to enter the store. Please don't come."
Just when Yanai was ambitiously expanding his territory and hoping to achieve great success, Japan's economic growth suddenly slowed down and financing became a problem. (Famous Quotes m.taiks.com) At the beginning of the new year, employees all received a letter from their boss Yanai Masaru, which set a new goal for the company: to triple its original size every three years. This means that 30 new Uniqlo stores will be added every year. The employees laughed out loud when they read such a "three-year plan". In their view, this was almost a fantasy. However, from September 1991 to August 1994, UNIQLO added 100 new stores. In July 1994, Yanai listed the company on the Hiroshima Stock Exchange as he wished. Five years later, the company was transferred to the main board of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Many people don’t understand Yanai’s choice of address for the Uniqlo flagship store: in New York, the Uniqlo store is opposite Broadway; in London, it is in the most prosperous business district. Oxford Street; in Paris, the address is near the Paris Opera House. Judging from the price of its single product, it is obviously "burning money". However, this is an important step for him to realize his dream. He wants to set a benchmark for UNIQLO in the world.
In 2008, he only distributed clothing with little technological content, and his personal assets reached US$6.1 billion. In 2009, he bucked the trend and rose to US$9.2 billion, becoming The richest man in Japan who has been on the Forbes list for two consecutive years.