UNIQLO (ユニクロ), the Japanese new-style casual clothes maker recently launched its online shop in China.

E-commerce is nothing new for many brands in China, especially those clothing companies. For example, PPG and VANCL utilize online shopping as their main business model. And GIORDANO has done a successful e-business in addition to its traditional sales chain.

So, what’s the spotlight of UNIQLO online shop? It looks pretty common if you just take a look at the website:

However, if you click into “My Account” or choose a cloth to buy, you will find the “secret” behind the website.

Click the “My Account” button, then:

Click any clothes to buy, then:

Yeah~~~, it will link to the Taobao system. After doing a quick search, I finally found that www.UNIQLO.cn actually is a customized “clone” online shop empowered by Taobao Mall. The original Taobao version is here.

In social media practice, there is always a debate that whether brands need to build up their own online assets or join in existed third-party platform. For e-commerce, it is similar. Is it necessary for a brand to make great efforts including website design, database maintenance, and payment procedure to set up its own online shop?

In IN2MarCom’s opinion, if the brand has below characters, a self-owned asset is worth to invest. Otherwise, a third-party platform should be more cost-effective.

• Big brands, have a significant amount of loyal customers and fans
• Associate direct marketing and CRM with e-commerce, need user database
• Need more functions to engage with consumers. For example, comment function for word-of-mouth, forum for discussion, coupons/discounts for promotion, news/banners for information and advertising, etc.