Commentary | Peer Pressure Breaks Uniqlo's Stamce

Peer Pressure Breaks Uniqlo’s Stance in Russia

Commentary by Darius Khaw

 

Uniqlo had recently announced the closing of its stores in Russia after crumbling to peer pressure from customers and other businesses. As of March 10, Uniqlo took a U-turn on staying open in Russia after claiming it faced too many “operational challenges and the worsening of the conflict situation.”          

Originally Uniqlo was adamant on keeping stores opening in Russia as the CEO of Uniqlo stated that "Clothing is a necessity of life. The people of Russia have the same right to live as we do." Despite the backlash from this statement, Uniqlo’s stance can actually be seen as ethically and morally correct. As shown by them giving Russian civilians at least one choice of a decent brand to buy from and not leave the civilians suffering as many international stores such as H&M had closed its doors.

 

Uniqlo’s decision can be seen as based on a moral decision of not boxing out Russian civilians from the rest of the world. Instead, their choice could even have been an attempt at giving the civilians hope that the world did not turn their backs to them. Uniqlo might even have had the idea of standing up against the modern “cancel culture” of completely ostracising something that is disliked by others.

 

The original choice of staying open could even have been an attempt at improving their brand name in Russia. Showing the civilians that Uniqlo still supported their needs for proper clothing and did not want to abandon them like other brands did. By keep it stores open, there could have been a hope that at the end of the conflict, Uniqlo would have been looked on favorably by the Russian, thus increasing it sales within the country when the dust settled.

However, in the end Uniqlo too closed its doors in Russia after their short stance. The decision to closed can be widely seen as them crumbling to peer pressure from other businesses and their customers starting #BoycottUNIQLO campaign. Despite that, Uniqlo’s decision to close its doors in Russia can be seen as a business strategy move to avoid a worsening crisis. Between the criticism and boycotting from their customers, Unqilo’s brand name would not only have severely degraded and its sales as well would have taken a severe hit.