Aiming at the second and third tier, what will uniqlo do after its sales "recover"?

Uniqlo, the Japanese clothing giant, is betting on greater China. Uniqlo plans to open 100 more stores in the coming fiscal year in response to China's tourism boom.

Fast Retailing, the parent company of the brand, has an "internal goal" of roughly doubling the number of discounters it operates in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to 1,000. There is no timetable for the plan.

"Considering the consumption capacity of second - and third-tier cities, these markets are worth exploring." Uniqlo greater China CEO pan ning told the post in an interview.

The aggressive blueprint came at a time when fast retailing was Mired in a slump. In 2014-2015, due to the impact of deflation and exchange rate, the cost of raw materials increased and the labor production cost of OEM factories increased, so fast retailing group raised prices twice to varying degrees. In July 2014, the price of uniqlo products rose by an average of 5% in autumn and winter, and by 10% in 2015. The wrong price increase damaged uniqlo's image as an economical and practical brand, resulting in a significant reduction in passenger flow.

The new pricing strategy has helped uniqlo achieve rapid growth in the Japanese market. Profits rose 38 per cent to 38.3bn yen ($2.86bn) in the second half of the fiscal year. Uniqlo's international business, meanwhile, grew 81 per cent to y13.6bn, thanks largely to China's emerging middle class. Fast retailing's Hong Kong shares, which plunged 36% in the last fiscal year, are down just 7% from a year ago, after recovering from losses three months ago.

The Japanese company, controlled by Japan's richest man, tadashi yanai, has piled into overseas markets largely because of a weak domestic economy and a strong yen. But in China uniqlo has been squeezed by European fast-fashion brands H&M and Zara.

"The golden week, for example, is a headache for us, as more Chinese are busy traveling." Mr Panning said the trend would affect the performance of retailers such as uniqlo. This golden week, about 500 million Chinese people are on the road, a 12 percent increase over last year. Analysts believe demand for travel from the emerging middle class will remain strong for a long time.

Mr. Panning has a personal view of China's tourism growth. "Before such public holidays, we should prepare special marketing activities so that travelers can take uniqlo products out." "We have an ultralight jacket for travelers, for example," he said.

Uniqlo, a partner of Chinese e-commerce giant alibaba, saw sales of more than 600 million yuan on Tmall11 last year, making it the top clothing brand.

In the future, panning said, the company will look for more solutions to connect online and offline. "As our business in China expands, it is likely that in the future, consumers will place orders online and pick them up at nearby uniqlo stores. This will better satisfy the growing number of mobile consumers.