Hasta La Gadget!

Since UNIQLO may well be the most web-savvy retailer around (see UniQlock, Uniqlo Calendar and Uniqlo Tunes), it might come as a surprise to some readers to hear that they JUST started Twitter and Mixi accounts for the first time on November 20.

Why so late to the grassroots level of social networking? While they were making innovative Flash sites (see their Premium Downs site!) and popular widgets, they didn’t get involved in any of the networks themselves, instead relying on the viral quality of their content to spread itself. Judging by how many UNIQLO pieces we’ve done on this site alone, that was a pretty good tactic at the time.

What made them change their mind and jump into the fray? One side must be a reluctance to jump onto passing fads and expend energy on them. That’s a lot to keep up on, even for a big brand, and doing it poorly could have worse effects than not doing it at all. Either way, in the time it took for us to post this piece, the UNIQLO Twitter account gained 3,000 followers.