MINISO Singapore, Another Chinese Ripoff, Arrives in Singapore
MINISO, an ‘international famous brand of leisure department’ that nobody outside of China has ever heard off, is putting its roots into Singapore’s fertile retail ground.
Headquartered in Japan at 4-2-8 Jinja Mae, Shibuya, which just so happen to also be an Italian restaurant in the Setagaya Ward, MINISO commands an unprecedented reach with 3000+ stores around the world that nobody can find.
Come 12th December though, that will change for at least 2 of them. The fast-expanding brand will debut with 2 new stores located in the heart of Singapore at prominent malls, Plaza Singapura Mall and Harbourfront Centre. The debut of the new MINISO Singapore stores marks a key significant milestone for the brand’s growth in the Asia Pacific region.
Without too obviously ripping off of Japanese incumbents Muji, whose minimalist approach to unbranded quality products, and Daiso, with its torrent of useful little trinkets, and UNIQLO, known for its affordable, useful and fashionable clothes, MINISO advocates simplicity and quality. Its product designs and offerings begins with the concept of ‘going back to basics’. The brand believes in good quality, well-designed products that is accessible, and enjoyed by everyone from all walks of life.
The man behind MINISO is none other than Miyake Junya, who is the ‘initiator of global superior products consumption trend’, and young Chinese entrepreneur, Mr Ye Guo Fu.
MINISO Singapore now joins the elite Japanese-But-Not-Really-Japanese brand train, which includes the English’s SuperDry apparel brand, America’s beauty powerhouse SKII (which has Japanese origins, to be fair), Malaysian Akemi Uchi’s fluffy bedroom products, and Singapore’s very own disposable electronics mainstay, AKIRA.
The Japanese, who have never heard of MINISO before, celebrate the blatant co-opting of their national retail image by being amused at the poor command of the Japanese language on its various sites. English speakers can join in the fun as well since awkward phrasings abound in the English variants. We wouldn’t recommend it as a way to improve your command of English however.
Reference and credit: Technielobang, Rocketnews24
If you dislike Miniso simply because it has a lot of initial presence in China, sorry to say this but you are pretty close-minded. At least support your opinion with some strong evidence such as product reviews.
You’re missing the point.
I despise them because they’re 1. a complete rip-off of 3 Japanese companies (logo, design, etc. At least the Koreans have the courtesy to try and make it their own when ripping off ideas) 2. pretending to be a Japanese company even though they have ZERO presence in Japan. (check out this blog post by Japanese writers)
I’ve no issue if they’re a Chinese company. Oppo, Xiaomi, for example, copy designs from apple, of course, but they don’t pretend to be a US company.
But, this is just me. If they have good products, great. I go beyond just products. Integrity, originality and effort are important to me as well.
As long as the things are legit nobody got sued than is ok. I kinda like their product ranges though. At least I noticing their shops locating at our neighbourhood, strangely I don’t feel the “atas”-ness like Muji which only located at prime shopping area lah
I believe they may have a case here, but it would be time and money, not to mention getting the 3 companies to work together.
China? even companies like VW and Volvo are having trouble with PRC companies ripping off their designs lol.
Coz different lah. Miniso is machiam daiso, more about affordability than quality. A lot of their stuff is like Valore, just cheap taobao/alibaba stuff in nicer packaging, so they can charge a bit more expensive and say it’s a ‘Japan based’ brand. lolololol. Muji is about quality without a brand.