Abstract

The case tracks the growth of Chinese discount retailer MINISO Group Holding Limited (Miniso) and its emergence as the world’s fast-growing lifestyle brand within nine years of its coming into existence. Founded in 2013, Miniso offered a variety of trendy lifestyle products at affordable prices and established a massive store network worldwide, defying the global trend of online shopping. Good design, quality, affordability, and strong capability in in-house product development were its unique selling propositions (USP). In addition, the retailer promoted a relaxing and engaging shopping experience that appealed to all demographics regardless of their cultural background and geographical location. Miniso boasted an extensive store network in the global branded variety retail industry in terms of number of geographical markets entered. As of June 30, 2022, Miniso had presence in 100 geographical markets globally and served consumers primarily through its network of 5,199 stores.; ; The case describes the strategies adopted by Miniso to strengthen its brand image, grow, and achieve profitability. It highlights the competitive advantages developed by Miniso in the lifestyle retail sector that placed it ahead of its competitors. Miniso used big data strategically to its advantage when designing new products based on consumer demand. The company launched new items every week, mostly crafted by an in-house team of designers who closely observed global fashion trends, to ensure that its endless and always-changing assortment of products would never bore customers.; ; The case also presents the challenges the company faced in both domestic and international markets such as fierce competition, acceleration of e-commerce, criticism over the brand appearing Japanese, and continuous growth of the global economy and rising living standards, which were driving customers globally to have higher expectations of lifestyle products beyond their basic use. While Guofu Ye (Guofu), CEO of Miniso and his team were confident about the retailer’s strategy and future prospects, analysts wondered whether Miniso would be able to sustain its growth and success over the long term.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Analyze the strategies adopted by Miniso.
• Examine Miniso’s global expansion strategy.
• Identify the factors challenging the growth of offline retail.
• Understand the challenges in going from brick-and-mortar to e-commerce.
• Evaluate the importance of building an omnichannel retail strategy.

Keywords

Discount retailer; Omnichannel retail; Lifestyle brand; Glocalization; Competitive strategy; Digital marketing; Ecommerce; International management; Globalization; Localization; Offline retail