Uniqlo's European expansion has competitors worried

For European fans of Japanese clothing brand

Uniqlo, it will be a bit easier to order articles online, at least for those living in Ireland, France, Spain, Italy or Germany. With the exception of France that has its own Uniqlo website, customers can now use the British website to have orders shipped to their respective countries.

In Europe, Uniqlo is so far best represented in the UK and France with ten own British Uniqlo stores and four French ones. The Japanese clothing giant is planning to open its first flagship store in Berlin early next year.

With its reasonable prices and broad product palette, Uniqlo has already changed the retail landscape in major cities like London, Paris and New York and has competitors like H&M, Zara, Gap, Primark, C&A and others prick up their ears.

In terms of environmental and social consciousness, Uniqlo leads as well: In August, parent company Fast Retailing signed the accord on fire and building safety in Bangladesh and opened two Grameen Uniqlo stores in Dhaka with clothes “by locals, for locals” at a time when most other clothing companies have at least thought about pulling out of Bangladesh. Since January 2013, it is also a member of Greenpeace’s Detox Campaign and has been leading the committed companies by example with its “zero discharges” policy and others.

In the last fiscal, Fast Retailing generated revenues of close to 10 billion euro and a net profit of 824 million euro. Even compared to fast growing competitors like Inditex und H&M that doubled their revenue in the last five years, Fast Retailing tripled its revenue. Giving such a well rounded performance on all fronts should have more than a few competitors worried about Uniqlo's foray into Europe.