Zen And The Art Of Selling Minimalism

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It sells sleek and functional designs in a spare retail setting. Its prices can t be beat. And it has legions of fanatical devotees. Ikea? Nope. It s Muji. Though few Americans know it today, that may soon change.











Muji s full name, Mujirushi Ryohin, translates into "no-brand quality products." This fall, the store is heading to the U.S. in hopes of wooing Americans tired of in-your-face logos and over-the-top design. "To us, it s all about a product that s simple and functional," says Tadamitsu Matsui, chief executive of Muji s parent company, Ryohin Keikaku Co. "Once you remove the price tag from our products, there s nothing to indicate what the brand is."











But Muji isn t just another generic brand. Its post-industrial designs tap into the less-is-more esthetic visible in Japan s temple gardens and haiku. Larger Muji outlets carry more than 7,000 products that run the gamut from $4 striped socks to a $1,170 front-loading washer-dryer combo. There s even a line of prefab houses that start at $115,000.











Muji already enjoys plenty of fans overseas. The company has 387 outlets in 15 countries, including 34 stores in Europe, and has been adding a dozen or more annually in recent years. To date its only U.S. presence has been at the New York Museum of Modern Art [MoMA], where its $8 aluminum business-card holders and $42 collapsible cardboard speakers have been a hit. Muji estimates net profit for the year ended in February rose 9.4%, to $90.7 million, on a 14.5% increase in sales, to $1.3 billion.











The question is whether Muji s celebration of the ordinary will play well stateside. The Japanese retailer will be taking on heavyweights: Ikea and Crate & Barrel in furniture, Gap (GPS) in apparel, and Target (TGT) in housewares, which cater to Muji s intended audience of consumers in their 20s and 30s. Although Muji hasn t yet determined what it will charge for its wares at a new 5,000-sq.-ft. store in midtown Manhattan, its prices at MoMa s two stores are roughly double those in Japan. Muji "will have to carve out its own place," says David Marra, a retail consultant at a.t. Kearney Inc. in Tokyo.











Muji s chief is treading carefully. He expects the New York store to turn a profit within a year; outposts in Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco might follow. While Muji is riding the same Japanese pop-culture wave that has landed retailers such as Uniqlo in New York in the past year, Matsui believes his brand has staying power: "Muji s roots are Japanese," he says. "But we think our products will appeal for their simple, universal designs."