Taking the UNIQLO experience to the next level: RMIT students pitch ideas to clothing giant

Taking the UNIQLO experience to the next level: RMIT students pitch ideas to clothing giant

Last semester, 80 RMIT Impact Academy students in the College of Business and Law were challenged by UNIQLO with an industry-embedded business project in the semester’s Impact Academy course.

Students collaborated in groups to create innovative solutions, before presenting their ideas in front of industry guests from UNIQLO. 

The course, led by Dr. Simon Thornton, included a practical ‘work’ component, allowing students to gain real-world experience by partnering with industry to tackle real challenges. 

“The E-Commerce team at Uniqlo asked our students for creative ideas as to how they could create a better connection between the instore experience and E-Comms platforms,” said Thornton.  

“The student had around 8-9 weeks to produce their responses. The real-world project was a test of their communication, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, project management, time management skills.” 

PowerPoint slide showing development of productUniqlo is one of the world's biggest retailers.

Thornton explained that the Impact Academy course was a step up from other industry-based projects on offer throughout the students’ studies. 

“Impact Academy is a far deeper dive into a live client challenge from other existing in-class projects with an industry partner,” he said.  

“Students start by believing that their ‘idea’ is the most important element, but as the time rolls on, it becomes clear to them that the most important element of a successful project is their ability to work as a team and ensure the process is delivered thoroughly.” 

“Only a few groups each semester manage to harness their collective power correctly; these groups usually present the most thorough and considered presentations, including vital business elements like breakdown of timescale and projected costs.” 

Thornton said that’s industry-embedded learning is vital for developing students’ relative employability. 

“In addition to the transferable skills developed by working on real-world problems and with industry, it's vitally important that students learn and build their employability profile through Attributes and Values that employers seek,” he said.

Group of students presentingStudents worked in groups to address real-world problems.

After spending months developing ideas to improve the connection between online and in-store experiences, students presented their ideas to UNIQLO representatives at the end of the project.  

Taku Yonekura, E-Commerce Manager at UNIQLO Australia, said the quality of presentations was excellent.  

"With limited information, the teams were able to identify the current situation, challenges, and opportunities in various aspects of the market, competitors, demographic information, and features of online shopping, and then develop effective measures." 

"It was very impressive to see ideas that incorporated technology such as AR and sustainability, into the strategies. They were able to propose strategies based on their understanding of UNIQLO's mission and goals, as well as their analysis of UNIQLO's strengths and weaknesses." 

"To collaborate with RMIT and have in-depth discussions like this was not only a great opportunity for our company, but also I hope that the opportunity is a valuable learning experience for the students.”  

Thornton said that both RMIT and UNIQLO were keen to build on the collaboration next year. 

"UNIQLO are keen to continue this excellent partnership, and we are talking to them about working with the Impact Academy again in 2025, so stay tuned,” he said.

 

Story: Finn Devlin

13 December 2024

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