SANYO SHOKAI LTD.
Apparel and Fashion Accessories EC GL
transcosmos and Magic Panda deployed “Fliggy Buy,” a service to browse & book duty-free items by “Fliggy,” Alibaba Group’s travel services platform, to “GINZA TIMELESS 8,” Sanyo Shokai’s company-operated store.
Via “Fliggy Buy,” Chinese tourists visiting Japan can book items from brands that are available at “GINZA TIMELESS 8” at a duty-free price. Once in store, they can pick-up the items just by showing their smartphone screen with the booking information and their passport. transcosmos and Magic Panda helped Sanyo Shokai offer a high quality customer experience and create ongoing customer relationships before and after their visit to Japan.
Challenge
Gain many more fans/customers and get a foothold to develop a mid- to long-term global strategy by offering a high quality customer experience to Chinese tourists visiting Japan, who are expected to grow in number towards 2020.
Benefits
Successfully offered a high quality customer experience to Chinese tourists throughout their customer journey before and after their visit to Japan. Helped Sanyo Shokai gain many more fans/customers and get a foothold to develop their mid- to long-term global strategy.
- Executed marketing campaigns on “Fliggy,” targeting customer segments with high interests in Japan.
- Chinese tourists can book items from brands that are available at “GINZA TIMELESS 8” at a duty-free price via an app by “Fliggy Buy” before arriving Japan. Just by showing their smartphone screen with the booking information and their passport in the store, payment will be completed and they can receive items that have gone through the required tax refund procedures.
- Via “Fliggy,” Sanyo Shokai can offer after-sales services, deliver campaign information and more, thereby creating and retaining ongoing customer relationships even after they return home.
Abundant experience in LINE services and knowhow of managing customer touchpoint were decisive factors in selecting transcosmos as our partner
We appreciate transcosmos and Magic Panda, a Chinese e-commerce service provider specializing in the apparel industry and a group company of transcosmos, for helping us deploy “Fliggy Buy.” Brands and items that we, Sanyo Shokai offer represent the Japanese “craftsmanship,” and continue to enjoy a great reputation not only from Japanese customers but also from many international customers visiting Japan. We have launched our new service using “Fliggy Buy” at “GINZA TIMELESS 8,” our company-operated store in Ginza, with the aim of making international visitors, in particular Chinese customers that account for the largest share, become aware of our brands and products, have interest in and love them, and ultimately buy them with a feeling of happiness. We expect this initiative to help us gain many more fans/customers in the Chinese market as well as get a foothold to develop our mid- to long-term global strategy.
Mr. Masamune Shin
Vice Director-General of
Corporate Management
Headquarters
Aims to offer enhanced services for Chinese tourists visiting Japan, who are expected grow in number
Figures show that visitors from Asian countries to Japan accounted for around 90% of the total inbound tourists in 2018, and of those, Chinese visitors accounted for about 30%, showing a high demand in China to visit Japan. It is expected that this demand will continue to grow further towards 2020.
With its aspiration to become a “Premium Japanese Fashion Company,” Sanyo Shokai upholds the enhancement of their company-operated stores as one of their future growth strategies. To deliver this goal, Sanyo Shokai has fully renovated their company-operated store located in Ginza, a tourist destination for both Japanese and international tourists, and had a grand opening under the new name “GINZA TIMELESS 8” in September 2019. At “GINZA TIMELESS 8” which is operated under the themes of Japanese “craftsmanship” and “hospitality,” Sanyo Shokai has opened brand stores that are highly popular among Chinese tourists and offers customer services in Chinese. With such initiatives, Sanyo Shokai has aimed to offer more enhanced services than ever, thereby gaining many more fans/customers.
Deployed a service to browse & book duty-free items
Fully recognizing Sanyo Shokai’s objectives, transcosmos and Magic Panda, its group company that offers e-commerce services focusing on the apparel industry in China, have deployed “Fliggy Buy,” a service to browse and book duty-free items offered by “Fliggy,” Alibaba Group’s travel services platform, to “GINZA TIMELESS 8.”
In order to get “GINZA TIMELESS 8” ready to deploy and use “Fliggy Buy,” transcosmos and Magic Panda have offered Sanyo Shokai its one-stop services that include development and adjustment of the platform’s specifications and rules, negotiation with the platform provider, e-commerce store launch and operations on “Fliggy,” and training sessions for store staff working at the offline stores in “GINZA TIMELESS 8.”
What’s more, with Sanyo Shokai being the first apparel brand in Japan to deploy “Fliggy Buy,” transcosmos and Magic Panda have served as liaisons between "Fliggy Buy" and Sanyo Shokai, enabling them to communicate smoothly, going beyond not only language barriers but also differences in their respective business practices and cultures. In addition, since the Alibaba platform only requires customers to book items online and for stores to scan the information via a special app in the store to complete all the payment processes,there have been no system updates needed on Sanyo Shokai’s side such as connecting their point of sale systems to the platform. As a result, the platform has enabled Sanyo Shokai to launch the service within a surprisingly short timeframe, specifically in about two months.
Offering a high-quality customer experience to Chinese tourists visiting Japan
Gained many more fans & customers and developed their mid- to long-term global strategy
By opening their store on “Fliggy Buy,” Sanyo Shokai now has a channel to efficiently approach potential customers in the Chinese market by executing various marketing promotions such as running campaigns targeting prospective customer segments with high interests in Japan before their visit to Japan.
Before and during their visit, customers can book items from brands that are available at “GINZA TIMELESS 8” via “Fliggy Buy.” Just by showing their smartphone screen with the booking information and their passport, payment will be all completed and they can receive items that have gone through the required tax refund procedures. With such a process in place, stores can serve customers smoothly. In addition, via "Fliggy Buy," Sanyo Shokai can offer after-sales services, deliver campaign information and more, thereby creating and retaining ongoing customer relationships even after they return home.
Through the deployment of this service, Sanyo Shokai now offers a high quality customer experience to tourists from China throughout their customer journey before and after their visit to Japan. Ultimately, Sanyo Shokai successfully developed a channel to gain many more fans/customers and get a foothold to develop their mid- to long-term global strategy.
Service provided to SANYO SHOKAI
